Ode IV
descende caelo: the Muses dwell in heaven (Il.2.484, 491). Porphyrio is wrong in understanding it as a descent from the sermones deorum (3.3.71). dic age: 1.32.3; 2.11. 22. tibia: 1. 1.32; 1. 12.2.
regina: as revered goddess (3.26.11) and for the time ruler of his soul. longum: this is in fact the longest of the Odes, but we need not take it so literally. Calliope: Tenn. Lucretius, 'Poetlike, as the great Sicilian called| Calliope to grace his golden verse'; Lucret. 6. 94; Emped. 383; Hes. Theog. 79; Alcman, fr. 45; Auson. Idyll 20.7, carmina Calliope libris heroica mandat. But cf. 1.12.2. n.; 1.1.33; 1.24.3; 3.30.16; and the simple Musa (1.17.14; 2.1.9; 2.12.13; 3.3.70). 3, 4. seu . . . seu: 1.4. 12. The expression is confused. There seem to be three choices: song to the accompaniment of pipe, song alone, song to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument, either the lyre (fidibus） or the cithara, of which Apollo was said to have been the inventor.
auditis: he fancies he hears the muse singing; is it real or does the poet's ecstasy 'Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone'? amabilis: charming. 6, 7. insania: the θεία μανία(Plat. Phaedr. 245) of 'the lunatic, the lover, and the poet.' videor: sc. mihi. Cf. 2. 1.21; 'I seem through consecrated walks to rove,| I hear soft music die along the grove:| Led by the sound, I roam from shade to shade| By godlike poets venerable made' (Pope, Windsor Forest, 267-270). pios . . . lucos:μουσῶν νάπαι (Plato, Ion, 534 A). Cf. 1.1.30. n.
subeunt: lit. enter, approach; but more etymologically here, beneath whose covert glide. Slight zeugma with aurae.
me: i.e. for I have been the Muses' protége from the cradle. fabulosae . . . palumbes: the storied doves that carry ambrosia to Zeus (Odyss. 12.62), and fed Semiramis. Similar tales were told of Pindar, Stesichorus, Aesehylus, Plato, and others. Cf. Tenn. Eleanore, 2; Pind. O.6.54; Pliny, N. H. 10.82; Aelian, V. H. 10.21,12.45. Ăpūlo . . . &;Abreve;pūliae: the variation of the quantities makes a serious difficulty. See Thesaurus Linguae Latinae s. v. Perhaps we should read limina Pulliae with an ingenious German, who thinks fabulosa Pullia, the story-telling nurse Pullia, a good pendant to plagosus Orbilius (Epp. 2.1.71), the birch-loving pedagogue. If the text is kept, Mt. Voltur must be supposed to bestride the boundaries of Apulia and Lucania. Horace speaks of himself as Lucanus an Apulus anceps (Sat. 2.1.34). Emenda tions are countless: altricis limina villulae; patriae; limina . . . sedulae; Volture in avio, abdito, arduo, etc.
fatigatumque:the trajection of que (1.30.6. n.) brings out, if not intended to mark, the slight zeugma: spent with play and (overcome by, buried in) sleep. Cf. Il.10.98; Pausan. 9. 23.2, κόπος καὶ ὕπνος, etc.
nova: 4. 1.32. n.
mirum quod foret (quod= ut id, tendency or result of me . . . texere (Epode 2. 28))... ut (how) . . . dormirem . . . ut premerer: epexegetic of quod mirum. Cf. Epode 16. 53, pluraque . . . mirabimur: ut; 1. 9. 1.
quicumque: i.e. all the dwellers round about, picturesquely amplified by the Homeric descriptive epithets applied to the little towns Acherontia (now Acerenza), Bantia (Banzi), and Forentum (Foreuza). celsae . . . nidum: Cic. de Or. 1.196; Macaulay, Horat. 3, 'From many a lonely hamlet,| Which, hid by beech and pine,| Like an eagle's nest, hangs on the crest| Of purple Apennine'; Browning, Sordello, 'The hamlets nestled on the Tyrol's brow.' 15, 16. saltus: the 'high lawns' (Milt.). arvum pingue: the fat 'well-tilled lowland.'
atris: deadly (1.37.27; Verg. G. 1.129, ille malum virus serpentibus addidit atris). Cf. 1.17.8. n. But the viper was black.
premerer: covered; Epode 1.33. For the picture, cf. Swinburne's imitation of Pindar, O. 6. 54, ' Violets| fair as those that in far years . . . hid the limbs of Iamus'; Wordsworth, The Brownie's Cell,' Where bud and bloom and fruitage glowed| Close-crowding round the infant-god'; Arnold, Merope ; Tenn. Eleanore, 2; Philostr. Imag. 2.12. sacra: the laurel to Apollo, the myrtle to Venus.
non sine dis: οὐ θεῶν ἄτερ(Pind. Pyth. 5. 102); οὐκ ἀθεεί(Ody. 18.353). Cf. Il.5.185. animosus: the child's courage is attributed to the favor of the gods.
vester . . . vester: since he is a dedicated spirit and Μουσάων θεράπων from the cradle, he is theirs everywhere.
tollor: climb, with a faint hint of 'soar'; 2.7.14; 2.20. 1. He is ἐν Μοίσαισι ποτανός, in every sense (Pind. Pyth. 5.114)
frigidum Praeneste: it was high and cool. Verg. Aen. 7.682; Juv. 3.190; Horace is there, Epp. 1.2.2, with Homer for summer reading.
Tibur: 1.7.13; 2.6.5. supinum: the slopes of. Juv. 3.192, proni Tiburis.
liquidae: of the air; cf. 2.20.2. n.; Verg. G. 4.59, per aestatem liquidam; Gray, Ode on Spring, 'And float amid the liquid noon' ; Kiessling takes it of the waters. Baiae: 2.18. 20. n. Horace there, Epp. 1.15.2 sqq.
amicum: because I was dear to (1.26.1. n.). fontibus: 1.26.6; Hes. Theog. 3; 3.13.13.
Philippis: 2.7.9. Abi. of place with extinxit. versa acies retro: rout.
devota: sc. dis inferis, accursed (Epode 16.9), 'To destruction sacred and devote' (Milt.). arbos: cf. on 2. 13; 2.17.27.
Nothing is known of Horace's escape from shipwreck near the Lucanian promontory of Palinurus named from Aeneas' pilot (Verg. Aen. 6.381).
utcumque . . eritis: whensoever, i.e. if only you be with me. Cf. 1. 17. 10. n.
insanientem: cf. 3.7.6. n.; Tibull. 2.4.9, insanis . . . ventis; Propert. 1.8.5; 4.6.6; Arnold, Scholar-Gipsy, 'Where the Atlantic raves| Outside the western straits'; Verg. Ecl. 9. 43. Bosporum: 2.13.14. navita: opposed to viator, 32.
temptabo: 1.28. 5. urentis: cf. 1.22.5. n. Some read arentis.
Assyrii = Syrii = Eastern. Cf. 2.11.16.
Britannos: 1.35.30, Catull. 11.11, ultimosque Britannos; Verg. Ecl. 1.66; Tac. Ann. 14.30, represents them as savages.
Concanum: a Spanish tribe. See on 2.6.2; Verg. G. 3.461, attributes the drinking of horse's blood and milk to the Geloni.
Gelonos: 2.20.19. pharetratos: cf. Milton's 'quiver'd nymph' (Comus).
Scythicum . . . amnem: the Tanais (Don). Cf. 3. 10.1; 3.29.28, and, for the periphrasis, 2.9.21.
vos: returning to the leading thought, the Muses and their gracious influence. simul = simul ac.
abdidit: i.e. withdrew from public view the vast armies. Cf. Epp. 1.1.5, latet abditus agro. The Mss. vary; reddidit assigned to and addidit, apparently the technical term for enlarging a colony by a settlemeut of veterans (Tac. Ann. 13.31), are read. The disposition of the 120,000 veterans cost Augustus enormous sums (Mon. Ancyr. 3.22), necessitated widespread confiscations, and led to the founding of new towns whose names indicate their origin, as Emerita Augusta (Aosta Merida), Caesar Augusta (Saragossa). Cf. Merivale, 4.65.
finire: 1.7.17; Sat. 2.3. 263. labores: his own and those of the Roman world. Cf. 2.16. Intr.; also 4.15.9.
Pierio . . . antro: figurative, of literary leisure. Pieria, in Thrace, was said to have been a haunt of the Muses. Cf. Herrick, 1124, 'After thy labour take thine ease,| Here with the sweet Pierides'; Pind. Pyth. 6. 49, ἐν μυχοῖσι Πιερίδων; Martial, 12.11.3, Pimpleo . . . antro. For Augustus' literary studies, cf. Suet. Aug.84, 85, and the lives of Horace and Vergil.
lene: the gentle muses are μειλιχόβουλοι, and Augustus, who accepts the counsel they rejoice to give, is iacentem |lenis in hostem; C. S. 52. consilium: trisyllabic. Cf. 3.6.6. dato: sc. consilio.
scimus: the drift seems to be: Augustus is a benign ruler, but those who rebel against his easy yoke and attempt to throw the Roman world back into the chaos of civil war will meet the well-known fate of the blind Titanic powers that sought to overthrow the fairer order established by Zeus and the bright Olympian deities. Horace blends the various Greek legends in one composite picture.
sustulerit: overthrew, crushed; the subj. is (ille) qui, 45. Keep the Latin order: were struck down by the bolt ((rom the hands) of him who, etc. caduco: 2.13.11; (swift) descending; καταιβάτης (Aesch. Prom. 359).
All-embracing antitheses: the brute earth (1.34.9), the heaving wind-swept sea, the cities of the living and the dolorous realm of death, the (quiet) gods, and the agitations of man.
temperat: 1.12.16. n.
regna: 2.13.21. tristia: Milton's 'dolorous mansions (Nativity, 14). Cf. Il.20, 64; Verg. Aen. 8.245.
terrorem: cf. 2.12.7; F. Q. 7.6.15. It is inconsistent with the calm omnipotence of 45-48; but even in Aeschylus and Milton the mythology is sometimes imperfectly harmonized with the religion.
fidens: presumptuous. horrida: i.e. horrens bracchiis, πεφρικυία. iuventus: the Hecatoncheires (Centimanus, 69), Briareus (Il.1.402), Gyas, and Cottus, the first brood of Uranus and Gaea (Apollod. 1.1; Hes. Theog. 149). In Hesiod Uranus confines them beneath the earth. Zeus releases them, and they help him to defeat the Titans, whom they afterwards guard in Tartarus (Theog. 617 sqq.; 730 sqq.).
fratres: the Aloidae, Otus and Ephialtes. Odys. 11. 308; Verg. G. 1.280; Aen. 6.582; Pind. Pyth. 4.89; not in Hesiod. opaco: Homer's εἰνοσίφυλλον (cf. 1. 21. 6-7. n.), which Vergil, G. 1. 282, renders frondosum. So Juvenal's opaci Tagi (Sat. 3.55) is put back into Greek by Jebb (Bologna Ode), μελαμφύλλοιο Τάγοιο. Homer picturesquely puts the 'forest-rustling mountain' on top; but the meter often places Horace's epithets. With the whole cf. Ov. Met. 1.151-155.
imposuisse: cf. 1. 1.4. n.; 3.18.15.
Typhoeus: in Hesiod, Theog. 820, the latest born mon- strous offspring of earth, who, after the defeat of the Titans, wages war alone against Zeus; cf. also Il.2.782; Verg. Aen. 9.716; Aesch. Prom. 354; Pind. Pyth. 1.16, with Arnold's imitation in 'Empedocles.' Milt. Nativity, 25, 'Typhon huge ending in snaky twine.' P. L. 1. 'As whom the fables nanie of monstrous size, |Titanian, or Earthborn, that warred on Jove,| Briareus, or Typhon, whom the den| By ancient Tarsus held.' Mimas: in Hes. Scut. Her. 186, a centaur (?). In Eurip. Ion, 214, a giant repelled by Pallas. Apoll. Rhod. 3.1227.
Porphyrion: king of the giants, Pind. Pyth. 8.17; cf. Aristoph. Birds, 1252; cf. Keats's list, Hyper. 2; 'Coeus, and Gyges, and Briareus,| Typhon, and Dolor, and Porphyrion.'
Rhoetus: 2.19.23. truncis . . . iaculator: 'thrower with' by analogy of 'throw with.'
Enceladus: Verg. Aen. 3.578; Eurip. Ion, 209.
contra . . . （possent） ruentes: cf. ruit, 65; Pallas, the type of heavenly wisdom and Jove's most powerful ally, is put first. sonantem: Il. 17. 595.
hinc, etc.: cf. Clough, Amours de Voyage, 1.8; 'Eager for battle here |Stood Vulcan, here matronal Juno,| And with the bow to his shoulder faithful |He who with pure dew laveth of Castaly| His flowing locks, who holdeth of Lycia| The oak forest and the wood that bore him,| Delos' and Patara's own Apollo.' The monotonous enumeration is relieved by a picture; cf. on 1.12.29 sqq. avidus: both as devouring element (of. Lucret. 2.1066, Milton's 'huge convex of fire| Outrageous to devour') and λιλαιόμενος πολέμοιο; cf. Verg. Aen. 9.661, avidum pugnae. Tac. Hist. 4.71; Ann. 1.51; F. Q. 1.8.6, 'And at him fiercely flew, with courage flll'd,| And eager greediness through every member thrill'd.'
arcum: of. 1.21.11; Eurip. Alcest. 40.
Castaliae: Pind. Pyth. 1.39; 'O Phoibos, lord of Lykia and of Delos, who lovest the Spring of Castaly on thy Parnassos' (Myers). lavit: of. 4.6.26; 2.3.18. n.
natalemque: cf. 1.21.10.
Patareus: of Patara in Lycia, where he spent the six winter months. Serv. on Verg. Aen. 4. 143-4. Ov. Met. 1. 516.
vis:force. The moral of the myth in a Pindaric sententia ; of. Pyth. 8.15; Euenus, fr. 4; F. Q. 3.10.2, 'Might wanting measure moveth surquedry' (presumption, ὕβρις); Eurip. fr. 732; Milton, Samson Ag. 53. mole sua: from its own weight. ruit: falls in ruin.
temperatam: when controlled; of. Milton's 'temper'd awe,' Comus.
idem odere: but they likewise hate. Cf. 2.10.15, 22; 3. 12.10; Eurip. Hel. 903.
omne: of. 3.3.52. n.
testis: in Pindar's manner; cf. fr. 146, τεκμαίρομαι. O.2. 24; 9.105; cf. μαρτυρεῖ δέ in tragedy. Gyas: 2.17.14. n.
notus: well-known. integrae: 1.7.5, intactae.
temptator: assailant; only here; a rendering of πειρᾶν, (not πειράζειν as eds. say). Pind. Nem. 5. 30; 'In part she is to blame that has been tried,' Lady Mary Montagu; cf. F. Q. 1.5.35, 'tempt the queen of heaven,' etc. Orion: 2. 13.39. The legends varied. Horace follows that found in Cic. Arat. 420. Hygin. astr. 2.34.
domitus sagitta: δαμεὶς ὀίστῳ,. Cf. Pind. Pyth. 4. 90, 'moreover, Tityos was the quarry of Artemis' swift arrow sped from her invincible quiver' (Myers).
iniecta: vasta giganteis iniecta est insula membris, Ov. Met. 5.346. The material earth groans with physical oppression (στοναχίζετο . . . στεινομένη, Hes. Theog. 160), the poetically personified earth mourns her offspring (the Giants), as she does in the Pergamene frieze.
luridum: the realm of 'flickering spectres lighted from below |By the red race of fiery Phlegethon' (Tenn.).
nec peredit: his punishment endures. Fire eats already in Il.23.182. It 'devours with angry jaws,' Aesch. Prom. 368.
impositam . . . Aetnam: the legends varied. Cf. Claud. de R. Pros. 1.152, Aetna giganteos (over the giants, cf. 3.1.7) numquam tacitura triumphos; Verg. Aen. 3.578, Callim. Hymn. Del. 141-143; Arnold, Empedocles, 'Typho only, the rebel o'er-thrown,| Through whose heart Etna drives her roots of stone.'
incontinentis: lustful. Tityi: cf. 2.14.8. n.; Pind. Pyth. 4.90; Spenser, Vergil's Gnat, 48, 'And there is mournful Tityus mindful yet| Of thy displeasure, O Latona fair.'
ales: the vulture that preyed on his liver (Verg. Aen. 6. 597). nequitiae: technical, like peccare. Cf. 3.15.2; Ov. Am. 2.1.2, Ille ego nequitiae Naso poeta meae. additus: set, a guard that can't be shaken off. Cf. Vergil's Teucris addita Iuno (Aen. 6.90); 50 προσκείμενος, Plato, Apol. 30 E.
amatorem: ironical; not amantem. Cf. the jealous wife in Plautus, surge, amator, i domum; some detect a hint of Antony, who 'kissed away kingdoms.' trecentae: 2.14.5, 26.
Pirithoum: cf. 4.7.28. n. ; with Theseus he attempted to carry off Proserpina.
