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

602 EXPLANATORY NOTES. ^BOOK I., EPISTLE XIX.
manner in which Horace soaght for tranquillity. He was so far fi-om d»
siring more that he could be even satisfied with leas. He wanted to live
for himself, cultivate his mind, and be freed from uncertainty.—99. Et
proviso!frugis in annum. " And of the productions of the earth laid up
for the year," i. e., and of provisions for a year.—100. Neu fluUim dmbia
epe pendulw hora. " And let me not fluctuate in suspense as regards the
hope of each uncertain hour," i. e., and let me not fluctuate between hope
and fear, filled with anxious thoughts as regards the uncertain events of
thefiitare. 101. Sed satis est orareJovem,qute doTiatei aufert,&c. "But
it is sufficient to ask of Jupiter those things which he gives and takes
away," &c. Horace distingirishes between the things we ought to hope
for from the gods, and those we are to expect only firom ourselves. Life
and riches depend, according to the poet, upon the pleasure of Jove, hut
an equal mind upon our own exertions.
Epistle XIX. This epistle is a satire on the poets of our author's time,
who, under pretence that Bacchus was a god of poetry, andj^hat the best
ancient bards loved wine, imagined that by equalling them in this partic-
ular they equalled them in merit. Horace laughs at such ridiculous im-
itation.
1«7. 1. Prisco Cratino. For some account of Cratinus, consult the
note on Satire i., 4, 1.—2. Nulla plaeere diu nee vivere earmina possunt,
Ac. This was probably one of Cratinus'a verses, which Horace has translated.
^3. Ut male sanos adscripsit Liber, &c. "Ever since Bacchus
ranked bards, seized with true poetic fury, among his Fauns and Satyrs,
the sweet Muses have usually smelt of wine in the morning," i. e., ever
since genuine poets existed, they have, scarcely with a single exception,
manifested an attachment to the juice of the grape. "With respect to the
ranking of poets among Fauns and Satyrs, it may be observed, that the
wild dances and gambols of these frolic beings were regarded as bearing
no unapt resemblance to the enthusiasm of the children of song.—6. Laudilms
arguitw vini vinosus Homerus. " From his praises of wine, Homer
is convicted of having been attached to that liquor." (Compare lU
vi, 261 i Od., xiv., 463, seqg.)—7. Ennius pater. The term pater is here
applied to Ennius as one of the earliest of the Homan bards.—Po