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

—
' EXPLANATORY NOTES. BOOK II,., ODE IX. 323
Ode IX. Addressed to T. Valgius Kafns, inconsolable at the loss of bis
son Mystes, who had been taken from him by an ontimely death. The
bard coansela his friend to cease from his unavailing sorrow, and to sing
with him the praises of Augustas.
The individual to whom the ode ia inscribed was himself a poet, and is
mentioned by Tibullas (iv., 1, 180) in terms of high commendation : " Valgius
; ater-no propior non alter Homero." It ia to the illasion of friendship,
most probably, that we must ascribe this lofty eulogium, since duintilian
makes no mention whatever of the writer in question. Horace
names him among those by whom he wishes his productions to be approved.
(So*., i., 10, 82.)
1-7. 1. Non semper, io. The expressions semper, usque, and menses
per om-nes, in this and the succeeding stanza, convey a delicate reproof
of the incessant sorrow in which the bereaved parent so unavailingly indulges.
Hispidos in agros. " On the rough fields." The epithet hispidus
properly refers to the effect produced on ^e'surface of the ground by
the action of the descending rains. It approximates here very closely to
the term squalidus.—2. Aut mare Caspium, &c. " Nor do varying blasts
continrtally disturb the Caspian Sea." According to Malte-Bron, the north
and south winds, acquiring strength from the elevation of the shores of
the Caspian, added to the facility of their motion along the surface of the
water, exercise a powerful influence in varying the level at the opposite
extremities. Hence the variations have a range of from four to eight feet,
and powerful currents are generated both with the rising and subsiding
of the winds. [System of Geography, vol. ii., p. 313.)—4. Armeniis in
oris. "On the borders of Armenia." The allusion is to the northern confines.
Armenia forms a very elevated plain, surrounded on all sides by
lofty mountains, of which Ararat and Kohi-seiban are crowned with perpetual
snow. The cold in the high districts of the country is so very intense
as to leave only three months for the season of vegetation, including
seed-time and harvest. {Compaie Malte-Brun, System of Geographic,
vol. ii., p. 103.)—7. Querceta Gargani. " The oak-groves of Garganus."
The chain of Mount Garganus, now Monte S. Angela, runs along a part of
the coast of Apulia, and finally terminates in the Promontorium Garganum,
now Punta di Viesta, forming a bold projection into the Adriatic.
9-10. 9. Tu semper urges, &c. "And yet thou art ever in mournful
strains pursuing thy Mystes, torn from thee by the hand of death." Urges
is here used as a more emphatic and impressive term than the common
prosequeris, and implies a pressing closely upon the footsteps of another
in eager pm'suit.—10. Nee tibi vespero, &c. " Nor do thy affectionate sorrows
cease when Vesper rises, nor when he flees from before the rapidlyascending
sun." The phrase Vespero surgente marks the evening period,
when Vesper (the planet Venus) appears to the east of the sun, and imparts
its mild radiance after that luminary has set. On the other hand,
the expression fugiente solem indicates the morning, in allusion to that
portion of the year when the same planet appears to the west of the sun,
and rises before him. The poet, then, means to designate the evening
and morning, and to convey the idea that the sorrows of Valgius admit of
no cessation or repose, bat continue unremitted throughout the night as
well as day. The planet Venus, when it goes before the sun, is called, in