[1] There was a statue of Vortumnus—an Etruscan god—in one of the main shopping districts of Rome, the vicus Tuscus, where books were sold. Mayer 1994: ad loc. notes that it is not clear to which Ianus statue Horace refers.
spectare: The idea is that the book will be able to see these statues from its new location. How much does this use of spectare resonate with Ep. 1.1.2 or Ep. 1.6.5? Horace may be recalling the reader to earlier uses here at the close of the book.
videris: Present passive indicative “you seem”.
[2] scilicet: Can be used to “call attention to the monstrousness or absurdity of an action” (OLD 4b).
ut: Purpose clause (A&G 531).
prostes: prostare is used of prostitutes who “expose oneself for hire” (OLD 2a).
Sosiorum pumice mundus: “elegant with the pumice of the Sosii;” pumice was used by men for depilation - thus older men could look younger by ridding themselves of body hair. See Catullus 1.1 and 22.8 for more on the use of pumice for polishing the ends of papyrus rolls. The Sosii were noted booksellers (AP 345). For the extent to which people would “polish” themselves in the Roman world, see Seneca Ep. 56.2 and the alipilum described there.
[3] There is a fine depiction of a book box with lock (scrinia, cf. S. 1.1.120) in the Vatican Vergil. clavis (“keys”) is accusative plural = long -is for -es.
pudico: “to a chaste person,” A substantive adjective (A&G 288) that points to the connection between the book and the individual who is content with a small number of readers/friends.
[4] paucis: “for a few readers” (cf. S. 1.10.74). It is dative (A&G 366). The contrast between the few readers, embodied by the select addressees of this book and the coterie of Maecenas’s circle in Ep. 1.19, and the larger public is made concrete in this final poem.
gemis sets up indirect discourse, so one could supply te to be the subject of the present passive infinitive ostendi.
communia: Acc. Neuter plural—Mayer 1994: ad loc. says to translate as “public places,” -direct object of laudas, see substantive adjectives, A&G 288.
[5] non ita nutritus: Refers back to liber. Take nutritus concessively “although,” see A&G 496. When referring to the slave, it would probably indicate that the slave was a home-born verna, in defining the book it indicates it was not recited to the public at large (cf. S. 1.4.73).
fuge quo: “Flee from the place to which...” quo introduces a relative clause A&G 303. Fugio is an appropriate verb for a slave who contemplates running away, see Ep. 1.5.13 and note there.
descendere: A verb typically used of travel to the Forum, which was in a valley (see Cic. de Orat. 2.267: in forum descendens.
gestis: From gestio-ire (“to desire eagerly, long”) not gesto-are (“to carry”).
[6] emisso: pf. pass. participle of emittere “to publish” (OLD, 1c), agrees with tibi. It can also be used of discharging a slave from one’s authority (OLD 2b).
reditus: reditus is a 4th declension noun, and here in the Nominative case.
‘quid… volui: Horace speaks as though he were the book/slave boy.
[7] laeserit: future perfect. The verb can be used to indicate physical harm (of the slave) as well as the verbal criticism (of the book), see OLD 3 and 4. For further insight into how prostitutes, male or female, may have been treated in Rome see McGinn 1998.
scis… cogi: scis sets up indirect discourse as a “verb of knowing,” see A&G 580.
[8] in breve cogi: breve = “confined place” (OLD, 1e). Probably referring to the book box (as at 3 above), but it could also, from a slave’s perspective, indicate “to be reduced to difficult circumstances” (cf. Ep. 1.50.20: contracta paupertate.)
cum… languet: cum+indicative usually translated as “when,” see “Cum Temporal Clauses,” A&G 545.
plenus: “sated” either from reading the book (Ep. 2.1.100) or enjoying the slave.
[9] Quodsi: introduces an extended mixed indicative conditional. Present indicative protasis, future perfect or future apodoseis (desipit… eris… coeperis… pasces… fugies… mitteris). Horace compares his book to a sexually exploited slave. First desired by Rome's literary populace while it is young and beautiful, once it loses its beauty with age, it is passed around the lower classes, until it is eventually shipped away to the provinces.
odio peccantis: “out of hatred for your wrongdoing.” Take peccantis as an objective genitive (A&G 348).
desipit: “loses his wits, is crazy” (cf. S. 2.3.47, C. 4.12.28).
augur: Augurs were priest who predicted the future by reading the flight of birds. When children were born in ancient Rome, an augur would predict their future by this method. Here Horace casts himself as the prophet of the book’s future.
[10] Romae: Dative with carus (A&G 384).
donec te deserat aetas: “until youth leaves you” In poetry, donec takes verbs in the present subjunctive implying intention or expectancy (A&G 553). Continuing the sexual metaphor from line 8, Horace looks forward to when aging causes his book to no longer be attractive to Rome’s literary class.
aetas: = “youth”, elsewhere in the Epistles used of different ages, cf. Ep. 1.1.4, 1.6.55.
[11] contrectatus: “fondled or caressed” (OLD 1b). Continuing the sexual metaphor. Notably used about a prostitute in Seneca the Elder’s Contr. 1.2 “The prostitute priestess.” Excessively handled books will lose their polish (sordescere) as well.
manibus...vulgi: In contrast to the hands of the select readers in Ep. 1.19.34. When the novelty wears off, the lower classes of Rome begin having their way with Horace’s book.
[12] coeperis: future perfect.
Aut...aut...aut: This is the first of three possible outcomes after the book has its heyday and begins to become sordid and fondled by the lower classes.
tineas… inertes: A double metaphor. Books or scrolls which are no longer pulled from the shelves become food for insects (cf. S. 2.3.119). At the same time, these insects are inertes, or uncultured, representing a fall to the class below the vulgi of line 11. The poet Martial (6.61.7) writes of the erudite authors whose works feed tineas. We wonder if these insects might indicate STDs or lice and other parasites.
taciturnus: Ancient readers always read aloud, so an unread book would literally be silent.
[13] Uticam… Ilerdam: Utica, a city north of the site of Carthage, and Ilerda, a city in modern-day Catalonia. Both places where Latin, the language of Horace’s book, was dominant - Mayer 1994: ad loc. makes the nice point that the book does not go East, where Greek is the dominant language (maps). Both cities featured in Caesar’s triumphs during the civil war.
vinctus: The book is bound as a slave, now being shipped passively (mitteris) to the provinces, having run its course in fashionable Rome. At C. 2.20.18-20, Horace takes pride that his poems will be read far-and-wide, but here the book/boy is no longer fashionable in the big city and has to hawk its wares elsewhere.
[14] ridebit: Although the master will laugh, it is born of anger (iratus) and one may think back to other moments of laughter in the book (e.g. Ep. 1.1, 1.19.43) or moments when anger and laughter are alternative responses to behavior (Ep. 1.19.20).
monitor: Horace here equates himself to the driver of the fable of Aesop. One who doesn’t listen to the advice of one who is wiser deserves whatever they get. Horace, it appears, does not expect his book to listen to his advice to be modest with its readership. Horace uses monitor in Ep. 1.18.67 but with the opposite sense, as Lollius does not need a monitor, unlike Horace’s unruly book. The book became taciturnus (12) two lines above because it did not heed Horace’s warnings, which left Horace non exauditus (14); neither are heard as they should be.
ut: “as.” setting up a simile.
[15] male parentem...asellum: Take male (adv.) with parentem to describe the disobedient donkey.
in + accusative: “in the direction of, towards.” (OLD 15) Take with rupes. We would probably say “off the cliff”.
[16] iratus: take with qui of line 15. The enjambment of iratus puts particular emphasis on this word and ira has been important in the collection, cf. esp. 1.2.13, 15, 62.
laboret: Deliberative subjunctive (A&G 443-4). “To exert oneself, to take pains, work.” (OLD 2) It is not worth it to save the book (cf. Ep. 1.2.33) if it won’t even listen to Horace, its creator. For invitus in the Epistles see Ep. 1.5.22, 1.10.32.
[17] hoc quoque te manet: The book will become a teacher in some far-off locale instructing students their ABCs. Horace imagines the movement from being a celebrated young man/book at Rome and now a senex/prosaic work of writing earning a pittance teaching in the streets. This contrasts with the use of Homer in Ep. 1.2 to teach important moral lessons.
ut: Introduces a result clause with occupet in the subjunctive (A&G 537).
pueros elementa docentem: Supply te with docentem (which takes two accusatives “teach X to Y”). elementa = “ABCs” (see S. 1.1.25-26: “Just as kind teachers give cookies to children so that they may want to learn their first ABCs” ut pueris olim dant crustula blandi / doctores, elementa velint ut discere prima), but it could be expanded to indicate the syllabic reading of poetry, such as the Epistles - see Bonner 1972: 512-13 for discussion. We wonder if it may resonate with Ep. 1.1.27 and the role of philosophy in living a self-fulfilling life.
[18] extremis in vicis: Does this mean “far-off villages” or “at the ends of streets”? Both translations have been postulated, but we believe the street translation fits the picture of this teacher more naturally - the trivium or crossroads is where such teaching often took place. The book will be in public, but just not in the way it first hoped. Horace will revisit this sort of “street” fate for a book at Ep. 2.1.269-70, but there it becomes a wrapping for tus et odores / et piper. (Cf. Cat. 95).
balba senectus: “Stammering old age” with the onomatopoetic balba a particularly cruel fate for a book of poetry.
[19] A notoriously difficult line. The question of whether tepidus would refer to a time of year vs. time of day (morning, evening) and how it fits in with the description of the “school” is paramount. Some see the school setting ending at 18 but others want to continue to a different setting altogether (Fraenkel). We follow Bonner 1972 in believing the sol tepidus indicates the mid-morning sun and that a larger number of people would hear it because of the crowds that occurred because of normal Roman business and social engagements that happened outdoors on the streets of Roman cities. The slave/book provides a biography about his master/author.
pluris...auris: Acc. plural showing -is for -es.
[20] me: Subject of indirect speech (with extendisse the verb) dependent on loqueris (line 21).
libertino natum patre: Horace often speaks of his humble lineage, see S. 1.6.45 and Anderson 1995. His father was an auctioneer in Rome and a freedman.
in tenui re: Another way to express the limited means of his upbringing, cf. C. 3.30.12: ex humili potens. I wonder if there may be a rebranding of Vergil’s G. 4.6: in tenui labor, at tenuis non gloria. Maecenas was the addressee of that poem and this poem deals broadly with Horace's own gloria. Porter comments on how this final instance of res transforms previous usages, "he removes the word from the primarily commercial context in which it has elsewhere appeared and draws it into the realm of poetry through both the tenui of line 20 and the poetic resonances of line 21" (2002: 33).
[21] maiores pennas: For associations between poets and birds, see C. 2.20 (where Horace is transformed into a swan) and the general comments of Nünlist 1998: 39-63 and Nisbet and Hubbard 1978: ad loc.
nido: Ablative of comparison (A&G 406). He’s too big for the nest and has ascended (perfect infinitive extendisse) beyond his humble start.
[22] ut: result clause.
quantum: “as much as...so much” the direct object of both demas and addas. There’s an interesting calculus at play in terms of the social stigmas that must have been present in every Roman reader’s mind and that Horace exploits. His success is that much more impressive because of the circumstances of his birth and social position.
[23] me...placuisse: Accusative+infinitive construction of indirect speech with loqueris implied.
primis urbis: The “first men of the city” (primis is dative because placere takes the dative) indicates Augustus, Maecenas, Pollio, Agrippa, and the circle of poets surrounding Maecenas (as well as some of the addressees of the Epistles themselves). See Ep. 1.17.35: principibus placuisse viris non ultima laus est.
belli...domique: belli is locative (“at war, abroad”) and usually is contrasted with domi, A&G 427. Horace was pleasing to both of these groups of men.
[24] corporis exigui: A genitive of quality (A&G 345). For Horace’s short and plump stature, see the Suetonian Vita where it is reported that Augustus described him as tibi statura deest, corpusculum non deest.
praecanum: “prematurely grey” (see C. 2.11.7, 3.14.25 for Horace’s grey hair). The accusative here, aptum, and celerem feature as subjects to an implied indirect statement with fuisse.
solibus aptum: “fond of sunshine”.
[25] irasci celerem: For celer + infinitive, see A&G 461. For Horace’s temper see C. 3.9.23, S. 2.3.323, 2.7.35. If this book of letters has shown Horace’s inconsistency, there is the sense that he has recognized this aspect of his personality and that could be the first step towards correcting it.
tamen ut: “with the further characteristic that” as a further corollary to his anger (i.e. he is quick to anger but quick to forgive). essem is imperfect subjunctive in secondary sequence.
[26] percontabitur: “will inquire” + two accusatives (te, meum aevum). The audience will perhaps (forte) want to know more about the author of the book.
[27] Horace was born on Dec. 8, 65 BCE (C. 3.21.1, Epod. 13.6) so he figures his birthday from the number of Decembers he has fulfilled (implevisse). This poem begins with Janus (January) and ends with December. For the book completing its year as the author completes his years, see Oliensis 1998: “Unimaginable at the end of Horace’s ‘timeless’ lyric collection, this dating suits a collection comprised of epistles, inherently topical and transient documents which customarily record the circumstances of their composition with some degree of specificity. How long will the book survive its own circumstances? How long will it survive its author?...Nor are the individual names of Lollius and Lepidus tokens of immortality but mortal, passing occupants of an institution that will long outlast them. They will last in Horace’s poem, if Horace’s poem lasts” (179-80).
quater undenos...Decembris: Decembris has long -is for -es. For multiplication of numbers often Latin uses the distributive numerals (A&G 137), so here it is 4 x 11 = 44 years.
[28] The Romans figured dates from the consuls. Marcus Lollius and Quintus Aemilius Lepidus were the consuls of 21 BCE. Lepidus was chosen after Augustus refused to be consul. Lollius is probably the father of the Lollius of Ep. 1.2 and 1.18 and Horace writes of him elsewhere at C. 4.9.
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