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

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576 EXPLANATORY NOTES. BOOK I., EPISTLE X,
tert'eit'pxtrple. The man* he observes, who can not distingaisb between
what is true and what is false, will as surely injure himself, as the merchant
who knows not the difference between the genuine purple and that
which is the reverse. Sidonio. Sidon was a famous commercial city, the
capital of Phoenicia, about S4 miles north of Tyre, which was one of its colonies.
Contendere calUdsv^ " akillfully to compare." People' who compare
pieces of stuff togetbe^, stretch, them out near each other, the better
to discern the difference.—27. Aqmnatem potantia 'oelUrafucum. "The
Seeces that drink the dye of Aqninnm." According to the scholiast, a
purple was manufactured at Aquinnm in imitation of the Phoenician.
Aquinum was a city of the Volsci, in new Latium, situate a little beyond
the place where the Latin Way crossed the H.ivers Liris and Mel£s
'—Fucum. Consult note on Ode iii., 5, 28.
30-38. 30. Q,v.em res plus nimioj &c. The idea intended to be conveyed
is this : They who bound their desires by the wants of nature (and
such is usually the temper of a country life), are independent of Fortune's
favors and resentments, her anger and inconstancy.—31. Si qmd mwO'
here, poties ZTwitus, " If thou shalt admire any thing greatly, thou wilt be
unwilling to resign it."—32. Licet sub paupere tecto &c. " One may live
more happily beneath an humble roo^ than the powerful and the friends
of the powerful." Meges is here equivalent to potentiares or ditiores^-'
34. pervus equurrit &c. The fable here told is imitated from Stesichoms,
who repe'ated it to the inhabitants of Himera, in. Bicily, when the latter
were about to assign a body-guard to Phalaris, tryrant of Agrigentum, -
whom they had called to their aid, and made commander of their forces.
Stesichoms, as AristoUe informs us {Rhet.^ ii.,
39J, undertook by this apologue
to show the Himereans of what folly they would be guilty if they
thus delivered themselves up into the hands of a powerful individuid.
— Communibus herbis. "From their common pasture."— 35. Mi^or.
""Worsted." Proving inferior.—37. Victor violeris. "An impetuous vic-
tor."-r38. D^ulit. Equivalent to depellere potuit.
39-50. 39. Sic, qui pauperiem veriiusj &c. " In like manner, he who.
from a dread of narrow circumstances, parts with his liberty, more pre-
cious than any metals, sbaU shamefully bear a master, and be forever a
slave, because he shall not know how to be contented with a little," «'. e.,
he who, not content with a little, regards the precious boon of freedom as
of inferior moment when compared with the acquisition of riches, shall become
the slave of wealth and live in eternal bondage. Metallis. Used
contemptuously for divitiis.—42. Cui non conveniet sua reSt *c. "As a
shoe at times, if it shall be larger than the foot, will trip up, if less, will
gall, (bo) will his own condition him, whom (that condition] shall not suit."
The idea intended to be conveyed is simply this : When a man's fortune
does not suit his condition, it will be like a shoe, which is apt to
cause us to trip if to6 large, and which pinches when too small.—45.
Nee me dimittes incasiigatum, &c. The poet makes use of this corrective
to soften the advice which be has given to his friend* He desires to
be treated with the same frankness, whenever he shall appear enslaved
by the same passions.—46, Cogere. Equivalent to congerere.—47. Jmpe'
rat aut servit^ &c. "If the possessor of wealth be a wise man, he will
command his riches ; if a fool, he will be commanded by them, and becoma
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