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

EXPLANATORY NOTES. BOOK III., ODE IV. 348
" to quaff."—37. Dum longus inter, Sec. " Provided a long tract of ocean
rage between Ilium and Rome." Pravided Rome be separated from the
plain of Troy by a wide expanse of intervening waters, and the Romans
rebuild not the city of their forefathers. Consult Introductory Remarks.
—38. Exsules. The Romans are here meant, in accordance with the popular
belief that they were the descendants of iEneas anj the Trojans, and
exiles, consequently, fromthe land of Troy, the abode of their forefathers.
'—39. Qualibet in parte. ."In whatever (other) quarter it may please
them to dwell."—40. Busto insultet. " Trample upon the tomb."—42.
Catulo) celent. " Conceal therein their young." Catulus is properly the
young of the dog, and is then applied generally to the young of any animal.
— 43. Fidgens. "In all its splendor."—44. Dare jura. "To give
laws."^4S. Hortenda. " An object ofdread."—46. Mediui liquor. " The
intervening waters."—48. Area. Understand jSgt/pH.
49-70." 49. Atirum irrepertuTn ^perrterefortior. " More resolute in despising
the gold as yet unexplored in the mine," i. e., the gold of the mine.
Observe the Glrsecism in spemerefortior. Compare, as regards the idea
intended to be conveyed, the explanation of Orelli : " Nulla jprorsus cu-
piditate aceendi ad auri venas investigandas."—51. Quajn cogere, 6cg.
"Than in bending it to human purposes, "with a right hand plundering
every thing of a sacred character." The expression omne sacrum rapiente
dextra is 6nly another definition for boundless cupidity, which respects
not even the most Sacred objects. Among these objects gold is
enumerated, and with singular feHcity. It should be 'held sacred by man
it should be- allowed to repose untouched in the mine, considering the
dreadful evils that invariably accompany its use.—S3. Quicunque mundo,
&c. "Whatever limit bounds the world." More literally, "whatever
limit has placed itseilf in front for the world," i. e., in that particular quar-
ter. (Compare Orelli, ad loc.)—54. Visere gestiens, lus. "Eagerly desiring
to visit that quarter, where the fires of the sun rage with uncontrolled
fury, and that, where mists and rains exercise continual sway."
We have endeavored to express the zeugma in debacehentur, without
losing sight; at the same time, of the peculiar force and beauty of the term.
The allusion is to the torrid and frigid zones. Supply the ellipsis in the
text as follows : visere eam^ partem qua parte, Scc^^Hac lege. " On this
condition."
—
Nimium pii. " Too piously affectionate (toward their parent
city)." The piou^ affection here alladed to is that which, according to
ancient ideas, was due from a colony to its parent city,—61. Alite lugubri.
" Under evil auspices."—62. Forfutia. " The evil fortune."—65. Murus
agneus. "A brazen wall," i. e., the strongest of ramparts.—66. Auctore
Phabo. As in the case of the former city. Auctore is here equivalent to
eonditore.—70. Desine pervicax. Ice. " Cease, bold one, to relate the discourses
of the gods, and to degrade lofty themes by lowly measures."
Ode rV. The object of the poet, in this ode, is to celebrate the praises
gf Augustus for his fostering patronage of letters. The piece opens with
' an invocation to the Muse. To this succeeds an enumeration of the benefits
conferred on the bard, from his earliest years, by the deities of Heli
con, under whose protecting influence, no evil, he asserts, can ever ap-
Droach him. The name of Augustus is then introduced. If the bnmblp
;