Ode XVII.
Faunus oft exchanges his Lycacan mountain for my Sabine farm. He keeps my flocks from harm. The gods cherish the pious bard. Come, Tyndaris: here while the dog-star rages thou wilt enjoy the cool shade and cups of mild Lesbian, nor fear drunken brawls and the boisterous wooing of jealous Cyrus.Translated in Dodsley's Poems, 2. 278.
Lucretilem: a mountain above Horace's Sabine farm (of. Epode 1. 31. n.); now Monte Gennaro.
mutat: cf. on 1. 16. 26; 2. 12. 23; 3. 1. 47.—Lycaeo: a mountain in Arcadia, where Pan was worshiped.—Faunus: of.on 1 . 4. 11; here identified with the mountain-ranging (ὀρειβάτης) Lycaean Pan. Cf. on 3. 18, and Ov. Fast. 2. 424, Faunus in Arcadia templa Lycaeus habet.
defendit: wards off.—capellis: cf. Verg. Eclog. 7. 47, solstitium pecori defendite.
usque: poetic for semper, like 'still' in English. Cf. 2. 9. 4; 2. 18. 23; 3. 30. 7; 4. 4. 45.
impune and tutum are two sides of the same fact, suggested again in deviae: they may venture to stray in quest of pasture.—arbutos: cf. on 1. 1. 21.
latentis: amid the thick growth of shrubbery.
'The wives of a foetid spouse,' an 'ill phrase' according to Professor Tyrrell. Cf. Vergil's vir gregis, Ecl. 7. 7; Theoc. 8. 49; Anth. Pal. 16. 17. 5, πόσις αἰγῶν; Martial, 9. 71. 1-2, pecorisque maritus lanigeri. Milton's cock 'stoutly struts his dames before.' 'There in his feathered seraglio strutted the lordly turkey' (Longfellow).
Martialis: the wolf is the associate of Mars for Romatis. Cf. Verg. Aen. 9. 566; Macaulay, Proph. of Capys, 17.—haediliae: kids; a diminutive from haedus. The word occurs only here. Supply metuunt. Some take it as a proper noun, the name of a locality in the neighborhood.
utcumque: whensoever, as soon as, when once. Cf. 3. 4. 29; 1. 35. 23; 2. 17. 11; 4. 4. 35; Epode 17. 52.—Tyndari: Tyndaris was doubtless a fictitious name. Cf. Pyrrha (1. 5. 3), Lydia (1. 8. 1), Leuconoe (1. 11. 2).—fistula: the pipe of Pan (σύριγξ; cf. Verg. Ecl. 2. 32; Tibull. 2. 5. 31) heard by the imaginative shepherds of Lucretius, 4. 586: et genus agricolum late sentiscere quom Pan | . . . unco saepe labro calamos percurrit hiantis | fistula silvestrem ne cesset fundere musam. Mart. 9. 61. 12. Cf. Mrs. Browning's 'What was he doing, the great god Pan?'—dulci: 'listening to thy sweet pipings' (Shelley, Hymn of Pan).
cubantis: sloping, if Ustica is a local hill, as Porphyrio says. If a valley, low lying, ἡμένω ἐν χώρῳ (Theoc. 13. 40).
levia: cf. λισσάς . . . πέτρα (Aeschyl. Suppl. 794).—personuere: have resounded.
The phrase cordi est alicui = is pleasing to some one.
Construe copia, opulenta ruris honorum, benigno cornutibi manabit. For legend of horn of plenty, cf. Class. Dict. .s.vv. Achelous and Amalthea; Ov. Met. 9. 86; Fast. 5. 115. Cf. also C. S. 60; Epist. 1. 12. 29; Otto, p.94; Tenn. Ode Duke of Well., 'and affluent fortune emptied all her horn.'—ad plenum: adverbial phrase.—benigno: cf. 1. 9. 6. 11.
ruris honorum opulenta: rich in the glories of the country, i.e. fruits, flowers, etc.; cf. Sat. 2. 5. 13, et quoscunque feret cultus tibi fundus honores; Stat. Theb. 10. 788, veris honor; Epode 11. 6; Spenser, Muiopotmos; 'gathered more store | Of the field's honor.' It is a commonplace of 18th century poetry.
reducta valle: cf. Epode 2. 11; 2. 3. 6, in remoto gramine; Verg. Aen. 6. 703, in valle reducta; Keats, 'Deep in the shady sadness of a vale.'—Caniculae: Procyon, 3. 29. 18; but not distinguished from Sirius. Translate, of the Dog Star. Cf. 3. 13. 9; Aeschyl. Ag. 967.
fide Teia: abl. instr:; of Anacreon, who was born at Teos in Ionia. Cf. 4. 9. 9; Epode 14. 10; Byron's 'The Scian and the Teian muse | The hero's harp, the lover's lute.' For imitations of Anacr. or the Anacreontic tone, cf. 1. 6. 10, 20; 1. 23. 14; 1. 26. 1-2; 1. 27; 2. 11. 13-24; 2. 7. 28; 3. 19. 18; 4. 12. 28.
laborantis in: in love with; cf. Catulius' love-sick Ariadne, in flavo saepe hospite suspirantem (64. 98).—uno: Odysseus .
The story of the Odyssey (10. 272 sqq.).—vitream: brilliant, lit., glassy; cf. 3. 13. 1; Stat. Silv. 1. 3. 85, vitreae iuga perfida Circes. While the reference is primarily to her dazzling beauty, her lack of more substantial virtues may be glanced at. Others explain the epithet as a reference to Circe's being a sea-nymph; for vitreus applied to the sea, cf. 4. 2. 3.
Lesbii: i.e. vini, a sweet wine.
duces: wilt quaff. Cf. 3. 3. 34; 4. 4. 17.—sub umbra: 1. 32. 1. Cf. 1. 5. 3, sub antro.
Semele and Thyone (θύειν, Pind. Pyth. 3. 99, Hom. Hymn, Dion. 21) were both names of the mother of Bacchus. The Latin poets loved to use sonorous Greek proper names in a decorative way. Cf. Catull. 27. 7, hic merus est Thyonianus. Cf. Vergil's Phillyrides Chiron Amythaoniusque Melampus, Georg. 3. 550.
confundet . . . proelia: cf. ταράττειν πόλεμον; miscere proelia; incendia miscet, Aen. 2. 329; Lucret. 5. 439; Milton's 'there mingle broils.' For such παροινία, cf. 1. 18. 8; 1. 27. 1-2.
Cyrus recurs 1. 33. 6. male here reinforces the adj. no match for him. Cf. on 1. 9. 24.—suspecta: a hint that she may have given him cause for jealousy.
incontinentis: cf. 1. 13. 9-10. The Roman elegists not infrequently express mock repentance at having torn their ladies' dress. Cf. Ov. Am. 1. 7. 3; Propert. 2. 5. 21; Tibull. 1. 10. 56; Lucian, Dial. Mer. 8 mit.; Anth. Pal. 5. 248.
haerentem: Sat. 1. 10. 49, haerentem capiti cum multa laude coronam.
immeritam: unoffending. Cf. 1. 28. 30; 2. 13. 12; 3. 6. 1; Sat. 2. 3. 7; Juv. 10. 60; Aen. 3. 2. So ἀνάξιος. Cf. Rich. 111. 2. 1, 'That all without desert have frowned on me.'
