1. ne
perconteris, etc.: i.e. for fear you should
suppose that my farm is a productive source of income, I hasten to
tell you that it is chiefly a charming and salutary resort for hours
of retirement. We need not necessarily suppose that the estate was
not a source of income at all, cf. I.14.2 and 26. Horace is only answering
some exaggerated suppositions of his young friend.
2. arvo,
etc.: the five most profitable products of husbandry in ancient times,
grain, oil, fruit, cattle (cf. pratis), and wine.
4. forma
et situs: these apparently show at once that none of
the great products mentioned thrive there. Wine would not seem to
be excluded necessarily; but as Horace expressly says it cannot be
produced (cf. I.14.23), we may suppose the exposure indicated is unfavorable.
loquaciter:
indicating that it was a theme he loved to dwell on.
5. continui
montes: sc. ager est.
ni dissocientur:
an early and colloquial use of present for imperfect subjunctive.
The apodosis is implied in continui, to which the
protasis is a kind of correction, --"they would be if they were
not."
6. veniens,
etc.: i.e. the valley opens to the south; being however only
a little lateral valley, it was probably shaded by a high mountain
directly in front. dextrum:
i.e. as you look down.
8. quid
si, etc.: i.e you would admire the climate,
I am sure, but what would you say if in addition to this delightful
climate, the underbrush bears berries to make the woods beautiful
and perhaps also to feed flocks, the chief branch of industry. Cf.
Od.
I.17.
11. Tarentum:
famous for its flocks, as well as for its beauty.
12. fons:
cf. Ep. I.18.104, and Od.
III.13. dare:
poetic and colloquial for qui det.
idoneus: i.e.
large enough. ut,
such that.
14. infirmo,
etc.: probably for bathing in the one case, and for drinking in the
other; but cf. I.15.8. The emphatic repetition of utilis
points to a twofold use.
15. latebrae,
retreat, pointing to the chief use of the estate.
dulces, dear
to me. amoenae:
i.e. really charming for anybody.
16. Septembribus:
cf. I.7.5.; Sat. II.6.19.
17. tu,
etc.: i.e. so much for my happy condition on my estate
(a happiness which is rather implied than expressed); as for you,
your life must be a happy one if you endeavor to be all that you
are reputed. recte:
cf. I.6.29; II.2.213; and Od.
II.10.1. audis:
cf. Sat. II.6.20; Ep. I.7.38.
18. iactamus
iam, etc.: an explanation of the preceding line.
Roma: by including
himself among the people of Rome, the poet makes the verb first person
plural, as if it were 'we at Rome.'
19. sed
vereor, etc.: whether this antithesis to v. 18 is or
is not intended to refer to anything actually existing in Quinctius'
character, we cannot be sure. The probability is that the words have
some foundation. Yet we need not conclude that the man was really
spoiled, but only that Horace saw in him a tendency to substitute
reputation for character, and made that fact a text for a more general
sermon.
20. alium
sapiente: an extension of the construction of comparatives,
probably imitated from the Greek. Cf. Ep. II.1.240, and
Cic. ad Fam.
XI.2.
21. neu
si te, etc.: an illustration drawn from a man's physical
condition. Here, as usual, the simile is incorporated in the thought
itself.
22. sub
tempus edendi: the time when a sick man ought to think
of his condition and abstain. Not doing this, he is attacked while
at the table.
24. stultorum:
the emphatic position gives it the force, "It is only fools who,"
etc. pudor
malus: cf. Sat. II.3.39.
25. si
quis bella, etc.: an example of a tribute which Quinctius
would at once recognize as not justly paid to him. Why not, then,
recognize any other undeserved compliment as such?
26. vacuas,
listening, unoccupied by anything else.
27. tene
magis, etc.: this sounds like a quotation, and is in
fact said by the scholiasts to be taken from a poem of Varius.
28. servet:
a wish that no circumstance may arise to decide the question through
any misfortune that may happen to either.
30. cum
pateris, etc.: i.e. do you in like manner recognize
this praise as undeserved, as you ought unless you are truly wise
and blameless?
31. tuo.
. .nomine, in your own name, as if the description
were applicable to you. nempe
vir bonus, etc.: i.e. "I like to be spoken
well of, and so do you"; an imaginary objection to Horace's course
of reasoning, which he meets in the next verse.
33. qui
dedit, etc.: i.e. but if the praise is false,
being only in reputation, the people who give it can take it away
again with equally arbitrary caprice.
34. fascis:
i.e. a curule office.
36. idem
si clamet, etc.: an example of undeserved calumny to
offset that of undeserved honor.
37. laqueo
collum, etc.: as a type of monstrous crime. Cf. Od.
II.13.5, and Epod.
3.1.
39. falsus
honor, etc.: to be affected by mere reputation is a mark
of an unsound nature, needlng the healing power of good morals.
40. vir
bonus, etc.: this question introduced the erroneous standards
of the people, who estimate the vir bonus only from
his external conduct, which may not proceed at all from a virtuous
soul, but from selfish motives.
41. qui
consulta, etc.: the answer of the people to the question
in the preceding verse. consulta patrum, etc.: the
whole description applies to the prominent statesman, and refers to
the maintenance of good government as well as obedience to the laws.
42. secantur:
cf. Sat. I.10.15. iudice:
cf. Sat. I.4.123.
43. quo:
in the ablative absolute construction. sponsore,
etc.: i.e. his faithfulness as a surety makes property secure.
teste,
etc.: his honesty as a witness makes a case certain to win.
tenentur, are
not lost.
44. sed
videt, etc.: his true character, as known by his household
and near neighbors.
45. introrsum
turpem: cf. Sat. II.1.64.
46. nec
furtum, etc.: i.e. such a man is like a slave
who refrains from wrong-doing only from fear of punishment.
49. Sabellus:
i.e. a strict judge, who looks at the motive. The Sabines
had a reputation for preserving the old-fashioned country virtues.
Cf. Epod. 2.41; Od. III.6.37.
50. cautus,
etc.: i.e. refraining from evil-doing for fear of punishment
is no more a virtue than avoiding the snare is in a brute.
55. nam
de mille, etc.: i.e. one can see that would
break all laws if there were a chance of concealment, because a slight
peccadillo, which is not noticed by the people, is in the eye of philosophy
a crime which shows that you are bonus et sapiens.
In this passage, and down to v. 69, the poet falls into the Stoic
line of argument, from which sect he doubtless draws much of his philosophy,
though he often ridicules its extremes.
56. pacto
isto, in that case, i.e. of the supposed
trifling delinquency. lenius:
i.e. than when misces sacra profanis.
57. vir
bonus, etc.: an example of the secret conduct of a man
such as he has described. forum:
in his political character, cf. v. 41. tribunal:
in his judicial functions, cf. v. 42.
59. clare:
opposed to labra movens.
60. Laverna:
the goddess of thieves.
61. iusto:
attracted to the case of mihi; cf. mediocribus
esse poetis, II.3.372.
63. qui
melior servo: and so of course not vir bonus;
cf. note on v. 55. Here begins a new point; avarice also is fatal
to the character of a vir bonus which is claimed.
64. in
triviis fixum: doubtless proverbial as a test of cupidity;
cf. Persius, V.111.
67. perdidit
arma, etc.: proverbially the deepest disgrace to a Roman,
as it would deprive him of his citizenship and as good as make a slave
of him. locum,
the ranks, in the technical sense, as a figure.
69. vendere
cum possis, etc.: i.e. to be sure such a man
is not wholly useless; he may be tolerated in society for the service
he renders, but he is only a slave after all.
70. pascat,
etc.: these are all employments of money-getting, but they benefit
society. durus:
cf. I.7.91.
72. annonae
prosit, relieve the market, by importing grain
so as to make it cheap.
73. vir
bonus, etc.: i.e. the true vir bonus
will look with contempt upon all earthly good and evil, since his
summum and solum bonum in a virtuous soul. This
thought is presented in the form of a free paraphrase of the interview
in which Dionysus in disguise defies the power of Pentheus of Thebes,
(see Eur. Bacchae, 450 seq.). The only direct imitation
is from v. 487, lúsei m' ho daímon autòs hótan egò thélo,
which Horace interprets as referring to suicide. This is not intended
in the original, but is introduced here in accordance with the general
doctrine of the ancients.
76. lectos:
cf. neque ego unquam bona perdidisse dicam, si quis pecus aut
supellectilem amiserit, Cic. Parad. I.8.
79. linea:
referring to the chalkline which served as the goal in the circus. |
