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Q. Horatii Flacci Carminum Liber I. (-Iv.) Ed. by T.e. Page
Q Horatii Flacci Carminum Liber I Ed by Te Page - -Iv. Author:Quintus Horatius Flaccus Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: NOTES. ODE I. This ode is introductory: in it Horace dedicates his lyrical compositions to Maecenas. 'Many and various arc the pursuits and aims of men ... more »to which they cling tenaciously, glory, wealth, ease, war, sport: I, with the help of heaven, long to be a lyric poet, and if you, Maecenas, consider me one, I shall have attained the height of my ambition.' 1. Maecenas] C. Cilnius Maecenas, ' sprung from a royal lineage,' was of Etrurian origin, his ancestors being Lucu- mones or chieftains at Arretium. He was the patron and protector (praesidium) not only of Horace but of Virgil, who also addresses him as O decus, o famae mcrito pars maximal nostrae, Georg. 2. 40. His name continually recurs in Horace, and a knowledge of the principal facts of his life is essential. atavls] The order is pater, aims, proavus, abavus, atamis, tritavus. 3,4. Bunt quoB...iuvat] Literally, 'There are (those) whom it delights,' i.e. ' some take a pleasure in...' Sunt qui may be followed by either the subjunctive or indicative; when it takes the subj. it means ' There are (men) of such a (character) that;' when the indicative, it is much more definite, and the two words almost coalesce into a single pronoun = 'some.' Cf. the Greek use of tarty of, which is declined all through as if a single word. 4. colleglsse] The phrase'to have collected Olympic dust' needs no explanation when we consider the cloud of dust thachariots would raise in the arena, and how thickly it would cover the competitors. The perfect is used intentionally: men delight not merely in doing, but in having done a feat. 6. palma] A wreath of wild olive (xlmvos) was the prize at Olympia, but a branch of palm was also carried by victors in all the games. The Bomans introduced the practice in 2g0 B.c. and the use of...« less