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

05t5 EXPLANATORY NOTES. EPISTLE TO THE PI30©.
&?.?i{i KarcL TO Kip6og • 6to oci^poviKol ^atvovrai ol rijTiLKovTOLi at re y&ii
isTidv/ilat aveiKaait Kal dovTievovai, rw nipdeL.—171. Vel quod res oinnes
fimide gelideque, &c. Compare AHstotle,.Rhet., ii., 13: Kal dsiTim ical
Tzuvra TrpQ^oiSriTiKoi' ivavriug ytp SiuKeivrai rolg viotg- naTei^v/aevoi
yap ehiv ' oi 6d -QEpfioL ' Acre irpoudoirenolTiiie rb y^paq. Tf dsLTiig. • /cai
yiip & ijtdPoc Kara/^vU^ rig hart •—172. S^ longus. " Slow to hope."
Literally,, "^long; in hope." Compare OrelUf ad loc, and Aristotle, ibid. :
SvsiTiTTiSes dt(l r^v hfinuplav.—Avidnisqite futuri. " And gpreedy of the
fature/' i. e., fond of life, Aristotle calls the old ^ikol^ovg, and Sophocles
{Frag.. 6.4, Dind.) says of the same period of life, rot) i^7}V yap oi}6elg t^g d
yypaaKav hpgi.—-173. Difficilis. "Morose." Laudator temporis actitScc.
"A praiser'of by-gone times, when he was ahoy, a chastiser and censures
of the young." Compare AristotlBf iHd._: 6tarE2,ovffL y&p t& yevofieva
2,iyovTe£ ^va/iifivrjaKO^EVoi y^p jjidovrac.— ^175. Anni venienies, &c. Arr
istotle, a,s already remarked (note on verse 166), considers the powers of
the hody in a state of advancement till the thirty-fifth year,, and the faculties
of the mind as progressively improving till the forty-ninth, from which
periods they severally decline. This will serve to explain the anni veni-
entes and recedentes of Horace.—176. Ne forte seniles, &c. " We are always
to dweU with particular attention upon those things that are joined
to, and proper for,, each individual age^ lest haply the- part of age be as,
signed to yoath^ the part of manhood' to the boy," i. «., lest the old man
speak like the youth, the boy like the man.
1797188. 179. Autagiturres in scenis aut acta ref&trtur, "An actioE
is either represented on the- stage, or is there related as-done elsewhere."
The poet now proceeds to state how much of the story should be acted,
how much related.—182. Non tamen intus digna geri, &c. The idea intended
to- be conveyed is this, that, though what we see done affects as
more strongly than what we merely hear related, still (tamen) we must not
let this prineiple carry us so far as to bring upon the Btag;e things only fit to
be done behind the scenes {intus).—184. Qua mox narret facundia pncsens.
" Which the animated narrative of some actor,, appearing on the
stage, may presently relate." Facundia is equivalent here to facundus
nuntius. Some commentators make pressens refer to the circamstanca
of the actor's having been present at the scene which he describes. The
acceptation in which we have taken it, however, is much more simple
and obvious.—185. Ne pueros coram populo Medea trucidet. He gives
as instances. of the deeds which should be related, not represented, the
murder of her children.by Medea, the eating of the flesh of his children by
Thyestes, the transfbrmatioh of Frocne, Cadmus, &c. The scholiast Acron
calls the children of Medea, Medus and Mermeras. Seneca violates the
rule also, and represents Medea hntchering her children in the face of th&
spectators, and aggravates the cruelty of the execution with all the horrors
of a lingering act.—186. Aut h/umaiba palam coquat exta, &c. An
allusion to the casna Tkyestm, mentioned at verse &1.—187. In a/vem. Ac?
coirding to Anacreon, Virgil, Fropertius, and oth^s, she was changed into
a nightingale ; but, according to Ovid, into a swallow.—188. Jncredulus.
odi, " I view with feelings of incredulity and disgust." This refers not
fo much to Medea aud'Thyestes as to Frocne and CadmuB..
189-192. 189. Neve minor neu sit quinto produetior actufabula. "Fn^
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