Ode XXVI.
Dear to the Muses, I give my cares to the winds, and 'what the Mede intends and what the Dacian.' Help me, sweet nymph of Pimplea, to twine a fresh chaplet of song for my Lamia.Tiridates (5) was king of Parthia in place of Phraates, expelled for tyranny. Phraates sought aid of the Scythians to recover his throne, and Tiridates fled to Augustus in Syria (B.C. 30), according to Dio. 51. 18; in Spain (B.C. 25), according to Justin, 42. 5. 5. The usually accepted date for the ode is B.C. 30-29. Phraates' restoration is referred to in 2. 2. 17, and there is an allusion to the dissensions of tile 'Medes'in 3. 8. 19, the ode written on the (first?) anniversary of Horace's escape from the falling tree (2. 13; 3. 4. 27). Those who adopt the later date reconcile Dio and Justin by the hypothesis that Tiridates merely appealed to Augustus for aid in Syria (B.C. 30), and took refuge with him in person in Spain (B.C. 25). For Aelius Lamia, cf. on 3. 17. The poem has been thought Horace's first attempt in the Alcaic measure; cf. novis (10) and the metrical awkwardness of 7 and 11.
musis amicus: cf. 2. 6. 18; 3. 4. 25; Verg. Aen. 9. 774, amicum Crethea musis; Hes. Theog. 96; Theocr. 1. 141.—tristitiam: 1. 7. 18.
protervis: Epode 16. 22; Vcrg. Aen. 1. 536, procacibus austris; Lucret. 6. 111, ^; 1. 14. 16, ludibrium ventis; Shakspeare's 'the air, a chartered libertine.'—Creticum: individualizing; cf. on 1. 16. 4. But the Cretan sea was stormy. (Soph. Trach. 117. )
portare: epexegetic inf. For thought, cf. Epode 11. 16; Homer, Odyss. 8. 408; Eurip. Troad. 419; Theoc. 22. 167; Apoll. Rhod. 1. 1334; Otto, Sprichwörter der Römer, p.364; Catull. 30. 10; Anacreontea, 41. 13, τὸ δ᾽ ἄχος πέφευγε μιχθέν | ἀνεμοτρόφῳ θυέλλῃ; ibid. 39. 7; 2. 8. Cf. also Heine, 'Ich wollt', meine Schmerzen ergössen | Sich all' in ein einziges Wort, | Das gäb' ich den lustigen Winden, | Die trügen es lustig fort.'—quis: nom. parallel with quid (5) rather than dat.; a form not used in odes. Cf. Epode 11. 9.
rex: of the Scythians.—metuatur: the reference here as in the following clause (quid Tiridaten terreat) is to the fears of Tiridates. Both clauses depend on unice securus, quite unconcerned. Cf. Ronsard, 'Celuy n'a soucy quel roy | Tyrannise sous sa loy | Ou la Perse ou Ia Syrie.'—gelidae . . . orae: cf. Lucan, 5. 55.
fontibus integris: untouched springs. The song is to be a new one (cf. fidibus novis) ἀκηράτοις, cf. Eurip. Hippol. 73, Lucret. 1. 927; Verg. G. 2. 175; Sellar, p.147.
necte: So in Greek πλέκω; and ὑφαίνω (Pind. O. 6. 86; Nem. 4. 44, fr. 179). Shelley, Alastor, 'woven hymns.'—flores: sc. a song in his honor, MΜουσέων ἄνθεα.
Pimplei: Muse of Pimplea, a place and fountain in Pieria near Mt. Olympus, sacred to the Muses.
mei . . . honores: honors of my bestowing. Cf. Lucan, 9. 983, quantum Smyrnaei durabunt vatis honores. So τιμαῖς (Pind. Nem. 9. 10).
novis: For Horace's claim to originality, cf. on 3. 30. 13 and Epist. 1. 19. 21. But he strikes the new chords Lesbio plectro, and his boast is that he 'tuned the Ausonian lyre | To sweeter sounds and tempered Pindar's fire: | Pleased with Alcaeus' manly rage to infuse | The softer spirit of the Sapphic Muse' (Pope).
Lesbio . . . plectro: with Lesbian plectrum, i.e. in a lyric in the manner of the Lesbian school. Cf. 1. 1. 34. The plectrum was the pick (of ivory or metal) used in playing the lyre. Cf. 1. 1. 34.—sacrare: consecrate. So Stat. Silv. 4. 7. 7. Cf. 4. 9. 25, vate sacro.
