Epode I
To Maecenas, about to accompany Augustus in the campaign of Actium. Maecenas probably was not present at Actium, but returned from Brundisium to take charge of the government of Italy (cf. Sen. Epist. 114. 6; Dio. 51. 3). The author of the Eleg. in Maec. (45) however affirms Maecenas' presence at the battle, and the vividness of Epode 9 is sometimes alleged as proof that Horace was with him. Horace, though unapt for war, will accompany his friend. He will fear less so. No hope of gain impels him. Maecenas' bounty has already filled his cup to overflowing.
ibis: can it be that you are going, etc. So Tibull. 1.3.1, Ibitis Aegaeas sine me, Messalla, per undas.--Liburnis: in the Liburnian galleys; abl. instr. Cf. on 1.37.30. The light Liburnian galleys of Octavian are contrasted with the ponderous battlemented ships of Antony (alta navium propugnacula) in all descriptions of the battle. Cf. Verg. Aen. 8. 691; Ferrero 5.101; Merivale, 3.252; Shaks. Ant. and Cleop. 3. 7, 'Their ships are yare, yours heavy.'
tuo: sc. periculo, i.e. to share.
With te si superstite supply vivitur. For the sentiment, cf. 2.17.5-9; Catull. 68.160, Lux mea, qua viva vivere dulce mihi est.
utrumne: is said not to occur before Horace.--iussi: as ordered, submissively.--persequemur otium: seek ease. Cf. Cic. de Off. 3. 1, otium persequemur.--otium: Verg. Georg. 4. 564, studus florentem ignobilis oti.
laborem: sc. persequemur.--mente . . . viros: in- tending to bear it with such determination as becomes brave men.
inhospitalem . . . Caucasum: cf. 1. 22. 6. n. For thought, cf. 2.6.1.
sinum: cf. Verg. Georg. 2.122, India . . . extremi sinus orbis.
roges: A. G. 521. b; H. 573. II.--labore: laborem of the Mss. violates the meter.
Homer's ἀπτόλεμος καὶ ἄναλκις. But firmus parum refers to his health.
18. qui: Sc. metus.--major: adverbially.
adsidens: brooding, but not actually on the nest.
serpentium adlapsus: Il. 2. 308; Aesch. Sept. 290; Moschus, 4.21; Verg. Aen. 2.225, lapsu . . . dracones.
relictis: dat. Cf. Verg. Aen. 2. 729, comitique onerique timentem; or abl. abs.--ut adsit: concessive, even if she were with them. A. G. 440.; G. L. 608; H. ,586. II.3.
latura: cf. 2. 3. 4. n.--praesentibus: cumulative resumption of adsit by frequent Latin usage. Plaut. Pseud. 1142; Ter. Adelph. 393; Verg. Aen. 4.83.
militabitur bellum: cf. 3. 19.4, pugnata bella.
Cf. 1. 31. 3-5.--nitantur: struggle, suggesting the richness of the loamy soil.--meis: the main idea, of mine. --pecus, etc.: in summer cattle were driven from Calabria to pastures on the highlands of Lucania. For the case usage with mutet, cf. note on 1.16.25; 1.17.2.
Perhaps a contrast is suggested between the heights of Tusculum crowned with the villas of Cicero, Lucullus, Hortensius, etc., and the poet's humbler retreat, 'Folded in Sabine recesses the valley and villa of Horace' (Clough). The villas of Frascati still gleam white against the dark foliage. Cf. Hare, Days near Rome.--Circaea: founded by Telegonus, son of Circe and Ulysses. Cf. 3.29.8.
satis superque: cf. 17.19; Sat. 2.6.4, nil amplius oro. --benignitas: generosity. The Sabine farm, 'the fittest gift ever made by a liberal man of fortune to a needy man of parts,' was given to the poet by Maecenas about B.C. 34, the time of the publication of the first book of Satires. To the dignity and the tranquillity it brought into Horace's life we probably owe the Odes. Horace describes it lovingly, Epp. 1. 16. 1-17, and often contrasts his beloved retreat with the smoke and din and fever of Rome. Cf. Sat. 2.6.1-4; Epp. 1.10.8; 1.14.1; 1.7.1-15; Odes, 1.17; 1.22.9; 2.16.37; 2.18.14; 3.1.47; 3.4.22; 3.13?; 3.18; 3.29. There is an interesting account of it in Blackwood's Horace for English readers (Martin), p. 69. Cf. also Gaston Boissier's delightful chapter in his Nouvelles Promenades Archéologiques.
paravero: note exactness of Latin tense. The acquisition must precede the use.
Chremes: apparently the typical miser of some comedy not extant.
discinctus: for 'loose girdled' metaphorically as 'dissolute,' cf. Sulla's warning about Caesar, Sueton. Caes. 45, ut male praecinctum puerum caverent.--perdam: some Mss.read perdam ut.
