Chapter 30
11-13. After the close of the war Curius had become +patronus+ of the Samnites, and they were bringing the customary offering of +clientes+.--J. S. R.]
B.
Curius parvo quae legerat horto Ipse focis brevibus ponebat holuscula.
JUVENAL, xi. 78-79.
[Linenotes: 78-79. Plutarch, _Cato_ 2, tells the story. Curius was one of Milton's 'Men so poor | who could do mighty things.' --Duff.
79. +holuscula+ (dimin. of +holus+) = _small herbs or vegetables_.]
C.
Hunc et incomptis Curium capillis Utilem bello tulit et Camillum Saeva paupertas et avitus apto c.u.m lare fundus. 44
HORACE, _Odes_, I. xii. 41-44.
[Linenotes: 41. +Hunc+ = Fabricius.
43. +paupertas+ = _frugality_, not _poverty_ (= _egestas_).
43-44. +apto c.u.m lare+ = _with its cottage home to match_ (+apto+).
--W.
'Hurrah! for Manius Curius The bravest son of Rome, Thrice in utmost need sent forth, Thrice drawn in triumph home.' --Macaulay.]
D47
THE WAR WITH THE TARENTINES AND PYRRHUS. (7)
_In Praise of Tarentum._
Unde si Parcae prohibent iniquae, Dulce pellitis ovibus Galaesi Flumen et regnata petam Laconi Rura Phalantho. 12 Ille terrarum mihi praeter omnes Angulus ridet, ubi non Hymetto Mella decedunt viridique certat Baca Venafro, 16 Ver ubi longum tepidasque praebet Iuppiter brumas et amicus Aulon Fertili Baccho minimum Falernis Invidet uvis. 20 Ille te mec.u.m locus et beatae Postulant arces, ibi tu calentem Debita sparges lacrima favillam Vatis amici. 24
HORACE, _Odes_, II. vi. 9-end.
+Subject.+ 'Septimius, my dear friend who would accompany me to the ends of the earth, let me spend the close of my life at Tibur (Tivoli), or if not there, then at Tarentum. Let us go there together, and live there till I die.' --Wickham.
[Linenotes: 9. +unde+ = _from this place_, i.e. from Tibur.
10. +dulce pellitis ovibus+ = _dear to the skin-clad_ (+pellitis+) _sheep_, so clad to keep their fleeces clean. --Gow.
10-11. +Galaesi flumen+, flows into the Gulf of Tarentum, near the city.
12. +Phalantho+, an exile from Sparta, founded Tarentum, 708 B.C.
13, 21, 22. +Ille+ (13)... +ille+ (21)... +ibi+ (22) = _Tarentum_, emphatic guiding words. Cf. +te mec.u.m+ (21)... +tu amici+ (22, 24) =
14-15. +ubi non... decedunt+ = _where the honey does not give way to (is not inferior to) that of Hymettus_.
15-16. +viridi Venafro+ = _with the green (olive-groves of) Venafrum_ (N. of Campania).
16. +Baca+ = _the olive_, the n.o.blest of berries. --Gow.
18. +Aulon+ = (_the grapes of_) _Aulon_, a hill and valley near Tarentum.
19. +Fertili+ = _who makes the vines fertile_.
22-24. +ibi tu... vatis amici.+ 'There when life shall end, Your tear shall dew my yet warm pyre, Your bard and friend.' --Conington.]
+Reference.+ Polybius, x. 1. In 272 B.C. Milo with his garrison of Epirots marched out of Tarentum with all the honours of war.
+Rome now ruled supreme over the whole of Italy from Ariminum in the North to the Sicilian Straits.+
D48
THE PRAISE OF ITALY.
'_Salve, magna parens frugum, Saturnia tellus, Magna virum._'
Adde tot egregias urbes operumque laborem, 155 Tot congesta manu praeruptis oppida saxis, Fluminaque antiquos subterlabentia muros.
An mare, quod supra, memorem, quodque alluit infra?
Anne lacus tantos? Te, Lari maxime, teque, Fluctibus et fremitu adsurgens Benace marino? 160.......
Haec eadem argenti rivos aerisque metalla 165 Ostendit venis atque auro plurima fluxit.
Haec genus acre virum, Marsos p.u.b.emque Sabellam, Adsuetumque malo Ligurem, Volscosque verutos Extulit: haec Decios, Marios, magnosque Camillos, Scipiadas duros bello, et te, maxime Caesar, 170 Qui nunc extremis Asiae iam victor in oris Imbellem avertis Romanis arcibus Indum.
Salve, magna parens frugum, Saturnia tellus, Magna virum: tibi res antiquae laudis et artis Ingredior, sanctos ausus recludere fontes, 175 Ascraeumque cano Romana per oppida carmen.
VERGIL, _Georg._ ii. 155-176.
[Linenotes: 158. +mare quod supra alluit+ = the _mare superum_ = the Adriatic.
+mare quod infra alluit+ = the _mare inferum_ = the Tuscan or Tyrrhenian (???????? = Tuscan) sea.
159. +Lari+ = Lake Larius (= _Como_), N. of Milan.
160. +Benace+ = Lake Benacus (= _Garda_), W. of Verona.
+fremitu marino+ = _with roar as of the sea_.
168. +adsuetum malo+ = _trained in hards.h.i.+p_. --Mackail.
+Volscosque verutos+ = _and the Volscian spearmen (light infantry)_.
+verutos+ = armed with the _verutum_ (or _veru_ = lit. a _spit_), a _javelin_.
170. +Scipiadas+, Greek patronymic form = Lat. _Scipiones_.
+maxime Caesar+ = Augustus.
172-173. After Actium, 31 B.C., Augustus spent more than a year in reducing and settling the East (+imbellem Indum+) whose forces had been wielded by Antony. --Sidgwick.
173. +Saturnia tellus+, in allusion to Saturn's reign in Latium in the age of gold.
174-175. +tibi res... fontes+ = _for thee I enter on themes of ancient glory and skill_ (i.e. in agriculture) _and dare to unseal_ (+recludere+) _the sacred springs_; +res laudis+, the theme of the _Aeneid_, +res artis+, of the _Georgics_.
176. +Ascraeum carmen+ = _the song of Ascra_, i.e. the _Georgics_, because Hesiod (author of _Works and Days_ to which Vergil is much indebted) was born at Ascra, near Helicon, in Boeotia. --S.]
CONTEST WITH CARTHAGE, 264-202 B.C.
C1
_The Vision of Anchises.--Rome's Heroes._
'Ille triumphata Capitolia ad alta Corintho Victor aget currum, caesis insignis Achivis.
Eruet ille Argos Agamemnoniasque Mycenas, Ipsumque Aeaciden, genus armipotentis Achilli, Ultus avos Troiae, templa et temerata Minervae. 840 Quis te, magne Cato, tacitum, aut te, Cosse, relinquat?
Quis Gracchi genus, aut geminos, duo fulmina belli, Scipiadas, cladem Libyae, parvoque potentem Fabricium, vel te sulco, Serrane, serentem?
Quo fessum rapitis, Fabii? Tu Maximus ille es, 845 Unus qui n.o.bis cunctando rest.i.tuis rem.'