Ode VI
Varius will chant thy deeds by sea and land, Agrippa. I cannot rise to tragic or epic heights—I, the light singer of love.M.Vipsanius Agrippa was the right hand of Augustus in war, as Maecenas in peace. He commanded the fleet at Actium, married the emperor's daughter Julia, adorned Rome with magnificent buildings (the Pantheon), and was for many years virtually joint emperor with Augustus. Gardthausen, 2. 409 sqq.; Merivale, 3. 211-214. L.Varius, the intimate friend of Horace and Vergil, and editor of the Aeneid with Plotius Tucca after Vergil's death, wrote epics, tragedies, and elegies. Before the publication of the Aeneid he was regarded as the chief epic poet of the day. Sat. 1. 10. 43, forte epos acer ut nemo Varius ducit. Cf. also Sat. 1. 5. 40; 1. 5. 93; 1. 9. 23; 2. 8. 21; 2. 8. 63; Epist. 2. 1. 247; A.P. 55. The Augustan poets and their imitators frequently profess inability to do justice to the achievements of their patrons. Cf. Sellar, p.134; Sat. 2. 1. 12; Epist. 2. 1. 250; Odes, 4. 2. 28-36; Propert. 2. 1. 17 sqq.; 4. 8. This type of poetical composition (recusatio) has been traced back to the Alexandrine poets. See Lucas, Festschrift f. Joh. Vahlen, 319 sqq.; and Reitzenstein, Neue Jahrbücher, 21 (1908), 84.
scribēris . . . victor: Varius will sing of thy bravery and thy victories over the enemy; lit., thou wilt be written of by Varius.—Vario: abl. of agent without ab; cf. Sat. 2. 1. 84, laudatus Caesare; Epp. 1. 19. 2 carmina . . . quae scribuntur aquae potoribus. alite is in apposition with Vario. Most editors take Vario . . . alite as an abl. abs., a construction of great harshness and not justified by the passages cited as parallels. Others emend to aliti, dat. of agent. For bird = bard, cf. 2. 20. 10; 4. 2. 25; Theoc. 7. 47, Μοισᾶν ὄρνιχες.
Maeonii: Homeric. According to one tradition Homer was born in Smyrna when the Lydians (= Maeonians) were in possession of it. Cf. 4. .9. 5. Enthusiastic friendship employed 'Homeric' then as freely as it does 'Shakesperian' now. Cf. Propert. 1. 7. 3; 2. 34. 66.
quam rem cuinque: whatever exploit; for the tmesis, cf.1. 7. 25; 1. 9. 14; 1. 16. 2; 1. 27. 14,etc.—navibus . . . equis: abl. instr., a variation of conventional terra marique. Agrippa defeated Sextus Pompey, B.C. 36, for which navali corona a Caesare donatus est; qui honos nulli ante eum habitus erat, Livy, Epit. Bk. 129.
gesserit: has achieved. The form is fut. pf. indic., and the whole passage exemplifies a variation of a familiar type of conditional sentence, 'if thy soldiery shall have achieved any exploits under thy leadership, they will be celebrated.'
nos: cf. 1. 17 and 2. 17. 32, and Epist. passim. In the odes generally ego.—neque haec . . . nec: for the paratactic form of parallels, cf. 3. 5. 27-30.—dicere: very frequent in the odes for lyric utterance.—gravem: Homer's ουλομενην, Il. 1. 2. The Greeks also said, βαρὺς χόλος; Aesch. Eumen. 800, βαρυν κοτον.
Pelidae stomachum: Achilles' wrath, the epic theme of the Iliad.—stomachum, bile, gall, spleen, is a homely term, intentionally used for Homer's μῆνις. The figurative use of the word is frequent in Cicero.—cedere nescli: cf. Verg. Aen. 12. 527, nescia vinci pectora. Achilles was pervicax (Epod. 17. 14), impiger iracundus inexorabilis acer (A. P. 121), and recalcitrant even to the gods (Il. 21. 223; Plat. Rep. 391 B).
After the Iliad, the Odyssey.—duplicis: shifty; πολύτροπος, versatile, lowered to διπλοῦς (Eurip. Rhesus, 395).—Ulixei: cf. Epode 16. 60; 17. 16; Achillei, 1. 15. 34; Penthei, 2. 19. 14;Alyattei, 3. 16. 41.
saevam Pelopis domum: stands for tragedy, as the two preceding lines for epic poetry. The disastrous history of the house of Pelops, son of Tantalus, father of Atreus and Thyestes, and grandfather of Agamemnon and Menelaus, afforded many subjects for tragedy. The special reference here is probably to Varius' tragedy Thyestes, which was by friendly critics thought equal to any Greek tragedy. Quint. 10. 1. 98.
tenues grandia: in apposition with nos and haec, stomachum, etc., big themes for little bards; cf. Ov. Am. 2. 18. 4, et tener ausuros grandia frangit amor. For Horace's favorite device of antithetic juxtaposition of contrasted words, cf. 1 . 3. 10; 1. 5. 9; 1. 13. 14; 1. 15. 2; 2. 16. 17; 2. 18. 10; 3. 7. 13; 3. 8. 1; 3. 11. 46; 3. 2. 9. 17; 3. 29. 49; 3. 30. 12; 4. 1. 6-7; 4. 2. 31; 4. 4. 32' 4. 4. 53; 4. 5. 9; and Sellar, p. 193.—dum: while, shades into since. Cf. 1. 2. 17; 3. 11. 50.
potens: with lyrae. Cf.1. 3. l; 1. 5. 15; 3. 29. 41; C. S. 1; Epist. 2. 3. 407, musa lyrae sollers. For thought, cf. Anacreontea, 23, θέλω λέγειν Ἀτρείδας . . . ἀ βάρβιτος δὲ χορδαῖς | ἔρωτα μοῦνον ἠχεῖ.
egregili: peerless; cf. 3. 25. 4; 3. 5. 48.
culpa . . . ingeni: by defect of genius.—deterere: lit. impair, by wearing away. Cf. tenuare, 3. 3. 72; Epist. 2. 1. 235-237.
quis: who but a Varius?—The following themes are taken from the Iliad. In describing Mars' equipment for battle tunica tectum adamantina, Horace uses a strengthened form of the standard epic epithet χαλκοχίτων. Adamas means a very hard iron or bronze, not a specific metal.
scripserit: who could describe; potential subj.; cf. G. L.259; H. 552.
nigrum: swart, soiled. Cf. 1. 21. 7. n.; 2. 1. 22. n. Meriones was the charioteer of the Cretan Idomeucus. Cf. 1. 15. 26; Il. 8. 264,13. 330-336.—ope: cf. 4. 2. 2.
parem: cf. impar, 4. 6. 5; Tydides (Diomedes), urged on by Pallas, wounded Ares and Aphrodite, 11. 5. 330-340, 846-855.
proelia: e.g. Propert. 4. 7. 5; Ov. Am. 1. 5. 15.
sectis: properly manicured nails are not very dreadful weapons.—acrium in iuvenes: cf. 1. 2. 39-40.
(sive) vacui sive: whether fancy free or a little in love; cf. 1. 3. 16; 1. 32. 7; 3. 4. 21-22. But sive quid urimur is really an afterthought. Cf. 1. 15. 25; 3. 27. 61.—urimur: cf. 1. 19. 4.—non praeter solitum: as is my wont.
