1. nil
admirari, to be disturbed by nothing, including
all sensations which would disturb the even serenity (euthumía)
of the sage, whether of desire, fear, superstition, or envy. This
state of mind corresponds to the athambía and athaumastíai
of the Greeks. This principle belongs to many philosophers, but
is differently worked out by them in detail. Cf. Diog. Laert. VII.
123. Synonymous with admirari in this sense are stupere,
torpere.
3. hunc
solem, etc.: i.e. there are men so free from
superstition that they can observe all the great phenomena of nature
without alarm. hunc: with a gesture implying the
grandeur of the visible heavens. decedentia,
moving on.
4. tempora,
the seasons. momentis,
times, properly the degrees or steps by which the seasons
seem to proceed. The whole indicates the grandeur of the machinery
of the universe, which excites the awe of the unphilosophical and
leads them to tremble at the power of the gods.
5. quid
censes, etc.: i.e. if the sage can look unmoved
at the grandest phenomena of the heavens, how much less should a man
be moved by the paltry things of earth! munera:
i.e. what earth has to bestow, such as gold and silver, etc.
6. maris:
i.e. pearls from the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.
7. ludicra,
trifles, playthings, in apposition with plausus
et dona. This verse refers to the objects of ambition as
the preceeding do to wealth. dona:
i.e. office.
8. quo spectanda modo, etc.: i.e.
they (a fortiori) are not to be looked upon with awe (admiranda),
but scorned (contemnenda) as worthless. This attitude
of mind as well as freedom from fear is included in nil admirari
(cf. v. 9).
9. his
adversa: i.e. poverty or disgrace in the eyes
of the people. miratur,
is in awe.
10. pavor,
awe, referring to the excited state of mind which is common
both to desire and fear; cf. "all in a quiver," "all
in a flutter." molestus:
i.e. and hence prevents one from being beatus,
the point to be proved.
11. species,
apparition, i.e. the sight either of the object
of desire, or of anything that threatens to take it away.
14. defixis
oculis: cf. ore, v. 8
torpet, is
dazed, the state of mind and body referred to in admirari
(v. 1) and mirari (v. 9).
15. insani:
the opposite of sapiens, and equal to stultus.
aequus,
just, in the sense of rendering everything its due.
16. ultra
quam, etc.: i.e. even virtue itself may become
the object of this admiratio, so that the sage (as
with the Stoics) may become a fool by pursuing virtue to excess.
17. i nunc:
if what has been said is true, then go (if you can) and admire the
objects of men's desire and ambition. argentum,
etc.: i.e. all the paraphernalia of a luxurious life of splendor
and wealth. artes,
works of art.
18. suspice,
gaze upon with awe.
19. gaude
quod, etc.: the marks of a life of successful ambition.
20. forum,
etc.: as a statesman or lawyer to win fortune, and perhaps also by
marrying a rich woman (cf. dotalibus, v. 21) to found
a distinguished family; cf. I. 2. 44.
21. dotalibus:
if this is taken as referring to Mutus also, it means that he has
only that sort of wealth. It may, however, be used of both; cf. preceeding
note.
22. Mutus:
an unknown parvenu. peioribus
ortus: at Rome high birth was regarded as a sort of claim
to political distinction.
23. mirabilis,
an object of envy.
24. quicquid
sub terra, etc.: i.e. these objects of splendor
are only temporary and will perish; they came from the earth (cf.
proferet) and will return to it again (cf. munera
terrae, v. 5).
25. bene
notum, etc.: however great you may be in the eyes of
the people, still death awaits you.
26. porticus
Agrippae: a colonnade near the Pantheon built by Marcus
Agrippa, a favorite lounging-place of the Romans.
via Appi: the
favorite place for driving and riding. Here the great Roman would
be seen in his carriage, as he would be seen on foot in the porticus
Agrippae.
27. ire:
poetical and colloquial instead of ut eas.
Numa, etc.: i.e.
nobody could be greater or more esteemed than the ancient kings. Yet
they are dead, and so you will soon be, and then your fame will be
of no avail.
28. si
latus, etc.: the beginning of the personal application
(as it were) of the sermon. "If what I have said is true, than
it behooves you to set about securing happiness, just as, if you had
a bodily disease, you would at once set about curing it. Then the
question comes up: but how?" Horace then proceeds to give several
proposed remedies, on the one hand the pursuit of virtue, and on the
other the pursuit of wealth, distinction, and pleasure.
29. quaere,
etc.: i.e. do so, as you would of course.
vis recte vivere:
i.e. of course you do, and if so, you should adopt the right
means.
30. si
virtus, etc.: i.e. virtue carried to the extreme
in the Stoic method. If this be the only way to happiness, the natural
conclusion is that you should devote yourself wholly to it, abandoning
all enjoyment. This course the poet has already disapproved in v.
16. Perhaps however the next verse is to be taken literally, representing
Numicius as a disbeliever in virtue, in which case he of course can't
pursue it.
31. virtutem,
etc.: if, on the other hand, you go to the other extreme, and think
that virtue is the mere fustian of philosophers, then the natural
conclusion is that you should devote yourself to the objects of human
desire with insatiable greed. This strenuousness he illustrates in
detail in the following. et,
and (as you naturally would).
32. lucum
ligna: i.e. a sacred grove is nothing but firewood,
the sanctity being a mere pretence or notion. portus
occupet, gain the harbor before you, to get
higher prices for his wares by bringing them in early. Cf. the races
of the first tea-ships in our own times.
33. Cibyratica:
from Cibyra, a commercial city of Phrygia. The whole region of the
Black Sea and of Asia Minor was the seat of the most lucrative commerce
of the times. Here ths capitalist or speculator is referred to, as
the humbler mercator is in the preceeding.
35. quadrat:
i.e. makes it four times as much, referring to rolling up
wealth in arithmetic ratio.
36. scilicet,
for of course, an ironical statement of the advantages of
wealth as giving the sources of happiness. uxorem
cum dote: cf. I. 2. 44. fidem,
credit, both in a business sense, and also almost equivalent
to auctoritas.
38. decorat:
i.e. each with her own peculiar gift.
Suadela: the
goddess of persuasion or eloquence. Venus:
as the goddess of grace and favor.
39. mancipiis,
etc.: i.e. don't be satisfied with wealth in one direction;
be not content even with regal position without enormous riches.
Cappadocum rex:
the allusion is doubtless to Ariobarzanes, mentioned several times
by Cicero as in an embarassed condition. Cf. ad Att. VI.
1. 3, and VI. 3. 5. From Cappadocia came a favorite breed of slaves.
Cf. Plut. Luc. 39.
40. fueris:
with long i, preserving the ancient quantity.
Lucullus, etc.:
be rather like Lucullus, who didn't know how much he did have, as
is illustrated by the anecdote.
41. scaenae:
i.e. for the stage on some festive occasion.
rogatus: i.e.
by the aedile.
44. chlamydum:
with the ancients these were objects of wealth. He didn't know that
he had a hundred, and found he had five thousand.
tolleret: indirect
quotation from the imperative of his letter.
46. dominum
fallunt: as in the case of Lucullus.
furibus: i.e.
ready to be stolen and never missed.
47. si
res, etc.: a repetition of the idea begun in v. 31, but
not formulated until now.
49. species
et gratia, distinction and popularity, in the
political world.
50. servum:
a person called nomenclator whose business it was to find
out the names of humble persons and inform his master, so that he
could greet them by name. laevum:
cf. Sat. II. 5. 17.
51. trans
pondera, over the counter, of the little shops,
on which the balances of the shopkeeper stood, and behind which stood
the keeper himself. Cf. the shops at Pompeii in Museo Borbonico X.
52. hic
multum, etc.: like our ward politicians.
53. curule.
. .ebur, the curule chair of the magistrates.
54. pater,
uncle, our corresponding word. adde:
i.e. to the handshake implied in the preceeding.
55. facetus,
with graceful courtesy. adopta,
take him into your family.
56. si
bene, etc.: a third object of men's desire, thought to
produce happiness.
57. ut
olim Gargilius, etc.: i.e. with all the eagerness
of Gargilius, the anecdote only illustrating the devotion to the pursuit
shown by that unknown personage. The poet, however, cannot forbear
depicting the ludicrous side of Gargilius' behavior, even though that
has nothing to do with the case.
60. unus
e multis: i.e. only one boar, and that one bought
of some country hunter, after all the preparation for hunting.
61. crudi,
etc.: i.e. letus devote ourselves to the pleasures of the
palate, taking the luxurious bath without waiting for the last excessive
meal to digest. Cf. Persius, III. 98; Juvenal, I. 142.
62. quid
deceat, etc.: i.e. the proprieties of life,
which would forbid such indulgence. Caerite
cera, etc.: i.e. good for nothing as citizens,
and so deserving to be deprived of citizenship. This process was performed
by removing a man's name from the list of his tribe, and enrolling
him among the citizens of Caere, who at a very early period were taken
into the state without the right of suffrage. Cf. Aul. Gel.
XVI. 13.
63. remigium,
the crew; cf. Hom. Odys. XII. 313 seq.
64. voluptas:
the feasting on the cattle of the Sun.
65. si
Mimnermus, etc.: a fourth object of desire. Mimnermus:
an elegaic poet of Colophon. censet:
cf. a fragment of his, preserved to us; tís dè bíos, tí dè terpnòn
áter chruséas Aphrodítas;
67. vive,
vale: cf. Sat. II. 5. 110.
rectius, better,
i.e. as a mode of life. Cf. recte, v. 29.
istis:
than all that, which the poet has set forth as the rule of
conduct to be reached by any one who adopts any of the views beginning
with v. 30.
68. candidus:
almost equal to "be generous and."
si non: i.e.
if you have nothing better to offer as a scheme of life than the obviously
absurd ideas that I have set forth (from v. 30) on that side.
his, this
view of mine, referring to the doctrine of nil admirari
set forth from vv. 1 to 27. |
