2. amatores:
the plural of one person, as usual with the pronoun of the first person
in Latin.
4. negat:
the construction is ungrammatical, throwing in the third person as
a parenthesis where the first person plural would be either untrue
or else clumsy.
8. quid
quaeris: like quid multa, etc., transferring,
however, the person from the speaker to the one addressed: "Why
do you ask more," instead of "Why should I say more."
vivo:
i.e. I enjoy true life. regno:
i.e. have the freedom of a king.
9. rumore
secundo, with shouts of applause.
10. fugitivus,
etc.: in the usual manner, the figure is identified with the object.
liba:
the favorite offerings of the common people, of which in the house
of the priest the slave, now a runaway, has had his fill. Like him,
Horace has enjoyed the luxuries of the city to his satisfaction, and
is glad to be rid of them.
11. pane:
i.e. some more solid food. iam:
i.e. now that he has had enough of the delights of the city.
12. vivere,
etc.: the Stoic rule of life, homologouménos tai phusei zan,
is here used more or less jocosely by Horace in a double sense, to
include also material as well as spiritual life.
16. rabiem
canis: Sat. I.7.25; Od. I.17.17; and
Sat. II.5.39. momenta
leonis, the fury of the ramping lion, as if
the lion were roused to fierce activity by the arrival of the sun.
19. Libycis:
i.e. of marble from Numidia. lapillis:
referring to the mosaic pavements of the great Roman houses.
21. trepidat:
of the broken course of the brook as it seems to bustle over the stones.
22. nempe,
why! nutritur,
etc.: i.e. even amid the splendor of the city, the rich endeavor
to imitate rural beauties, thus admitting the superiority of the country.
24. naturam:
i.e. the natural instinct of preference for the country.
expellas,
etc.: proverbial. recurret:
as indicated by the words beginning with nempe.
25. mala
fastidia, affected disdain.
26. non
qui, etc.: the material aspect of the subject is here
connected with the spiritual, through the false and unnatural preference
for artificial life shown by the lover of city splendor. Such a person
is deceived by glare, and has no true estimate of the relative value
of things, and he is here compared to a dealer in stuffs who is no
judge of his merchandise. Sidonio
ostro: the real Tyrian purple which was of the most value.
contendere,
compare, so as to decide on their value.
27. Aquinatem
fucum: a lichen which made an imitation of the real purple.
28. propius
medullis, coming closer home.
29. vero
falsum: in a moral sense, the true goods of life from
the false; hence the statement in v. 30.
31. mirabere:
cf. nil admirari, I.6.1.
33. amicos:
i.e. courtiers, favorites.
34. cervus,
etc.: this fable of Ćsop (cf. Phaedrus IV.4; Aristot. Rhet.
II.20) continues the moral application of the discourse, as explained
in v. 39. communibus
herbis, from their common pasture.
37. violens:
like ferox, of confident, exultant strength.
40. dominum:
i.e. the attachment to luxury in which riches become a necessity.
42. non
conveniet: i.e. being either too great for his
condition, or too meagre.
43. uret,
will gall.
44. laetus:
including both happiness and contentment.
45. nec
me, etc.: in return for Horace's advice, Aristius is
requested to do the like for him in turn.
47. imperat
aut servit: i.e. it rules unless it is enslaved;
cf. I.1.62.
48. tortum:
simply strained; the natural composition of the rope, as
it is held by the leader, makes the epithet a really descriptive one,
though it is often used merely for ornament. digna:
i.e. it ought to be led rather than the leader. The figure
is, of course, derived from leading an animal.
49. haec
tibi, etc.: the poet humorously shows by the date of
his letter the perfect repose which he is himself enjoying.
dictabam (epistolary
imperfect): i.e. not even writing with his own hand.
putre, mouldering.
The temple itself is unoccupied and in decay, and so presents a picture
of inactivity. Vacunae:
a Sabine deity, either really a god of vacations (vaco),
or mistakenly supposed to be such. For the form, cf. Fortuna,
Portunus. The character of the goddess heightens the picture
of idleness.
50. laetus:
no doubt with an allusion to the contentment which he recommends to
Fuscus in v. 44. |
