Ode XXXVI
A welcome to Plotius Numida (unknown) returned from the west,—the Spanish campaign of Augustus, For similar theme, cf. 2. 7.
fidibus: fidicines as well as tibicines were employed at sacrifices (Schol.). Cf. 4. 1. 21-23.
placare: win the favor of; the word does not imply that the gods were offended. Cf. pacem deorum exposcere.—debito: their due; cf. obligatam, 2. 7. 17.
custodes: cf. 1. 24. 11. n.
Hesperia: West, i.e. Spain. From the point of view of Greece and the East, Italy was Hesperia. Cf. 2. 1. 32; 3. 6. 8.—sospes: of safe home-coming, cf. 3. 14. 10; Gk. σώζεσθαι (Plat. Gorg. 511. D).
dividit: gives, lit., distributes.
Lamiae: cf. Ode 26.
actae: cf. A. P. 173, temporis acti se puero.—non aijo rege: under the same (fe)rule. Rex here probably means schoolmaster. Cf. rectores imperatoriae iuventae of Nero's teachers (Tac. Ann. 13. 2). Or it may mean king, i.e. of the boys' games (Epp. 1. 1. 59).—puertiae: syncope, cf. 2. 2. 2. n.; 4. 13. 20.
mutatae . . . togae: cf. Pater, Marius, Chap. IV., 'At a somewhat earlier age than usual he had formally assumed the dress of manhood, going into the Forum for that purpose, accompanied by his friends in festal array.' The toga virilis was assumed in place of the toga praetexta about the age of sixteen. For Latin idiom here, cf. 2. 4. 10. n.
Cressa . . . nota: with a white mark. Creta in the phrase for chalk, terra creta (from cernere, to sift), was by a popular etymology confused with Cressa, Cretan, partly because a much used variety of chalk came from Kimolos, an island in the Cretan Sea. Lucky days were proverbially marked with a white line or stone. Cf. Cat. 68. 148; Pers. 2. 1; Otto, s.v. calculus.
neu promptae modus amphorae amphora promatur neu modus sit; cf. 2. 4. 10. n.; 3. 28. 2.—modus: cf. 1. 16. 2.
Salium: adj., for saliarem, cf. 4. 1. 28. Others take it as gen. plur. of noun. The Salii, or jumpers, were, so to speak, the dancing Dervishes of Mars. Cf. Livy, 1. 20; Ov. Fast. 3. 387; see their rude chant (Epist. 2. 1. 86, Saliare Numae carmen); Mominsen, Hist., Eng. tr., 1, p.294.—The luxury of their banquets was proverbial. Cf. 1. 37. 2; 2. 14. 28.
multi . . . meri: descriptive genitive; πολύοινος. Cf. 3. 9. 7; 3. 7. 4; 4. 1. 15. Cf. Cic. Fam. 9. 26, non multi cibi hospitem.—Damalis: frequent name of girls of her class, evidently from δά,αλις, a heifer. Cf. on 2. 5. 6. For women and wine-drinking, cf. Catull. 27. 3.
Bassum: unknown. Apparently he was for the most part a very moderate drinker, but on this occasion even he is to drink deeply.—Threicia . . . amystide: in draining the cup in the Thracian style. Amystis (ἄμυστις, Anacr. fr. 63. 2; cf. ἀμυστί πίνειν) is the act of draining a cup at a gulp, said to have been characteristic of the Thracians.
Cf. 3. 19. 22.
vivax: rhetorically contrasted with breve (short-lived). Cf. 2. 3. 14. n.
putris: languishing. 'But Enid feared his eyes, | Moist as they were, wine-heated from the feast' (Tenn.).
adultero: 1. 33. 9.
ambitiosior: etymologically, clinging and climbing. Cf. Catull. 61. 33, 106; Epode 15. 5. Cf. 4. 4. 65. n.
