by Horace
keening and weeping for Itys, sempiternal shame
of Cecrops’ house, because she avenged
too cruelly the barbarous lust of kings.
In the lush grass the fat sheep’s
10
guardians play songs on their pipes
and delight the God to whom are dear
Arcadia’s flocks and umbrageous hills.
Virgilius, the season has brought us drought:
if you (a protégé of noble youths) wish truly
to sample a wine that was pressed at Cales,
you must earn your cup with nard.
A little pot of nard elicits ajar
stored now in some Sulpician warehouse,
sufficiently large to give new hope, and efficacious
20
to wash away your bitter cares.
If you are eager for such relief, come quickly
with your fee: if you come empty-handed
I don’t envisage you damping your thirst
at my table – for I am no fat squire.
Set aside delay and thought of gain
and mindful of darkness burning mix
brief sottishness with wisdom while you may:
it is sweet to play the clown upon occasion.
13
Audivere, Lyce
The Gods have heard my prayer, Lyce,
Lyce, the Gods have heard: you are old,
and yet you want to seem lovely
and sportive, and you drink,
and drunk you solicit indifferent Cupid
with a quavering song. Cupid, however,
keeps watch and flourishes in clever
musical Chia’s fair cheeks.
Rude, he won’t break his flight for sapless
10
oaks and avoids you – for yellow teeth
and wrinkles and the snow
on your head pollute you.
Nor glistening Coan silk nor precious
gems can bring you back the days
that transient time has shut away
in superseded calendars.
Alas, where has Venus fled, and where
complexion and graceful carriage – oh where
is she, Cinara’s happy successor,
20
that she who breathed desire,
whose noted form and charming skills
usurped me from myself? To Cinara
the Fates allowed few years,
but Lyce shall be long
preserved, an aged crow,
that burning young men may study
(not without much laughter)
the torch collapsed in ashes.
14
Quae cura patrum
What adequate honours and emoluments
have the Senate and Quirites
to perpetuate through the ages by inscriptions
and commemorations your perfected
manhood, Augustus, o mightiest of generals
wherever the sun illumines inhabitable regions,
whose capability in war the Vindelici
(hitherto exempt from Roman law)
have lately learned? For with your troops
10
fierce Drusus, in more than equal retribution,
hurled down the Genauni (implacable tribe)
and the swift Breuni together with
their strongholds perched on the dizzy Alps.
Soon the older Nero joined stern battle
and under happy auspices
overcame the savage Rhaetians,
a fine sight in martial combat
for the chaos he made in havocking
those resolved to die unconquered:
20
almost as, when the Pleiades
pierce the clouds, the south wind frets
the indomitable waves, so he was eager
to harass the enemy host and drive
his neighing horse through the midst of fire.
As bullish Aufidus rolls on,
flowing by the realms of Apulian Daunus,
and rages and threatens the cultivated fields
with horrifying floods,
so with an all-out charge Claudius
30
destroyed the barbarians’ iron-clad columns:
mowing down van and rear, suffering
no set-backs, the victor strewed the ground,
prevailing by your troops, your plan, and by
your Gods. And on the very date
when suppliant Alexandria threw open
her harbours and vacated palace,
propitious Fortune thrice five years later
conferred on you a happy end to the war,
bestowing fame and well-sought glory
40
for what was done in enacting your commands.
The Cantabrian (never before civilized),
the Mede, the Indian and the fugitive Scythian
marvel at you, o powerful shield
of Italy and her mistress Rome.
The Nile who hides the sources of
his streams, the Danube, the swirling Tigris,
the monster-infested ocean
that roars round far-flung Britain,
and Gaul not daunted by death, and the harsh
50
land of Spain, all harken to you: to you
the slaughter-enjoying Sygambri
do homage and lay down their arms.
15
Phoebus volentem
Phoebus cut short with his lyre my wish
to tell of battles and cities sacked,
lest I should set my little sails
to an epic wind. Augustus, your reign
has brought rich harvests and fertile fields,
restores to Roman Jove our standards torn
from insolent Parthian porches,
and free from warfare preserves
the Arcade of Janus closed, and by the bridle
10
drags back rank-breaking runaway licence
to propriety, and cancels guilt,
and calls back ancient arts
whereby the Latin name and Roman power
have arisen and the majesty of Empire
extends from the couch of Hesper
to the rising of the sun.
While Augustus guards our affairs,
nor civil strife nor force shall drive out peace,
nor shall sword-forging wrath
20
beset any wretched city.
Drinkers from the deep Danube shall not break
the Julian edicts, nor the Getae,
nor the Seres or treacherous Parthians,
nor any indigenous to the Don.
And we, on festal and working days,
amid the gifts of cheerful Bacchus,
our wives and children about us,
having prayed to the Gods in due form,
shall like our forefathers sing
30
(to Lydian pipes) heroes who died well,
and Troy, and Anchises, and all
the progeny of kindly Venus.
APPENDIX
Suetonius
The Life of Horace
This brief ‘life’ is attached to some of the early MSS of Horace and is generally accepted as an abbreviated transcription of the Vita Horatii which Suetonius had included in the section on poets in his Lives of Illustrious Men. Its main interest lies in the light it throws on the relations between Horace and Augustus through the letters quoted. Some of Augustus’ voluminous correspondence had been published but, as personal secretary to the emperor Hadrian and Head of the Imperial Chancery, Suetonius would have had access to unpublished letters of past emperors.
Quintus Horatius Flaccus was born in Venusia, the son of a freedman, as he says himself, who was an auctioneer’s assistant (though it is popularly believed that he was a seller of salt fish on the strength of someone’s taunt to Horace during a quarrel – ‘How often I’ve
seen your father wipe his nose on his arm!’). In the fighting at Philippi he served as military tribune when called upon by the leader Marcus Brutus, and after his side was defeated he was pardoned and obtained the position of clerk to the quaestors. He was then introduced to Maecenas and subsequently to Augustus, and held high place amongst the friends of both. How dearly Maecenas loved him is clear from the well-known epigram: ‘If I don’t love you, Horace, more than my own life, may your friend look no better than a skinny mule!’ But he spoke out much more strongly to Augustus in his last will and testament: ‘Remember Horatius Flaccus as you will myself.’
Augustus even offered Horace the post of secretary, as can be seen from this letter of his to Maecenas: ‘So far I have been able to write my letters to my friends myself, but now that I am too busy and in poor health I should like to take our friend Horace away from you. He will accordingly exchange the patronage of your table for that of my own, and will help me write my letters.’ Even when Horace declined the offer Augustus was not offended and continued to cultivate his friendship. There are letters extant from which I have taken a few quotations to illustrate this. ‘Make yourself at home in my house as if you shared it with me; it is quite right and proper for you to do so, for that was how I wanted things to be between us had your health permitted.’ And again: ‘You can also hear from our friend Septimius how much I have you in mind, for I happened to mention you in his hearing. Even if your pride made you despise my friendship, I shan’t copy your haughty ways in return.’ Furthermore, amongst other teasing epithets he often called Horace a ‘chaste little dick’ and a ‘charming little fellow’, and he enriched him by more than one act of generosity. As for his writings, Augustus thought so highly of them and was so sure that they would live for all time that he commissioned him not only to write the Centennial Hymn but also to celebrate the victory of his stepsons Tiberius and Drusus over the Vindelici, thereby obliging him to add a fourth book of lyrics to his other three after a long interval. And after reading some of the sermones the emperor protested at finding no mention of himself: ‘You must know that I am cross with you for not addressing me rather than anyone else in your many writings of this kind. Can you be afraid that your reputation will suffer in later times because you appear to be my friend?’ This produced the poem addressed to Augustus which starts:
Since you carry so many weighty affairs on your shoulders, strengthening Rome’s defences, promoting decent behaviour, reforming our laws, it would damage the public interest, Caesar, if I were to waste your time with a lengthy conversation.1
Physically Horace was short and plump, just as he is described by himself in his satires2 and by Augustus in this letter: ‘Onysius has brought me your little book, which I accept in good part, small as it is, as making your excuses. But you seem to me to fear that your books will be bigger than you are yourself, though it is height you lack, not bulk. You are therefore permitted to write on a pint pot, so that your volume may be pot-bellied like yourself.’
He is believed to have been rather free in sexual practices, for it is said that he had his women placed in a room lined with mirrors in such a way that wherever he looked he could see a reflection of his love-making. He lived mostly in his country retreat, on his Sabine farm or in Tibur, where a house near the small grove of Tiburnus is pointed out as his…3 I have in my possession some elegiacs attributed to him and a prose letter, purporting to be a recommendation of himself to Maecenas, but neither, I think, are genuine; the elegiacs are commonplace and the letter obscurely phrased, and obscurity was certainly no fault of his.
Horace was born on the sixth day before the Ides of December in the consulship of Lucius Cotta and Lucius Torquatus,4 and died on the fifth day before the Kalends of December during the consulship of Gaius Marcius Censorinus and Gaius Asinius Gallus,5 fifty-nine days after the death of Maecenas. He was in his fifty-seventh year. He named Augustus as his heir before witnesses when he was too ill to be able to make and sign a will. He was laid to rest in a grave at the far end of the Esquiline Hill, close to the tomb of Maecenas.
NOTES
EPODES
1
This poem was written just before the battle of Actium when it was expected that Maecenas would join Octavian (later Augustus): in the event he stayed in Rome.
1–2. The Roman fleet consisted mainly of small Liburnian galleys: these would be superior in speed and manoeuvrability to ships large and heavy enough to have towering bulwarks.
29. Sheep were pastured in the plains of Calabria during winter, and driven up to the hills of Lucania in summer.
31. Circean: because Tusculum was founded by Telegonus, son of Ulysses and Circe.
2
8. The Senate and the law-courts were housed in the Forum.
9–10. Grapevines were trained to grow on trees. This vegetable union is compared to a marriage.
53. i.e. ‘when there are easterly gales’.
55. African fowl: guinea-fowl.
71. The Ides were the thirteenth or fifteenth and the Kalends the first day of the month.
3
8. Canidia: a witch (see also epodes 5 and 17).
9. Argonauts’ captain: Jason.
4
12. the crier: an officer who during the flogging proclaimed the offence to the onlookers.
15–16. L. Roscius Otho carried a law in 67 B.C. that the first fourteen rows in the Theatre (next to the ‘orchestra’ where senators sat) should be reserved for knights (equites), and so on according to degree.
18. beaked: see note on III. 1. 39.
19. This refers to the way Sextus Pompeius manned his fleet (cf. epode 9, line 10).
5
5. Lucina: the name applied to Juno in her role of goddess of childbirth.
7,13. The purple-edged toga was worn by boys until they assumed the all-white toga at about fifteen. The parti-coloured toga and a gold amulet were the emblems of boyhood.
55. Diana: the ‘dark’ side of the goddess is meant here – Hecate, as she was called in the underworld.
61. Subura: a street of bad repute in Rome.
the ancient rake: presumably this designation, and all masculine or second-person pronouns down to line 87, refer to Canidia’s ‘lover’ Varus – see line 77.
73. perfumed: presumably with preparations that make him oblivious.
6
5. Molossian… Laconian (Spartan): highly regarded strains.
7
2. Note the ‘cinematic’ close-up.
8. the Sacred Way (Via Sacra) : the triumphal route in Rome.
8
15–18. Stoic pamphlets would recommend a rational approach to life and indifference to reverses of fortune.
18. hamptons: Cockney rhyming slang – not Hampton Court, but Hampton Wick.
9
3. Caesar’s triumph: Octavian’s at Actium.
6–11. As when… his friends: Sextus Pompeius, defeated by Agrippa near Messana in 36 B.C., fled to Lesbos and Asia, where he was captured and executed by Antony. He called himself ‘son of Neptune’.
10. slaves: cf. epode 4, line 19.
12. stakes: these were to construct a palisade when pitching camp.
15. eunuchs: the term is directed at Cleopatra’s lieutenants.
17. The Gauls are the Celtic Galatians of Asia Minor who deserted to Octavian before the battle.
20, 22. Hail Triumph (io Triumphe): the spectators’ usual shout at a triumph.
23. Marius led the Numidian king Jugurtha in a triumph in 104 B.C.
33. seasick: Horace and Maecenas did not participate in or observe the battle of Actium – there is no reason to suppose they were even afloat at the time. The Latin word nausea, which Horace employs, can denote seasickness specifically or nausea generally. Perhaps his own description of events at sea has caused Horace to affect to feel vicariously queasy. But the queasiness could as well be real, caused by copious drinking – cf. the demand for larger goblets in line 31. In any case, strong wine (
such as Caecuban) was a known remedy for nausea – cf. Pliny, Natural History, 23.43.
10
14. This refers not to the famous Ajax, brother of Teucer, but to Ajax son of Oileus, king of Locris. He had dragged Cassandra (a prophetess and daughter of Priam) from Pallas Athene’s altar – hence the goddess’ revenge.
