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

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EXPLANATORY NOTES. EFODE IX. 405
1-15. 1 Repostum Cacubum adfestas dapes. " Cteouban wine, stored
Bway for joyous feasts," t". c, put away in some inner and secret crypt,
and purposely preserved for some joyons occasion. Consult note on Ode
i., 20, ».—3. Sub alia domo. " Beneath thy stately abode." Consult note
on Ode iii., 29, 10. Sic Jovi gratum. " So is it pleasing to Jove," i. e.,
in doing this, we shall be performing an act agreeable to Jove, the guardian
of our empire.— 4. Beate. This epithet has reference to the opulence
of Mfficenas, to his lofty abode 6n the Esquiline (alta domus), his beautiful
gardens, &e.—5. Sonants mixtum tibiis, &c. "While the lyre sends
forth a strain intermingled with the music of flutes, that uttering the Dorian,
these the Phrygian mood." With hoc understand sonante; with
Mis, sonantibus. The music of the lyre and the flute are to succeed each
other alteiTiately :
the strains of the former are to be grave and severe,
such being the character of the Dorian mood ; the music of the flutes, on
the other hand, is to be of a wild and bacchic character, in accordance
with the Phrygian mood. Donkin, in explanation of this passage, remarks
as follows : " If the ancient Dorian and Lydian octave were employed,
the former being of the fourth species, while the latter was of the second,
and pitched two tones higher, the series of intervals beard would consist
of fourths and major thirds, or rather double tones."—7. Actus cum freio
NeptuMus dux, " When the Neptunian chiefl driven from the Sicilian
strait." The allusion is to Sextus Pompeins, who boastingly styled himself
the son of Neptune, because his father had once held the command
of the sea. Agrippa, in B.C. 36, defeated him oiF the northern coast of
Sicily, off Myloe^ and again offKaulochus.—10. Semis amicus perfidis. Ac
cording to Dio Cassius (xlviii., 19), the number of fugitive slaves who went
over to Fompeius was so great, that the Vestal Virgins were accustomed,
during the performance of sacred rites, to offer up prayers for a cea
sation of this evil.—11. Romanus. The allusion is to the Komans in the
army of Antony.—12. Emancipatus fimintc. " Subjected as a voluntary
slave to a woman." The reference is to Cleopatra.—13. Fert vallum ei
arma miles, ^. " Bears the stake and arms as a soldier, and can yield
obedience to withered eunuchs." The poet expresses his indignation,
that Romans, hardy enough to endure the toils of military service, can, at
the same time, be so wanting in spirit as to yield obedience to the orders
of eunnchs. The allusion, in the words /er< vallum, is to that part of Roman
discipline which compelled each soldier to carry, among other things,
a certain nuihber of stakes (usually three or four) to be used in encamping.
Spadonibus, The allusion seems to be principally to the eunucl
Mardion, who, according to Plutarch, along with Pothtnus, Iras, and Char
mion, had the chief direction of Cleopatra's afbirs (iij)' iiv Ta /iiyiiTTa
iiomelTdi Tijc iye/ioviag. Pint., Vit. Ant., c. Ix-, vol. vi., p. 132, ed. Hnt
ten^— ^15.* Turpe conopium. '* A vile Egyptian canopy." The conopium
was a canopy, curtain, or veil of net-work, used for the purpose of keep
ing off gnats and flies. It was principally employed by the Egyptians
on account of the great number of these insects produced by the marshes
of the Nile. The scholiast, in his explanation of the term, furnishes us
with its etymology : " Genus retis ad muscas et eulices (xuvuira;) abigendos,
qno Alexandrini potissimum utantnr propter eulicum illic abundantiam."
To a genuine Roman spirit the use of such an article appeared
degrading effeminacy.