Ode VII
Beautiful are the isles of Greece, and her cities beloved of gods, famed in song and story. But 'Tibur is beautiful, too, and the orchard slopes and the Anio, | Falling, falling yet to the ancient lyrical cadence' (Clough). Thou, Plancus, whether in the shade of thy Tiburtine villa, or in the glittering camp, remember that wine is the best dispeller of care. This Teucer knew when, fleeing to exile from his angry father, he consoled his despondent mates with the promise of a new Salamis in a strange land.The loose juncture at l. 15 led some ancient critics to assume the beginning of a new ode there. Lines 26 sqq. imply acquaintance with Verg. Aen. 1. 195 sqq., aud can hardly have been written before B.C. 29. L.Munatius Plancus, a political turn-coat (morbo proditor, VeIl. 2. 83), founded Lyons as governor of Gaul in B.C. 43, was consul in 42, was intrusted by Antony with the government of Syria and Asia, and abandoned him for Octavian on the eve of Actium. In B.C. 27 he proposed the decree conferring on Octavian the title of Augustus, and was rewarded by the censorship B.C. 22. In what camp he could have been serving at this time, or what were the cares which Horace advises him to drown in wine, does not appear.
laudabunt alii: cf. excudent alli, Verg. Aen. 6. 847. The antithesis is me, l. 10. The 'praise' need not be literary. Cf. 1. 1. 17, laudat.—claram: so Martial, 4. 55. 6; sunny. Cf. Pliny, N. H. 2. 62; Lucan, 8. 248, claramque relinquit sole Rhodon. But cf. Catull. 46. 6, ad claras Asiae volemus urbes; 4. 8, Rhodumque nobilem, that is, renowned for its commerce, its art, and its schools of rhetoric and philosophy.—Mytilenen: capital of Lesbos, pulchritudine in primis nobilis (Cic.).
Ephesus: principal city of the province of Asia, called by Florus lumen Asiae.—Corinthi: Corinth was situated on the isthmus between the Aegean and Ionian Seas (hence bimaris, of the double sea), and . had a harbor on each. Cf. Ov. Met. 5. 407; Trist. 1. 11. 5, bimarem . . . Isthmon; Her. 12. 27;ἀμφίαλος, Pind. O. 13. 40; ἀμφιθάλασσος, O. 7. 33. Διθάλασσος, cited by editors, does not seem to have been so used. Anth. Pal. 7. 218, ἁλιζώνοιο Κορίνθου; Pind. O. 13. 5.—Corinthi: destroyed by Mummius B.C. 146; restored as a colony by Julius Caesar.
Baccho . . . Apolline: abl. of cause with insignis.—Thebas: according to the myth Bacchus was born at Thebes.—Delphos: the seat of the famous oracle of Apollo.
Tempe: the valley in Thessaly between Mts. Olympus and Ossa, through which ran the Peneus. Cf. Ov. Met. 1. 568, est nemus Haemoniae (Thessaly), praerupta quod undique claudit | Silva: vocant Tern pe, per quae Peneus, ab imo Effusus Pindo, spumosis volvitur undis; Tenn. 'The long divine Peneian pass.'
unum opus: their one task, theme.—intactae: virgin. Cf. 3. 4. 70, integrae.—urbem: Athens.
perpetuo: in continuous epic, not the short swallow-flights of lyric. Cf. Ov. Met. 1. 3, prirnaque ab origine mundi ad mea per petuum deducite tern pora carmen.
undique . . . olivam: to place upon their brow a wreath of olive culled frorn every quarter, i.e. to win fame for themselves by a poem founded on the manifold legendary and historical associations of Athens. Others less probably interpret undique decerptam, culled by every one, with reference to the praise of Athens being a well-worn theme. The olive was the gift of Athena and the symbol of Athens. For the general thought cf. Lucret. 1. 928, iuvatque novos decerpere flores | Insignernque meo capiti petere inde coronam, | Unde prius nulli velarint tempora musae.
plurimus: many a one. Cf. Martial, 7. 36. 3, plurima . . . tegula; Verg. Aen. 2. 309; Juv. 3. 232. But in all these cases there is a substantive. Hence some deny the use.—Iunonis: her three favorite cities were Argos, Sparta, and Mycenae (Il. 4. 51).
aptum . . . equis: ἵππόβοτον (Il. 2. 287). But this version of the Greek is perhaps due to a reminiscence of the words of Telemachus (Odyss. 4. 601) rendered (Epp. 1. 7. 41), non est aptus equis Ithace locus. Argos (neut.) was the capital of Argolis in the Peloponnesus.—ditisque Mycenas: Mycenae, the city of Agamemnon, was N. E. of Argos. With ditis cf. πολύχρυσος (Il. 7. 180; Soph. El. 9). The gold found there by Schliemann amply justifies the epithet. It was prehistoric to Horace as it is to us (Lucian, Contempl. 23; Anth. Pal. 9. 103).
me: cf. on 1. 1. 29.—patiens Lacedaemon: hardy Sparta. Cf. Quintil. 3. 7. 24.
Larisae: on the Peneus in Thessaly. opimae: fertile. Thessaly is still the granary of Greece. Cf. 11. 2. 841, ἐριβώλακα.—percussit: has impressed; cf. Vergil's ingenti percussus amore, G. 2. 476; Milton's 'Smit with the love of sacred song.'
These lines refer to various points at or near Tibur (now Tivoli), on the river Anio, about sixteen miles northeast of Rome. The whole neighborhood was and is noted for its natural beauty, and many Romans had villas there. The student should read up Tibur in Burn's Rome and Lhe Campagna, or Hare's Days near Rome, 1. 191-207. Cf. Sellar, p.179; Clough, Amours de Voyage, 3. 11. domus: grotto.—Albuneae: the sibyl Albunea. Cf. Verg. Aen. 7. 83.—resonantis: from the cataract (Verg. Aen. 7. 84), nemorurn quae maxima sacro | fonte sonat.
praeceps Anio: headlong Anio, from its cascades. Cf. Macaulay, Regillus, 10, 'From the green steeps whence Anio leaps | In floods of snow-white foam.' Cf. Propert. 3. 30. 14; Stat. Silv. 1. 5. 25. The river is now called Teverone.—Tiburni:the Argive brothers—Tiburnus, Catil(l)us, and Coras—were the mythical founders of Tibur. Cf. 1. 18. 2, 2. 6. 5; Verg. Aen. 7. 670; Stat. Silv. 1. 3. 74, illa recubat Tiburnus in umbra.—lucus: (sacred) grove. Cf. 1. 12. 60; Lucret. 5. 75.—uda: irrigated; 4. 2. 30; 3. 29. 6.
mobilibus . . . rivis: the branches of the Anio andtheir rapids, 'cascatelle.'—pomaria: orchards. Cf. Ov. Am. 3. 6. 45; Propert. 5. 7. 81, ramosis (pomosis) Anio qua pomifer (spumifer) incubat arvis.
Horace may have pieced two fragments of verse together at this point, but we cannot separate them.—albus: 3. 27. 19;3. 7. 1. The south wind does not always 'rise with black wings' (Milton), as caeli fuscator Eoi (Lucan. 4. 66). It is often (saepe) the white (whitening) λευκόνοτος and scours away the clouds. Cf. Arnold, Empedocles, 'As the sky-brightening south-wind clears the day.'
parturit: 4. 5. 26; Lucret. 6. 259, fulminibus gravidam tempestatem; Hymn. Orph. 21. 1, νεφέλαι . . . ὀμβροτόκοι.
sapiens . . . memento: be wise and remember, with the wisdom of 1. 11. 6.
finire . . . labores: so 3. 4. 39; Sat. 2. 3. 263, finire dolores.—tristitiam: dejection, resulting from labores, troubles, probably political.
molli: mellow, and mellowing.—fulgentia: cf. Tac. Hist. 3. 82, fulgentia per colles vexilla; they were decorated with bright silver disks, Pliny, N. H. 33. 58. Cf. 2. 1. 19.
tenebit: apparently he is in camp.
tui: Plancus may have been a native of Tibur, or possibly had a villa there.—Teucer: son of Telamon of Salamis and brother of Ajax. When he returned to Salamis after the Trojan war without Ajax (who had killed himself because the arms of Achilles were awarded to Ulysses), his father drove him into exile. He sailed to Cyprus and there founded a city which he called Salamis. Cf. Vell. 1. 1, non receptus a patre Telamone ob segnitiarn non vindicatae fratris (Aiacis) iniuriae, Cyprurn adpulsus cognorninern patriae suae Salamina constituit. Cf. Verg. Aen. 1. 619. For Teucer's anticipation of his reception, if he returned without his brother, cf. Soph. Ajax, 1007-1020. For Telamon's passionate invective (a popular scene in the early Roman drama), cf. the fragments of Pacuvius' play; Cic. de Or. 2. 193; Ribbeck, Pacuv. Teucer, fr. 12. Cf. further, Isoc. 3. 28, 9. 18. Teucri vox, . . . patria est ubicumque est bene (Cic. Tusc. 5. 37. 108) expresses the sentiment of l. 25. The personal application (if any) of the tale to Plancus is as obscure to us as is that of Pindar's myths.
fugeret: was leaving as an exile. Cf. on 2. 13. 28; Sat.1. 6. 13. What is described in this and the following lines took place the night before the departure. uda: cf. on 2. 19. 18; 4. 5. 39; Tibull. 1. 2. 3, multo perfusum tempora Baccho.—Lyaeo: from wine, i.e. from drinking, abl. of cause. Lyaeus (as if from λύω), the releaser from care and tongue-tied dullness, is another name for Bacchus, because, as Browning (Aristoph. Apol.) puts it, men found 'That wine unlocked the stiffest lip and loosed The tongue late dry and reticent of joke.' Cf. on 3. 21. 16, 1. 18. 4, 4. 12. 20. The god is put for his gift as Ceres for grain (Verg. Aen. 1. 177), Venus for love, etc. Cf. Lucret. 2. 652, Bacchi nomine abuti | mavolt quam laticis proprium proferre vocamen.
pōpulae: as sacred to Hercules (Verg. Ecl. 7. 61; Theoc. 2. 121), the wanderer (vago, 3. 3. 9) and guide, ἡγεμών (Xen. Anab. 4. 8. 25. ) In company with Hercules Telamon had taken Troy and won Hesione, the mother of Teucer.
quo . . cumque: cf. 1. 6. 3.—melior: i.e. kinder.
o socii . . . peioraque passi (30): cf. Verg. Aen. 1 199, o socii . . . o passi graviora; Odyss. 12. 208, 'Worse deaths have we faced and fled from'; Ov. Trist. 5. 11. 7, multo graviora tulisti.
Teucro: the name is more inspiring than me. Cf. Macaulay, Horat. 43, 'But will ye dare to follow, | If Astur clears the way?' So in Sliaks. Julius Caesar, passim, 'Shall Caesar send a lie?' 2. 2. But its repetition verges on the vainglorious, which is consistent with the traditional account of Teucer's character.—duce et auspice: suggests the formal ductu et auspiciis. A campaign was under the auspices of the Consul or Imperator (cf. on 4. 14. 33). It might not be under his personal conduct (Suet. Aug.21). Auspice is used, however, with special reference to the prophecy in 29. Translate, with Teucer as leader and Teucer as seer.
certus: unerring, νημερτής. Cf. Pind. Pyth. 9. 40, 3. 29. In 1. 12. 23 certus = ἄφυκτος. For the oracle, cf. Eurip. Hel. 146.
ambiguam: to dispute the name (Wickham); cf. 2. 5. 24. So that when Salamis was named men would ask, 'Which Salamis?' Hence, Lucan, 3. 183, Manil. 5. 50, Sen. Troad. 854, seem to speak of a veram Salamina.
nunc: while they could, before the voyage was begun. Cf. 1. 9. 18—pellite: Tibull. 1. 5. 57, saepe ego temptavi curas depellere vino.
ingens: boundless, ἀπείρονα. In 2. 10. 9 μακρά; in 4. 9. 19 πελώριος.—iterabimus: we shall embark again upon; they had just returned from Troy. Cf. Odyss. 12. 293 for the formula.
