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

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370 EXPLANATORY NOTES. BOOK III-, ODE XXX.
in this verb : in the first clause it has the meaning of " to shroud," in the
second " to illamine."—46. Qitodcunque retro est, " Whatever is gone
by." 47. Diffinget infectumque reddet. "Will he change and undo."
49. ScBvo lesta negotio. Sec. " Exulting in her cruel employment, and per-
flisting in playing her haughty game."—53. Majientem. " WhUe she remains."—54.
ResigTw quts dedit. "I resign what she once bestowed."
Resigno is here used in the sense otrescribo^ and the latter is a term borrowed
from the Boman law. When an individual borrowed a sum of
money, the amount received and the borrower's name were written in
the banker's books ;
and when the money was repaid, another entry was
made. Hence scribere tmmmos, "to borrow ;" rescrihere, "to pay back."
—Mea virtute -me irwolvo. The wise man wraps himself up in the mantle
of his own integrity, and bids defiance to the storms and changes of for-
tune.—57. Non est meum. "It is not for me." It is no employment of
mine.—59. Et votis pacisci. "And to strive to bargain by my vows."—
62. Turn. "At such a time as this."—64. Aura geminusque Pollux.
"A favoring breeze, and the twin-brothers Castor and Pollux." Consult
note on Ode i., 3, 2.
Ode XXX. The poefs presage of immortality. It is generally supposed
that Horace intended this as a concluding piece for his odes, and
with this opinion the account given by Suetonius appears to harmonize,
since we are informed by this writer, in his life of the poet, that the fourth
book of odes was added, after a long interval of time, to the first three
books, by order of Augustus.
1-16. 1. Exegi monimentum, &c. "I have reared a memorial of my-
self more enduring than brass." Compare the beautiful lines of Ovid, at
the conclusion of the Metamorphoses : "Jamque opus exegi quod nee Jovia
irat Tiec ignes" &c.—2. Regalique situ^ &c. " And loftier than the regal
structure of the pyramids."—3. Imber edax. " The corroding shower."
4. Innumerabilis annorum series^ &c. " The countless series of years,
and the flight of ages."—7. Libitinam. Libitina, at Home, was worshipped
as the goddess that presided over funerals. When Horace says
that he will escape Libitina, he means the oblivion of the grave. Libitina
and Venus were regarded as one and the same deify, so that we have
here, as elsewhere, a union of the power that creates with that which
destroys. Usque recens. " Ever fresh," i. c, ever blooming with the
fi*esh graces of youth.—8. Z>um Capitolium, &c. On the ides of every
month, according to Varro, solemn sacrifices were offered up in the Capi-
tol. Hence the meaning of the poet is, that so long as this shall be done,
so long will his fame continue. To a Iloman the Capitol seemed destined
for eternity.—10. Dicar. To be joined in construction with princeps de-
duxisse. "1 shall be celebrated as the first that brought down," &c.
Aujidus. A very rapid stream in Apulia, now the Ofanto.—11. Et qua
pauper eiqute, &c. "And where Daunus, scantily supplied with water,
ruled over a rustic population." The allusion is still to Apulia (the epi-
thet being merely transferred iVom the country to the early monarch of the
same), and the expression pauper aqua refers to the summer heats of that
country. Consult note on Ode i., as, 13.^12. JRegnoBit populorum. An
Imitation of the Greek idiom, syp^e ^aav.-^Ex humili potens. " I, he-
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