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

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484 BXPLANATOEY. NOTES. BOOK II., SATIRF! I.
bere strives to excuse himself, and allegeB the ibllowing plei ii his da
fence. Human pnrsaits are as various as men themselves aire many.
One individual is fond of dancing the moment his head is tamed with
vrine, another is fond of horses, a third of pugilistic encounters ; my delight,
like that of Lacilius, consists in writing satirical eSusions. Saltat
Milonim. The Romans held dancing in general in little estimation. Ui
temel iclo, &c. " The moment bis head, affected with Hfip fumes of wine,
grows hot, and the Ughts appear doubled to his view." . More literally,
"when once hieat is added to^his head wounded (with wine), and number
to the lights." With ieto, for a literal translation, supply vino.—26. Castor
gaudet equis. Compare Ode i., 12, 28. Ovo prognatm eodem. Pol-
lux^ Compare Ode i., 12, 26.— 28. Pedilms claudere verba. " To versify."
'—^Q. Nostruin melioris ii^oguci -The, axgument a fortiori. IfLucUins,
"who was superior in point of birth and fortune to us both" {nostrum me-
lioris utroqw), was not ashamed to write satires, with much stronger
reason should I, a man of ignoble birth, banish all fear of degrading myself
by indulging in this same species of composition.
31-39. 31. Neqae, H male cesserat, toj. " Neither having recourse elsewhere,
if his affairs went ill, nor if well."—32. Quo fit ut omnis, &c.
"Whence it happens that the whole life of the old bard is as open to the
view as if it were represented in a votive painting." The expression,
votiva tahdla alludes to the BAmail custom >ofhaqging;up, in some temple
or public place, in accordance vnthavow, a painting,-in which was represented
some signal deliverance, or piece of. good fortune, that had happ^ned
to the individual. It was most frequently done in cases of escape from
diipvvreck.—34. Sequor hunfi,Lucanus an Appulus, anceps, &o. A pleasing
and slyly-satirical imitation of the rambling and talkative manner of
Lucilins in describing the circumstances and events of his own life. One
geographical mile south of Vennsia, there was a chajn diverging from the
Apennines, which separated Apulia from Lucania. Hence the clly of
Venusia, the natal place of Horace, would lie on the immediate confines
of the latter region. With anceps supply an sim.—36. Ad hoc. "?o};
this purpose." Sahdlis, The allnsipn here is to the Samnites, who were
driven out of this quarter by Curius Dentatus, A.U.C. 463.—37, Q,uo Vi
per vacuum, &c. " That the enemy might make no incursions into t&.3
Roman territory, through an unguarded frontier." Q,uo ne is here equivalent
to ut ne. Compare Heindorf, ad loe. With Romano supply agro.
Some supply populo, making the term Romano equivalent therefore to
Romania.—39. InHuteret. Equivalent to inferret, but in reality a much
stronger term, as violenta is stronger than beUicoaa.
39-49. 39. Ultro. Equivalent to non laeeaaitus.—42. O pvter et rex
Jupiier, utpereat, &c. " O Jupiter, father and sovereign, may my weapon
be laid aside and consumed With rust.'! To show that he is not too much
in earnest, the poet parodies in bis prayer a line of Callimachus (Fragm.
7). Ut is here used for utinam, as ii^ in Callimachus for eWe.—45. Qui
me commorit. " Who shall irritate me." Understand ira in the ablative.
—46. Flebif. " Shall be sorry for it." Insignia. " Marked out by me in
verse."—47. Ceroiua iralua legea, &^. The poet, intending to express
the idea that every one has arms of some kind or other, with which to attack
3V to defend, introduces, for this purpose, four infamous characters.
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