Ode XXV.
The old age of the courtesan. Cf. 3. 15; 4. 13; Ov. A. A. 3. 69.
iunctas . . . fenestras: The windows were on the second floor. They had two wooden shutters which were closed (iunctas) by a bar (sera).
iactibus: more appropriate than ictibus for stones thrown against upper windows.—protervi: cf. 2. 5. 15.
amat: clings to; cf. Verg. Aen. 5. 163, litus ama.
multum: oft; as it is separated from facilis by caesura, it is, perhaps, better taken with movebat.—facilis: with quae.
The words of the serenade, or rather παρακλαυσίθυρον. Cf. 3. 10, and Anth. Pal. 5,23.—tuo: thy slave, thy lover.
invicem: now in thy turn.—arrogantis: the pride, the disdain of. Cf. on 2. 4. 10.
levis: lightly esteemed, i.e. despised. The lonely alley, the howling winds, the moonless night, heighten the sense of desolation.
Thracio: i.e. Aquilo, the N.E. wind; Epode 13. 3.—bacchante: cf. 3. 3. 55, and Sargent, 'A life on the ocean wave! | A home on the rolling deep, | Where the scattered waters rave, | And the winds their revels keep.'—magis: louder and louder.—sub: cf. on 1. 8. 14.—interlunia: the time of the new moon was proverbially windy. For meter, cf. 1. 2. 19. For word, cf. Milton's 'hid in her vacant interlunar cave.'
Cf. Verg. G. 3. 266.—iecur: the seat of passion. Cf. 4. 1. 12.—ulcerosum: inflamed.
Her plaint is that youth prefers youth to age.
pubes: cf. 2. 8. 17.—virenti: 1. 9. 17; both the verdant ivy and the dusky myrtle are symbols of youth, as the sere and yellow leaf (aridas frondes) of age. Archil. fr. 100; Aeschyl. Ag. 79.
pulla serves to contrast the darker and lighter green. The myrtle is viridis in 1. 4. 9.
aridas: 4. 13. 9.—sodali: cf. 3. 18. 6; cf. comes, 1. 28. 21; 4. 12. 1.—Hebro: the reading of the Mss. The Hebrus (Maritza), chief river of Thrace, is associated with winter in the poet's mind (cf. Thracio vento 11, 12), and so is thought of as appropriate to Lydia's aridas frondes. Most editors read Euro, 'a winter wind' (cf. Verg. G. 2. 339), but this has no Ms. authority.
