Poems (1717) :: :: University of Virginia Library

105

THE Twenty Second ODE OF THE First Book of Horace.

Virtue, Dear Friend, needs no Defence,

Integer vitæ, scelerisque purus. These are Greek Phrases, in which the Preposition εκ is to be understood; for let the Grammarians say what they will, integer and purus can never govern a Genitive Case.

The surest Guard is Innocence:

Mauri jaculis. He speaks of the Darts of the Moors, by reason those People shot wonderfully from the Bow.

None knew, 'till Guilt created Fear,

Venenatis sagittis. The Moors were obliged to poison their Arrows, to defend themselves from wild Beasts, which their Country was full of.

What Darts or poison'd Arrows were.
Integrity undaunted goes.

Per Syrtes æstuosas. It is not to be understood here that which is properly call'd the Syrtes of Africk, but all sorts of Places, Sandy and Burning, as those Countries are over-against the Syrtes.

Through Libyan Sands or Scythian Snows,

Inhospitalem Caucasum. The Greeks called Caucasus, Abaton axenous apanthropon: Horace has express'd it all by this one Word inhospitalis. Caucasus is between the Port Euxine and the Hircanian Sea, and signifies perhaps The Rampart of Scythia.

Or where Hydaspes wealthy side

Fabulosus Hydaspes. Hydaspes is a River in India; it is now called Lobchan. Fabulosus does not signifie Fabulous, but Renown'd, Famous. Pliny has call'd Atlas after the same manner, Fabulosissimum Africæ Montem, The most celebrated Mountain of Africk.

Pays Tribute to the Persian Pride.
For as (by am'rous Thoughts betray'd)

Namque me sylvâ lupus in Sabinâ. He speaks upon another Occasion after the same manner, That being one Day asleep in a very retir'd Place the Doves cover'd him with Leaves of Laurel and Myrtle, and that he slept there safely in the midst of Vipers and Bears.

Careless in Sabin Woods I stray'd,

107

A grisly foaming Wolf unfed,
Met me unarm'd, yet, trembling, fled.
No Beast of more portentous Size

Militaris Daunia. Daunia is properly that Part of the Poüille which juts out into the Adriatick Sea, where is Sipontus and Mount Gargan, now call'd Mount St. Angelo: But all Poüille, from the Samnites even to Calabria, was also called Daunia, as is all Italy. Horace uses it here in the second Signification, and calls it Warlike, by reason it produces very good Soldiers.

In the Hercinian Forest lies;

In latis æsculetis. Poüille is much over-run with Wood, it is that which is named by the Greeks Daunia, from the Word Δαυλος, Δαυνος, which signifies Covert, Thick, Thicket, Hesych: Δαυλον δασσο, Daunia Terra is then properly γη δασ[]α, a Land of much under-woody Covert. Mr. Guget had written this Remarque on the Margin of his Horace, which the Learned Mr. Menage lent me.

None fiercer, in Numidia bred,

Nec Jubæ tellus. Mauritania is a Part of Numidia, which was under the Government of Juba, who had there so great a number of Lions and Tygers, that the People were at last forc'd to abandon their Dwellings, and the tilling of their Ground.

With Carthage were in Triumph led.
Set me in the remotest place,

Pone me pigris. He means, There is no Place so savage, nor so hideous, that the Thoughts of his Mistress wou'd not render agreeable to him, and where that Goddess, whose powerful Protection he has already experienc'd, could not send him Succour, and draw him out of all those Dangers which shou'd threaten his Life. 'Tis on this Account he is resolv'd always to love her, and this Love will be a certain Refuge for him in every Danger. In all the Books of Chivalry there is nothing more gallant.

Pigris campis. These four Verses admirably design the two Polar Zones, which are always environ'd by Ice and killing Frosts. Barren Grounds wonderfully express Countries condemned to a perpetual Sterility, and in a manner depriv'd of the Motion of Life.

That Neptune's frozen Arms embrace;
Where angry Jove did never spare

Quod latus mundi. Latus is a very proper Word, the two Zones being the two Sides of the World.

Malusque Jupiter urget. This Expression is extreamly fine and very Poetical. He looks upon those Plants as deform'd by Jupiter as a Mark of his Anger: Nothing cou'd better paint the Inclemency of a Climate: Jupiter, for the Air.

One Breath of kind and temp'rate Air.
Set me where on some pathless Plain

Pone sub curru. Under the Torrid Zone, between the two Tropicks.

The swarthy Africans complain,

In terrâ domibus negatâ. The Ancients believ'd the Torrid Zone to be intirely uninhabitable, but now every one knows that it is not only inhabited, but also very temperate thro' the happy Mixture of Warmth by Day, and the fresh Breezes of the Night.

To see the Chariot of the Sun

Dulcè ridentem, dulcè loquentem. Horace has here join'd two the most considerable Alurements, the grace of making her laugh, and speak, agreeably. He has translated word for word this fine Passage of Sapho.

—Και πλασιον αδυ φωνουσας υπακου
Και γελωσας ιμεεν.
Who hears you speak with so-much Pleasure,
And is charm'd whene'er you smile.

So near their scorching Country run.
The burning Zone, the frozen Isles,
Shall hear me sing of Cælia's Smiles:
All Cold but in her Breast I will despise,
And dare all Heat but that in Cælia's Eyes.

108

Remarques on the foregoing ODE, To FUSCUS ARISTIUS.

Horace writes to the same Aristius Fuscus, to whom he address'd the Tenth Epistle of the First Book. He was a Rhetorician, Grammarian and Poet. There is not any thing in this Ode by which one may make a Conjecture in what time it was made; but if this Lalage is the same with her in the Fifth Ode in the Second Book, of which I make no Doubt, it must have been written much later than the other. No one has hitherto given any Light to this Passage, let us see what Conjecture can be made of it.

Fuscus Aristius was in Love with Lalage: Horace, who was in a strict League of Friendship with him, and who also lov'd Lalage, but rather as the Friend of Aristius than as his Rival, writes him an Account of an Adventure that happen'd to him, in which Lalage had preserv'd him from an eminent Danger, upon the account of his having sung her Praises. He attributes his Safety to this Mistress, whom he looks upon as a Goddess coming to his Succour, in reward for those Sentiments, as respectful as passionate, which he had for her. This is the Reason he begins the Ode with describing his being innocent, and free from any vicious Intentions. This is making a great Compliment to Lalage, and at the same time confirming the Friendship of his Rival, by preventing his being jealous of him.

This Ode is so Polite and Gallant, as never to be sufficiently commended.