Ode XXXII.
A song is called for. Oh, my Lesbian lyre, we too have played with junketing and love. Now help me to a Latin strain that shall sound through the ages like the spirit-stirring note thou didst yield 'when the live chords Alcaeus smote.' He sang of war and wine and love. Oh 'sovereign of the willing soul, enchanting shell,' be propitious to me also, if I invoke thee aright.The poem reads like a discarded prelude to one of the great patriotic odes in Alcaic measure. Translation by Hamilton, Johnson's Poets, 15. 637. On Alcaeus as Horace's prototype, cf. Sellar, p.135; 2. 13. 27; 4. 9. 7; Epp. 1. 19. 29; 2. 2. 99. See also notes on 1. 37. 1; 1. 9; 1. 14; 1. 18; 2. 7. 9-10; 3. 12. 1.
poscimur: we are asked (for a song); so Ov. Met. 2. 143; 4. 274. Poscimus, the reading of some Mss., enfeebles age dic below.—si: for pro forma condition in prayer, cf. 3. 18. 5; C. S. 37; Il. 1. 39.—vacui: sc. operum, in idle hour. Cf. 1. 6. 19, vacui, sc. amore; Verg. G. 3. 3, quae vacuas tenuissent carmine mentes.—sub umbra: Epist. 2. 2. 78; Mart. 9. 84. 3, Haec ego Pieria ludebam tutus in umbra; Swinb. Pref. Songs before Sunrise, 'Play then and sing; we too have played, | We likewise in that subtle shade.'
lusimus: in playful vein produced; lyric verse was trifling to a Roman. Cf. 4. 9. 9; Epist. 1. 1. 10; Cat. 50. 2; 68. a. 17. But cf. Pind. O. 1. 16, παίζομεν; Verg. Ecl. 1. 10. Here the reference is to the lighter odes and studies from the Greek.
quod . . . vivat: characterizing quid. Cf. Cat. 1. 10, quod, O patrona virgo, plus uno maneat perenne saeclo. Vivat: 'Something so written to after times as they should not willingly let it die.' Cf. Epist. 1. 19. 2, vivere carmina.
age dic: cf. dic age, 3. 4. 1; 2. 11. 22.—Latinum: emphatic, for it was with Greek poetry that the lyre was most closely connected. Horace feels himself both imitator and rival of the Greeks. Cf. 4. 6. 27; 4. 3. 23; 3. 30. 13.
modulate: attuned; passive as detestata (1. 1. 25); abominatus (Epode 16. 8). Dative, because the chords attuned by him yielded music to him.—civi: Alcacus in his στασιωτικά, his attacks on the tyrant Myrsilus, and 'Ship of State,' was emphatically a citizen and political poet. Cf. 4. 9. 7; 2. 13. 27; Dion. Hal., de imitat., Usener, p. 20,πολλαχοῦ γοῦν τὸ μέτρον τις εἰ περιέλοι, ῥητορείαν ἂν εὕροι πολιτικήν.
Construe: qui, (quamvis) ferox bello, tamen (sive) inter arma, etc.
Cf. Ov. Met. 14. 445, herboso religatus ab aggere funis; Verg. Aen. 7. 106; Cat. 64. 174, in Creta religasset navita funem.—udo: wave-washed, ἁλίκλυστος; so Stat. Silv. 2. 2. 15. Note poverty of Latin vocabulary. In 1. 7. 13, udus = διερός; in 1. 7. 22, βεβρεγμένος; in 2. 5. 7, ἑλώδης, ἐλεόθρεπτος; in 2. 7. 23, ὑγρός, πολύγναμπτος; in 3. 29. 6, εὔυδρος; in Epode 10. 19, ἔφυδρος; in 3. 2. 23, ἠερόεις. Cf. 2. 2. 15. n.
puer: cf. 1. 30. 5. For haerere alicui, cf. Verg. Aen. 10. 780, haeserat Euandro.
Lyctim: The name is found in Alcaeus, fr. 58, Bgk. Cf. Cic. De Nat. Deor. 1. 79.—nig-ris . . . ni-gro: the variation in quantity is intentional. Cf. 11. 5. 31; Theoc. 6. 19; Callim. Artemis, 110; Lucret. 4. 1259; Verg. Aen. 2. 663; Ed. 3. 79; F. Q. 3. 2. 51, 'Thrice she her turned contráry and returned | All cóntrary.' For black eyes and hair, cf. A. P. 37, spectandum nigris oculis nigroque capillo.
testudo: cf. 1. 10. 6. n.; 3. 11. 3. n.; Arnold, Merope, 'Surprised in the glens | The basking tortoises, whose striped shell founded | In the hand of Hermes the glory of the lyre.'
mihi . . . salve: hearken to my invocation; more literally salve = be greeted, i.e. vouchsafe to listen to my greeting. Mihi is an ethical dative, indicating the poet's interest in the success of his appeal (salve). Cf. χαῖρέ μοι, 'Sei mir gegrüsst.' So Verg. Aen. 11. 97.
cumque . . . vocanti: i.e. quotienscumque te vocavero. No precedent is cited for this use of cumque, but the reading of the Mss. must stand till some happier emendation than Lachmaim's medicumque is proposed.
