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

588 EXPLANATOEY NOTES. BOOK I., EPISTLE XVI,
not feed him.— ^30. Pernicies et ten^estas barathrumque macelli. ** The
very destrnotion, and hurricane, and gulf of the market." Horace calls
Maenius the ruin and destruction of the market, hecause he would consume,
if let alone, all that was in it. So Farmeno, in Terence [Eunuch^
i., 1, 34), styles Thais " Fundi nostri calamitas," i. e., the storm that ravages
our farm.^— '31. Barathrum. Consult note on Sat. i\., Z, 166.—Quicquid
quessierat. "Whatever be had been able to obtain."
32-38. 32, Neguiiiafautoribus et timidis. "From the favorers of his
scurrility, and from those who dreaded it." Two sources of support for
the seurra are here alladed to, and two classes of persons are meant,
namely, those who directly favored and encouraged his abnse of others,
and those who, through the dreadof suffering from it, purchased an escape
by entertainments, &c.—33. Patinas ccenabeit omasij Sec. " Would devour
for sapper Whole dishes of tripe and wretched lamb." With agnina supply
camis. Lamb was little esteemed.—35. Nimirum hie ego sum, &c.
"Just such a one am I; for, when I have nothing better, I commend my
quiet and frugal repast ; resolute enough amid humble fare." The poet
now refers to himself. Qtmm res d^fiduut may be more literally render-
ed, "when better means fail." Hie is by an elegant usage equivalent to
talis.—37. Verum, ubi quid Tnelius eontingit et unctius. " When, how-
ever, any thing better and more delicate offers," or, more literally, "falls
to my lot."—38. Qjuorum conspieitwr nitidis, &c. " Whose money is
seen well and safely laid out, in villas conspicuous for their elegance and
beauty." Fundata is here equivalent to bene et tuto collocata; and m'/idns
to pulchrimdine et nitore conspicuis.
Epistle XYI. duinctius Hirpinus is thought to have written to Horace,
reproaching him with his long stay in the country, and desiring a description
of that little retirement where the poet professed to find so much happiness,
and which he was so unwilling to exchange for the society of the
capital. Horace yields to his request, and, after a short account of his re-
treat, and the manner in which he enjoyed himself there, falls into a di-
gression concerning virtue; where, after rejecting several false accounts
and definitions, he endeavors to teach its true nature and properties. As
this discussion is of a serious character, the poet seeks to enliven it by
adopting the dialogue form.
1-8. 1. Qmneti. The individual here addressed is generally supposed
to be the same with the one to whom the eleventh ode of the second book
is inscribed. Bothe, however, maintains, that the person meant is T.
Q,uinctius Grispinus, who was consul A.U.G. 745, and one of those driven
into exile in the affairof Julia, the daughter of Augustus.—^2. Arvo. "By
tillage," i. e., by its harvests.—3. An amdeta mtibus ulmo. " Or with
what the vine-clad elm bestows," i. e., with wine. Literally, "or with
the vine-clad .elm." An elegant allusion to the Koman practice of training
the vine along the tnink and branches of the elm.—4. Loquaciter.
" In loquacious strain," i. e., at large. The description, after all, is only
ten lines ;
—
but the poet perhaps felt that some indirect apology was required
for again turning to his favorite theme, although he intended to be
brief in what he said, Continui monies, &c. "A continued range of