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

—
BOOK IV.
Ode U The Sygambri, Usipetea, and Tenctherij who dwelt beyond
the Rhinei naviag made freqaent inroads into the Boman territory, An
guBtaa pro4 oeded against them, and, by the mere terror of his name, compelled
then* to sue for peace. {Dio Cassi'm^ 54, 20, vol. i., p. 750, ed. Reimar.)
Horace is therefore requested by lolas Antonius, the same year
in which this event took place {A.U.C. 738),. to celebrate in Pindaric strain
the saccessfol expedition of the emperor and bis expected return to the
capital. The poet, however, declines the task, and alleges want of talent
as an excuse ; bat the very language in w^hich this plea is conveyed
shows bow well qualified be was to execute the undertaking from which
he shrinks.
lolus Antonius was the younger son of Marc Antony and Fulvia, and
was brought up by his stepmother Octavia at Rome, and after his father's
death (B.C. 30) received great marks of favor from Augustas, through Octavia's
influence. Angnsttis married him to Marcella, the daughter of Oc-
tavia by her first husband C. MarceUus, conferred upon bim the praetorship
in B.C. 13, and the consulship in B.C. 10. la consequence, however,
of bis adulterous intercourse with Jalia, the daughter of Angustus, be was
condemned to death by the emneror in B.C. S. but seems to have anticipated
his execution by a voluntary death. He was also accused of aiming
at the empire.
1-11. 1. j^EmuIari. "To rival."— 2. lule. To be pronounced as a
dissyllable, yu-le. Consult Remarks on Sapphic Verse, p. Isy'iit—Ceratis
ope Dmdalea. " Secared with wax by Daedalean art." An allusion to the
well-known fable of Daedalus and Icarus.—3. Vitreo daturust &c. "Destined
to give a name to the sparkling deep." Vitreo is here rendered by
some " azure," but incorrectly; the idea is borrowed from the sparkling
of glass.—5. Monte. "From some mountain." 6. Notas ripas. "Its accustomed
banks." 7. Fervet immensusguet &c. "Pindar foams, and rolls
on unconfined with a mighty depth of expression." [Osborne, ad loc.)
The epithet immensus refers to the rich exuberance, and profundo ore to
the sublimity of the bard.—9 Donandus. " Deserving of being gifted."
—10. Seu per audaceSf ^. Horace bere proceeds to enumerate the several
departments of lyric verse, in all of which Pindar stands pre-eminent.
These axe^ 1. DittMframbics s 2. PaanSf or byoms and encomiastic effusions;
3. Epinicia {kirtviKtait or songs of victory, composed in honor of
2be conquerors at tbe public games ; 4. Epicedia {^TZLK^deia), or fimeral
songs. Time has made fearful ravages in these celebrated productions
all that remain to us, with the exception of a few fragments, are forty-five
of the k'JTtviKia ^tjfiara^—10. Nova verba. " Strange forms of expression,"
t. e., new and daring forms of style. Compare tbe explanation of Mitscherlich
: " ComposUio'M, juncCurOf significatu denique innovata, cvm novo
oratianis habitu atque st^uctura," and also that of Doring: "Nova senientiarum
lumina, novo ejffictas grandisoTiorum verborum formulas"
Horace alludes to the peculiar licence enjoyed by dithyrambic poets, and
—
: