Selections from Horace Odes III

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Selections from Horace Odes III:
An Edition for Intermediate
Students

Odes III.2, III.3, III.4, III.6

With introduction, commentary

notes and vocabulary
by John Godwin
 BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC
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 Contents

Preface vii

Introduction 1
Text 19
Commentary 29
Vocabulary 79
vi
 Preface

This book is intended to assist students of Latin who have mastered

the basics and who are now ready to start reading some Latin verse
and developing their skills and their understanding. The notes assume
that the reader has studied the Latin language at beginner’s level, but
the vocabulary list glosses every word in the text and the Introduction
assumes that the reader is coming to Horace for the first time. Tricky
phrases are explained and translated in the commentary; and, to assist
with the comprehension of the Latin, the vocabulary at the end of the
book often includes line references to places where a particular word
has a different meaning from the one found in basic dictionaries, and
it is worth consulting the vocabulary whenever the meaning is not
fully explained in the commentary to be certain of the meaning of
every word. In this way the music and the emphases of the verse can
be more fully appreciated. The commentary seeks to elucidate the
background and the literary features of this highly artistic text, while
also helping the reader to understand how the Latin words fit together
into their sentences.
My thanks are due above all to Alice Wright and her team at
Bloomsbury who have been a model of efficiency and enthusiasm and
a delight to write for. My thanks also go to Professor Roland Mayer,
of King’s College, London and the anonymous readers who read
the whole of this book in draft form and made many highly useful
comments which saved me from error as well as pointing me towards
a better reading of the text.

John Godwin
Shrewsbury 2017
viii
 Introduction

Horace’s Odes

This mosaic of words, in which every word, as sound, as place, as

concept, streams out its strength right and left and over the whole;
here the minimum, in terms of the range and number of the signs,
achieves the maximum in the energy of the signs. All this is Roman
and, if you will believe me, noble par excellence. All other poetry
becomes, in comparison, something too popular, merely sentimental
chattering. (Nietzsche, Götzen-Dämmerung)

Horace published Odes books I–III as a single collection of poems

in 23 bc. As a poetic achievement it ranks alongside the very best
literature ever written and it certainly shows the poet to have been a
master of his poetic craft. The eighty-eight poems in the three books
are composed in lyric metres – many in the metres named after the
great Greek lyric poets Sappho and Alcaeus, but also making use of
other verse forms. The opening nine poems of the first book are all
composed in different metres and his mastery of the complex rhythms
is astonishing.
These are not merely technical exercises, however, and the poems
also convey a kaleidoscope of social, political and personal situations.
They cover love poems, party poems, poems to say bon voyage and
poems to say ‘welcome home’, invitations, expressions of condolence,
nature poems, hymns to the gods, political poems (sometimes explicit
and sometimes (e.g. I.14) allegorical), philosophical musings and so
2 Selections from Horace Odes III

on. Like all poems they are composed for performance and with a voice
which may or may not express the feelings of the person writing the
words. They are literary artefacts which often refer to other poetry and
which thus invite the audience to judge the extent to which they are
ironic. Many of the odes are addressed to named people and so may be
targeted at the known proclivities of the person addressed – be it the
bon viveur Maecenas invited to drink cheap wine in Odes I.20 or else the
girl Lalage (whose name means ‘chatterbox’ in Greek) being described
(I.22.24) as ‘talking sweetly’. Poems sometimes start off in one vein and
end up in another: 1.9 starts as a nature poem describing winter and
moves naturally into a recommendation to stay warm indoors and then
into a meditation on enjoying life in the face of an uncertain future.
The opening six odes of the third book are usually referred to as
the ‘Roman Odes’: they are unusual in the collection in that they are
all composed in the same verse form (Alcaics) and all are explicitly
political. These lengthy poems do not have named addressees
(poem 6 is addressed to Romane but no specific Roman is ever
named) and there is little or no light relief in the form of lighter topics
mingled into the politics. They are also difficult to interpret as the
poet’s attitude towards the Augustan themes of austerity, courage,
devotion to the gods and moral high standards is not always clear,
conveyed as it is in verse which is strongly reminiscent of its Greek
predecessors and which can at times sound like ironic pastiche rather
than simply heart-on-sleeve praise. Poem 3, for instance, begins with
Stoic generalities recording the immortality granted to great men and
leads to a version of the speech purported to have been given by the
goddess Juno allowing the deification of Romulus but also demanding
that Troy may not be rebuilt: the poem ends with an ironic twist as the
poet addresses his Muse and asks her to stop using the ‘lowly’ form of
lyric for lofty epic themes such as this.
These are not, then, simple poems, but they repay repeated study. If
the Odes represent the finest lyric produced by the Romans, then the
 Introduction 3

336 lines of the ‘Roman Odes’ must surely rank as the finest sustained
piece of political poetry produced by this highly political society.

The life of Horace

Quintus Horatius Flaccus was born on 8 December 65 bc in Venusia

in southern Italy, the son of an ex-slave as he tells us himself (e.g.
Satires I.6.6). His father was clearly a man of some means with his
own land and a job as a coactor (auctioneering manager): he was rich
enough to send young Horace to be schooled in Rome and then to
university in Athens, which is where the young poet was in 44 bc when
the news of Caesar’s assassination broke. Horace joined up with the
forces of Brutus, one of the leading assassins, and became a tribunus
militum (senior officer). He fought for Brutus at the battle of Philippi
in 42 bc where the republicans were defeated. He returned to Rome
and managed to secure employment as a clerk to the treasury (scriba
quaestorius), which is somewhat surprising in view of his fighting on
the ‘wrong’ side in the war. He was a friend of the poet Virgil and
through him was introduced to Maecenas who was one of Octavian’s
leading advisers and a patron of the arts. Under his patronage, Horace
was introduced to Octavian himself and was even (it is said) offered
a job as a secretary with him – a job he refused. After a few years he
obtained a small Sabine farm in the hillside near Rome, probably as a
result of the patronage of Maecenas.
He began his writing career with the Epodes and the two books of
Satires, all published in the 30s bc: poems which are forthright and
at times outrageous to modern ears but which express the spirit of
frank outspokenness which was prized in the Roman Republic and
which we also see in the work of such republican poets as Lucilius
and Catullus. In the 20s bc he worked on the first three books of
Odes which appeared in 23 bc. He followed this with the first book
4 Selections from Horace Odes III

of Epistles, a form of light didactic verse purporting to be letters and

containing philosophy and some satirical content. His most public
commission was to compose the Carmen Saeculare for the ‘Secular
Games’ in 17 bc, which was all part of the emperor Augustus’
celebration of the national revival under his rule. Horace composed
a fourth book of Odes and some more verse epistles – one of them
addressed to the emperor personally. He died in 8 bc, not long after
the death of his patron Maecenas.

Horace and Augustus

Horace’s career therefore spanned what has been called ‘the Roman
revolution’ (a term made famous by Ronald Syme’s 1939 history of
the period in a book of that name). When he was born the republic
was being governed by the Senate and People of Rome and the army
commanders such as Pompey and Caesar were (in theory) simply
carrying out the wishes of the state in attacking foreign enemies
such as the pirates in 67 bc and Mithridates (in 66–62 bc). All this
changed when Julius Caesar was governing the province of Gaul and
was unable to return to Rome without facing political ruin from his
enemies in the senate: on 10 January 49 bc he famously crossed the
river Rubicon (the stream which divided his province from the rest
of the world and was the boundary of his military authority). He thus
effectively marched his troops against their fatherland in an act of
civil war. This war brought about the dictatorship of Caesar which
ended when he was assassinated on 15 March 44 bc.
The period from 44–31 bc was one of turmoil and uncertainty.
The forces loyal to the dead dictator – led by Mark Antony, who was
Caesar’s consul, and Octavian, who was Caesar’s heir – fought a series
of wars against the republicans who had killed Caesar. Octavian,
Antony and Lepidus formed the second triumvirate after the crushing
 Introduction 5

of the republicans and carried out proscriptions which amounted to a

purge of Caesar’s opponents, including the great orator and statesman
Cicero who lost his life in 43 bc. Lepidus disappeared from the scene,
and shortly afterwards Antony and Octavian divided their powers
into separate spheres, with Antony forming an eastern power-base
in Egypt alongside the queen Cleopatra while Octavian ruled the
western Mediterranean. The rivalry between them came to a climax
in the sea battle off Actium in Greece on 2 September 31 bc. Antony
and Cleopatra were defeated, leaving Octavian the undisputed master
of the Roman world at the age of 31. He returned to Rome in 29 bc
and in January 27 bc he was given the title of ‘Augustus’ and the
position of princeps.
This was uncharted territory in Roman politics. They had had
kings in the distant past – the last one was Tarquin the Proud who
was expelled in 509 bc. They had also had dictators such as Sulla
who was ruthless towards his enemies and died of natural causes,
and recently Caesar who was clement towards his enemies and was
assassinated. Augustus had to find a path whereby he could rule
without seeming to be a ruler. In his account of his achievements (Res
Gestae) he tells us that he only acted as the senate told him and that
he in fact ‘liberated Rome from the tyranny of a faction’, although this
is obviously not the whole truth. He took constitutional offices such
as the consulship and later adopted tribunician power as the ‘term of
the highest power’ (summi fastigii vocabulum (Tacitus Annals III.56)).
Augustus was clearly determined to avoid the Scylla of tyranny and
the Charybdis of political insignificance. Augustus promoted a vision
of Roman values which included clemency to his enemies but he
was wise enough not to let this prevent him executing or exiling any
perceived threats to his regime, such as was to happen to the poet
Ovid in ad 8. The major part of Augustus’ appeal was to the sense
of shared values which Romans had, and above all to the feeling that
life was immeasurably better under the peace and prosperity of an
6 Selections from Horace Odes III

emperor than it had been in the almost chaotic days of the dying
republic. His title ‘Augustus’ suggested the sort of ‘awe’ which was
inspired by the divine and is something to bear in mind when reading
Horace’s pronouncements on the future divinity of the emperor.
One specific area which is highlighted in the Roman Odes is that
of the Parthians. In 53 bc the Roman general Crassus was defeated
by them at the battle of Carrhae with the deaths of 20,000 men and
the loss of the Roman legionary standards. This disgrace needed to be
avenged and the standards needed to be recovered, and Romans were
keen and confident that Augustus would succeed in doing this where
Antony had failed in 36 bc. Horace refers to this several times in these
poems (II.3, III.44, VI.9–10) and it was clearly part of the Augustan
agenda to safeguard the border with the Parthian empire. In fact, he
did so by diplomacy and the threat of invasion rather than by overt
warfare and secured the return of the standards (and some Roman
prisoners who had been held since 53 bc) in 20 bc. Horace was
composing his poems in the heady early days of the regime when such
projects were objectives and fuel for both patriotism and also restoring
Roman pride. The poet neatly expresses the view that all this was both
right and proper even in the age of self-proclaimed ‘Augustan peace’.
In these poems, then, the poet speaks to and for his community
in a given political situation. When the poet appears to be mouthing
the sentiments of his government or praising the emperor, is this
toadying propaganda and selling out to the regime? What would
the 23-year-old Horace, fighting for the republic, have made of the
43-year-old author of these Odes? There is no single simple answer to
this question – which is also fired at Virgil’s Aeneid albeit in different
ways – but some thoughts may help to promote further discussion.
Horace’s earliest works (the Epodes and Satires) were mostly poems
of critical judgement, sometimes excessively so. Many readers come
to the Odes and see these too as pieces expressing value judgements,
composed in a spirit of gratitude to the new princeps for the renewal
 Introduction 7

of the economy, the land and the values of old Italy. Anyone who had
lived through the wars and shortages of the last century bc would no
doubt feel thankful and optimistic now that the new regime was in
power with its apparent offer of peace and new hope. This aspect of the
poetry should not be curtly dismissed. For one thing, this relationship
is not solely one of subordination to new masters. Horace mentions
(IV.26) the battle of Philippi and does not apologise for being on the
‘wrong’ side there, and clearly feels that he enjoys security and status
as a vates, and therefore speaks as some sort of spokesman to and for
the regime. It is also worth pointing out that Augustus laid great store
by the value of clementia (‘forgiveness’ of enemies) and so Horace
could be positively advertising this Augustan value in his mention
of Philippi (for which see especially Odes II.7). Horace’s sententious
moralising (such as poem VI) can seem subservient support for the
new social legislation – but it could also be seen to be offering advice
and encouragement to a man eager to bring in moral and social
legislation and not yet able to do so. Augustus (63 bc–ad 14) had only
begun to rule in the early 20s bc and Horace was therefore writing for
a relatively inexperienced ruler. Poetry such as this acts as a mirror
of the regime in which the government may see itself – and popular
sentiments – reflected. Mirrors are not usually flattering.
Throughout the ancient world there were examples of powerful
men having a ‘wise man’ to offer advice and thought – Scipio with
his Laelius, for instance, or Nero with his Seneca. The tradition
whereby poetry was seen as an ethical force for good is as old as
Homer himself – Agamemnon left a ‘bard’ with his wife Clytemnestra
when he went to Troy in a (futile) bid to maintain her wifely fidelity
(Odyssey III.267–8), and Roman poets had something of a habit of
dedicating their poems to men of legal and/or political action (as
Horace addresses Satires II.1 to Trebatius, as Lucretius’ patron was
Memmius, or Tibullus with his patron Valerius Messalla Corvinus).
This relationship went both ways, however. The tradition of ‘panegyric’
8 Selections from Horace Odes III

was strong in ancient poetry, stretching from Pindar’s choral lyrics

to celebrate the victories of athletes in the games right up to the last
pagan poet of Imperial Rome, Claudian, with his epics in honour
of the great and powerful of his day. The father of Roman literature,
Ennius, was much in demand as a writer who could praise famous
men, according to Cicero (pro Archia XXII); there was a strong urge
from the men of action to have a bard to immortalize their exploits in
literary form, a form of immortality which Horace is alive to:

vixere fortes ante Agamemnona

multi; sed omnes inlacrimabiles
urgentur ignotique longa
nocte, carent quia vate sacro. (Odes IV.9, 25–8)
(many brave men lived before Agamemnon, but all are unwept,
unknown and pressed down by long night, because they had no
inspired poet.)

Did this mean that Horace was a court poet working for ‘Caesar
who was able to compel’ (Caesar qui cogere posset (Satires I.3.4))?
Several of the Augustan poets claim that they are not up to the
task of composing the military epic which the regime is asking of
them and this ‘refusal poem’ or recusatio became something of a
genre in itself (Odes I.6, II.12, Satires II.1.12–15, Virgil Eclogues
VI.3–5, Propertius II.1). This could easily become ironic as the
poet composes a poem saying what he is not going to write about,
allowing him to have his cake and eat it – something like the irony
of Epode II where lengthy praise of the country life is ended with
the revelation that the speaker is an incorrigible townie (‘any day
now going to live in the country’). Military epic was nothing new,
of course, and the search for originality would not find much hope
of satisfaction in yet another epic celebrating yet another battle:
it might have seemed easy to a skilled poet to ‘do’ epic like this,
but in fact it would have been almost impossible to create original
 Introduction 9

poetry on so hackneyed a theme. Virgil succeeded magnificently,

of course, in his epic The Aeneid which was being composed as
Horace wrote his Odes I–III. There was no room for two men
tackling the same idea.
Horace’s choice of lyric form for his political poetry was a master
stroke in itself. The idea of marrying the public issues of the day with
the private form of the lyric is not totally original – his Greek model
Alcaeus had done this, as we will see – but it had not been done before
in Latin and the artistic licence of the lyric is invaluable in creating
the persona of the inspired poet/public speaker. The Odes with their
Greek background mix together the Greek and the Roman, the past
and the present and future, the topical and everyday and the dark
reaches of myth and legend. They claim to be works of art whose
primary loyalty is to the Muses rather than the government, but the
poems in this book are certainly related to the issues of the day.
They make use of political topics but the poems are not reducible
to party political broadcasts, any more than Virgil’s Aeneid is just a sop
to Augustus. The form of the poems – the lyric metres and the high-
flown language, for instance – make it harder to take the content at
face value. If a modern political party were to make an opera out of
their manifesto, we would not simply listen to the words but would
feel that something more than mere political narratives was going on.
Lyric, with its pretence of musical accompaniment and use of exotic
metres, allows elements of fantasy and imagination which would be
hard to sustain in satire or even epic. There are moments in the Odes
(as there are in Virgil) where the praise element seems overblown and
the whiff of irony can be detected or suspected: here again the poet can
retreat into the fantasy world of poetry, but here too he can be seen to
be showing the emperor the awesome imagery which the public expect
of him. If Augustus is seen in mythical terms (‘drinking nectar amongst
the gods’ (III.12)) then that is a burden for the ruler to bear, a set of
expectations for him to match as well as praise for what he is achieving.
10 Selections from Horace Odes III

One could try to interpret the poems as in some ways anti-

Augustan, sneering in sarcastic praise and embarrassing the ruler
with extravagant and absurd praise, but this is a judgement which
few people would make. When Horace refers to Augustus’ second
wife Livia (herself divorced from her first husband) as unico gaudens
mulier marito (III.14.5: ‘a woman rejoicing in her one and only
husband’) this could sound like sarcasm; but the myth of Livia the
model wife was one which the whole of Rome swallowed when this
mother of two was granted the ‘right of three children’ and once again
it is more tempting to see the poet here mirroring the emotion of the
times rather than having a dig at the powerful. Readers will judge
for themselves as they read these poems whether they are tongue in
cheek – or heart on sleeve, or somewhere in between.
The issues are complex and cannot be simplified while doing them
justice. The literary world of Horace is one influenced strongly by the
Greek poet Callimachus whose proclaimed objective of l’art pour l’art,
whose love of the small-scale and abhorrence of the bombastic, whose
quest for perfection in form all shine through the Odes of Horace.
The poet was perhaps trying to have it both ways in seeking to be a
spokesman for the great with the voice of the private citizen: to be the
aesthetic artist with a public persona. In a crude sense, Horace the
Epicurean can enjoy peace and quiet precisely because Caesar is in
charge and takes care of the threats for him, as the poet readily admits
in III.14 and IV.15.17–20: but Epicureanism, which lends itself more
readily to monarchy than Stoicism ever would, is only part of the poet’s
philosophical armour (see below on ‘The philosophical background’).
In literary terms these poems cannot be reduced or seen as simply
propaganda. Horace seems to mythologize the emperor, but then he
also mythologizes himself in III.4 and the style effects something of
an ironic distance which makes crude interpretation impossible. In
short, as Lowrie (Horace’s Narrative Odes 259) asks aptly, ‘Who is in
charge? in the realm of history, Augustus clearly is, but in the realm of
poetry it is the poet – even in political matters.’
 Introduction 11

One thing seems certain, the Odes, like Virgil’s Aeneid, are a part
of the Augustan regime which they celebrate. They represent the
appropriation of Greece into the Roman world in literature just as
the state itself had taken the lands of Greece into the Roman Empire.
Horace is in this sense a conqueror of poetic ‘territory’, just as Epicurus is
praised by Lucretius (I.72–9) in quasi-military terms for his conquering
of the world through his philosophy. There is huge pride here – most
obviously in III.30, where the imagery of a poetic memorial ‘more
enduring than bronze and higher than … the pyramids’ is almost a
snub to the emperor whose own memorials are thereby made inferior.
The poet has foreseen the deification of the emperor (e.g. III.11–12)
and here at the end of the book foretells the immortality of his work
and his own partial immortality as a result: non omnis moriar (‘I shall
not die completely’). Odes III.30 is (as often) a ‘sealing’ poem to close
the book (cf. Epistles I.20 for a similar effect) – and it shows a literary
pride which in its own way aspires to match (and even outdo?) the
achievements of the regime which allowed it the air with which to sing.

The lyric poem in Greece and Rome

Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artes

intulit agresti Latio (Epistles II.1.156–7)
‘Captured Greece captured her fierce conqueror and brought the
arts to rustic Latium.’

vos exemplaria Graeca

nocturna versate manu, versate diurna (Ars Poetica 268–9)
‘turn over the Greek models by night and by day.’

Horace may have felt that he was breaking new ground and mastering
Greek forms for the Roman world, but his words quoted above
show that the mastery was reciprocated and it is good to recall that
Latin literature was in many ways parasitic on the Greek genres and
12 Selections from Horace Odes III

literary works which inspired it. Would there have been an Aeneid
without a Homer? Certainly not the sort of Aeneid we have; and it
is almost certain that the Odes of Horace would not have existed in
their metre and language without a Greek tradition of lyric poetry to
inspire them.
Greek lyric poetry was one of the great literary achievements
of the ancient world and it is a great pity that so little of this work
survives. The nine great poets were named as: Alcman, Alcaeus,
Anacreon, Bacchylides, Ibycus, Pindar, Sappho, Simonides and
Stesichorus – who all flourished in the period from the seventh to the
fifth centuries bc. The surviving work of the earlier poets is personal
lyric, sung by a solo voice in short stanzas of the same metrical form.
Later poets continued to compose personal lyric, but poets like
Simonides, Bacchylides and Pindar also composed choral poetry,
sung by choirs to the accompaniment of a lyre and often also of an
aulos (a single-reed wind instrument something like a cross between
an oboe and a recorder). The choral lyrics of this kind were usually
composed in triadic form – two stanzas of identical metre followed
by a third in a different but related rhythm. The personal lyric of an
Alcaeus is associated with the party world of the symposium, whereas
choral lyric suited public occasions such as religious ceremonies and
especially the public celebration of an athletic victory at one of the
major games in Greece.
The poems of Horace contained in this book are all composed in
the metre named after the Greek lyric poet Alcaeus. Alcaeus was an
aristocrat from the island of Lesbos who used his lyrical poetry to
oppose the rule of the tyrant Pittacus with a combination of personal
attack and some political comment. His was an age (seventh–sixth
centuries bc) when tyrants were springing up all over the Greek
world and where political systems were constantly in a state of flux,
epitomied in his famous image (fragment 6: cf. Horace Odes I.14) of
the ‘ship of state’ tossed in the waves of unrest. His poetic themes are
 Introduction 13

those of the aristocratic lifestyle of the age – love, drinking, warfare,

politics and the values of the upper classes. He admits at one point to
throwing away his shield to save himself in battle, and he enjoyed the
pleasures of love and food; and we come away with the impression that
his poems are in some sense an appeal to preserve and commemorate
the way of life which he enjoyed.
Horace claims in the final poem of Odes III (30) that he would
be said to have been ‘the first man to have brought Aeolian song
to Italian measures’ (XXX.13–14: cf. Epistles I.19.32–3). He was
not in fact the first to compose in lyric metres, as Catullus had
composed poems (11 and 51) in the Sapphic metre and Laevius had
experimented with lyric metres in his (lost) Erotopaegnia. On the
evidence available, however, Horace’s achievement dwarfed that of
his predecessors and so justifies his boast here. What is interesting
is that few poets sought to surpass Horace’s achievements in the
centuries after his death and the Odes stands as a more or less
solitary towering achievement.

The philosophical background

The Odes make good use of the ideas of more than one major
philosophical school and it is worth describing here something of the
flavour of the schools of the Stoics, the Cynics and the Epicureans.
The Stoics (founded by Zeno of Citium (335–263 bc)) preached a
philosophy whereby only virtue leads to happiness, only the wise can be
virtuous and so only the virtuous man is wise. Virtue/duty alone matters
and we should beware of letting our passions or emotions distract
us from what reason tells us is the correct way to live, even when the
‘emotion’ in question is understandable terror at imminent danger of
torture and painful death as in the case of Regulus in Odes III.5. Virtue
is shown in the ability to forgo selfish pleasures in the interest of the
14 Selections from Horace Odes III

community and there were eminent Stoics who committed suicide as

a model for the free man’s final freedom to practise virtue – such as
Cato when the victory of the dictator Caesar at Thapsus in April 46 bc
told him that his free republic was now dead (see OCD s.v. ‘Porcius
Cato’ (2)). The model for the Stoic sense of public duty was the hero
Hercules (cf. Odes III.3.9 where Hercules is linked with Augustus (cf.
also III.14.1)) and this underlies much of the ethics of the ‘Roman Odes’
Over against this high-minded elevation of duty over inclination are
the schools of the Cynics and the Epicureans. The Cynics were founded
by Diogenes (412–321 bc) who famously scorned the trappings
of society and culture and lived in a barrel in the manner of a dog
(kynikos in Greek means ‘like a dog’), preaching that we are animals
in clothes and can only be wise and happy when we live according to
our animal natures. A more sophisticated version of cynicism is that
of Epicurus (341–270 bc) who argued that we in fact seek pleasure
and that goodness consists in what is likely to maximize pleasure
over pain rather than the Stoic calculus of duty over inclination. The
Epicureans did not, however, live a hedonistic lifestyle of orgies and
banquets – they rather preached the wisdom of parvum quod satis est
(‘the little that is enough’) and promoted an apolitical withdrawal from
the world with the aim to ‘live unnoticed’ (cf. Epistles I.17.9–10). For
them the ideal residence was a garden rather than the crowded Forum
and (like the Cynics) they argued that we can only be happy when
we fully accept the truth of the world which included the finality of
death and the atomic nature of the universe. The advice to restrict our
appetites and so be content with what is readily available is one which
Horace repeats many times in his poetry (e.g. Odes III.16.37–44). The
first of the ‘Roman Odes’ (III.1) is imbued with the Epicurean spirit
of withdrawal into the simple life of the countryside and in his earlier
poetry he had preached a very earthy Epicurean attitude towards
sex (Satires I.2.114–19). Epicurus’ attitude towards politics was very
different from the engagé Stoics: on the one hand the wise Epicurean
 Introduction 15

must avoid political ambition and the blind pursuit of power for the
sake of a transient reputation: Lucretius demythologises the sinner
Sisyphus – doomed to push a boulder up a hill for all eternity – as the
symbol of the man driven by political ambition (III.995–1002: cf. also
Lucretius III.59–64). On the other hand, the wise man will be quite
content to live in a state ruled by a monarch who lets him get on with
his philosophizing in peace: as Oscar Wilde is reputed to have said, the
trouble with Socialism is that it takes up too many evenings.
Horace may have jokingly called himself ‘a pig from the herd of
Epicurus’ (Epistles I.4.15–16) but he states that he did not ‘sign up’ to
any of these schools – he described himself as nullius addictus iurare
in verba magistri (‘bound to swear allegiance to no master’ Epistles
I.1.14). That said, it is impossible to read Horace without meeting ideas
and attitudes which can be traced back to those of the philosophical
schools which provided much of the ethical thinking of the day.

The metre

Latin poetry is constructed in rhythmic patterns or ‘metres’ which

are based on the length of syllables rather than verbal stress. Every
vowel is either long or short by nature, although a short vowel is
usually lengthened when it is followed by two or more consonants (so
immeritŭs is scanned as immeritūs when the word lues follows it in
VI.1). Double vowels (diphthongs, such as the first syllable of Poenos)
are long by nature, as are some case-endings (e.g. ablative singular of
the 1st declension, although the nominative singular -a ending is short).
The four poems in this book are all composed in the Alcaic metre,
named after the Greek poet Alcaeus. The pattern is this, where

∪ = a short syllable
— = a long syllable
16 Selections from Horace Odes III

and ‘x’= a syllable which may be either long or short: there is usually
a word-break (‘caesura’, indicated by //) after the fifth syllable of the
first two lines.

x — ∪ — —// — ∪ ∪ — ∪ x
x — ∪ — —// — ∪ ∪ — ∪ x
x—∪———∪—x
— ∪ ∪ — ∪ ∪ — ∪ —x

aūdītĭs ān mē //lūdĭt ămābĭlĭs

īnsānĭ(a?) aūdīr(e)//ēt vĭdĕōr pĭōs
ērrārĕ pēr lūcōs, ămoēnaē
quōs ĕt ăquāe sŭbĕūnt ĕt aūraē.

Latin also had a word stress which fell on the penultimate syllable of
a word (or the antepenultimate syllable if the penultimate was short).
If one looks at the above stanza one hears the variety in how this word
stress might have sounded.

aūdītĭs ān mē //lūdĭt ămābĭlĭs

īnsānĭ(a?) aūdīr(e)//ēt vĭdĕōr pĭōs
ērrārĕ pēr lūcōs, ămoēnaē
quōs ĕt ăquāe sŭbĕūnt ĕt aūraē.

Further reading

The literature on Horace is vast and this is a small selection of some books
which students may find helpful in exploring the works of this poet.

Translations of the Odes include:

Rudd, N. (2004), Odes and Epodes (Loeb Classical Library), Cambridge,
MA: Harvard: University Press, with facing Latin text.
 Introduction 17

West, D. (2008), The Complete Odes and Epodes (Oxford World’s Classics),
Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Editions of book 3 include:

Nisbet, R.G.M. and N. Rudd (2004), A Commentary on Horace Odes Book
III, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
West, D. (2002), Horace Odes III: Dulce Periculum, Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Williams, G. (1969), The Third Book of Horace’s Odes, Oxford: Oxford
University Press.

General books on Horace:

Fraenkel, E. ([1957]2000), Horace, Oxford: Oxford University Press, new edn.
Harrison, S., ed (2007), The Cambridge Companion to Horace, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Hills, P. (2005), Horace, London: Bloomsbury.
West, D. (1967), Reading Horace, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

On the Odes see especially:

Commager, S. (1995), The Odes of Horace, Norman, OK: University of
Oklahoma Press, new edn.
Lowrie, M. (1997), Horace’s Narrative Odes, Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Lowrie, M., ed (2009), Horace: Odes and Epodes (Oxford Readings in
Classical Studies), Oxford: Oxford University Press.

On Horace and Augustus see:

Fowler, D.P. (2009), ‘Horace and the Aesthetics of Politics’, in M. Lowrie
(ed), Horace: Odes and Epodes (Oxford Readings in Classical Studies),
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
18 Selections from Horace Odes III

Griffin, J. (1984), ‘Augustus and the Poets: “Caesar qui cogere posset”’, in
F. Millar and E. Segal (eds), Caesar Augustus: Seven Aspects, Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Lyne, R.O.A.M. (1995), Horace – Behind the Public Poetry, Yale: Yale
University Press.

On the moral and social legislation see:

Edwards, C. (1993), The Politics of Immorality in Ancient Rome, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, pp. 34–62.

On the use of metre see:

Morgan, L. (2010), Musa Pedestris – Metre and Meaning in Roman Verse,
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Raven, D.S. (2010), Latin Metre, Bloomsbury: London, new edn.

Useful books on Latin grammar used in this edition include:

Allen, J.H. and J.B. Greenough (2006), New Latin Grammar, New York:
Dover Publications, referred to in the commentary as AG.
Morwood, J. (1999), Latin Grammar, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

For more information on all things ancient see:

The Oxford Classical Dictionary (OCD).

The best Latin dictionary available in English is:

The Oxford Latin Dictionary (OLD).
 Text

angustam amice pauperiem pati

robustus acri militia puer
condiscat et Parthos feroces
vexet eques metuendus hasta

vitamque sub divo et trepidis agat 5

in rebus. illum ex moenibus hosticis
matrona bellantis tyranni
prospiciens et adulta virgo

suspiret, eheu, ne rudis agminum

sponsus lacessat regius asperum 10
tactu leonem, quem cruenta
per medias rapit ira caedes.

dulce et decorum est pro patria mori:

mors et fugacem persequitur virum,
nec parcit imbellis iuventae 15
poplitibus timidove tergo.

Virtus repulsae nescia sordidae

intaminatis fulget honoribus,
nec sumit aut ponit secures
arbitrio popularis aurae. 20
20 Selections from Horace Odes III

Virtus, recludens immeritis mori

caelum, negata temptat iter via
coetusque vulgares et udam
spernit humum fugiente pinna.
est et fideli tuta silentio  25
merces: vetabo, qui Cereris sacrum
vulgarit arcanae, sub isdem
sit trabibus fragilemque mecum

solvat phaselon; saepe Diespiter

neglectus incesto addidit integrum:  30
raro antecedentem scelestum
deseruit pede Poena claudo.

iustum et tenacem propositi virum

non civium ardor prava iubentium,
non vultus instantis tyranni
mente quatit solida neque Auster,

dux inquieti turbidus Hadriae,  5

nec fulminantis magna manus Iovis:
si fractus illabatur orbis,
impavidum ferient ruinae.

hac arte Pollux et vagus Hercules

enisus arces attigit igneas,  10
quos inter Augustus recumbens
purpureo bibit ore nectar.

hac te merentem, Bacche pater, tuae

vexere tigres indocili iugum
 Text 21

collo trahentes; hac Quirinus  15

Martis equis Acheronta fugit,

gratum elocuta consiliantibus

Iunone divis: 'Ilion, Ilion
fatalis incestusque iudex
et mulier peregrina vertit  20

in pulverem, ex quo destituit deos

mercede pacta Laomedon, mihi
castaeque damnatum Minervae
cum populo et duce fraudulento.

iam nec Lacaenae splendet adulterae  25

famosus hospes nec Priami domus
periura pugnaces Achivos
Hectoreis opibus refringit,

nostrisque ductum seditionibus

bellum resedit. protinus et graves  30
iras et invisum nepotem,
Troica quem peperit sacerdos,

Marti redonabo; illum ego lucidas

inire sedes, ducere nectaris
sucos et adscribi quietis  35
ordinibus patiar deorum.

dum longus inter saeviat Ilion

Romamque pontus, qualibet exsules
in parte regnanto beati;
dum Priami Paridisque busto  40

insultet armentum et catulos ferae

celent inultae, stet Capitolium
fulgens triumphatisque possit
Roma ferox dare iura Medis.
22 Selections from Horace Odes III

horrenda late nomen in ultimas  45

extendat oras, qua medius liquor
secernit Europen ab Afro,
qua tumidus rigat arva Nilus,

aurum irrepertum et sic melius situm,

cum terra celat, spernere fortior  50
quam cogere humanos in usus
omne sacrum rapiente dextra.

quicumque mundo terminus obstitit,

hunc tanget armis, visere gestiens,
qua parte debacchentur ignes,  55
qua nebulae pluviique rores.

sed bellicosis fata Quiritibus

hac lege dico, ne nimium pii
rebusque fidentes avitae
tecta velint reparare Troiae.  60

Troiae renascens alite lugubri

fortuna tristi clade iterabitur,
ducente victrices catervas
coniuge me Iovis et sorore.

ter si resurgat murus aeneus  65

auctore Phoebo, ter pereat meis
excisus Argivis, ter uxor
capta virum puerosque ploret.'

non hoc iocosae conveniet lyrae:

quo, Musa, tendis? desine pervicax  70
referre sermones deorum et
magna modis tenuare parvis.
 Text 23

descende caelo et dic age tibia

regina longum Calliope melos,
seu voce nunc mavis acuta
seu fidibus citharave Phoebi.

auditis an me ludit amabilis  5

insania? audire et videor pios
errare per lucos, amoenae
quos et aquae subeunt et aurae.

me fabulosae Vulture in Apulo

nutricis extra limen Apuliae  10
ludo fatigatumque somno
fronde nova puerum palumbes

texere, mirum quod foret omnibus,

quicumque celsae nidum Acherontiae
saltusque Bantinos et arvum  15
pingue tenent humilis Forenti,

ut tuto ab atris corpore viperis

dormirem et ursis, ut premerer sacra
lauroque collataque myrto,
non sine dis animosus infans.  20

vester, Camenae, vester in arduos

tollor Sabinos, seu mihi frigidum
Praeneste seu Tibur supinum
seu liquidae placuere Baiae.

vestris amicum fontibus et choris  25

non me Philippis versa acies retro,
24 Selections from Horace Odes III

devota non exstinxit arbos

nec Sicula Palinurus unda.

utcumque mecum vos eritis, libens

insanientem navita Bosphorum  30
temptabo et urentes harenas
litoris Assyrii viator,

visam Britannos hospitibus feros

et laetum equino sanguine Concanum,
visam pharetratos Gelonos  35
et Scythicum inviolatus amnem.

vos Caesarem altum, militia simul

fessas cohortes abdidit oppidis,
finire quaerentem labores
Pierio recreatis antro.  40

vos lene consilium et datis et dato

gaudetis, almae. scimus ut impios
Titanas immanemque turbam
fulmine sustulerit caduco,

qui terram inertem, qui mare temperat  45

ventosum, et urbes regnaque tristia
divosque mortalesque turmas
imperio regit unus aequo.

magnum illa terrorem intulerat Iovi

fidens iuventus horrida bracchiis  50
fratresque tendentes opaco
Pelion imposuisse Olympo.
 Text 25

sed quid Typhoeus et validus Mimas,

aut quid minaci Porphyrion statu,
quid Rhoetus evulsisque truncis  55
Enceladus iaculator audax

contra sonantem Palladis aegida

possent ruentes? hinc avidus stetit
Vulcanus, hinc matrona Iuno et
numquam umeris positurus arcum,  60

qui rore puro Castaliae lavit

crines solutos, qui Lyciae tenet
dumeta natalemque silvam,
Delius et Patareus Apollo.

vis consili expers mole ruit sua:  65

vim temperatam di quoque provehunt
in maius; idem odere vires
omne nefas animo moventes.

testis mearum centimanus Gyas

sententiarum, notus et integrae  70
temptator Orion Dianae,
virginea domitus sagitta.

iniecta monstris Terra dolet suis

maeretque partus fulmine luridum
missos ad Orcum; nec peredit  75
impositam celer ignis Aetnen,

incontinentis nec Tityi iecur

reliquit ales, nequitiae additus
custos; amatorem trecentae
Perithoum cohibent catenae.  80
26 Selections from Horace Odes III

delicta maiorum immeritus lues,

Romane, donec templa refeceris
aedesque labentes deorum et
foeda nigro simulacra fumo.

dis te minorem quod geris, imperas:  5

hinc omne principium, huc refer exitum:
di multa neglecti dederunt
Hesperiae mala luctuosae.

iam bis Monaeses et Pacori manus

non auspicatos contudit impetus  10
nostros et adiecisse praedam
torquibus exiguis renidet.

paene occupatam seditionibus

delevit urbem Dacus et Aethiops,
hic classe formidatus, ille  15
missilibus melior sagittis.

fecunda culpae saecula nuptias

primum inquinavere et genus et domos;
hoc fonte derivata clades
in patriam populumque fluxit.  20

motus doceri gaudet Ionicos

matura virgo et fingitur artibus,
iam nunc et incestos amores
de tenero meditatur ungui;
 Text 27

mox iuniores quaerit adulteros  25

inter mariti vina, neque eligit
cui donet impermissa raptim
gaudia luminibus remotis,

sed iussa coram non sine conscio

surgit marito, seu vocat institor  30
seu navis Hispanae magister,
dedecorum pretiosus emptor.

non his iuventus orta parentibus

infecit aequor sanguine Punico,
Pyrrhumque et ingentem cecidit  35
Antiochum Hannibalemque dirum;

sed rusticorum mascula militum

proles, Sabellis docta ligonibus
versare glebas et severae
matris ad arbitrium recisos  40

portare fustes, sol ubi montium

mutaret umbras et iuga demeret
bobus fatigatis, amicum
tempus agens abeunte curru.

damnosa quid non imminuit dies?  45

aetas parentum peior avis tulit
nos nequiores, mox daturos
progeniem vitiosiorem.
28
 Commentary

This poem is about the qualities which are desirable in a good (Roman)
man, in particular one who contributes to public life. The poem is
written in the historical and cultural context of Augustan Rome, an
age which both praised the blessings of peace and also celebrated
the virtues of military might and courage. The civil wars had been
a period of anger directed against Roman citizens (amongst others):
the new regime celebrated the ending of warfare with the symbolic
closing of the gates of the temple of Janus in 25 bc, but there was
still scope for the righteous quest to bring back the standards lost to
the Parthians in 53 bc, a campaign which was not to find fulfilment
until after the publication of the Odes but which was anticipated from
27 bc onwards.
The first poem in Odes book III was one in which the poet professed
to scorn the pursuit of wealth and power and ended with him happy
to stay on his humble farm rather than to seek wealth. Ode II starts
with the image of the young Roman soldier, a puer such as Horace has
been addressing since the previous ode (III.1.4). The figure of the boy
is filled out here with more details of the qualities he is to develop,
from hardy toughness to military ferocity, all controlled by a moral
and religious modesty such as we see described again in VI.37–44.
The second half of the poem then broadens the concept of virtus into
more political and social qualities which avoid the snakepit of political
30 Selections from Horace Odes III

ambition and which seek immortality through good behaviour. The

poem ends with a sharp warning against the perils of indiscretion and
the certainty of retribution for wrongdoing.

1 The poet picks up the theme of poverty from the end of the previous
ode with the promoted word angustam (‘straitened’, ‘narrow’) applied
to pauperiem. amice is an adverb, meaning ‘like a friend’; making
a friend of something which most people would shun is surprising
and is the first of several paradoxes in this poem. Poverty (or at
least a hardy austerity) is something which some (wealthy) Romans
romanticized either positively or simply in antipathy towards luxury
(see Juvenal 12 for both simultaneously). The ability to be happy on
restricted means is something Horace espouses frequently; he ended
the previous ode (III.1.48) asking why he should swap his humble
Sabine estate for ‘riches which bring more toil’, having depicted the
sorrows of the anxious rich man in 34–40: cf. II.18.1–2.

2 This boy is ‘sturdy’ (robustus). The key phrase acri militia is

sandwiched between robustus and puer: suggesting that his toughness
will be the result of the ‘harsh military service’.

3–4 The two lines each begin with a strong verb in the present jussive
subjunctive (‘let him learn … let him harass’). The boy will need to
‘learn’ to endure poverty as such virtue is not inborn, but by the time
we get to line 4 he is already able to use a spear and a horse in combat
against the ‘fierce Parthians’. metuendus is a gerundive describing the
boy as ‘one to be feared’.

5 sub divo means ‘under the open sky’. sub caelo would have fitted the
metre equally well and the word divus clearly denotes Jupiter, the Indo-
European sky-god and the master of all as described in IV.45–8. The
boy lives under the shelter and the fear of the gods, his hardy lifestyle
having thus theological as well as practical associations and the placing
 Commentary 31

of trepidis within the line also giving him a sense of appropriate fear.
The line is neatly framed by the main verb (vitam … agat).

6–10 The poet passes from the masculine virtue of the boy himself
to the effects this has on women. One might expect that the mother-
figure here would be the boy’s own mother nervous of his going out
to fight the ferocious enemy, but in fact it is the mother of the enemy
king. She is like Hecuba, mother of Hector, gazing out from the walls
of the city of Troy (ex moenibus hosticis) at this Achilles who is
going to kill her son, and the scene is an amalgamation of two scenes
from Homer’s Iliad: Helen looking from the walls of Troy at III.161–
244 and Andromache seeing her husband Hector being dragged at
XXII.463–5. Horace brings in a romantic touch such as we find when
the crazy girl Scylla falls in love with her father’s enemy Minos as she
sees him attacking the city (Ovid Metamorphoses VIII.11–37).

8 The ‘grown virgin’ is the enemy prince’s fiancée (he is her sponsus:
see line 10) and she fears for her bridegroom’s life.

9 eheu is an exclamation of regret or sorrow (‘alas!’) and is here the cry

which the poet imagines being uttered by the adulta virgo, stressing
this by placing the word immediately after the key verb suspiret. The
verb is again in the jussive subjunctive, showing that this is what the
poet wishes to happen (‘let her sigh alas’) followed by the fear-clause
(ne) explaining her anxieties.

9–11 There is a strong contrast between the enemy who is new to the
business of fighting (rudis agminum; words denoting experience (or
lack of it) often take a defining term in the genitive) and the Roman
youth who is a ‘lion rough to the touch’, a contrast familiar from epic
where often the victim is an innocent lamb facing a savage lion/bull (e.g.
Homer Iliad XXII.308–10). The verb lacessat suggests unnecessary
provocation and nicely conveys both the naïve youth’s bravado and
32 Selections from Horace Odes III

the girl’s panic. Sponsus … regius is the girl’s view of her man: he is of
royal blood and he is her fiancé – both good reasons to fear for his life
and to expect him to be a target. asperum tactu means literally ‘rough
in the touching’, with tactu the ablative form of the supine form of the
verb tango. The form is common in epic poetry (e.g. miserabile visu
Virgil Aeneid I.111).

11–12 The imagery here is strong. The youth has ‘bloody anger’ which is
‘anger which will shed blood’ and it ‘carries him along’ (rapit) through
the middle of the slaughter – no backing off from the conflict for him. The
imagery would of course apply perfectly to a lion, and the comparison of
the warrior with a lion is as old as Homer (Iliad X.485–6, etc.).

13 One of the most famous lines in all literature, familiar to modern

readers above all from Wilfred Owen’s poem Dulce et decorum est,
and another startling paradox. Dying for one’s fatherland is of course
honourable (decorum) as had been sung by war poets before (e.g. the
early Spartan poet Tyrtaeus X.1–2) but the poet also tells us that it is
‘sweet’. This is going too far for many people who would reply that the
poet is romanticizing the grim reality of bloodshed.

14 The idealism of line 13 is undercut and qualified by the realism of

14, enhanced by the picking up of mori from the end of 13 with the
noun mors at the beginning of this line. The choice is not between
death and life but (it seems) between glorious death and a coward’s
death, which makes the ‘sweetness’ of death in 13 more believable if
only in relative terms. Note here also the way in which the heroic death
is despatched in one line (13) while the coward’s death is dramatized
with grim details over three lines.

14–16 The coward may be a man (virum) or a youth (iuventae) with

no taste for war (imbellis) but death will still chase after him, even
(et) if he flees. The coward is running away (fugacem) and so it is
 Commentary 33

natural that his wounds will be on the back of his body: note here the
personification of the man’s back as itself timido and the grisly detail
of the ‘hamstrings’ (poplitibus). It was standard practice in ancient
warfare to disable one’s fleeing opponents by slitting the hamstrings
on the backs of their legs.

17 The scene changes suddenly from the more obvious theatre of

manliness which is warfare to the murkier world of politics and social
behaviour. virtus means ‘that which distinguishes a (real) vir’ and
here has more of the sense of fearless integrity than merely courage in
the face of physical danger. It is noteworthy that this and the following
stanza both begin with this key word virtus as the poet seeks to refine
his definition of the term.

17–20 This is a transitional stanza in the argument of the poem.

Anyone who involves himself in politics will probably end up suffering
defeat at the polls (repulsae) and the only way to avoid this is to avoid
standing in the first place. Epicureans famously believed that political
ambition is a labour of Sisyphus and that the wise man will live in
philosophical obscurity (cf. Lucretius III.59–64) and so it looks as if
Horace is here turning apolitical in revulsion at the corruption of late
republican Roman politics where the likes of a Clodius could subvert
the idealism of a Cicero or a Cato. This is enhanced by the use of words
like honoribus here which usually applies to political distinction (cf.
Odes I.1.8) and above all secures which were (along with the fasces)
the symbols of consular office. In the Roman republic such offices were
secured by catching (or buying) votes (‘at the whim of the popular
breeze’) and the new Roman (and the new Roman emperor Augustus)
does not need this sort of political success to demonstrate his virtus.

17–18 The imagery is that of the clean and the dirty: sordidae denotes
‘filthy’ and is contrasted with the ‘unsullied’ (intaminatis – a word
only found here in classical Latin) honours, with the notion of ‘bright
34 Selections from Horace Odes III

and clean’ brought out in the verb fulget (‘shines’). The metaphor of
‘shining with honours’ (in the instrumental ablative) is nicely put.

19–20 The fickleness and changeability of the breeze makes it an

excellent metaphor for the changing favours of the mobile vulgus
(whence our English word ‘mob’). arbitrio means ‘at the decision’ and
again brings out the paradox whereby these axes which represented
the physical power of the consul over the people were now being
given or withheld by the whim of the people.

21 recludo comes from re-claudo and so means ‘unlock’. In the

opening lines of the poem we heard about the brave youth who faces
death nobly – here we meet those who ‘do not deserve to die’, whose
courage and excellence have granted them immortality. Such men
include Hercules (who died on the pyre on Mt Oeta but was raised to
immortality in recognition of his labours and married to the goddess
Hebe). That such is not the common lot of humanity is brought home
with the term negata via (‘on a path denied [to ordinary men]’) in
line 22.

22 There is effective juxtaposition of iter via here which helps to set

up the theme of swift flight from the earth in the following lines.

23 virtus shuns the ‘vulgar gatherings’: this (to us) snobbish and
contemptuous term reminds us of the opening of the first ode in this
book (odi profanum vulgus et arceo (‘I hate the unholy crowd and
shun them’)) which itself recalls the stance of the influential Greek
poet Callimachus (Epigram XXX.4: ‘I hate all things of the people’).

23–4 The imagery is that of Stoicism (itself drawing on Platonism

before it) whereby the four elements are divided into heavy ones
(earth and water) and light ones (fire and air): fire and air coalesce
into the fine air known as ‘aether’ which surrounds the earth and to
which our souls fly on death; see also Satires II.2.79.
 Commentary 35

25–6 The virtue of discretion is singled out as an additional (et) good

quality: keeping silence when it would be a breach of trust not to do
so (hence the stress on fideli). Horace may be alluding to the need
for an imperial confidante to keep his emperor’s confidences secret –
something which Augustus certainly cared about.

26–9 Horace neatly sidesteps the political resonance of ‘faithful

silence’ with a reference to the famously secretive rites of Ceres, the
Eleusinian Mysteries. The poet now switches from the third person
to the first person (vetabo … mecum) in a personal tone which is
characteristic of lyric poetry. The Latin requires us to take arcanae
with Cereris (the rites of secret Ceres) in hypallage for ‘the secret rites
of Ceres’. vulgarit reminds us of vulgares in 23 and is a contracted
form of vulgaverit (future perfect of vulgo). The construction after
vetabo is slightly complex: we have to understand ‘illum’ (or some
such) to be picked up by qui, and then the subjunctives sit and solvat
are dependent on vetabo in the sense ‘I shall forbid him to be’ (literally,
‘that he be … that he cast off ’).

There were those who feared that the gods would punish miscreants
with disaster and that the innocent bystander would be killed along with
the guilty (cf. VI.5), hence the blanket ban (vetabo) on anyone like this
from being ‘under the same beams’ or ‘untying the delicate boat’ with
him. The choice of words is deliberate and effective: the roof overhead
consists of wooden beams which could fall down, and the boat is only a
small one (phaselon: cf. Catullus 4) and is fragilem (easily broken up).

29 Diespiter is the archaic form of the name Jupiter and here has the
effect of making the poet sound solemn and piously old-fashioned –
as befits the Musarum sacerdos of Odes III.1.2.

30 The nature of the offence to the god has changed: in lines 25–9 it
was the revelation of divine secrets, whereas here it is the refusal to
pay due honour to the god, a ‘neglect’ which the god will soon rectify
36 Selections from Horace Odes III

by bringing himself unpleasantly to their attention, as the poet warns

again at VI.7–8. The line has an incantatory effect with the assonance
of ‘e’ (neglectus incesto) and then ‘i’ (addidit integ-) and there is also
a priest-like certainty about the statement emphasized by saepe (29)
which is suggestive of wise experience.

31–2 The poem ends with a personified image of Punishment (Poena)

chasing with a limping foot (pede … claudo) after the sinner. The
statement is made in a negative rather than positive form, with raro
showing a similar claim to priestly knowledge as we saw with saepe in
29. The sinner has put a great distance between himself and retribution,
a distance brought out by the lengthy phrasing and the long word
antecedentem – but she does not give up often and the tap-tap of her
(lame) footsteps is echoed in the alliteration of pede Poena. deseruit is
a gnomic perfect – that is, a perfect tense used to express a generalized
statement (‘Punishment rarely gives up on the chase’). pede … claudo
is an ablative of description (‘Punishment with her limping foot’).

The previous ode discussed the route to immortality through virtue

(III.2.21–4) and ended with the just man avoiding the punishment
which confronts the wicked. This poem begins with a similar image
of the just man achieving immortality and includes Augustus as one
such. The bulk of the poem (XVIII–68) is a long speech by the goddess
Juno warning of the dire consequences if the Romans seek to rebuild
the ruined city of Troy. Crucial to the unity of the poem is the figure of
Romulus, allowed to be deified by Juno (XXXI–6) for all her hostility
to him (31): the glorious future of Romulus’ descendants is nicely
pitched against the humiliating ruins of Troy itself, and this ties in
 Commentary 37

with both the theme of deification of great men (such as Augustus)

and the use made of Romulus by the regime as a focus for patriotic
fervour (there was even the suggestion that Augustus might adopt the
name Romulus at one point in his early years as emperor). As in the
previous poem, there is the warning of the need to exercise caution
and imperial restraint – only for the poet to finish his ode with a call to
exercise literary restraint and to avoid aspiring to such grand themes.
The content of Juno’s speech raises some questions. Did anyone
actually want to rebuild Troy? Or was this just a poetical conceit on
the part of Horace? West argues that the poet is thanking Augustus
for resisting Antony’s desire to move the centre of power from Rome
to Alexandria – but Egypt is not Troy and it is hard to prove such a
tenuous link here. It is perhaps more likely that Horace is alluding to
the legend whereby the anger of Juno, which his fellow-poet Virgil
was analysing in his Aeneid (composed in the 20s bc), was finally
laid to rest on the strict explicit condition that the new race formed
by the union of Aeneas and the natives of Latium would speak
Italian and not Trojan and that Troy itself would remain destroyed
for ever (as enunciated explicitly in Juno’s speech in Virgil Aeneid
XII.818–28). What we have here then is Horace mimicking the epic
themes of the Aeneid and stealing some of the language of the epic
in his lyric evocation of the values which he espoused in his role as
Musarum sacerdos. The lyric form is not suited to an epic narrative
and so the poet conveys the historical themes through the medium of
an impassioned speech drawing on both Homer and Ennius, whose
first book of Annales contained a ‘council of the gods’ to discuss the
deification of Romulus. Similarly, the following two odes will show a
mixture of literary models, as III.4 uses material drawn from Hesiod
and III.5 will use material from historical sources to dramatize the
heroic acts of Regulus.
38 Selections from Horace Odes III

This would, however, reduce the poem to a literary pastiche and it

is hard to imagine Horace putting this sort of poem in this position
in the Roman Odes. Troy was regarded as something of a byword
for luxury and even debauchery and the theme of sexual immorality
which will be so prominent in poem 6 is here adumbrated with the
figures of the incestus iudex Paris and the Lacaenae adulterae whom
he abducted. The upshot of all this is that this poem is probably the
most enigmatic of those in this volume, and that what appear to be
clear categories (Troy – Romulus – Augustus – virtue) resist easy
interpretation.
The chronology of the speech is interesting: the speech of Juno
supporting the deification of Romulus has to take place some years
after the end of the Trojan War and yet Juno still smarts from the hurt
caused her before that war had even begun. Gods are good haters: and
Virgil had also raised the question tantaene animis caelestibus irae?
(‘Do divine souls have such great causes of wrath?’) in Aeneid I.11.
Furthermore, the speech of Juno is long past by the time of Horace
and the reader is left with the question of whether the Romans of his
day have met the terms of Juno’s ancient prophecy.

1–6 The poem opens with a long and grandiose statement of the
just man’s resistance to outside forces, with the accusative object
(iustum … virum) followed by four separate subject phrases
(ardor … vultus … Auster … manus).

1 The poem begins emphatically with the key word iustum; and the
phrase iustum … virum frames the line, with virum picking up the
theme of virtus (i.e. vir-tus) from the previous poem. tenax derives
from teneo and the term means ‘keeping hold of ’, taking (as here) a
genitive of the thing being held. propositi may seem somewhat vague
(‘that which has been set up by him’ and so ‘purpose’ – whatever
that may be) but if the man is truly just then his ‘purpose’ will also
be righteous and the two-word phrase tenacem propositi almost
 Commentary 39

becomes a single concept (‘determined’). The Stoic ideal of virtus

demanded this sort of ability to withstand pressures both from the
outside (society) and also from within (our own passions).

2–3 Political pressure is seen from below (the ‘blazing’ passion of the
citizens ‘ordering’ what is crooked) and then in line 3 from above (the
‘tyrant’); both are ineffectual in shaking the man of integrity. The
language is very well chosen: the mob is here on fire with passion and
their orders are for ‘crooked things’ (prava – neuter plural as object
of iubentium), with the passion and the crookedness in effective
juxtaposition. In poem 2 (30) the mob was regarded as a fickle breeze
blowing (arbitrio popularis aurae). Then we only see the ‘face’ of the
tyrant who is ‘lowering’ over him. The exercise of authority is not in
itself a bad thing and Horace is careful to use the foreign term tyranni
for the autocrat whose power is not inherited or legitimate. Augustus
was of course not a ‘tyrant’ but rather merely princeps, although some
Romans might have thought tyrannus also fitted his regime.

4–5 The enjambement over the first two stanzas is expressive of the
wind sweeping over the sea: and the wind is yet another ‘leader’
(dux) whose authority the wise man will not bow before. Here the
wind is described in almost political terms – turbidus suggests turba
(‘crowd’) with the sense of ‘rabble-rousing’ or ‘rebellious’, and inquieti
is a reminder of the passionate mob with their orders in the first
stanza. There is a neat surprise here also in that the wind is master of
the Adriatic but for all that he is powerless to shake this man.

6 Horace is not saying that the virtuous man will not fear the gods
but rather the lightning blast which was seen as expressing the
power of the sky-god. There is a touch of anthropomorphism in the
lightning seen in personal terms as being thrown by ‘the great hand of
thundering Jupiter’ the sky-god.
40 Selections from Horace Odes III

7–8 The opening passage closes with a neat hyperbolic summary.

Even if the whole firmament is shattered (fractus) and were to crash
down (illabatur is a hypothetical subjunctive in a conditional) then
the just man will not be afraid although the debris will strike him:
ferient is a strong future indicative showing the certainty of the wise
man’s fate and (by implication) the certainty of his attitude. Strength
consists in facing down threats, not in minimizing them, and the
cosmic threat successfully closes the list which has moved from the
very real (politics and sea-storms) to the less probable (thunderbolts)
and now to the total destruction of the world around him. If he can
face this, he really can face anything.

9 hac arte (‘by this virtue’) denotes the fixity of purpose presented in
lines 1–8. Pollux was one of the twin sons of Jupiter (along with his
brother Castor) while Hercules (also a child of Jupiter) was the hero
famed for his twelve labours which rid the world of many threatening
monsters and made human life more bearable. Hercules was
something of a Stoic role-model – cf. Virgil Aeneid VIII.185–279 –
who had to travel far and wide to perform his labours – hence the
description here of him as vagus.

10 For the Stoic imagery of the ‘fiery citadels’ see the note on II.23–4:
the vision of the divine abode begins as more Stoic than Homeric, but
this is going to change with the next two lines where the poet startles
us with a very anthropomorphic vision of the divine banquet with a
very recognizable special guest.

11–12 Horace uses the emperor’s honorific name (Augustus was

not his civil name (which was Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus)
but more of a title meaning ‘worthy of reverence’ conferred on him
in 27 bc. See the Introduction for more details on Augustus’ rise
to power). So here it makes sense for a man with such venerable
qualities to be sitting amongst the blessed gods. The imagery is of a
 Commentary 41

divine banquet: Augustus is reclining as Romans did at dinner and

he is drinking the nectar which the gods drank. The text printed here
reads the present tense bibit which seems on the face of it unlikely –
how could a living emperor be already drinking with the gods? Many
texts print the future tense bibet which makes more obvious sense and
points to the hope that he would be deified one day (as his adoptive
father Julius Caesar had been). The reading printed can be justified as
forming part of the poetic vision which exists in ‘real time’ for the poet;
this has the added effect of making the vision of a divine Augustus less
‘real’ and more obviously a poetic fantasy. For this idea of the apotheosis
of the emperor see Virgil Aeneid I.289–90 and for a satirical take on
the business see Seneca’s Apocolocyntosis (‘Pumpkinification’) of the
recently deceased emperor Claudius. The deification of the emperor
is elsewhere in the Roman Odes (III.5.2–4) regarded as linked to (but
not necessarily conditional on) his conquering of Britain and Parthia.

purpureo denotes the deep red which was (presumably) the colour
of the wine-like nectar which stains the drinker’s lips: the word is
also a byword for lavish luxury and royal splendour and so befits the
imperial/divine context.

13–15 The construction is: ‘by this [virtue], O father Bacchus, your
tigers took you deservedly (merentem), dragging the yoke with a neck
which cannot be tamed.’ Bacchus deserved the elevation to divinity
because he gave mankind the gift of the vine, and his chariot was often
(e.g. Virgil Aeneid VI.805) described as being drawn by tigers. Notice
the anaphora of hac … hac … which nicely joins together lines 9–18,
giving a more smooth transition from the opening generalization to
the mythical material of Romulus and Juno.

15–16 Quirinus was the formal name for the deified Romulus,
which is highly significant in this poem. Romulus was the founder
of Rome and the child of the god Mars and the priestess Rhea Silvia.
42 Selections from Horace Odes III

Rhea claimed descent from Troy: her father Numitor belonged to

royal family of Alba Longa which traced its ancestry back to Aeneas
the Trojan, and in Ennius’ account of the legend Ilia was Aeneas’
daughter. Here the divine ancestry of Romulus is heightened by the
juxtaposition over the line-break with Martis; and the speed of his
deification is brought out by the reference to the ‘horses’ (i.e. the
chariot) of Mars and the appropriate verb fugit (he ‘fled’), recalling
the fugiente penna in II.21–4.

17–18 The poem proposes that Romulus could not be deified until
and unless his grandmother Juno gave her consent; and most of the
rest of this poem is what purports to be her speech agreeing to what
the other gods clearly wanted all along (gratum).

18–24 Ilion (here in the Greek form of the accusative case) was Troy
and the passionate repetition of the name well evokes the strong
feelings of the goddess. This is also shown by her repeated refusal to
name the guilty pair in lines 19–20 and 25–6. The first seven lines of
Juno’s speech form one long sentence beginning with an exclamatory
statement (Ilion) of the object of the verb followed by a pair of subjects
(iudex et mulier) with a singular verb vertit, followed by a temporal
clause (ex quo) and then rounded off with a new statement about the
place with which the sentence began. The passion of the speaker is
well evoked in the slightly jumbled syntax of the sentence.

19 The ‘unchaste judge’ was Paris, a Trojan asked by Jupiter to

judge which of three goddesses (Venus, Juno and Minerva) was the
most beautiful after a golden apple bearing the dedication ‘to the most
beautiful one’ had been thrown by the goddess Eris (‘Discord’) into
the wedding feast of Peleus and Thetis. Paris earns the description
incestus because his prize for giving the apple to Venus (goddess
of sexual love) was to have the very beautiful wife of the king of
Sparta, Helen, who is here indignantly described as a ‘foreign woman’
 Commentary 43

(mulier peregrina). fatalis (to be taken with iudex) is emphasized

by its position at the start of the line and suggests that the actions of
this ‘judge’ were responsible for the doom of his city. There is also
political resonance here in that Antony had made a bad judgement in
choosing a ‘foreign woman’ (Cleopatra) over his wife Octavia (who
was Augustus’ sister). Horace’s use of allusive terms to refer to Paris
and Helen is good for expressing Juno’s contempt for them but also
leaves open the wider applications which readers could tap into.

21–23 ex quo means ex quo tempore (‘from the time when’) and is
to be taken with damnatum (agreeing with the neuter name Ilion
in line 18): the city was ‘condemned ever since Laomedon’. Juno
has no qualms about naming Laomedon, the father of Priam who
cheated the gods Apollo and Neptune of the agreed fee for their
help in building the walls of Troy. destituit means here ‘cheated’
or ‘left [the gods] without’ his ‘pledged payment’ (mercede pacta).
Homer (Iliad V.638–42) tells us that Laomedon tried a similar trick
on Hercules and was killed by him for it – all this is to bring out
that Juno is motivated by the principle of divine superiority as well
as the personal insult to her beauty which was the judgement of
Paris. It is not immediately obvious why the trick played on two
male gods should cause the trickster’s city to be condemned by two
female gods who had no direct role in the deal, and it is suspiciously
coincidental that these two goddesses were the ones slighted by that
other Trojan, Paris. There is a pattern here, however, in which Juno
builds her case against Troy as a city of liars (cf. fraudulento (24)
and periura (27)).

22–3 The dative cases of mihi and Minervae are datives of agent
(‘condemned by me and Minerva’) and the final two lines of
the sentence serve to bring out attention back to Ilion, its fate
(damnatum) and the original reason for it in the telling final word
fraudulento (24).
44 Selections from Horace Odes III

25–6 There is obvious gloating in the phrase iam nec (‘not any more’)
and her hatred of Paris and Helen shows in her repeated refusal to
name either of them; the terms also indicate the reason for their
condemnation in that Paris (the ‘infamous house-guest’) abused the
rights of a guest by seducing the wife of the host, and Helen (‘the
Spartan adulteress’) was unfaithful to her husband. splendet is a
good word for the ‘preening’ brilliance of Paris, and it is possible that
Lacaenae … adulterae are in the dative case (rather than the genitive)
as the person to whom Paris no longer ‘shines’. For Helen’s disillusion
with her new husband see Homer Iliad III.428–36, although the point
here in Juno’s speech is that Paris is dead, rather than unappealing to
Helen. The censorious tone of the word adulterae is a signal of the
importance of sexual morality within marriage as part of the regime
within which Augustus was seeking to impose moral legislation on
the Roman people – legislation which would (in 18 bc) make adultery
a capital offence and which would result in the banishment of the
emperor’s own daughter Julia; the theme is explored further in Ode VI.

26–7 There is obvious alliteration of ‘p’ here as Juno spits out her
feelings.

28 Hector was the greatest warrior of the sons of Priam, being killed by
Achilles in revenge for Hector’s killing of Achilles’ great friend Patroclus.
Juno implies that the Trojans only managed to drive back the Greeks
when Hector’s ‘help’ (opibus) was available, and the sneer at their
treachery in periura (27) repeats her feeling that they deserved to lose.

29–30 Was the war ‘drawn out by (divine) quarrels’? Certainly there
were disagreements amongst the gods who took sides – Apollo and
Aphrodite/Venus, for instance, favouring Troy while Juno and Athena/
Minerva favoured the Greeks. Juno suggests that their bickering
prolonged the war and promotes her pose as the bringer of peace and
stability. Note the assonant play on words in seditionibus … resedit.
 Commentary 45

30–1 The vindictive anger of Juno was of great ferocity – shown for
instance in her ruining of Heracles in Euripides’ Heracles, and seen as
a prime motive force behind much of the action in Virgil’s Aeneid (e.g.
I.8–11). Here her decision to forgo her wrath is taken ‘from now on’
(protinus) with the same energy as the anger itself.

31–2 Mars was in some accounts Juno’s son (see Hesiod Theogony
922–3) and so Romulus would then be her grandson. The child is
invisum (‘hated’) because his mother Ilia/Rhea Silvia claimed descent
from the hated Trojans (Troica): Ilia/Rhea Silvia was also a Vestal
Virgin (hence sacerdos) who should not have borne children at all.

33 Marti redonabo is a compressed expression. The verb is an archaic

one and means to ‘renounce something’ or to ‘give up my resentment
at’. It is to be taken both with iras (‘I will renounce my anger’) and then
again with nepotem (‘I will renounce any grudge against my hated
grandson’). There is also a nice ambiguity as Marti follows straight on
from the previous line and so the sense seems to be ‘whom the Trojan
priestess bore to Mars’, until we see the verb redonabo.

33–6 The abode of the gods is described as a place of light (lucidas), of

feasting (nectaris sucos), of peace (quietis) and of order (ordinibus). This
is in keeping with one traditional Greco-Roman idea of the tranquillity
of Olympus as found in Homer Odyssey VI.42–6 (cf. Lucretius III.18–
24), although the peaceful surroundings do nothing to prevent some
barnstorming arguments between gods in Homer’s Iliad (e.g. XXIV.32–
76) and Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and even Zeus/Jupiter can weep tears of
blood over his dead son Sarpedon (Homer Iliad XVII. 458–61). Romulus
is envisaged here as being allowed to enter, to have a drink, and to take his
proper place amongst the gods.

34–5 ducere here means ‘to drink up’ (OLD s.v. ‘ducere’ 25b) and
the emphasis on nectar recalls the imagery of Augustus’ lips stained
46 Selections from Horace Odes III

red with the same drink in line 12, thus adding to the important link
between Augustus and Romulus which is a major element of this
poem.

35–6 adscribi denotes being ‘enrolled’ in the appropriate class of

citizens, and the plural word ordinibus is suggestive of the rows of
senators such as were observed in the theatre; this is a very Roman
view of Olympus.

36 patiar continues the theme that Juno is in charge of all.

37–44 Juno spells out the deal in the coming lines with her terms laid
out with an orderly anaphora of dum … dum: Trojan exiles may rule
anywhere in the world except Troy itself which must remain a barren
landscape. dum here means ‘on condition that’ and this usage always
takes the subjunctive as here (saeviat … insultet … celent).

37–8 The order for translation is: dum longus pontus saeviat inter Ilion
Romamque and the word order is interesting, placing the two cities
together (albeit enjambed) on the page but insisting that they be kept
apart in real life, the whole phrase framed by the massive sea which is
in fact expected to lie between the two places. A weaker writer might
have inverted the order and had the names framing the sea.

38–9 regnanto is a third-person future imperative (AG §448–9;

‘Let them rule’) which has an archaic tone – Latin more commonly
used the jussive subjunctive (regnent) for this purpose. Juno speaks
as queen of the gods and her language is airily dismissive with the
indifferent qualifier qualibet … in parte (wherever they like) and the
tart description of these future rulers as always being ‘exiles’.

40–1 Great men care about the fate of their tombs but Juno insists
that these tombs will be for cattle to trample on (insultet has more
 Commentary 47

than a touch of mockery and abuse) and to use as a place to hide

their young. The two famous men (Priam and Paris, both focussed on
earlier at lines 19 and 26) are placed in grand alliterative juxtaposition
and the shocking condition insultet armentum is emphasized by the
enjambement and its position at the head of the following stanza.

41–2 Paris was the son of King Priam, and it is ironically apt that the
tombs should allow wild animals to protect their own ‘sons’ where
this father and son are buried. inultae is well placed at the end of the
phrase for further shock value: anyone treating the royal family like
this would be punished, but these wild beasts are not.

41–4 The glory of Rome is evoked in the ‘gleaming Capitol’ which is to

remain standing whereas the city of Troy has fallen into the dust (20–
21). The Capitoline hill was the smallest of the hills of Rome but was
the citadel and the religious centre and symbol of Rome’s greatness,
with a gilded (hence fulgens) temple dedicated to Jupiter Optimus
Maximus, Juno and Minerva: it was where triumphal processions
ended and where public officials made vows and sacrifices (see OCD
s.v. ‘Capitol’). Rome is ferox (rather like the ferae now living in Troy).
Her new subjects (and the objects of her ‘triumph’ on whom she wishes
to impose laws (iura)) are Medes, that is, Parthians. This brings the
poem right up to Horace’s own day and the poet (here as at III.5.1–4,
I.22.2) looks forward to a day when Parthia will be conquered.
Augustus was to do something of this in 20 bc when he succeeded
in bringing back the Roman standards taken by the Parthians after
the battle of Carrhae in 53 bc and Horace joined in approval of the
‘victory’ (see Odes VI.15.6–8, Epistles I.12.27–8, 18.56).

43–4 possit is concessive (‘fierce Rome may have the power to …’).
The phrase is framed by the object of Roman civilizing conquest
(triumphatis … Medis) and the word order enhances the sense that
the civilizing laws come after the military defeat.
48 Selections from Horace Odes III

45–52 This is one long sentence, broken up as follows: (a) let Rome
extend her power (horrenda … oras) (b) into the Mediterranean and
Egypt (qua … Nilus), (c) as a race which can resist the power of gold
(aurum … dextra).

45–7 horrenda late is emphasized at the head of the line, the stanza
and the sentence: horrenda is a gerundive meaning ‘one to be dreaded’,
and continues the idea of Rome conquering the Medes. ultimas …
oras signifies the furthest shores to the west (the sea dividing Europe
from Africa is the straits of Gibraltar) and the east (Egypt).

48 The river Nile was ‘swollen’ in that it irrigated the fields with
plentiful water and so ensured the abundant harvests for which Egypt
was famous. The fields (arva) here are verbally submerged in the
waters of the surrounding words rigat … Nilus.

49–52 The Roman will show greater strength of character if he rejects

the allure of gold and leaves it safely buried in the earth (49–50) or
else where it is now in temples (52). The construction of the sentence
is thus: Rome will be fortior to reject the gold which is undiscovered,
rather than (quam) to use it. The infinitives are dependent on the
(comparative) adjective as in Odes I.37.26 (see AG §461 for other
examples). The order for translation is: fortior spernere aurum
irrepertum (et sic … celat) quam cogere.

Gold could be mined as in Spain and elsewhere (see OCD s.v. ‘gold’)
or else it could be stolen from temples as was done by, for example,
Verres in Sicily, according to Cicero (Verrines II.1.54).

51–2 omne sacrum presumably refers to the gold of 49 along with

everything else which is used for the worship of the gods and so
‘sacred’. There is a nice pointing of the blasphemy inherent in using the
divine for ‘human purposes’, and the instrumental ablative rapiente
 Commentary 49

dextra (‘with rapacious hand’) adds a suitably pejorative touch to the

end of the sentence.

53–4 ‘Whatever boundary has been set to the world – Rome will touch
this in conquest.’ The exaggeration of Juno’s fantasy might strike the
reader as absurd (although similar prophecies are made by Jupiter to
the anxious mother Venus in Virgil Aeneid I.278–82) but her tone
throughout the speech is above all concessive: Rome can go as far as it
likes so long as it does not rebuild Troy (58–60).

54–6 Juno nicely captures the ancient fascination with seeing the
distant wonders of the world: gestiens suggests a real compulsion and
the extremes are well conveyed in the fires and the misty waters which
will be no barrier to the Roman. debacchari is ‘to rage madly to the
point of exhaustion’, like a worshipper of Bacchus, and so here nicely
means ‘to burn oneself out’; this is suited to fires but less so the misty
vapours of 56, where nebulae means ‘clouds’, pluvii ‘rainy’ and rores
‘dew’, the three words juxtaposed into a powerful unity of wetness.
Neither extreme will be a barrier for the Roman – or for Juno granting
them leave to touch them. Line 55 refers to the furthest south, while
56 refers to the north, completing the circle began in 46–8.

57–60 The crucial condition (lege). The Romans are referred to as

the ‘warlike Quirites’ which is something of an oxymoron as Quirites
indicates citizens as civilians and was used as a term of reproach by
Caesar (Suetonius Julius Caesar 70) to his insufficiently belligerent
troops; the tone is one of disgust with the men of peace fancying a
new adventure, their sentimental loyalty to the place (pii) and their
over-confidence (fidentes) getting the better of them. The obvious
sense of nimium pii is that the Roman will be too loyal to his distant
ancestry and seek to rebuild his ancestral (avitae) home in Troy:
there is (one might think) nothing wrong with being pius, but Juno
puts strict limits on it. rebusque fidentes indicates that they will be
50 Selections from Horace Odes III

sufficiently confident of their power and wealth to risk such a far-

flung venture. Note how the key name Troiae is left to the very end of
the sentence, the line and the stanza, only to be repeated at once at the
start of the following line.

61–4 Juno continues the threatening tone with the strong future
indicative iterabitur, the ominous ‘bird of bad omen’ (alite lugubri),
the mention of her victorious troops and finally the listing of her
divine titles and power.

61 ales literally means ‘bird’ and here means ‘omen’ as the Romans
often used to predict the future by observing the flight of birds (se
OCD s.v. ‘auspicium’) – a practice as old as Homer (Iliad XII.200–9).
lugubri is predicative of the grief which the omen portends and the
phrase alite lugubri is in the ablative of ‘attendant circumstances’.

62 Note here the elliptical surprise in the word fortuna – the ‘fortune’
of Troy will turn out to be their ruin – and the choice of fortuna
expresses the hopes of the people rebuilding the doomed city.
iterabitur means that the fortune ‘will be repeated’ (by means of
the tristi clade) and is only ominous when one recalls the fate of the
former Troy.

63–4 Juno was the sister and wife of Jupiter (cf. Virgil Aeneid I.46–7).
Her statement here shows that she has power both directly as a direct
descendant of Saturn/Cronos (and leader of victorious troops) and
also indirectly through the sky-god Jupiter whose bed she shares.

65–8 The three verbs are all subjunctive in a ‘less vivid’ conditional
(see AG §516b) referring to future time (‘if the wall should rise up
three times it would be destroyed three times, the captured wife would
weep three times’). Note the inexorable power of the anaphora of ter,
an epic device used in Homer (e.g. Iliad XVI.702–3, where Patroclus
 Commentary 51

attacks the walls of Troy three times, only to be beaten back by Apollo
three times – a passage which Horace recalls here).

65–6 The walls of Troy were built with the aid of Phoebus Apollo and
Neptune (see note on 21–2) and the phrase is concessive in tone here
– even if the new wall were made of bronze and had Phoebus behind
its construction, it would still fall.

67 excisus (from ex-caedo) is a strong word – ‘hewed out of its

foundations’. Juno lays claim to the Greeks as ‘my own’ – presumably
the same as the victrices catervas of 63 – and the use of an instrumental
ablative (when we expect an ablative of agent with a) is powerful.

67–8 The misery and anguish of war is eloquently summarized in

six words here, focalizing the suffering through the tears (ploret) of
a captured woman weeping for her husband and her boys who have
presumably been put to death by the victorious troops, her sobbing
anguish felt in the alliteration and o-e- assonance of puerosque
ploret. It is interesting that Juno’s great speech ends with this pathetic
vignette of the pain and suffering attendant upon conquest, an image
which recalls that of the Trojan women such as Andromache.

69–72 Horace ends the poem with a sharp rebuke to his Muse and a
reminder to her and to us that such great themes as this are not suited
to the ‘slender’ form of lyric. iocosae (‘cheerful’, ‘playful’) suggests that
the normal themes for his Muse are those of parties, love and laughter
and amounts to the poet telling his Muse to ‘lighten up’. This form
of closure is known as a ‘breaking off formula’ and is a form of irony
where the mood is broken by the poet reminding us that this is a
poem and amounts to what Lowrie (Horace’s Narrative Odes p. 228)
calls an ‘after the fact recusatio’ – that is, an ironic distancing of the
poet from his work after he has written it, reminding the audience
that they are witnessing a performance of a crafted work of art, while
52 Selections from Horace Odes III

also looking to the next poem which will feature the Muses heavily.
For other examples of this sort of ending see. II.1.37–40, Theocritus
I.127, Pindar Nemean IX.54–5, Olympian VI.105, Catullus 51.13–16.

72 The line is neatly phrased with the antithetical terms magna …

parvis. The infinitive tenuare is interesting – its primary meaning
(‘to make thinner’) is apt in the sense that the poet is pruning the
traditional hexameter of such epic material and producing a slimmed
down lyric version with shorter lines, but it also suggests the adjective
tenuis (‘subtle’, ‘fine’) – a literary quality prized by the poets of Horace’s
generation.

This is a longum … melos (2) indeed; it is the longest of all Horace’s

Odes and is a wonderfully varied and interesting composition. It
blends Greek and Latin, the past and the present, the personal and
the political, the temporal and the spiritual. Throughout the first half
of the poem stand the Muses, the nine female gods who were said
to inspire the arts; they are credited with inspiring the poet (1–8)
and with having protected him both when he was a child (9–20) and
later on as an adult (21–36). They are assumed (40) to be the ones to
grant refreshment to a tired Augustus. At this point the poem moves
into an extended account of the failure of the Giants in their attempt
to overthrow Jupiter and the poet can draw moralizing conclusions
about the proper use of force. So if the first half of the poem expresses
devotion to the Muses, the second half demonstrates what these
Muses can generate in terms of poetic inspiration, especially as they
are the divine beings who ‘know the past, present and future’ (Hesiod
Theogony 27–8) and so are the authorities for the poet’s information.
 Commentary 53

It is tempting to treat the Battle of the Giants (the ‘Gigantomachy’)

as allegorical. The ‘violence devoid of wisdom’ could refer to the poet’s
own times either in general terms as the forces of civil war which
had wrecked Rome or more specifically as the forces of Antony and
Cleopatra. This would equate the emperor with Jupiter and glorify his
triumphs as the victory of wisdom over brute force. Augustus has (of
course) not been in power for long, and the episode could also be seen
as a warning to him to rule with wisdom as well as violence. He has
the choice of being Jupiter or a Giant, rather as Aeneas has the choice
of becoming a Hercules or a Cacus in Virgil Aeneid VIII. Similarly, it
is tempting to see Pirithous the ‘lover’ as standing for Mark Antony
or even for the poet himself – who is no stranger to love (III.26.1–2).
Once again, the thought of the poem (65) is clear that love in itself is
not a bad thing, but that when used without wisdom (and Pirithous
tried to abduct Persephone by force) it will bring disaster, just like the
violence of the Giants.
The lyrical treatment of the ‘Gigantomachy’ and the address to the
lyre itself owe a lot to Pindar’s first Pythian ode (quoted in Greek and
in English in the accompanying web resources). Pindar’s poem was
composed to celebrate the victory (in the chariot race at the Pythian
Games) of Hieron, who lived at Aetna in Sicily: the references to the
volcanic mountain burying the mythical Giant Typhoeus are clearly
more topical for Pindar here than they are for Horace, although
Pindar does make use of the tale of Typhoeus even when the dedicatee
is not Sicilian (e.g. Pythian VIII written for Aristomenes of Aigina).
The influence of Pindar is also felt strongly in the autobiographical
section of the poem where the infant poet is saved from animals by
the Muses: Pindar recounts (Olympian VI. 45–7) being fed as a baby
by two serpents with ‘the blameless venom of the honeybee’ and
the late author Pausanias tells (IX.23.2) the tale of the young Pindar
falling asleep on his walk to Thespiae and having wax laid on his lips
by bees as an initiation into the life of a poet. Horace was covered
54 Selections from Horace Odes III

with laurel leaves – and laurel was the tree special to Apollo, the god
of poetry (and the patron god of the emperor). The poet also makes
mention of times when he has faced danger from a falling tree (27),
from the battle at Philippi (26) and from a sea voyage (28), just as in
earlier books of the Odes he had described himself threatened by a
wolf (I.22.9–16) and metamorphosed into a swan (II.20). This could
strike the modern reader as manifestly ironic, just like his claim in
Odes II.7 that Mercury saved his life at Philippi (see note on line 26
below), sending up the genre rather than making any serious claims
for himself. It certainly sets up an aura of poetic self-consciousness
which shows how this poet can beat the Greeks at their own game –
and smile about it while doing so.

1–2 Calliope was the ‘queen’ of the Muses and later on was regarded as
the patroness of epic poetry, and invoking her at the start of this poem
establishes a clear link with the address to the Muse at the end (69–72)
of the previous poem. Line 2 ends with two Greek words juxtaposed:
the name Calliope (meaning something like ‘beautiful voice’) and the
word melos meaning ‘song’ or ‘tune’, found only here in Horace. The
peremptory tone of the two imperatives dic age is perhaps surprising in
addressing a regina but the poet clearly enjoys a close relationship with
his patroness, rather like that of Odysseus with the goddess Athena,
and Horace had described himself (III.1.3) as the ‘priest of the Muses’.

3–4 The poet widens the range of possible musical media: we had the
pipe (tibia) in line 1, and now we have the voice (3), the lyre-strings
(fidibus) and the cithara (4). These last two words both refer to the
same instrument, the ancestor of the modern guitar, played with fixed
strings on a solid base; the instrument was called fides in Latin and
lyra or cithara in Greek. Horace’s use of the two languages here is
advertising that this poem is going to be a blend of the two cultures.
The Muse has a voice which is ‘clear/sharp’ (acuta) and the lyre is
 Commentary 55

credited with being the instrument of the god Apollo, here given his
Greek name of Phoebus as in III.66. The combination of pipe, voice
and lyre suggests the sort of choral lyric (as was composed by Pindar)
rather than the monodic lyric of an Alcaeus or Sappho, and Horace is
thus signalling that this is going to be a poem in the tradition of Pindar.

5–6 auditis is addressed possibly to the audience of this poem and

suggests that the poet hears the voice of Calliope but that his audience
do not – or else it is addressed to the Muses (‘are you listening to
me [and hearing my prayer] or is this all an illusion?’), with the poet
presenting himself almost as a medium receiving messages from ‘the
other side’. The poet speculates on whether his inspiration is the result
of his being deceived (ludit) by madness (insania) – although this
madness is ‘lovable’ and thus pleasant. audire picks up auditis and
there is a nice touch in the poet enjoying both his auditory illusion
and also the visions of lovely landscapes in lines 6–8.

6–8 The Muses are commonly associated with natural haunts like
springs and woods, and there is a theme in classical poetry of poetic
inspiration as the spring of Castalia. The adjectives here pick up the
idea of ‘lovely’ (amabilis 5) in pios … amoenae, both coming at the
end of successive lines: pius suggests that these are dedicated to the
gods, while amoenus has the sense of ‘pleasant’.

9–20 These lines describe a personal account of the poet as a child

being saved by doves who laid foliage on his sleeping body and hid
him from marauding snakes and bears. The language of this long
sentence is strained and complex: we have a long first clause with
hyperbaton of fabulosae … palumbes, followed by two relative
clauses (quod … quicumque) and then two clauses with ut. This
extended sentence gives the impression of rhapsodic, grand poetry
inspired by the Muses.
56 Selections from Horace Odes III

9–13 fabulosae (9) agrees with palumbes at the end of line 12, a good
example of hyperbaton, and the basic main sentence is: palumbes
texere me puerum. The phrase in line 11 agrees with the puerum.

9 The sentence begins with emphasis on me to enhance the sequence

of thought: the Muses are listening to me now because they always
cherished me even when I was a child. The juxtaposition with
fabulosae serves to enhance the poetic fantasy of what follows and the
links between the poet and the material he deals with. Monte Vulture
is a mountain in the Apulian district not far from Horace’s birthplace
of Venusia; the name suggests ‘vulture’ which is a nice contrast to the
wood-pigeons which protect him in line 12.

10 ‘beyond the threshold of my nurse Apulia’ is what the printed text

seems to mean and is almost certainly based on a textual error. For one
thing the scansion of Apuliae (as ăpūlĭāe) differs from the scansion of
Apulo (āpŭlō) in the previous line; for another, the boy was within
the territory of Apulia and not beyond it. We can read nutricis as a
metaphor (Apulia my nurse) and extra limen does give the pleasing
image of the boy wandering off the porch of the family home.

11 ‘tired out with play and with sleep’ is excellent: the activity of
playing made the child tired and then the sleep which followed made
him drowsy.

12 palumbes are wood-pigeons which flock on Monte Vulture. The

bird is associated with the goddess Venus, whose chariot is drawn by
doves, and this is perhaps significant for a budding love-poet.

13 foret is the alternative form of esset (imperfect subjunctive of sum)

and has consecutive force here – ‘so that it was a marvel to all’. quod
picks up the whole of the previous stanza as ‘something which …´
 Commentary 57

14–16 The generalizing plural quicumque (‘whoever’ – i.e. all

those who) leads on to names of some less familiar Italian places.
Acherontia (Acerenza), Bantia (Banzi) and Forentum (Forenza) are
all small places in the Apulian district near Venusia where Horace
grew up. The listing of these names is interesting: on the one hand it
confers greatness on places which did not enjoy fame until the poet
immortalized them in his poetry – like the Bandusian spring in Odes
III.13 – and on the other hand it moves sharply from the Greek to the
decidedly Italian world, bringing the poetry of a Pindar to the humble
local landscape. The places are also given some topographical colour:
Acheruntia is perched high (celsae) like a bird’s nest (nidum), Bantia
has wooded glades (saltus) while low-lying (humilis) Forentum has
rich (pingue) soil (arvum).

17–18 ut here means ‘how’ picking up from mirum in line 13 (‘a

marvel … how I slept’). The point of the foliage was presumably
camouflage to protect the sleeping boy from animals. The ablative
tuto … corpore is one of description and the ab follows naturally
from tuto to mean ‘with a body safe from …’ The viperis are the
snakes which inhabit Italy, called ‘black’ to denote their poisonous
danger as much as for their colour, while the bears need no qualifying
adjective to show their danger. Italy had bears in its woodland in
ancient times and bear-meat was eaten in Roman banquets (see e.g.
Petronius 66, where Habinnas asks: ‘if bears eat people, why should
people not eat bears?’).

18–19 texere in line 13 suggested a light covering: premerer now

suggests a heavier coating of leaves, and the poet lists the different
leaves used. -que … -que … joins the laurel and the myrtle, and
both types of leaf are seen as sacra and have been collata to form
the blanket. Laurel was the bush sacred to Apollo, god of poetry and
prophecy, while myrtle was sacred to Venus.
58 Selections from Horace Odes III

20 The line sums up what has gone before with modest claims of
his special status. The poet is ‘not without’ divine help from the
Muses – a humble litotes – and even though he does not yet speak
(infans derives from in-fari ‘to be unable to speak’ (see OLD s.v. 1))
he is already ‘infused with spirit’ (animosus) both in his courage at
wandering alone and in his innate ‘soul’ which would one day deliver
poems (like this one).

21 The poet addresses the Muses with their Italian name of Camenae
and their name is framed by the repetition of vester suggesting that as
he owes his life to them, they are central to his being and he belongs to
them. The rest of the stanza lists a range of places where he might go
to reinforce the idea that wherever he is he belongs to the Camenae.
For this ‘wherever I go’ figure see Catullus XI.1–14.

21–4 The juxtaposition of arduos / tollor over the line-break strongly

states the altitude of Horace’s Sabine estate, on which see, for example,
Satires II.6. The word Sabinos properly means ‘the Sabines’ but here
means the area rather than the people in it. Praeneste (modern
Palestrina) was also elevated and so ‘cool’; this made it, like the
Sabine estate, welcome during the hot summer months, as was Tibur
(modern Tivoli) where Horace loved to go (Epistles I.7.45). Baiae was
a seaside resort on the bay of Naples much frequented by the rich of
Rome and notorious for both its conspicuous consumption and its
louche lifestyle (OCD s.v. ‘Baiae’). Again, the sea air would have been
welcome (placuere).

25–8 In this stanza the poet lists three times when his life could have
ended prematurely and credits the Muses with saving him to be a
‘friend’ (amicum) to their ‘springs and dances’. The ‘springs’ in question
include Castalia and Hippocrene, both famed for artistic inspiration.
The theme of danger encountered and overcome, which is set up here,
looks forward to the poet’s adventurous future plans in lines 29–36.
 Commentary 59

26–7 Horace was on the losing side at the battle of Philippi in

42 bc when the forces of those who had assassinated Julius Caesar
(Brutus and Cassius and others) fought against the forces of Caesar’s
henchman Antony and the young Octavian – who was to become the
emperor Augustus. It might seem rash for the poet here to remind
his emperor that he had once fought against him, but equally it could
express confidence in the emperor’s policy of clementia towards his
former foes. The poet refers to the battle in Odes II.7.13–14 where
he credits the god Mercury with saving him – a nice touch of poetic
irony. The subject of the verb exstinxit is the acies which has been
routed (versa … retro) but has not killed the poet, mainly because
Horace threw away his shield and so escaped.

27 The ‘cursed tree’ (devota … arbos) fell and almost crushed Horace
to death on his Sabine estate, as recounted in Odes II.13.

28 The third brush with death seems to have taken place on a sea
voyage; Cape Palinurus is a promontory named after the hapless pilot
of Aeneas’ ship who fell overboard there (Aeneid VI.373). Sicula …
unda is an instrumental ablative going with exstinxit (27).

29–36 The following two stanzas list six possible peoples for him to
visit – all of them dangerous – to stress the poet’s reliance on the help of
the Muses for his safety in the future as in the past. He is so sure of their
aid that he is ‘willing’ (libens) to visit these places and will be inviolatus
throughout the journey: the two words nicely frame the travelogue. The
poet brings out his mode of transport as a sailor (navita, the archaic
form of nauta) on sea and a traveller (viator) on the land.

29–30 The poet’s readiness to undertake the risk is enhanced by the

juxtaposition over the line-break of libens / insanientem and by the
descriptions of the places to be visited as raging waters and burning
sand. The Bosphorus, a channel which links the Black Sea and the
60 Selections from Horace Odes III

Sea of Marmara, is personified as ‘insane’ both as a metaphor for the

raging storms encountered there and also as a transferred epithet
indicating that only a madman would risk this voyage. The ‘burning
sands’ of the Assyrian shore refer probably to the Persian Gulf.

33 Britain was regarded as the furthest part of the world to the West,
and by Horace’s time Caesar had visited the islands but done little
beyond seeing what was there. The Britons are said to be ‘savage to
guests’ (hospitibus feros) perhaps because the Druids there were said
to perform human sacrifice, as reported by Caesar (Gallic Wars VI.16).

34 The Concani were a notoriously fierce race in the north of Spain.

They were said to sacrifice horses to their god of war and to drink the
blood of the victims.

35–6 The Geloni were a fearsome Scythian tribe whose name

suggests ‘ice’ (gelu) and who were renowned archers (cf. Virgil Aeneid
VIII.725). The ‘Scythian river’ was the Tanais (Don) and was a byword
for extreme cold: see III.10.1 where cold-hearted Lyce is imagined as
living by the edge of the Tanais.

37–9 So far the poem has been entirely about Horace himself. Now he
brings in Caesar (Augustus) as another man assisted by the Muses, who
are the subject of the verb recreatis (40) (whose object is Caesarem).
Caesar is described as ‘lofty’ or ‘exalted’ (altum), the troops as ‘weary
with military service’ (militia … fessas); and Caesar himself is
‘seeking to end his toils’ in a note of sympathy for the commander and
his men. It was common practice for Roman commanders to settle
their veteran soldiers on lands in the towns (oppidis) of Italy, as we
hear in Satires II.2 and Virgil Eclogues I.

40 The ‘Pierian cave’ here symbolizes the idyllic place where the
warrior Caesar may find rest and nourishment in literature. Pieria was
 Commentary 61

in Macedonia, near Mt Olympus, and had been associated with the

Muses since time immemorial (Hesiod Works and Days I).

41–2 ‘You give gentle advice and you rejoice in it once it is given,
kindly ones’. almae derives from alo (‘I feed’) and is often used of
nurturing goddesses (cf. Lucretius I.2). Horace does not specify the
exact nature of the gentle advice given by the Muses to Caesar but
we may assume that it refers to Caesar’s efforts to pacify the Roman
world after the civil wars which followed the battle of Actium
in 31 bc. The line is scanned thus: vōs lēnĕ cōnsīli(um) ēt dătĭs
ēt dătō with the third vowel of consilium treated as a consonant,
which lengthens the previous syllable; this device (‘synizesis’) is
also used at 6.6.

42 scimus engages the audience with the poet in a first-person plural

verb (‘we know’) which enforces the consensus about the myth he
is going on to discuss – a myth which will point a moral that force
needs to be tempered if it is not to end in ruin. Jupiter has already
in the Roman Odes (Odes III.1.5–8) been described as ‘famous for
his victory over the Giants’. ut here means ‘how’ as in line 17. impios
marks out the Titans whom the poet conflates with the Giants. For the
concept of pietas see pios at line 6.

42–8 The long sentence begins with the object (the Titans) before
giving the verb (sustulerit) and only then telling us the subject, giving
over an entire stanza to list and describe Jupiter’s attributes without
needing to name him. Horace talks about Titans in 43 but later on
(49–58) switches to the Giants and the distinction clearly was not one
the poet was concerned about.

42–3 The phrase impios / Titanas immanemque turbam is a

hendiadys for the ‘monstrous mob of the unholy Titans’ – and the
magnitude of the threat is conveyed by the expansive phrasing here.
62 Selections from Horace Odes III

44 There is a pleasing oxymoron in sustulerit caduco as the verb

(which here means ‘eliminated them’) elsewhere indicates ‘lifting up’
while the adjective denotes ‘falling down’.

45–8 The poet’s eye scans the power of Jupiter from above (lands and
seas) and then zooms in on the details of the cities of the living and
the realms of the dead in a series of contrasting pairs (land vs sea,
living vs dead, gods vs men) which are unified under the rule of the
singular divine unus. qui here means is qui (‘the one who …’)

45–6 The earth is ‘unmoving’ as it is a solid land mass, whereas the

sea is whipped up by the winds (ventosum) into movement. temperat
(‘controls’) is more appropriate to the sea than the land.

47–8 The word turmas (which usually denotes a group of soldiers) is

followed by the military term imperio. unus here has adjectival force
(‘he alone’).

49 The previous stanza had made it seem easy for Jupiter to deal with
the threat from the Titans – this one fills in the ‘back story’ with the
pluperfect verb intulerat telling us what had happened to make this a
real danger which was enough to terrify even Jupiter.

50 This details some of the more frightening aspects of the Titans and
their allies. They were young (iuventus) and confident (fidens) in
the strength of their arms (bracchiis) which reminds us that some of
them (e.g. Briareus) had 100 hands. The word horrida (‘bristling’ or
‘shaggy’) connotes the forest of swirling arms.

51–2 The ‘brothers’ were Otus and Ephialtes who in the myth sought
to tear up Mt Ossa to put it on top of Mt Olympus, and then to put
Mt Pelion on top of Ossa in order to scale the heavens and unseat the
gods. Olympus may be opaco as it was so high as to be clouded over
 Commentary 63

or else simply as it was shrouded in leafage (cf. Virgil Georgics I.282).

imposuisse literally means that the brothers sought ‘to have put’ the
mountain in place but may simply be an example of the perfective
aspect of the infinitive indicating the completed action.

53–8 The threat was real but not enough to overpower the might
of the Olympian gods. The poet names a sequence of five Giants
in one stanza, only to have them overcome by the single power of
the aegis of Pallas, backed up by three other gods. There is good
variation here: the sequence begins with Typhoeus simply named,
followed by Mimas with a single word of description, followed
by Porphyrion with a two-word descriptive ablative, followed by
Rhoetus simply named and culminating in the five-word naming
of Enceladus.

53 Typhoeus was half-man and half-dragon, whom Pindar describes

as ‘enemy of the gods, with one hundred heads, once nurtured in the
famous Cilician cave – but now the rocks over Cyme … press on his
hairy chest’ (Pythian I.16–19). Mimas flung the island of Lemnos
against the gods but was killed by Vulcan (cf. avidus … Vulcanus
58–9) with red-hot metal.

54 minaci … statu is an ablative of description (‘with threatening

pose’). Porphyrion was the king of the Giants who was destroyed (in
one account by the bow of Apollo, in another by Jupiter and Hercules)
after he tried to rape Juno.

55–6 Rhoetus was a Giant (cf. Odes II.19.23). Enceladus was a Giant
whose battle with Pallas Athena became the subject of sculpture as
on the temple of Apollo at Delphi, and who was buried under Mt
Etna. Here he is a dynamic ‘spear-thrower’ (iaculator) – using torn up
trees as his weapons. audax could stand for all these monsters and the
theme of ‘violence without wisdom’ will be taken up later at line 65.
64 Selections from Horace Odes III

57–64 After the five named monsters the poet now lists four gods,
culminating in Augustus’ patron god Apollo. The theme of ‘purity’
is prominent here (the virginal goddess Pallas, the matrona Juno and
Apollo using rore puro to wash his hair) and looks forward to the
sexually immoral sinners whom we will meet in lines 70–80.

57 The ‘aegis’ is sometimes described as a weapon, sometimes a shield,

or breastplate or cloak, and here the word sonantem (‘echoing’)
suggests that it was a shield. Its use by Athene to terrify the enemy is
attested in Homer Odyssey XXII.297–9.

58 possent is eloquent: not what the Giants did achieve but what
‘could’ they achieve, for all their forward rushing (ruentes).

58–64 To defeat the Giants Horace presents a further three gods

culminating in the figure of Apollo who is given five lines to
describe him.

58–9 Vulcan (Hephaistos in Greek) was the blacksmith god of fire,

son of Juno who was the wife and sister of Jupiter. avidus suggests
both ‘greedy for battle’ and also that fire is a greedy destructive force.

60 Apollo is the god of poetry as we have seen in line 4; but he is also

a god of violence whose bow sends plague on to the Greek camp at
the start of Homer’s Iliad and who is often described in Homer as ‘far-
shooting’ – Ovid (Metamorphoses I.441–4) paints a similar picture of
the lethal archery of the god. Apollo was also Augustus’ protecting
patron god whose sanctuary at Actium was close to the scene of the
great victory in 31 bc and to whom Augustus dedicated a temple on
the Palatine Hill in 28 bc.

61–4 The image of Apollo here is conventional and drawn partly from
Pindar Pythian III.39 where he is addressed as one who is ‘lover of the
 Commentary 65

Castalian spring on Parnassus’. The Castalian spring on Mt Parnassus

is useful here for washing the god’s famous long hair. The language of
this passage is remarkably pastoral: the god ‘holds’ (i.e. lives there as a
controlling deity as as III.28.14) the ‘thickets’ of Lycia and the ‘woods’
of his birth, washing in a spring. lavit is third-person singular of the
present tense of the archaic third conjugation verb lavĕre (later Latin
has the verb as first conjugation lavare).

64 Patareus: Patara in Lycia had a temple of Apollo where he used

to prophesy. Delos was the island of his birth (on Mt Cynthos). The
whole stanza leads up to the climactic final word naming the god.

65–8 The poet generalizes with the kind of judgement which is

common in the choral lyric of Pindar (see Introduction): violence
which is restrained (temperatam) by judgement and purposeful is
favoured by the gods, but mere brutality is doomed to disaster. Note
the emphatic repetition of vis … vim … vires at the beginnings and
end of lines.

65 mole ruit sua suggests an image of a building collapsing under its

own mass. The following lines will, however, show that force like this
is punished by third parties.

66–7 The ‘extension’ of controlled force is mirrored in the way the

phrase itself is extended by enjambement.

67–8 vires is the plural of vis and is described in line 68 as ‘moving

every misdeed in its mind’. idem means literally ‘the same ones’ but
here means ‘they also …´

69–70 Gyas was one of the Giants who tried to scale the heavens; he
was flung into the underworld by the thunderbolts of Jupiter (cf. Odes
II.17.14). Note here the immensity of the monster supported by the
66 Selections from Horace Odes III

compound adjective centimanus (‘hundred-handed’) followed by the

sonorous sententiarum in enjambement.

71 Orion was another of the Giants (and son of Terra) and was a famous
hunter who assaulted Diana. The word temptator here indicates that
his efforts were no more than that but were doomed to punishment
nonetheless. The juxtaposition of Orion Dianae represents verbally
the (attempted) closeness of their bodies.

72 Diana (Artemis in Greek) was dedicated to virginity and so

Orion was never likely to succeed. Her virgin status here is applied
to the arrow with which she subdued him and the term virginea
triumphantly emphasizes that Diana remained a virgo.

73–4 The order for translation is: Terra, iniecta monstris suis, dolet
(‘Earth, piled up on her own monsters, grieves’). The Giants were
buried under mountains such as Etna in Sicily. The wording of
dolet … maeretque partus indicates that Horace is thinking of the
personified Terra (‘Mother Earth’) who is lamenting her lost children.
The sentence is highly effective also with the use of suis (‘her own
monsters’) and the vivid image of the mother covering her dead
babies with herself. luridus denotes a sickly-yellow colour and is often
applied to the ghosts of the underworld.

75 Orcus, like Hades in Greek, means both the god of the underworld
and his realm.

75–80 peredit and reliquit are both perfect tenses and show that,
for all the long passage of time, the fire has not yet eaten up the
mountain and the bird has not yet left the liver, while the present
tense of cohibent shows that the chains still hold Pirithous even
now. All this brings out the eternal punishment to which they were
condemned.
 Commentary 67

77 incontinens indicates one who cannot contain (continere) his

appetites and corresponds to the Greek term akrasia (discussed in
book 7 of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics). Tityos was another of the
Giants, who tried to rape Leto and so was punished by her children
Apollo and Artemis. He is seen as a byword for excessive sexual
passion in Lucretius III.992–4.

78–9 The bird was applied as a guard to his wickedness (nequitiae

is dative) – that is, the vulture was sent to watch over him (and eat
his liver) because of his wickedness. The legend of the liver being
eaten at by birds reminds the reader of the legend of Prometheus to
whom similar torments were given. The liver was regarded as the
seat of emotions (e.g. Juvenal I.45, XI.187) and eating the liver was
something which the grim Hecuba wishes to do to her son’s killer
Achilles in Homer’s Iliad (XXIV.212–13).

79–80 trecentae is literally ‘300’ but here denotes any unfeasibly large
number. Pirithous was king of the Lapiths whose crime was to go
down to the underworld with Theseus and try to abduct Proserpina,
the daughter of Ceres and wife of the god of the underworld – hence
his ironic title here of ‘lover’. Pirithous was seized by Pluto and bound
to a rock. The theme of sexual incontinence is one which Ode VI is
going to pursue in more contemporary terms.

This is a deeply pessimistic poem, at least on the surface. The message –

that society is going to Hell in a handcart and things will only get
worse – might seem surprising in a collection which is urging moral
and social regeneration, but the implication of the doom and gloom
is that Augustus’ regeneration is our (only) chance to avoid this fate.
68 Selections from Horace Odes III

The ode is made up of twelve stanzas divided into three groups of

four.

1–16 Rome needs to keep the gods on side as she has faced near
disaster in the recent past.

17–32 Sexual immorality is rife in Rome.

33–48 People today are not as they were, and things will only get
worse.

The ode thus looks to the past in the first and the last sections, while
the central panel of the triptych looks at the world around it almost in
a satirical mode of vivid disapproval.
The tone is on the surface religious to a surprising degree. Our
misfortunes are (it is asserted) the result of our sin, and future
prosperity depends on our repenting and improving our ways. The
political side is heavily marked also, given that Augustus boasted
that he restored eighty-two temples of the gods (Res Gestae XX.4:
cf. Livy IV.20.7) and he had already dedicated a temple to Apollo in
28 bc. Military disappointments are also linked to ritual failures (9–
12) and the war at Actium is alluded to as a near-miss (paene) for
the forces of the East (13–16), as the Romans were too busy fighting
each other.
The poem then veers from the (inter)national to the private sphere
of domestic morality and the sexual misbehaviour of the current
generation. In the poem the wife’s motive is lust, the husband’s motive
is greed and both are equally condemned.
The poet is clearly glancing at a range of ideas which would soon
become enshrined in the ‘moral and social legislation’ of Augustus,
the main articles of which were as follows: marriage was made
compulsory for men between the ages of twenty-five and sixty and
for women between twenty and fifty; to make this easier, Augustus
allowed men who were not senators to marry freedwomen. A woman
 Commentary 69

who was divorced had to remarry within six months and widows
had to remarry within a year (lex Julia de maritandis ordinibus). The
purpose of this was presumably to raise the birth rate amongst the
upper classes – see Dio’s account of his speech to the unmarried men
(Dio 56.6–9) for a flavour of the rhetoric behind the legislation – and
there were some (to us) draconian restrictions on marriage with the
so-called infames (gladiators, pimps, convicts and actors) who were
not permitted to marry any but their own kind.
Adultery had up till that point been a private matter dealt with by
the family: Augustus set up a permanent court (quaestio perpetua)
to try cases of wifely infidelity and the penalty was exile to distant
islands for both the errant wife and her lover, as well as confiscation
of property. Any husband who turned a blind eye to his wife’s adultery
was to be arraigned on suspicion of colluding with the immorality
(lex Julia de adulteriis coercendis), while a woman found to have
committed adultery was ruined – she had to cease wearing the stola
and had to wear the toga of a prostitute. Many no doubt became
prostitutes to survive.
The legislation was not in fact passed until 18 bc (five years after the
publication of the Odes) so the poet’s use of this material here is more
corroborating what must have been discussed in the imperial court
rather than approving of laws which had already been announced in
public. In the poem the wicked adulterer is the lustful unfaithful wife
and her conniving husband is clearly pimping her out to a wealthy
man – a man who is lower-class and/or a foreigner. This combines the
sexual with more than a touch of snobbery when we read the disdain
the poet brings to the phrase seu vocat institor / seu navis Hispanae
magister / dedecorum pretiosus emptor (30–2).
Little if any moral disapproval is expressed against the wife’s
lover in fact; he is simply buying a product much as Horace himself
recommends in Satires I.2.101–19. Suetonius (Life of Augustus 69) tells
us that Augustus himself was well known as an adulterer – although
in his case it was more to find out via pillow talk the thoughts of his
70 Selections from Horace Odes III

potential enemies rather than motivated by lust. A husband could

of course be unfaithful to his wife with his slaves or with prostitutes
and freedwomen without threatening the family bloodline and this
‘double standard’ is accepted without comment by the poet: once
again, the criticism is aimed at the feeble or corrupt husband who
cannot keep his wife in order rather than the hot-blooded lover who
takes advantage of this, and this is a theme of Roman love poetry (e.g.
Catullus 17, Ovid Amores I.4, 2.7).

1 maiorum is from maiores ‘ancestors’ and the argument is that ‘you’

(Romane in the next line, the anonymous ‘Roman’ addressee of the
poem) will pay for the sins of the ancestors even though you personally
are not to blame for them. This theme – Adam ate the apple but we
get the stomach ache – underlies many tragic tales involving family
curses. For Horace’s use of Romane see Virgil Aeneid VI.852.

2–4 The poet refers to the physical sites associated with the gods in
three different ways (templa … aedes … simulacra) with ascending
levels of description attached to them. The divine sites are first referred
to simply as templa but then described as ‘falling-down abodes of the
gods’ and finally as ‘images foul with black smoke’. labentes describes
the ‘slipping’ or ‘falling down’ of the buildings.

5 The construction is thus: ‘because you conduct yourself (te …

geris) as less important (minorem) than the gods (dis – ablative of
comparison), you rule.’ The paradox is that man’s subservience to the
divine gives him power over others. The gods confirm men in power,
and material success proves the favour of the gods; the obverse is clear
from Odes III.2.26–9 where the poet refuses to go into a boat with a
guilty man for fear of divine punishment hitting them both.

6 There is a pleasing balance here between hinc and huc and

between principium and exitum. The terms hinc and huc here are
 Commentary 71

to be understood metaphorically – ‘derive every beginning from this

(obedience to the gods) and make this the end’. The Roman addressed
in Romane (2) is still the subject of the imperative refer. principium,
huc is scanned prīncīpi(um) hūc with synizesis as at IV.41.

7–8 The adjectival term neglecti explains the whole sentence: it is

because they gods have been ignored that they have given misfortune.
Hesperiae is literally ‘the Western Land’ and here indicates Italy.

9 Parthia had been a target for Roman armies in the recent past and
was the site of several battles which went badly for Roman forces,
including a notorious case (Carrhae in 53 bc) where the general
Crassus, according to Cicero (de Divinatione II.84) ignored the omens
on his journey there whereby the fig-seller advertising his Caunian
figs (‘Caunias!’) was heard to be advising ‘cave ne eas’ (beware of
going). The Parthians are listed in reverse chronological order:
Pacorus (a Parthian prince) defeated the forces of Antony’s lieutenant
L. Decidius Saxa in 40 bc after the latter made an unwise move on
Palmyra; while Monaeses (the Parthian commander) crushed Oppius
Statianus in 36 bc when Antony invaded Parthia.

10 The key phrase is non auspicatos which explains the violent verb
contudit which follows it.

11–12 There is vivid description here as we see the Parthian

‘grinning’ (renidet – also used by Catullus of a silly grin (39.2)) to
have added our plunder to his ‘little neckbands’ which are dainty
and effeminate.

13 seditionibus here must refer to the internecine strife which

marred the last century of the Roman Republic: the strife between
Marius and Sulla, leading to the dictatorship of the latter, followed
by the strife by and between the members of the first Triumvirate
72 Selections from Horace Odes III

(Crassus, Pompey and Julius Caesar) followed by the Civil War of

49 bc between Caesar and Pompey which ended in the dictatorship
of Caesar. His assassination in 44 bc led to fresh wars between his
successors Octavian and Mark Antony, which ended in the defeat of
the latter at Actium in 31 bc and the establishment of the principate
of Octavian/Augustus. Horace, looking back on this catalogue of
blood and misery, sees it as a close-run thing (paene). There is a good
deal of exaggeration in Horace’s language – the ‘Ethiopian’ (from the
extreme south in Africa) and the ‘Dacian’ (from the remote north on
the Danube) did not threaten to attack Rome itself – but this well
expresses the fear of what might have been.

13–16 Here the reference is to the battle of Actium: Dacian archers

(described here as ‘better with flying arrows’ (line 16)) served under
Antony, and the ‘Ethiopian’ refers to the Egyptian troops who manned
Cleopatra’s fleet (classe line 15).

17–32 The second third of the poem gives us a moralizing picture

of sexual immorality as another explanation of the disasters which
threaten Rome. The poet has already told us that the gods have given
us misfortune when neglected (lines 7–8) – he now shows us the
pollution in family values.

17 ‘Ages fertile in sin’ is an elliptical phrase denoting the duration

and the quality of the misconduct. fecunda normally refers to
procreative power and the sardonic twist here is that these times are
only producing sin rather than the masculine offspring of days gone
by (37–8). For culpae used in this sense see Virgil Aeneid IV.172.

17–18 The target of the pollution is the threefold nuptias … genus …

domos: marriage (and therefore) the race itself and homes/families.
Anything which threatens the integrity of marriage will (the poet
asserts) pollute the bloodline and the stable homes on which Roman
 Commentary 73

inheritance depended. inquinavere is a strong word denoting the

dirtying and polluting effect of one thing on another and starts the
motif of liquid imagery which continues with fonte derivata … fluxit
in lines 19–20.

19–20 ‘Disaster, channeled from this source, has flowed onto the
fatherland and its people.’ hoc fonte refers back to the culpae of line
17 and there is a nice progression as the initial spring (fonte) ends up
flooding the landscape.

21–32 These three stanzas focus on the behaviour of the young

woman; she is unmarried (virgo) but being trained in lines 21–4, then
married but promiscuously adulterous in lines 25–32. The criticism is
also levelled at the husband who is fully aware (conscio) of what she
is doing and actually telling her to do it (iussa).

21 ‘Ionic movements’ refers to dancing steps which originated in

Ionia (the western edge of Turkey inhabited by Greeks and with a
reputation for luxury). Dancing was something which slave girls
would do and which was suspect in a freeborn woman, frowned at
in a married lady (cf. Fortunata’s dancing of the cordax in Petronius
52.8). The juxtaposition of doceri gaudet is also significant: decent
girls would be unwilling to compromise their modesty thus, but this
girl is happy to be taught the steps.

22 The girl is unmarried but no longer a child (matura). fingitur

artibus is delightfully ambiguous: she is being ‘shaped’ both by the
arts she is practising and also for them; the noun figura is linked to
this verb and the poet thus gently alludes to her developing a physical
shape to match her abilities.

23–4 incestos is in-castos (un-chaste: cf. III.19) and meditatur shows

that she is already (iam nunc) planning her career as an adulteress
74 Selections from Horace Odes III

even before she is married: amores often has this sense of ‘love-
affairs’. de tenero … ungui means literally ‘down from her tender
fingernail’ and two interpretations have been argued: one is that
it derives from the Greek phrase ‘from soft nails’ and means ‘from
earliest childhood’, but this is rendered improbable as the girl is now
matura (22) and there is strong emphasis (iam nunc) on the fact
that this is current behaviour. More plausibly the phrase means ‘with
her whole being’, ‘heart and soul’ analogous to the Greek ex onuchon
(‘from the nails’) which has precisely this meaning; there is something
nicely ironic about the poet borrowing a Greek phrase to describe a
girl who is borrowing lascivious Greek dancing moves. The addition
of the adjective tenero is typical of Horace – the term is often used
of a sexually attractive girl (e.g. Odes I.1.26, Satires I.2.81, Catullus
XX.15, 61.100, Ovid Metamorphoses XI.153).

25–6 mox indicates the rapid passage of time and the words adulteros
… mariti suggest that the virgo (22) is now married. iuniores means
‘younger’ and suggests that her husband is older than she would have
preferred, hinting that her motivation is simply lust. Her seeking out
of lovers reminds us of the activities of Clodia according to Cicero pro
Caelio 35–6, but this girl is both a voracious vamp and also the sex-
worker of a corrupt husband (29–32).

26 vina gives us the imagery of the convivium (‘party’) with its

atmosphere of wine, women and song. For the vignette of the dinner
party where a wife is with her husband and her lover see Ovid Amores
I.4 but (unlike in the Ovid poem) the tables are turned here as the
husband is fully in on the activities (conscio line 29) and indeed the
wife does not choose her partners. Interestingly, a similar story is told
in Suetonius (Augustus 69.1) of the young Augustus who once took
the wife of an ex-consul from a dinner party into the bedroom and
then brought her back to the table ‘with hair a mess and ears glowing’.
 Commentary 75

26–8 The poet’s indignation is brought out well. The pleasures are
‘forbidden’ (impermissa), granted in the darkness (luminibus
remotis) and in a hurry (raptim) perhaps to get through as many as
she can in the time available. The word gaudia is richly ironic in the
context.

29–32 The previous stanza was bad – but things are now made worse
by the husband’s organizing of it all. She is commanded (iussa) in
public (coram) by her own husband to service the men – and they
turn out to be foreigners and lower-class merchants. The institor was
a pedlar or travelling salesman, while the mention of the ‘Spanish sea-
captain’ adds a touch of xenophobia to the disgust. Pedlars and sailors
were often paired as the customers of prostitutes (e.g. Epodes XVII.20)
and pedlars in particular were regarded as sexually loose (e.g. Ovid
Ars Amatoria I.421, Remedium Amoris 306). The sea-captain may well
have been the owner of his own ship and therefore wealthy but Horace
taps into the Roman upper-class distaste for trade with the scornful
term dedecorum pretiosus emptor. pretiosus is elsewhere used of
the goods themselves (‘expensive’) and the sense is double here: he
is a prodigal spender, but this sort of behaviour will prove costly to
everyone. There is also irony in the term magister which means
‘master’ (and so captain) of the ship; here he shows his mastery over
another man’s wife.

33 non his makes for a strong start to the stanza: it was not parents
like this who produced the great Romans of the past. It also casts a
gentle query about the sort of offspring which promiscuous sexual
behaviour of wives will produce.

34–6 A short trio of famous Roman conquests from the ‘glory

years’ of the mid-Republican rise to power in the Mediterranean
to prove Roman past greatness, with some telling imagery: the
76 Selections from Horace Odes III

seas were ‘stained with Punic blood’ when C. Duilius defeated the
Carthaginians at Mylae (260 bc) and later on when Lutatius Catulus
besieged Drepana in 242 bc, both events taking place in the first
Punic War (264–241 bc). The imagery of blood staining the sea is
also used at Odes II.1.35, II.12.3, Juvenal X.185–6 and here the image
plays on the associations of Phoenicia and the purple dye which it
famously produced. Pyrrhus of Epirus invaded Italy in 280 bc and
his ruinous victories coined the term ‘Pyrrhic victory’; Antiochus III
was defeated by Scipio Africanus at Magnesia in 190 bc and his title
‘the Great’ is given a more poetic turn with the adjective ingentem
whose grandeur magnifies the scale of the victory over him. The verb
cecīdit is from caedo and has the violent sense ‘hack down’. Hannibal
(247–182 bc) was the great Carthaginian general whose leadership in
the second Punic War against Rome almost brought disaster to the
world, according to the Romans (e.g. Lucretius III.833–7) and who
fully deserves the epithet dirum. He was finally defeated at the battle
of Zama in 202 bc (Livy XXX.29–35). The list is not in chronological
order, but ends appropriately with the greatest threat to Rome.

37–44 The poet ascribes the greatness of the former generations

to their rustic upbringing and consequent toughness. Romans –
especially urban types – had a tendency to romanticize the life of the
countryside and see it as more healthy both physically and morally:
see for instance the town mouse and the country mouse in Satires II.6,
and cf. Epode II, Virgil Georgics II.458–62, Juvenal Satire XI.142–60.

37 Note the emphasis on the rugged masculinity of the offspring in

the alliterative mascula militum.

38–40 The skills taught are agricultural (‘turning the clods of earth
with Samnite mattocks’) rather than military, although no doubt (as
in the famous tale of Quinctius Cincinnatus who left his ploughing to
 Commentary 77

become dictator, assemble an army, defeat the enemy and then return
to his plough) the skills were transferable. docta reminds us of doceri
in line 21 and the contrast between the virgo (22) and these young
men is developed as the female working for the male husband (29–
30) and being bought by other men now becomes a picture of males
working for a strict female (severae / matris), the artificial lights
being put out in 28 replaced by the natural sunset of 41–4.

40–1 The young men cut logs (fustes) and carry them to make
firewood.

41–4 This stanza has the sun as its subject; as the sun departs it
‘changes the shadows of the mountains’, suggesting that the wood
is being brought down from the mountain to the homestead in the
valley. Less obviously, the sun ‘takes the yokes off ’ the tired oxen –
that is, the men remove the yokes once the sun has gone down. For
the link between sunset and unyoking oxen see Homer Odyssey IX.58.
The evening is the ‘welcome time’ (amicum / tempus) to all and the
choice of amicus is charged for a Roman audience with suggestions
of alliance and harmony. Sunset is a very effective closural motif, as
at the end of Virgil Eclogue I. The subjunctives mutaret and demeret
are most likely indefinite and frequentative (‘whenever (as often
happens)’) but it has been suggested that they represent the words of
the mother.

44 The sun is personified as riding away in his chariot such as that driven
by Phaethon in Ovid’s famous account (Metamorphoses II.1–366).

45 The passage of time is costly (damnosa) and has diminished

everything; the poet begins his final stanza of this last in the series
of Roman Odes with a stern rhetorical question, picking up the idea
of daytime from the previous stanza and turning it into a pessimistic
generalization.
78 Selections from Horace Odes III

46–8 The final three lines diminish in length and reduce in number of
words (5, then 4, then 2) mirroring the inevitable weakening of the race.
Our parents were worse than their parents (our avis), only to produce
us (nos) who are more worthless still, doomed to produce offspring
which is even more faulty. The inevitable decline is at odds with the
more optimistic opening of the poem which encouraged Romans to
rebuild temples and stop the neglect of the gods which had caused
disaster in the past, and it is tempting to argue (with some scholars)
that there is a concealed condition attached to this final stanza; things
will certainly continue to decline unless we do something to stop it
and sign up to a programme of moral regeneration.
 Vocabulary

This vocabulary lists every word in the text. Nouns are listed with
their genitive singular, and verbs are listed with all their four principal
parts. Adjectives are listed with the endings of the different genders
(e.g. bonus -a -um) except where the three genders are the same in the
nominative where the genitive is listed (e.g. iners, inertis).

ab (+ ablative) from, away from

abdo, abdere, abdidi, abditum to hide
abeo, abire, abivi, abitum to leave, depart from
acer acris acre hard, fierce (with militia 2.2)
Acheron -ontis, m Acheron (a river in the
Underworld: 3.16)
Acherontia -ae, f Acherontia (a town: 4.14)
Achivus -a -um Greek (3.27)
acies, aciei, f battle-line
acutus -a -um clear-sounding (4.3)
ad (+ accusative) to, towards
addo, addere, addidi, additum to join (2.30), to set, apply
(4.78)
adiicio, adiicere, adiecisse, adiectum to add to
adscribo, adscribere, adscripsi,
adscriptum to enrol (3.35)
adulter -i, m adulterer, lover
adultera -ae, f an adulteress
adultus -a -um grown up, fully grown
aedes, aedis, f shrine (6.3)
80 Selections from Horace Odes III

aegis, aegidis, f aegis (shield of Minerva:

4.57)
aeneus -a -um made of bronze
aequor, aequoris, n sea
aequus, aequa, aequum even-handed, fair (4.48)
aetas, aetatis, f age, time
Aethiops, Aethiopis, m Ethiopian (6.14)
Aetne -es, f Etna (volcanic mountain:
4.76)
Afer, Afri, m African
age! come now! (imperative
of ago: 4.1)
agmen, agminis, n column of soldiers, warfare
(2.9)
ago, agere, egi, actum to spend (time: 2.5), to lead
on (6.44)
ales, alitis, m/f bird (3.61, 4.78)
almus -a -um nurturing, kindly
altus -a -um exalted, lofty
amabilis, -e pleasant, lovable
amator, amatoris, m lover
amice (adverb) as a friend (2.1)
amicus -i, m friend
amnis, amnis, m stream, river
amoenus -a -um charming, pleasant
amor, amoris, m love
an (conjunction) or
angustus -a -um tight, restricted (2.1)
animosus -a -um spirited (4.20)
animus -i, m heart, innermost feelings
antecedo, antecedere, antecessi,
antecessum to go before, to go in front
 Vocabulary 81

Antiochus -i, m Antiochus (king of Syria:

6.36)
antrum, antri, n cave
Apollo, Apollinis, m Apollo (a god)
Apulia -ae, f Apulia (4.10)
Apulus -a -um Apulian
aqua -ae, f water
arbitrium, arbitrii, n authority (6.40)
arbos, arboris, f tree
arcanus -a -um secret, hidden
arcus, arcūs, m bow (used in archery)
ardor, ardoris, m heat, passion
arduus -a -um lofty, steep
Argivus -a -um Argive (3.67)
arma, armorum, n.pl. weapons
armentum -i, n herd
ars, artis, f skill (6.22), virtue (3.9)
arvum -i, n field, ploughland
arx, arcis, f citadel
asper, aspera, asperum rough
Assyrius -a -um Assyrian
ater, atra, atrum black
attingo, attingere, attigi, attactum to reach, attain
auctor, auctoris, m builder, producer (3.66)
audax, audacis bold, daring
audio, audire, audivi, auditum to hear
Augustus -i Augustus (Roman
emperor)
aura -ae, f breeze
aurum -i, n gold
auspicatus -a -um blessed with good auspices
(6.10)
82 Selections from Horace Odes III

Auster, Austri, m the south wind

aut or
avidus -a -um greedy, eager
avis, avis, f bird
avitus -a -um ancestral
Bacchus, -i, m Bacchus
Baiae, Baiarum, f.pl. Baiae (fashionable Roman
bathing resort)
Bantinus -a -um of Bantia (a town: 4.15)
beatus -a -um happy, fortunate, wealthy
bellicosus -a -um warlike
bello, bellare, bellavi, bellatum to wage war
bellum, i, n war
bibo, bibere, bibi to drink
bis (adverb) twice
bos, bovis, m/f (dat/abl plural: bobus 6.43) ox, cow
Bosphorus -i, m the Bosphorus
bracchium, bracchii, n arm
Britannus -a -um British
bustum -i, n tomb
caducus -a um falling
caedes, caedis, f slaughter, carnage
caedo, caedere, cecīdi, caesum to cut down, slay (6.35)
caelum, -i, n heavens, sky
Caesar, Caesaris, m Caesar (4.37)
Calliope -ēs, f Calliope (Muse of lyric
poetry: 4.2)
Camena -ae, f Muse
capio, capere, cepi, captum to take, to take prisoner
Capitolium, Capitolii, n The Capitol and the
temple of Jupiter on it
(3.42)
Castalia -ae, f Castalia (fountain on Mt
Parnassus: 4.61)
 Vocabulary 83

castus -a -um chaste, pure

catena -ae, f chain
caterva -ae, f troop, band
catulus -i, m puppy
celo, celare, celavi, celatum to hide
celer, celeris, celere swift
celsus -a -um lofty, raised high
centimanus -a -um with 100 hands
Ceres, Cereris, f Ceres (goddess of
agriculture and corn:
2.26)
chorus -i, m chorus, band of dancers
cithara -ae, f lyre, harp
civis, civis, m citizen
clades, cladis, f disaster
classis -is, f fleet of ships
claudo, claudere, clausi, clausum to shut
coetus -ūs, m gathering, throng
cogo, cogere, coegi, coactum to force
cohibeo, cohibere, cohibui, cohibitum to restrain, check
cohors, cohortis, f cohort (a unit of soldiers)
collum -i, n neck
Concanus -a -um Concanian (a member of
the Concani tribe: 4.34)
condisco, condiscere, condidici to learn thoroughly
confero, conferre, contuli, collatum to collect, gather together
coniunx, coniugis, m/f spouse
conscius -a -um fully aware, conniving
consilior, consiliari, consiliatus sum to consult together (3.17)
consilium, consilii, n advice (4.41), judgement,
thought (4.65)
contra (+ accusative) against
contundo, contundere, contudi,
contūsum to beat, crush
84 Selections from Horace Odes III

convenio, convenire, convēni,

conventum (+ dative) to agree with, be suited to
coram (adverb) openly, publicly
corpus, corporis, n body
crinis -is, m hair
cruentus -a -um bloody
culpa -ae, f misconduct, sin
cum when, since
currus -ūs, m chariot
custos, custodis, m guard, warder
Dacus -i, m a Dacian
damno, damnare, damnavi, damnatum to condemn, doom
damnosus -a -um destructive, harmful
de from (6.24)
debacchor, debacchari, debacchatus sum to rage to exhaustion, to
burn out
decorus -a -um honourable (2.13)
dedecus, dedecoris, n disgrace, shame (6.32)
deleo, delere, delevi, deletum to destroy
delictum -i, n crime, sin
Delius -a -um Delian (4.64)
demo, demere, dempsi, demptum take off, remove
derivo, derivare, derivavi, derivatum to channel (a stream: 6.19)
descendo, descendere, descendi,
descensum to come down
desero, deserere, deserui, desertum to desert, abandon (2.32)
desino, desinere, desivi, desitum to stop, cease
destituo, destituere, destitui, destitutum to cheat of (+ ablative of
the thing withheld: 3.21)
deus, dei, m god
devoveo, devovere, devōvi, devōtum to curse (4.27)
dextra -ae, f right hand
Diana -ae, f Diana (a goddess: 4.71)
 Vocabulary 85

dico, dicere, dixi, dictum to say

dies -ei, m/f day
Diespiter -tris, m the god Jupiter (2.29)
dirus -a -um deadly, dread
divus -i god (3.18, 4.47), the open
sky (2.5)
do, dare, dedi, datum to give
doceo, docere, docui, doctum to teach
doleo, dolere, dolui, dolitum mourn, grieve
domo, domare, domui, domitum to subdue
domus -ūs (acc. pl. domos), f home, house
donec until (6.2)
dono, donare, donavi, donatum to give (6.27)
dormio, dormire, dormivi, dormitum to sleep
duco, ducere, duxi, ductum to draw out (3.29), to drink
(3.34), to lead (3.63)
dulcis -e sweet
dum (+ subjunctive) so long as, provided that
dumetum -i, n thicket
dux, ducis, m leader, chief
ego, mei I, me
eheu! alas!
eligo, eligere, elēgi, electum to choose
eloquor, eloqui, elocutus sum to speak aloud, declare
emptor, emptoris, m buyer
Enceladus -i, m Enceladus (a Giant: 4.56)
enitor, eniti, enisus sum to strive
eques, equitis, m cavalry-soldier
equinus -a -um of a horse
equus -i, m horse
erro, errare, erravi, erratum to wander, roam
et and
Europe -ēs, f Europe (3.47)
86 Selections from Horace Odes III

evello, evellere, evelli, evulsum to tear up

ex (+ ablative) from
ex quo from the time when
excīdo, excīdere, excīdi, excīsum to cut down
exiguus -a -um meagre
exitus -ūs, m end
expers, expertis (+ genitive) devoid of, lacking in
exstinguo, exstingere, exstinxi,
exstinctum to wipe out, destroy
exsul, exsulis, m an exile
extendo, extendere, extendi, extentum to spread, extend
extra (+ accusative) beyond
fabulosus -a -um fabled, legendary
famosus -a -um notorious, infamous
fatalis -e sent by fate, destined
fatigo, fatigare, fatigavi, fatigatum to make tired
fatum -i, n fate
fecundus -a -um (+ genitive) productive of, prolific in
fera -ae, f wild beast
ferio, ferire to strike, hit
fero, ferre, tuli, latum to carry
ferox, ferocis fierce
ferus -a -um savage, cruel
fessus -a -um (+ ablative) weary of (4.38)
fidelis -e faithful
fides, -is, f string of a musical
instrument (4.4)
fido, fidere, fisus sum (+ dative/ablative) to trust in, have
confidence in
fingo, fingere, finxi, fictum to mould, shape (6.22)
finio, finire, finivi, finitum to end
fluo, fluere, fluxi, fluctum to flow
foedus -a -um filthy (6.4)
 Vocabulary 87

fons, fontis, m fountain, spring

forem = essem (imperfect subjunctive of
sum)
Forentum -i, n Forentum (a small town
4.16)
formido, formidare, formidavi,
formidatum to dread
fortis -e strong, brave
fortuna -ae, f destiny, fortune
fragilis -e fragile, frail (of a boat:
2.28)
frango, frangere, fregi, fractum to break
frater, fratris, m brother
fraudulentus -a -um cheating
frigidus -a -um chilly, cold
frons, frondis, f leaf, foliage
fugax, fugacis running away
fugio, fugere, fūgi, fugitum to flee
fulgeo, fulgere, fulsi to shine
fulmen, fulminis, n thunderbolt
fulmino, fulminare, fulminavi,
fulminatum to wield the thunderbolt
fumus -i, m smoke
fustis -is, m log
gaudeo, gaudere, gavisus sum to rejoice (4.42), be happy
to (+ infinitive: 6.21)
gaudium, gaudii, n joy
Geloni, Gelonorum, m.pl. the Geloni (4.35)
genus, generis, n race, family
gero, gerere, gessi, gestum
(+ reflexive pronoun) to behave (6.5)
gestio, gestire, gesti(v)i, gestitum to be eager
gleba -ae, f lump of earth, clod
88 Selections from Horace Odes III

gratus -a -um pleasing, welcome

gravis -e harsh, unsparing (of
anger: 3.30)
Gyas -ae, m Gyas (a Giant: 4.69)
Hadria, -ae, f the Adriatic Sea (3.5)
Hannibal, Hannibalis, m Hannibal (Carthaginian
leader: 6.36)
harena -ae, f sand
hasta -ae, f spear
Hectoreus -a -um belonging to Hector (3.28)
Hercules -is, m Hercules (a hero: 3.9)
Hesperia -ae, f Hesperia (6.8)
hic, haec, hoc this
hinc (adverb) from here
Hispanus -a -um Spanish
honor, honoris, f honour
horrendus -a -um (gerundive
of horreo as adjective) dreadful
horridus -a -um bristling, shaggy (of the
Giants: 4.50)
hospes, hospitis, m house-guest (3.26),
stranger (4.33)
hosticus -a -um of the enemy
huc (adverb) to this place
humanus -a -um human, mortal
humilis -e low-lying (4.16)
humus -i, f earth, ground
iaculator, iaculatoris, m spear-thrower
iam by now
iam nunc already (6.23)
idem, eadem, idem the same
iecur, iecoris, n the liver
igneus -a -um fiery
 Vocabulary 89

ignis -is, m fire

Ilion -i, n Troy
illabor, illabi, illapsus sum fall, collapse (3.7)
ille, illa, illud that
imbellis -e cowardly, unwarlike
immanis -e monstrous
immeritus -a -um guiltless, undeserving
(6.1)
imminuo, imminuere, imminui,
imminūtum to reduce, make smaller
impavidus -a -um fearless
impero, imperare, imperavi,
imperatum command, rule (6.5)
imperium -ii, n power, authority
impermissus -a -um illicit (6.27)
impetus -ūs, m attack
impius -a -um impious (4.42)
impono, imponere, imposui,
impositum pile upon (4.52, 4.76)
in + ablative in, on
in + accusative into
incestus -a -um impure, guilty (2.30, 3.19)
obscene (6.23)
incontinens, incontinentis insatiable (4.77)
indocilis -e unteachable, untamed
ineo, inire, ini(v)i to enter
iners, inertis unmoving, inert (4.45)
infans, infantis infant, child
infero, inferre, intuli, illatum I bring to
inficio, inficere, infeci, infectum to stain (6.34)
ingens, ingentis huge
iniicio, iniicere, inieci, iniectum throw upon (4.73)
inquietus -a -um restless (3.5)
90 Selections from Horace Odes III

inquino, inquinare, inquinavi,

inquinatum to stain, defile
insania -ae, f madness
insanio, insanire, insani(v)i, insanitum to be mad
instans, instantis (participle
from insto) threatening (3.3)
institor, institoris, m salesman, pedlar
insulto, insultare, insultavi, insultatum to trample on
intaminatus -a -um unsullied (2.18)
integer, integra, integrum pure (2.30), virginal,
untainted (4.70)
inter + accusative between, amongst
inultus -a -um unavenged, safe from
punishment
inviolatus -a -um unharmed
invisus -a -um hated, hateful
iocosus -a -um cheerful, humorous
Ionicus -a -um Ionian (6.21)
ira -ae, f anger
irrepertus -a -um undiscovered
iter, itineris, n journey, course
itero, iterare, iteravi, iteratum to repeat
iubeo, iubere, iussi, iussum to order
iudex, iudicis, m judge
iugum -i yoke
iunior, iunioris younger
Iuppiter, Iovis, m Jupiter (god: 3.6)
Iuno, Iunonis, f Juno (goddess: 3.18)
ius, iuris, n law, rights (3.44)
iustus -a -um just, righteous
iuventa -ae, f youth (2.15)
iuventūs -ūtis, f youth (4.50, 6.33)
lābor, labi, lapsus sum to collapse
 Vocabulary 91

labor, laboris, m toil, labour (4.39)

Lacaena -ae, f Spartan woman
(Helen: 3.25)
lacesso, lacessere, lacessivi, lacessitum to goad, provoke
laetus -a -um (+ ablative) rejoicing in, delighted
with (4.34)
Laomedon, Laomedontis, m Laomedon (3.22)
late (adverb) far and wide
laurus -i, f laurel
lavo, lavere/lavare, lāvi/lavavi,
lavatum/lautum to wash
lenis -e gentle
leo, leonis, m lion
lex, legis, f law
libens, libentis willing
ligo, ligonis, m mattock, hoe (6.38)
limen, liminis, n limit, threshold (4.10)
liquidus -a -um watery
liquor, liquoris, m water, sea (3.46)
litus, litoris, n shore, coast
longus -a -um wide (3.37), long (4.2)
lucidus -a -um light-filled, bright
luctuosus -a -um sorrowing, grieving (6.8)
lucus -i, m grove
ludo, ludere, lusi, lusum to play
ludus -i, m play
lugubris -e gloomy, dismal
lumen, luminis, n light
luo, luere, lui, luitum to atone for, pay for (6.1)
luridus -a -um ghastly, sickly-yellow (of
the Underworld: 4.74)
Lycia -ae, f Lycia (4.62)
lyra -ae, f lyre
92 Selections from Horace Odes III

maereo, maerere to mourn for

magister, magistri, m ship’s captain (6.31)
magnus -a -um great, large
maiores, maiorum, m.pl. ancestors
malo, malle, malui to prefer
malus -a -um bad, evil
manus -ūs, f hand (3.6), band of men
(6.9)
mare, maris, n the sea
maritus -i, m husband
Mars, Martis, m Mars (god of war), war
(3.16)
masculus -a -um male
mater, matris, f mother
matrona -ae, f married woman
maturus -a -um grown-up (of a girl: 6.22)
mecum with me
medius -a -um the thick of (the fighting:
2.12), in the middle (3.46)
meditor, meditari, meditatus sum to think about, dream of
(6.24)
Medus -i, m a Mede (3.44)
melior, melioris better (comparative of
bonus)
melos -i, n song, melody
mens, mentis, f mind
merces, mercēdis, f payment, reward
mereor, mereri, meritus sum to deserve
metuendus -a -um (gerundive
of metuo) terrifying
meus, mea, meum my
miles, militis, m soldier
militia -ae, f army service
 Vocabulary 93

Mimas, Mimantis, m Mimas (a Giant: 6.53)

minax, minacis threatening
Minerva -ae, f Minerva (goddess: 3.23)
minor, minoris (comparative
of parvus) inferior (6.5)
mirus -a -um amazing, wonderful
missilis -e flying, shot (of arrows:
6.16)
mitto, mittere, misi, missum to send
modus -i, m measure (i.e. musical or
poetic style: 3.72)
moenia, moenium, n.pl. city-walls
moles, molis, f weight, mass (4.65)
Monaeses, Monaesis, m Monaeses (Parthian
general: 6.9)
mons, montis, m mountain
monstrum -i, n monster (4.73)
morior, mori, mortuus sum to die
mors, mortis, f death
mortalis -e mortal, human (4.47)
motus -ūs, m movement, dance
moveo, movere, movi, motum to move
mox soon
mulier, mulieris, f woman
multus -a -um many
mundus -i, m world (3.53)
murus -i, m wall
Musa -ae, f Muse
muto, mutare, mutavi, mutatum to alter, change (6.42)
myrtus -i, f myrtle
natalis -e of his birth, native (4.63)
navis -is, f ship
navita -ae, m sailor
94 Selections from Horace Odes III

ne (conjunction with subjunctive) so that ... not (2.9, 3.58)

nebula -ae, f rain-cloud
nec = neque
nectar, nectaris, n nectar (drink of the gods)
nefas, n wrongdoing, misdeed
nego, negare, negavi, negatum to deny, forbid
neglego, neglegere, neglexi, neglectum to neglect, ignore (2.30)
nepos, nepotis, m grandson
neque (or nec) neither, nor, and not
nequior (comparative of nequam) more wicked
nequitia -ae, f wickedness
nescius -a um (+ genitive) knowing nothing of (2.17)
nidus -i, m nest
niger, nigra, nigrum black
Nilus -i, m the river Nile (3.48)
nimium too much, too
nomen, nominis, n name
non not
nos, nostri we, us
noster, nostra, nostrum our
notus -a -um well-known (4.70)
novus -a -um new
numquam never
nunc now
nuptiae, nuptiarum, f.pl. marriage, wedding
nutrix, nutricis, f nurse
obsto, obstare, obstiti, obstatum to stand as a limit to
(3.53)
occupo, occupare, occupavi, occupatum to beset, preoccupy (6.13)
odi, odisse to hate
Olympus -i, m Olympus (mountain: 4.52)
omnis -e all
opacus -a -um dark
 Vocabulary 95

oppidum -i, n town

ops, opis, f (used in
plural) strength, help (3.28)
ora -ae, f shore, coast
orbis -is, m firmament, heavens (3.7)
Orcus -i, m Orcus (the Underworld:
4.75)
ordo, ordinis, m rank
Orion, Orionis, m Orion (a hunter: 4.71)
orior, oriri, ortus sum to arise, be born from
(6.33)
os, oris, n mouth
Pacorus -i, m Pacorus (king of Parthia:
6.9)
pactus -a -um settled, fixed
paene almost
Palinurus -i, m Cape Palinurus (4.28)
Pallas, Palladis, f Pallas (Greek name for
Minerva: 4.57)
palumbis -is, m/f wood-pigeon
parco, parcere, peperci,
parsum (+ dative) to spare
parens, parentis, m/f parent
pario, parere, peperi, partum to give birth to
Paris, Paridis, m Paris (son of Priam: 3.26,
3.40)
pars, partis, f region (3.39, 3.55)
Parthus -i, m a Parthian (2.3)
partus -ūs, m offspring
parvus -a -um small
Patareus, -ei Pataraean (4.64)
pater, patris, m father
patior, pati, passus sum to allow, suffer
96 Selections from Horace Odes III

patria -ae, f fatherland, native country

pauperies, ei, f poverty
peior (comparative of malus) worse
Pelion -ii, n Mt Pelion (4.52)
per (+ accusative) through
pereo, perire, peri(v)i, peritum to perish
perĕdo, perĕdere, perēdi, perēsum to eat through, consume
(4.75)
peregrinus -a -um foreign
Perithous, Perithoi, m Pirithous (4.80)
periurus -a -um treacherous, faithless
persequor, persequi, persecutus sum to hunt down, chase after
pervicax, pervicacis (adjective) headstrong
pes, pedis, m foot
pharetratus -a -um armed with a quiver
phaselos -i, m/f boat
Philippi, -orum, m Philippi (town in
Macedonia: 4.26)
Phoebus -i, m Phoebus Apollo
(3.66, 4.4)
Pierius -a -um Pierian (i.e. belonging to
the Muses: 4.40)
pinguis -e rich (of earth: 4.16)
pinna -ae, f wing
pius -a -um pious, dutiful (3.58), holy
(4.6)
placeo, placere, placui,
placitum (+ dative) to be pleasing to (4.24)
ploro, plorare, ploravi, ploratum to weep for
pluvius -a um rainy
Poena -ae, f Retribution (2.32)
Pollux, Pollūcis, m Pollux (3.9)
 Vocabulary 97

pono, ponere, posui, positum to put down (2.19), to put

(4.60)
pontus -i, m the sea
poples, poplitis, m hamstring (back of the
knee: 2.16)
popularis -e of the people
populus -i, m the people
Porphyrion, Porphyrionis, m Porphyrion (a giant: 4.54)
porto, portare, portavi, portatum to carry
possum, posse, potui to be able
praeda -ae, f plunder, booty
Praeneste -is, n Praeneste (city: 4.23)
pravus -a -um crooked
premo, premere, pressi, pressum to cover, protect (4.18)
pretiosus -a -um lavish, prodigal (of a
buyer: 6.32)
Priamus -i, m Priam (king of Troy: 3.26,
3.40)
primum (adverb) first of all, firstly
principium -ii, n beginning
pro (+ ablative) on behalf of
progenies, progeniei, f offspring
proles -is, f offspring
propositum -i, n purpose, aim
prospicio, prospicere, prospexi,
prospectum to gaze out at
protinus (adverb) henceforth, from now on
(3.30)
proveho, provehere, provexi, provectum to promote
puer, pueri, m boy
pugnax, pugnacis warlike
pulvis, pulveris, m dust
98 Selections from Horace Odes III

Punicus -a -um Carthaginian (6.34)

purpureus -a -um dark red, rosy
(of lips: 3.12)
purus -a -um pure, clear
Pyrrhus -i, m Pyrrhus (king of
Epirus: 6.35)
quā where
quaero, quaerere, quaesivi, quaesitum to seek, look for
quam than
quatio, quatere, (no perfect), quassum to shake
qui, quae, quod who, which
quicumque, quaecumque, quodcumque whoever, whatever
quies, quietis, f rest
quilibet, quaelibet, quodlibet any … whatsoever (3.38)
Quirinus -i, m Romulus (3.15)
Quirites, Quirit(i)um, m.pl. Roman citizens (3.57)
quis, quid who? what?
quo? to where?
quod (conjunction) because
quoque also
rapio, rapere, rapui, raptum to drive, whirl (2.12), to
snatch, grab (3.52)
raptim (adverb) hastily (6.27)
raro (adverb) seldom (2.31)
recīdo, recīdere, recīdi, recīsum to cut down
recludo, recludere, reclusi, reclusum to open, unlock
recreo, recreare, recreavi, recreatum to refresh
recumbo, recumbere, recubui to recline (on a
couch: 3.11)
redono, redonare, redonavi
(+ acc. and dat.) to forgive (3.33)
refero, referre, rettuli, relatum to retell (3.71), to ascribe,
derive (6.6)
 Vocabulary 99

reficio, reficere, refeci, refectum to rebuild, restore

refringo, refringere, refregi, refractum to beat back
regina -ae, f queen
regius, regia, regium royal
regno, regnare, regnavi, regnatum to reign, rule
regnum -i, n kingdom
rego, regere, rexi, rectum to rule
relinquo, relinquere, reliqui, relictum to leave, abandon (4.78)
removeo, removere, remōvi, remōtum to remove
renascor, renasci, renatus sum to rise again, be reborn
renideo, renidere to grin
reparo, reparare, reparavi, reparatum to rebuild
repulsa -ae, f electoral defeat (2.17)
res, rei, f matter, circumstances
resido, residere, resēdi to subside
resurgo, resurgere, resurrexi,
resurrectum to rise again
retro backwards
Rhoetus, -i Rhoetus (a Giant: 4.55)
rigo, rigare, rigavi, rigatum to flood, irrigate
robustus -a -um strong, sturdy
Roma -ae, f Rome
Romanus, -a -um Roman
ros, roris, m dew
rudis -e (+ genitive) unskilled in, with no
experience of
ruo, ruere, rui, ruitum to rush against (4.58),
to collapse (4.65)
ruina -ae, f ruins, debris
(in plural: 3.8)
rusticus -a -um rural, from the
countryside
Sabellus -a -um Sabine, Samnite (6.38)
100 Selections from Horace Odes III

Sabinus -a -um Sabine (4.22)

sacer, sacra, sacrum holy, sacred
sacerdos, sacerdotis, m/f priest, priestess
saeculum -i, n generation, age, century
saepe often
saevio, saevire, saevii, saevitum to rage
sagitta -ae, f arrow
saltus, -ūs, m glade
sanguis, sanguinis, m blood
scelestus -a -um guilty, wicked
scio, scire, scivi, scitum to know
Scythicus -a -um Scythian (4.36)
secerno, secernere, secrevi, secretum to separate, divide
securis -is, f axe
sed but
sedes -is, f abode
seditio, seditionis, f faction-fighting, civil
discord (3.29)
sententia -ae, f opinion
sermo, sermonis, m talk, conversation
seu … seu whether … or
severus -a -um strict
si if
sic thus, in this way
Siculus -a -um Sicilian
silentium -i, n silence
silva -ae, f wood, forest
simul as soon as (4.37)
simulacrum -i, n image, statue
sine without
situs -a um placed, hidden (3.49)
sol, solis, m the sun
solidus -a -um firm
 Vocabulary 101

solvo, solvere, solvi, solutum to loose (hair 4.62), to

launch (boat 2.29)
somnus -i, m sleep
sono, sonare, sonavi, sonatum to sound
sordidus -a -um dirty, disgraceful
soror, sororis, f sister
sperno, spernere, sprēvi, sprētum to reject, spurn
splendeo, splendere to show off (3.25)
sponsus -i, m fiancé, bridegroom
status -ūs, m stance (fighting pose:
4.54)
sto, stare, steti, statum to stand
sub + ablative under
subeo, subire, subi(v)i, subitum to penetrate,
go down into
sucus -i, m juice, flavour
sum, esse, fui to be
sumo, sumere, sumpsi, sumptum to take up
supinus -a -um sloping down, lying flat
surgo, surgere, surrexi, surrectum to rise, arise
suspiro, suspirare, suspiravi, suspiratum to sigh
sustulerit see tollo
suus, -a -um his own, her own, its own,
their own
tango, tangere, tetigi, tactum to touch
tectum, -i, n house
tego, tegere, texi, tectum to cover
tempero, temperare, temperavi,
temperatum to control (of Jupiter:
4.45)
templum -i, n temple
temptator, -oris, m assailant, attacker
tempto, temptare, temptavi, temptatum to attempt
102 Selections from Horace Odes III

tempus, temporis, n time, hour

tenax, tenacis (+ genitive) holding on to (3.1)
tendo, tendere, tetendi, tensum to go (3.70), to strive
(+ infinitive: 4.51)
teneo, tenere, tenui, tentum to hold, occupy
tener, -a, -um young, delicate (used
figuratively: 6.24)
tenuo, tenuare, tenuavi, tenuatum to make thin, to diminish
ter (adverb) three times
tergum -i, n back
terminus -i, m boundary, limit (3.53)
terra -ae, f land
terror, -oris, m alarm, fear
testis -is, m/f witness
tibia -ae, f pipe (musical instrument)
Tibur, -uris, n Tivoli (a town: 4.23)
tigris -is, m tiger
timidus -a -um timid, fearful
Titan, Titanis a Titan (4.43)
Tityos, Tityi, m Tityos (a Giant: 4.77)
tollo, tollere, sustuli, sublatum to eliminate, carry off
(4.44)
tollor (passive of tollo) to climb (4.22)
torquis -is, m/f neckband, ornamental
collar
trabs, trabis, f roof-beam
traho, trahere, traxi, tractum to pull, draw (3.15)
trecenti -ae -a three hundred
trepidus -a -um agitated, anxious
tristis -e grim (3.62), gloomy, sad
(4.46)
triumpho, triumphare, triumphavi,
triumphatum to triumph over
 Vocabulary 103

Troia -ae, f Troy (3.60–1)

Troicus -a -um Trojan
truncus -i, m tree-trunk
tu, tui you (singular)
tulit see fero
tumidus -a -um swelling, swollen
turba -ae, f mob, crowd
turbidus -a -um wild, stormy, rebellious
(3.5)
turma -ae, f squadron, troop
tutus -a -um safe
tuus -a -um your
Typhoeus, -eos, m Typhoeus (a Giant: 4.53)
tyrannus -i, m tyrant
ubi when, where
udus -a -um moist, damp
ultimus -a -um furthest, most remote
umbra -ae, f shadow
umerus -i, m shoulder
unda -ae, f wave, waters
unguis -is, m fingernail (used
figuratively: 6.24)
unus -a -um alone, one
urbs, urbis, f city
uro, urere, ussi, ustum to burn
ursus -i, m bear
ūsus -ūs, m use (3.51)
ut so that (4.17–18), how (4.42)
utcumque whenever
uxor, uxoris, f wife
vagus -a -um roaming, travelling
validus -a -um strong, mighty
veho, vehere, vexi, vectum to transport, carry, bring
104 Selections from Horace Odes III

ventosus -a -um windy

verso, versare, versavi, versatum to turn over
verto, vertere, verti, versum to turn around, to rout
vester, vestra, vestrum your
veto, vetare, vetui, vetitum to forbid
vexo, vexare, vexavi, vexatum to harass, trouble
via -ae, f road, path
viator, viatoris, m traveller
victrix, victricis conquering, victorious
videor, videri, visus sum to seem
vinum -i, n wine
vipera -ae, f viper, snake
vir, viri, m man
vires, virium, f force, power
virgineus -a -um girlish, virgin
virgo, virginis, f virgin, unmarried girl
virtus, virtutis, f manliness, courage, virtue
vis (no genitive) force, violence
viso, visere, visi, visum to visit, to go to see
vita -ae, f life
vitiosus -a -um wicked
voco, vocare, vocavi, vocatum to call
volo, velle, volui to want
vos, vestrum you (plural)
vox, vocis, f voice
Vulcanus -i, m Vulcan (god of fire: 4.59)
vulgaris -e common, vulgar
vulgo, vulgare, vulgavi, vulgatum to make public
Vultur, Vulturis, m Vultur (mountain: 4.9)
vultus -ūs, m face, facial expression