THE WAR WITH THE TARENTINES AND PYRRHUS. (7)
Unde si Parcae prohibent iniquae, Dulce pellītis ovibus Galaesi Flumen et regnata petam Laconi Rura Phalantho. 12 Ille terrarum mihi praeter omnes Angulus ridēt, 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 mecum locus et beatae Postulant arces, ibi tu calentem Debita sparges lacrima favillam Vatis amici. 24
+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 mecum+ (21) ... +tu amici+ (22, 24) = _Septimius and Horace_. 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 noblest 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.+
‘_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 pubemque 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.