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

654 EXPLANATORY NOTES. EPISTLE TO THE PISOS.
serve of Homer in the beginning of the Odyssey.—141. Die miki, MusOt
virum, &c. Horace here includes in two lines the three opening versea
of the Odyssey. The Roman poet does not mean bis lines as a translation
of these, in the strict sense of the term, bat naerely wishes to convey,
in his native tongue, some idea of the simplicity and modesty that mark
the Homeric exordium.
143-151. 143. Nonfumum exfulgore, &c. The meaning is that Ho
mer does not seek -to begin with a flash and end in smoke, but out of
smoke to bring glorious light, and surprise us with the brilliant and dazzling
creations of his fancy.—144. Speciosa miracula. " His brilliant won-
ders."—145. Antiphaten, Scyllamque, &.c. Antiphates was king of the Lee-
• strygones, a gigantic and cannibal race, pl-aced by some expounders of mythology
in Sicily. (Compare Odi/ss., x,, 80,seqq.) On Scylla and CharybdiEV
see Odyss., xii., 85, seqq. By Cyelape is meant Polyphemus. Odyss.,
ix., 152, seqq.—146. Nee reditum Diomedis, &c. Horace does not mean by
the "Return of Diomede" any particular production of Homer's, but only
wishes to give us a general idea of bis manner of writing, and to show
that he does not, like some droning cyclic poet, begin with events which
happened long before tlie main action of his poem, and had no immediate
or necessary connection with it. Antlniachus, a cyclic hard, had made a
poem on the Return of Diomede, and commenced the adventures of that
hem &om the death of his uncle Meleager, by which means he gave a
ridiculous beginning to the action that formed the subject of his work.
Welcker thinks that the "Return" here meant is that ofDiomede to^tolia
after the close of the second Theban war, and not his return from Troy.
—147. Nee gemino bellum^ &c. Another cyclic poet began an account of
the Trojan war with the nativity of Helen, or the story of Leda and the
eggs. He ia supposed to have been Stasinus, and the passage in question
to have occurred in the Cyprian epics.—148. In medias res. Horace
means that Homer, at the outset of the Iliad, does not delay us by a previous
explanation of the causes which brought on the angry strife between
Achilles and Agamemnon, but commences at once with an allusion to the
wrath of Pelldes (M^viv ueide &ed !), as if the causBs that led to it were
already known to his hearer.—149. Non secus ac notas. "Just as if well
known."— 150. Tractata nitescere. A metaphor taken from things polished
from the force of handling. History, and a poet's imagination, may
famish him with a great variety of incidents, but his own judgment must
direct him in the choice of them. So here Homer is said to omit those
parts of tlie story which could not'be invested with poetic splendor.-^151.
Atque ita mentitur, sic verafahis remiscelt &.c. "And moulds his fictions
in such a' way, so blends what is false with what is true," &c. The meaning
18} that Homer so intermingles fiction with reality throughout the
whole of his poem, and so strictly connects all the parts, as lo give the
entire production an air of prabability, and make the beginning, middle,
and end nxactly con-espond.
153-157. 153. 7^w quid eg"o, &c. "We have here some remarks on the
necessity of marking and preserving the distinguishing characteristics of
the four ages of man. Observe that tu refers to the seriptor.—154. Si
fautoris eges^ &c. "If thou wantest an applauder waiting until the cur-
tain ris^s," i. e.t an applauding spectator who will wait until the end of