their antiquity. 181. Gaetulo: see n. O. ii., 16, 35.-199. Curat; see n. O. i., 1, 4.- - 184. Herodis. Herod the Great, who was made king of Judea by Antony, and after the battle of Actium retained his throne, through the favor of Octavianus. Pliny, Hist. N.. v. 14, speaks of the rich palm-groves of Jericho, and of the great revenues which they yielded the king.. 187. Genius. See n. O. iii., 17, 14 190. Ex modico. Comp. Sat. i., 1, 51.- 192. Et tamen, etc. The poet means, that he would be sure to preserve a true medium. Here too, comp. Sat. i., 1, 101 seqq. 197. Quinquatribus. The Quinquatria was a festival, in honor of Minerva, which began on the 19th of March, and continued five days; it was a season of vacation for the schools. 212. Spinis, metaphorical for vitiis. 214. Lusisti, etc. The image in these lines is taken from a feast. The sense is: give up these enjoyments, that are no longer suited to your age. Potum; participle; sc. te.. 216. Lasciva-aetas; i. e. youth, an age which may with more propriety indulge in sport and gayety.

1

-215.

men Saeculare of Horace illustrates these words. See Introd. to that hymn.--135. Coelestes-aquas; rain from heaven. Comp. O. iii., 10, 19; Carm. Saec. 31.139. Agricolae, etc. The poet has here in mind the origin of the ancient drama, which, among the Greeks and the Romans, first sprung up at the rural festivals of the people. Similar allusions occur in Ars. P., e. g. 1. 405. 143. Silvanum. See n. O. iii., 29, 23.144. Genium. See n. O. iii., 17, 14. - - 145. Fescennina; i. e. of the Fescennine verses; which formed ". one of the earliest kinds of Italian poetry, consisting of dialogues (versibus alternis) of extempore verses, with which the merry country folks ridiculed one another." See Dict. Antiqq., and comp. Introd. to Notes on the Satires. 152. Lex. The Twelve Tables made slander a capital offence. See Cic. de Rep. iv., 10; and comp. Sat. ii., 1, 82. This statute Horace connects, by poetical conjecture, rather than on historical grounds, with the prohibition of slanderous verses. 154. Fastis; fustuarii, or beating to death with clubs, a mode of capital punishment practised by the ancient Romans. See Livy, v., 6. ∙156. Graecia capta, etc. Here, too, the view of Horace is poetical rather than strictly historical. Greece became a Roman province at the time of the capture of Corinth, B. c. 146; but long before this period, and even before the capture of Syracuse, B. C. 212, to which event Livy, B. xxv., 40, dates "the commencement of the admiration among the Romans of Greek literature"-- inde primum initium mirandi Graecarum artium-from the time of Ennius and Pacuvius, the influence of the Grecian muse had become predominant in Roman literature. Thus early did Greece take captive by her arts, the people destined to be her conqueror in arms.-Comp. Cato's characteristic words, Livy, xxxiv., 4; and Ovid, Fast. iii., 101. 158. Saturnins; the name of the ancient and genuine Roman poetry. Livius Andronicus and Naevius wrote in it. See Macaulay's discussion of this measure, in his Preface to Lays of Ancient Rome. -161. Serns; sc. Romanus. -163. Thespis et. See notes, Ars. P. 276, and 279. 164. Vertere. In allusion to the versions and imitations by Roman poets of Greek tragedies and comedies. - -167. Lituram. Comp. Ars. P. 290; also Sat. i., 10, 72.- 170. Veniae minus. For the very reason, that comedy is drawn from every-day life, any reader sees and condemns in the writer all offences against probability.— 170. Partes. Horace seems here to be ironical, really intending to criticise Plautus as inferior to his Greek models in the delineation of his characters. 173. Dossennus. Probably the name of some dramatic writer. Nothing certain is known of him. Some Edd., following the opinion of K. O. Müller, take the word for the name of a standing comic character, but this view rests on insufficient evidence. 174. Socco. The soccus was a low shoe, worn by comic actors. With non adstricto, it here marks the loose style of Dossennus. Pulpita. See n. Ars. P. 215.

175. Loculos. See n. Sat. i., 3, 17. 177. Quem tulit. The poet now speaks of those who are most influenced by a love of popular applause. On ventoso, see n. Epist. i., 19, 37; comp. Sat. i., 6, 23.- 182. Saepe etiam. Horace here passes to the chief obstacle in the way of dramatic poets, the taste of the people for the shows of the amphitheatre. 185. Eques. See n. Ars. P. 113. -186. Nam. See n. O. i., 18, 3. 189. Premuntur. In the ancient stage, the curtain was wound round a roller under the stage, and was let down at the beginning, and raised up at the end, of the play. -190-197. The poet describes in these lines, the exhibition of battles, triumphal processions, wild beasts,—all pleasing to the people, but fatal to the success of the drama. 191. Retortis. See n. O. iii., 5, 22. 192. Esseda, etc. The names of chariots, adopted by the Romans from the ancient Britons and Gauls, and used on public occasions. See description of them in Dict. Antiqq.

193. Ebur-Corinthus. Works of art in ivory, and Corinthian bronze. - 194. Democritus. The philosopher of Abdera, usually called the laughing philosopher, as Heraclitus of Ephesus was called the weeping philosopher, from the different view which they took of the follies of men. Juvenal has a parallel passage in Sat x., 28-53, which should be compared with the present one of Horace. 195. Genus; in apposition to confusa-panthera camelo: "the beast half-camel and half-pard."-Howes. The poet means the camelopard or giraffe, first exhibited at Rome by Julius Caesar. 197. Ludis ipsis; quam ludos ipsos. See n. O. i., 12, 13.- 198. Mimo. Put here for any actor, for histrione. 199. Asello-surdo. The poet unites the Greek Ονῳ τις έλεγε μῦθον with the Latin surdo narrare fabulam, fr. Terence, Heaut. ii., 1, 10. - -203. Artes. See n. on 1. 193.——204. Divitiae; refers to the costly dresses. 207. Tarentino - veneno. Dye of Tarentum. Veneno = succo muricis, the purple extract from the murex, which was also found near Tarentum; comp. n. O. ii. 16, 36. The variety here referred to was the violacea, from its bordering on the violet color. 210. Per extentum funem-ire. Proverbial for something very difficult. -216. Manus; i. e. the temple of Apollo on the Palatine. See Introd. to O. i., 31; and Epist. i., 3, 17. - 220. Ut vineta-mea. Proverbial for people who do something injurious to themselves; here equivalent to saying,-to blame myself and other poets. In these lines, 220-228, Horace excuses Augustus for sometimes paying too little attention to a poet's works, and at the same time laughs at poets (skilfully including himself) for obtruding themselves and their verses upon the emperor's notice. - -231. Virtas; i. e. virtus Augusti. -233. Choerilus. An inferior poet of Iasus, a town in Caria, who was in the train of Alexander the Great. Curtius, viii., 17, thus speaks of him: Agis quidam Argivus, pessimorum carminum post Choerilum conditor.-Comp. n. Ars. P. 357.- Versibus ;

dative; as in Cic. pro Deiot. 13, quietem senectutis acceptam refert clementiae tuae. - 234. Philippos; sc. nummos. Pieces of gold coin, so called from Philip of Macedon. -240. Lysippo. A celebrated artist in bronze; of Sicyon.-On the ablative, see n. Epist. i., 16, 20. - 244. Boeotum in crasso. Cicero gives the origin of this epithet, in De Fato, 4 (quoted by Orelli); Athenis tenue coelum, ex quo acutiores etiam putantur Attici; crassum Thebis, itaque pingues Thebani. 246. Dantis; sc. tui. 247. Both Virgil and Varius had died before the composition of this Epistle. -251. Repentes. Comp. Sat. ii., 6, 17. - -252. Arces. Comp. O. iv., 14, 11. 254. Auspiciis. Comp. n. O. iv. 14, 16.

255. Janum. Comp. n. O. iv., 15, 9. - 257. Si-possem. Comp. the poet's language in O. i., 6. -259. Vires-recusent. Comp. the poet's example here with his precept in Ars. P. 39. -264. Nil moror, etc. The poet expresses the sentiments which he thinks Augustus himself would cherish and utter; as if he had said: if I were in your place, I should not care for, &c. 268. Capsa. Here used for san. dapila, a bier, in which the bodies of poor people were carried to the grave. The word aperta is added with capsa, because a capsa, with nothing but indifferent books in it, might be left open, but would be kept carefully closed, if it contained valuable books. See n. Sat. ii., 3, 228.

269. Vicum.

EPISTLE II.

This highly finished Epistle, full of illustration of the poet's life and character, was addressed to Julius Florus. (See Introd. to Epist. i., 3.) Florus had complained, that Horace had not, in fulfilment of his promise, sent to him, while absent in the East, in the suite of Tiberius, any of his poetical compositions. The poet, in replying to his friend's complaint, professes to excuse himself for his silence.

He contends, in a familiar illustration from a slave-dealer, that he had warned his friend that he might not keep his word (1-25); and in another illustration from a soldier in the army of Lucullus, that the reasons which once urged him to poetical com. position, now no longer existed (26-57). He proceeds to mention various grounds for his growing indisposition to write; the capricious tastes of readers (58-64); the distract ing cares, and the noise and tumult of a city life (65-86); the mutual admiration and flattery of small poets (8-108); in contrast with which he describes the lofty aims and difficult task of the true poet (109-140). Finally, he alleges in his defence his confirmed attachment to the study of philosophy, and thence slides, in his usual happy manner, into some of his favorite precepts of wisdom, with which he closes the Epistle (141-end). This Epistle has been imitated by Pope.

2. Si-velit. The apodosis to si-velit-agat is in line 16, Des nummos. · Natum Tibure; i. e. not just imported, but born and brought up in Italy, and near Rome. -4. Ad imos talos. Comp. Sat. i., 9, 10,