Oberlin Classics

[1] Septimius...unus: the man mentioned here is Titius Septimius for whom Horace is writing this letter of recommendation. The letter itself is addressed to Tiberius (Claudi) who is the adopted son and soon-to-be heir of Augustus. Tiberius was the Emperor of Rome after Augustus and reigned from 14 to 37 CE. Prior to his time as Emperor, Tiberius was a very successful general and this letter was most likely written as Tiberius was setting out on his Eastern Campaign around 20 BC (see Epistle 1.3 for further comments on members of his entourage for this campaign). Horace also writes about Septimius in C. 2.6.
nimirum: “without doubt”. Horace implies that he only dares to write this letter because of Septimius’ belief that he may have some influence.

[2] quanti: “Of what high value”, being used to quantify the high regard with which Horace believes himself to be held by Tiberius. For this sort of genitive of indefinite value see A&G 417.
facias: Although this word is typically translated as “to make”, in this context it can be translated together as “to consider”. It is in subjunctive because it is being used in an indirect question (A&G 574).
In the second half of the line, supply me as the direct object of rogat and cogit.

[3] scilicet: “undoubtedly”.
ut tibi se laudare et tradere coner: purpose clause indicated by ut followed by the subjunctive verb coner (A&G 531). The se refers back to Septimius. Horace’s tone in this letter is very deferential to Tiberius and therefore he can only “try” to recommend Septimius to Tiberius - it is Tiberius who has the final say!

[4] dignum: refers back to Septimius.
mente domoque: These ablatives are dependent on dignum (A&G 418b). They will be further modified by Neronis. Horace, in a roundabout manner, is setting up Septimius as worthy of the intellect and household of Tiberius. Cicero has a similar turn of phrase in one of his letters of commendation, ad Fam 13.78.2: dignum tua amicitia atque hospitio iudicabis.
legentis: genitive singular of present active participle agreeing with Neronis.
honesta: “honorable things” direct object of legentis. One of those honorable "things" would be the people he selects for his cohort.
Neronis: term used to refer to the male members of the Claudii Nerones family of which Tiberius was. Horace is using the term to refer to the family as a whole and in a manner stating their importance.

[5] cum...censet: cum clause with cum in the sense of “because” (even though the verb is in the indicative, an archaic construction - A&G 549). Supply me with censet.
fungi: present infinitive of the verb fungor (“to perform/administer”). Fungor takes the ablative and thus goes with munere. The various duties that amici would do for one another or patrons and clients were the glue that kept the Roman social structure in order. Septimius is expecting Horace to “do his duty” as a close friend and write this recommendation (he even "orders" it at line 11). For a thorough analysis of this feature in the empire, see Seneca’s de Beneficiis.
propioris...amici: genitive with munere.

[6] quid possim: indirect question (A&G 574) acting as the direct object of videt.
me valdius ipso: “better than I do myself”, comparative (valdius) stating the distinction between Horace’s opinion of himself and Septimius perception of Horace’s influence and power in the Roman world. me...ipso is ablative of comparison (A&G 406).

[7] Horace shifts from talking in the third person with Septimius being the primary subject to talking in the first person. He explains to Tiberius his own humble view of himself and his position in society.
multa...dixi: take multa substantively (A&G 288)
abirem: the imperfect active subjunctive in an indirect question. Horace claimes he tried to get out of writing this letter because he is unsure of his position as a recommender. Is he protesting too much? Would Septimius read this as a comment on his own worthiness for such a recommendation?

[8] ne: introduces a fear clause (A&G 564) with putarer being in the imperfect passive subjunctive. The subjunctive is imperfect due to the clause being in secondary sequence (A&G 483) since timui is in the perfect tense.
finxisse: perfect active infinitive of fingere “to fashion”. Here with a sense of lying or downplaying his worth in a duplicitous manner.

[9] dissimulator: “a person who conceals”.
opis propriae: “proper power/strength”.
commodus: “obliging, useful” (+dat.). Horace is afraid that if he does not help Septimius, he will be viewed as selfish and greedy by his friend despite the fact that Horace himself does not have quite the amount of resources that Septimius believes him to have. A related claim is made of his poetry at Ep. 1.19.43-45, where rivals claim he saves it for Jupiter himself (a.k.a. Augustus).

[10] maioris opprobria...culpae: “reproach of a greater blame/fault”. This is the direct object of fugiens. Horace is referencing that Septimius might accuse him of being what he feared in line 9 or certainly of not doing his part as a friend with the ear of those in power.

[11] frontis ad urbanae..praemia: lit. “the privileges of an urbane appearance”. Horace is working on the larger dichotomy of the shamelessness of the city vs. rustic straight-shooting. Praemia almost has a similar sense of munus (line 5 above) and it is the recompense given by one-half of a quid pro quo relationship. In this clause Horace is using the term descendi to indicate that the situation has caused him to “stoop down”to a level of city praemia. Greenough (ad loc.) nicely remarks that frons may resemble the “slang ‘cheek’” in the sense of “audacity/nerve”.
quodsi: “but if”, beginning of a long present simple conditional (A&G 515) that carries over to lines 12 and 13.

[12] depositum laudas ob amici iussa pudorem: The protasis of the conditional that was started by Quodsi in line 11.
depositum...pudorem: “shamelessness” , the direct object of laudas. Horace acknowledges the lack of integrity in his choice to write the letter. Horace is very tongue-in-cheek here, but one can help but wonder if Septimius would find this as clever (or “funny”) as Horace seems to find it.

[13] This entire line acts as the apodosis of the present conditional that carried over from the previous line.
scribe: literally “Write”, but here in context with gregis it probably makes more sense to translate as “enroll” or “admit”.
tui gregis: “your cohort”. Predicate genitive (“enroll this man into your cohort”). As in Ep. 1.3, where Horace writes to another member of Tiberius’ cohors (1.3.6), this entourage is the inner circle of Tiberius’ companions on his campaign.
fortem crede bonumque: “Believe (him) to be strong and good”. The collocation of fortem...bonum: is a little generic (cf. C. 4.4.29: fortes creantur fortibus et bonis), but asserts that Septimius will be a brave and good companion to Tiberius.

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