Notes to Horace, Carmina I.22

integer, -gra, -grum
whole, intact; vigorous; inexperienced; unbiased.The adjective modifies the unnamed subject of the verb eget. Note the artful arrangement of words and meter in line 1.
vita, -ae f.
life. The genitive of specification (A&G 349d) narrows the application of integer.
scelus, sceleris, n.
crime; malicious behavior. The genitive here signifies separation (as in Greek).
purus, -a, -um
unstained, unsullied, undefiled, unpolluted. The adjective modifies the unnamed subject of the verb eget. Note the chiastic word order (the adjectives bracket the centered paired nouns vitae scelerisque), thus highlighting the theme.
ego, -ere, egui, --- + ablative
be in want; need. The subject is not named; translate as impersonal.
Maurus, -a, -um
Moorish; Moroccan; the Roman province of Mauretania in North Africa (click SPQR for map).
iaculum, -i, n.
javelin; scan aloud for the metrical emphasis on the end-rhyme (homoioteleuton) of Mauris iaculis.
arcus -us m.
bow; note the end-line elision (neq'arcu).
venenatus -a, -um
poisoned; furnished with poison. Poisoned arrows appear in ancient myth (cf. Odyssey I. 260-4).
gravidus -a, -um
heavy with young; weighted down; laden; swollen.
sagitta -ae f.
arrow.
Fuscus -i m.
Aristius Fuscus (nomen & cognomen); vocative case. Fuscus appears in other poems by Horace, notably at the end of Sat. 1.9, where he chooses not to save the poet from from the bore who accosted him on the Via Sacra.
pharetra -ae f.
quiver. Note that the 4th line of each strophe consists of two words that total 5 syllables. Click SPQR for image of a Persian archer.
sive . . .sive correlative conjunction
whether . . . or. Horace’s lover believes that the love of Lalage will keep him safe from all threats, human and environmental.
Syrtis, Syrtis f.
Syrtis (modern Sirte), famed for the dangers its sand flats presented to ships. An alternative accusative plural form for Syrtes, it is modified by aestuosas (click SPQR for map).
iter, itineris n.
journey; road; object of facturus below.
aestuosus, -a, -um
sweltering, hot.
facio, -ere, feci, factum
make, do; facturus, a future active participle, should be translated after the first sive.
inhospitalis, -e
inhospitable, unwelcoming.
Caucasus, -i m.
Caucasus; the mountains between the Black and Caspian Seas (click on SPQR).
loca, -orum n. pl.
place; understand per. It is the 3rd alternative (introduced by vel), the antecedent to quae which precedes it.
fabulosus, -a, -um
fabled, legendary, because Hydaspes was descended from the Titans, a brother of Iris the goddess of the rainbow.
lambo, -ere, lambi, - -
lick; wash against (metaphorical).
Hydaspes, Hydaspis m.
Hydaspes River , a tributary of the Indus River, now called the Jelum, in Kashmir. It was the site of Alexander the Great's famous battle in 326 BCE (click on SPQR) with the Raja Poros.
namque conjunction
for; for indeed.
silva, -ae f.
forest; scansion reveals this as a long -a, object along with Sabina of the postponed preposition in (the rhetorical figure is anastrophe).
lupus, -i m.
wolf; subject of fugit in l. 12. Note how the three juxtaposed words (me silva lupus) give away the plot.
Sabinus, -a, -um
Sabine; a region near Rome where Horace had his farm, presented to him by Maecenas in 33 BCE. Note the mid-line rhyme with the noun it modifies (silva).
canto (I)
sing; recite; celebrate.
dum conjunction
while.
Lalage Lalages, f.
Lalage, a name found on tombstones, it is derived from Greek (λαλέω, prattle, chatter). The case is Greek accusative.
terminus, -i m.
boundary stone; remotest limit; object of the preposition ultra. Ironically, the poet’s thesis is confirmed in his back yard.
vagor (I deponent)
wander, ramble. The historical present, used to create immediacy.
expedio -ire, -ivi, -itum
free, extricate; disentangle; ablative absolute with curis.
fugio, -ere, fugi, fugiturum
flee from, run away from. The subject is lupus (l.9); scan the line for the tense of fugit.
inermis, -e
unarmed, defenceless; harmless; modifies me (l. 9). The poet’s story proves his thesis (ll. 1-2).
qualis, -e
such as; the sort of; modifies portentum.
portentum, -i n.
monstrosity, monster; omen; in apposition to lupus.
militaris, -e
bellicose; military. Horace offers two negative options: neque . . .nec.
Daunias, -iadis f.
poetic name for Apulia, the land of King Daunus, legendary ancestor of Aeneas’ enemy Turnus. Horace’s birthplace, it was known to abound in wolves (click SPQR for map).
latus, -a, -um
broad, expansive.
alo, -ere, alui, altum
nourish; foster.
aesculetum, -i n.
oak forest.
Iuba, -ae m.
Juba II, king of Numidia and Mauretania (52/50 BCE-23 CE). Upon the defeat of his father and Pompey at Pharsalus, Juba was brought to Rome by Caesar in 46 and educated as a Roman. A loyal client, he fought for Augustus at the Battle of Actium and later married Cleopatra Selene, daughter of Antony and Cleopatra (click SPQR for his kingdom).
tellus, telluris f.
land; earth; country.
genero (I)
breed; procreate.
leo, -onis m.
lion.
aridus, -a, -um
dry; withered; meager; arida nutrix is both a poetic figure (oxymoron) and a transferred epithet, properly describing tellus.
nutrix, -tricis f.
nurse; a metaphor, in apposition to tellus.
pono -ere, posui, positum
put, place; imperative. Repeated at the beginning of the next stanza (anaphora) for rhetorical emphasis, it indicates a shift in topic (the safety of the lover in any environment).
piger, -gra, -grum
slack; dull (from heat); modifies campis. Note the alliteration with pone.
nullus, -a, -um
no; modifies arbor.
arbor -oris f.
tree.
aestivus, -a, -um
summer; summer-time; ablative of means, modifying aura.
recreo (I)
refresh, revive; relieve; the subject is arbor.
aura -ae, f.
breeze, wind; ablative of means.
latus, -eris n.
side; the antecedent of quod, it is in apposition to ubi (l.17) .
mundus, -i m.
world, universe.
nebula, -ae f.
mist, fog.
Iuppiter, Iovis, m.
Jupiter, king of the gods; malus Iuppiter is a metaphor for a stormy sky, bad weather.
urgeo, -ere, ursi, --
oppress, burden, loom over. Although nebulae and malus Iuppiter are both subjects of the verb, urget takes its number from the closer subject.
currus, -us, m.
chariot, carriage; here, the chariot of the Sun god.
nimium adverb
too; too much; modifies propinqui, i.e., a tropical land.
propinquus, -a, -um
near; modifies solis.
sol, solis, m.
sun; often personified in antiquity as Helios or Phoebus Apollo.
domus, domus f.
home; dative (of disadvantage) after negata.
nego (I)
deny; refuse. Perfect passive participle modifying terra (uninhabitable for being near the equator), in the ablative case after in.
dulcis, -e
sweet; the neuter is used as an adverb, repeated in the next line (anaphora).
rideo, -ere, risi, risum
laugh; present active participle modifying Lalagen, the object of amabo. Horace begins the penultimate line of the poem with an echo from Catullus 51.5 (believed to be Catullus’ first Lesbia poem), itself modeled on Sappho 31.
loquor, loqui, locutus/a sum (deponent)
speak; present participle modifying Lalagen. These final lines of the poem echo Sappho 31.3-5.


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