2. fastidis:
probably on account of its small proportions and its dulness[sic].
habitatum:
i.e. though it is not so small, after all.
quinque focis,
etc.: i.e. families, tenants of the poet.
3. Variam:
the market town of the neighborhood. dimittere:
probably to the meetings of the pagani for civil or religious
purposes. Each pagus or territorial division formed a commune
with corporate privileges and common religious rites.
4. certemus,
let us try, i.e. in a kind of wager, to decide which
of us does his duty best in his domain, Horace in self-improvement,
or the steward in husbandry.
5. res:
i.e. the farm.
6. me,
etc.: a confusion of the poet's own weakness, opposed to the tu
in v. 14. At the same time Horace justifies himself as consistent
in his desire for a quiet life in the country; cf. v. 16.
quamvis, etc.:
i.e. though I am detained in the city, yet my heart is there
in the country. Lamiae:
possessive genitive. pietas:
the fraternal affection which causes Lamia to mourn for his brother.
cura:
i.e. his trouble or sorrow. moratur:
on account of Horace's duty to console him. The person referred to
is the same friend of the poet, L. Ælius Lamia, mentioned in Od.
I.26 and addressed in III.17.
7. maerentis:
of external mourning. dolentis:
of inward sorrow. Cf. Cic. ad Att. XII.28 maerorem minui,
dolorem nec potui nec si possem vellem.
8. mens
animusque, my mind and heart, thoughts and desires.
9. amat,
longs; cf. Od. III.9.24. spatiis,
the open field, properly the race course, shut off by the
barriers (claustra) in front of the carceres,
or stalls in which the horses were confined till the word was given.
obstantia,
which bar, by a change of point of view governing spatiis,
instead of that which is really barred.
12. causatur,
finds fault with; properly, assigns as the cause.
14. tu,
etc.: i.e. you also are discontented, and with less consistency
than I, for you were equally unsatisfied in the city.
mediastinus,
a man of all work, in the city house.
tacita: i.e.
you looked upon it as such a boon that you hardly dared express the
wish aloud.
15. ludos
et balnea: delights of the city.
16. me,
etc.: but I am consistent with myself.
18. non
eadem, etc.: i.e. while I should be glad to
be always in the country, you are dissatisfied as soon as you get
there; and the cause of this difference is that we have different
views of the pleasures of life. You have no care for rural beauties,
but prize only the pleasures of appetite.
23. piper
et tus: which of course cannot be grown in Italy, but
only in tropical climates.
25. nec
meretrix, etc.: i.e. you complain that you have
no relaxation, though your labor is of the hardest.
26. urgues,
you contend with, implying the difficulty of the task.
27. non
tacta, etc.: and so requiring more labor on account of
previous neglect. bovem,
etc.: i.e. and have the cattle to care for besides.
28. frondibus:
anciently used for fodder. Cf. Virg. Ecl. IX.61.
31. nunc
age, etc.: i.e. now look more deeply to see
precisely why we differ.
32. quem
tenues, etc.: i.e. the fact is I am getting
old, and the pleasures I once enjoyed I care for no more. tenues,
fine-spun, as opposed to the coarse cloth that satisfies
him now. He was sufficiently handsome then to justify personal adornment.
33. immunem,
with empty hands, by his own personal charms.
rapaci: i.e.
not usually thus pleased.
34. media
de luce: cf. Od. I.1.20.
35. cena
brevis: i.e. without many courses.
36. nec
lusisse pudet: i.e. he is not ashamed of these
indulgences, because they were suited to his age.
37. istic,
there, in the country, where you are.
obliquo: of the
glance of envy, which was anciently supposed to have a magic influence,
to the injury of the object.
38. morsu:
alluding to slander, under the figure of the serpent's tooth.
39. rident,
etc.: i.e. instead of envy, I only excite a smile at my efforts
at husbandry.
40. cum
servis, etc.: here Horace returns to the tastes of his
steward, and so closes with the theme of discontent and an exhortation
against it. diaria,
the measured rations, instead of the unlimited food of the
country; cf. v. 42.
41. usum,
etc.: which, to the steward of the farm, would be free, not measured
out like the city rations.
42. argutus,
shrewd, knowing well which was the better condition.
43. optat.
. .bos, etc., so the lazy ox desires, etc.
44. quam
scit, etc.: but let each, I should say, etc.;
alluding to the common proverb, Quam quisque norit artem in hac
se exerceat (Cic. Tusc. I.18.41. For the Greek, see
Aristoph. Wasps, 1431), which he here applies to the ox and
the horse, and through them to the country and city slave, particularly
the former. |
