Augustus has been away from Rome on campaign in Gaul: now he is expected back and Horace’s adulation, in his official laureate mode, is unrestrained. Some commentators understandably find the praise a bit much, but the picture in the closing stanzas of a countryside happy and at peace has a good deal of charm. The romans trained their vines on trees rather than artificial frames as now, hence Horace’s image of a “marriage” between the two. The significance of the “second course” of the countryman’s meal is that this was the point at which libations were poured before the drinking began.
Metre: Asclepiad, three standard twelve-syllable lines followed by an eight-syllable glyconic.
See the illustrated blog post here.
Reading coming soon.