The works of Horace : with English notes, critical and ... - Cristo Raul

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BOOK 11.
Ode I. C. Asinius FoIIio, distinguished as a soldier, a pleader, and a
tragic writer, was engaged in writing a history of the civil war. The
poet earnestly entreats him to persevere, and not to return to the paths
of tragic composition ontil he should have completed his promised narrative
of B/Oman affairs. The ode describes in glowing colors the expecta-
tions entertained by the poet of the ability with which Follio would treat
eo interesting and dlScnlt a subject.
1-6.' 1. Ex MeteUo consule. "From the consulship of Metellus." The
narrative of Follio, consequently, began with the formation of the first
triumvirate, by Cassar, Fompey, and Crassus, A.TJ.C. 694, B.C. 59, in the
consulship of Q,. Csecilius Metellns Celer and L. Afranius. This may
well be considered as the gecpi of the civil wars that ensued. The Komaus
mai'ked the year by the names of the consuls, and he who had most
suffirages, &c., was placed first. The Athenians, on the other hand, designated
their years by the name of the chief archon, who was hence called
"Apxoiv 'ETTUVV/tOf.—2. Belliq-ue causas, &c. *' And of the causes, and
the errors, and t^e operations of the war." The term vitia has here a
particular reference to the rash and unwise plans of Fompey and his fol-
lowers.—3. Ludumque Fortunes. " And of the game that Fortune played."
Gravesque przTicipuTn amicitias. " And of the fatal confederacies
of the chiefs." An allusion to the two triumvirates- Of the iirst we have
already spoken. The second was composed of Octavianus, Antony, and
Lepidus.—5. Nondum expiatia. Compare Ode i., 2, 29.—6. Periculosie
plemtm, &c. " An undertaking full of danger and of hazard." Opus is
applied by some, though less correctlyt w-e conceive, to the civil war itself.
The metaphor of the poet is borrowed from the Koioan games of chance.
8-12. 8. Cineri. The dative, put by a Graecism for the ablative.
9. Paullum sevene, &c. " Let the muse of dignified tragedy be absent
for a while from our theatres," i. e., suspend for a season thy labors in the
field of tragic composition. The muse of tragedy is Melpomene, who presided
also over lyric verse. Compare Explanatory Notes, Ode i., 24, 3.
— 10. Ubi pubUcas res ordinaris. " When thou hast chronicled our p.ublic
affairs," i. e., hast completed thy histoiy of oar public affairs. The passage
may also be rendered, " WTien thou hast settled our public affairs,"
i. c, when, in the order of thy narrative, thou hast brought the history of
our country down to the present period of tranquillity and repose. The
former interpretation is decidedly preferable.— 11. Grande munuSt &c.
" Thou wilt resume thy important task with all the dignity of the Athe-
nian tragic muse," i. e., thou v^^ilt return to thy labors in the walks of tragedy,
and rival, as thou hast already done, the beat efforts of the dramatic
poets of Greece.—12. Cecropio cothurno. Literally, " with the Cecropian
buskin." Cecropio is equivalent to Atfico, and alludes to Cecrops as the
mythic founder' of Athens. The cothurnus was the buskin worn by the
tragic actors, and is here taken figu; atively for tragedy itSelf.
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