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

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560 EXPLANATORY NOTES. BOOK I., EPISTLE VL
following particularfl," *. e., the task that best suits me, and which I wili-
ingly undertake, is as follows.—32- Ne turpe toral. " Tbtit no dirty covering
on the couch." Ne sordida mappa. "No foul napkin."—23. Corruget
nares. " May wrinkle the nose," i. e., may give offence to any of the
guests. According to Q,uintilian, Horace was the first that used the verb
corrugo.—'Ne non et canthams et laiiXt Sec. " That both the bowl and the
dish may show thee to thyself" i.e., may be bo bright and clean that thou
mayest see thyself in them. As regards the canthcerus^ consult note on
Ode i., 20, 3.—35. Eliminet. Elegantly used for evulget.—Ut co&at par
jungatv/rque pari, " That equal may meet and be joined with equal."
Par is here taken in a very extensive sense, and denotes not only equality
of age, but also congeniality of feeling and sentimentv—26. Sutram Septidntrnque.
The names of two of thegnests.—27. Ccsnaprior. "Apiior
engagement." Potior. " Whom he prefers to us."—28. Umhris. " At
tendant friends." Compare Sat.ii.^ 8, 22.—39. Sednimis arcta premunt
olidte, &c. " But a stnmg scent renders too crowded an entertainment
disagreeable." An allusion to the strong scent &om the arm-pits, which
the Romans termed copra.—Premunt. Equivalent to Tnolestia afficiunt.
—30. Tu, guotus esse velis, reserve, " Do thou write me back word of
what number thoa mayest wish to be one," i. «., how large a {{arty thou
mayest wish to meet.—31. Atria servantem. "Who keeps guard in thy
hall," i. e., who. watches for thee there, either to prefer some suit, or else
to show his respect l^ becoming one of thy retinue.
stand ostio.
Postico. Under-
Epistle' VZ. The poet, with philosophical gravity, teaches his friend
Numicias that human happiness springs from the mind when the latter is
accustomed to view every thing with a cool and dispassionate eye, and,
neither in prosperity nor adversity, wonders at any thing, but goes on undisturbed
in the acquisition of wisdom and virtue.
1-5. 1. NU admiraH. " To wonder at nothing," i. e., to be astonished
at nothing that we see around us, or that occurs to us in the path of oni
existence, to look on every thing with a cool and undisturbed eye, to judge
of every thing dispassionately, to value or estimate nothing above itself.
Hence results the general idea of the phrase, to covet nothing immoderately,
to be too intent on nothing, and, on the other hand, to think nothing
more alarming or adverse than it really is. Numici. The gens Nvmida
at Rome was one of the ancient houses. The individual here addressed,
however, is not known. He would seem to have been some person
that was too intent on the acquisition of riches, and the attaining to pahlic
office.—3. Et decedentia eertis tempora momentis. "And the seasons re-
tiring at fixed periods."—5. Imbuti, " Agitated." The idea intended to
be conveyed by this clause is well expressed by Gesner : " Sapientis est
non metuere sihi qmdguam ah eelipsi solis, a StUumi et Martis eonjune-
Hone et simiUhus, quce geneihliaca s-uperstitip timet." Thus, the wise
man contemplates the heavens, and the bodies that move in them, as well
as the several changes of th^ seasons, without any feeling of astonishment
or %larm, for he knows them to be governed by regular and stated lawe^
under the direction of a wise and benevolent FFOvidence.
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