One of Horace’s poems extolling the virtues and achievements of the Emperor Augustus. There is no reason to think that Horace’s gratitude, and that of others, to the man who had put an end to a long and lacerating period of civil wars, was insincere, but the almost superhuman standing assigned to him and the fulsomeness of the praise he receives would no doubt have felt rather un-Roman in the Republican period. Part of the effect also comes from the fact that Horace is consciously referencing the highly laudatory tone adopted by Pindar, a Greek model that he greatly respected, in his poetry celebrating victors in athletic games.
Appropriately to Horace’s poetic calling, the poem begins with an invocation to the Muse, and singling out Orpheus as the greatest of musicians. Praises of gods and demigods follow in due order, beginning with Jupiter, the supreme father. (“Pallas” was Minerva, Phoebe was Diana and “Leda’s sons” were Castor and Pollux, protectors of seafarers.) Turning to eminent Romans from history, Horace emphasises the frugality and soldierly austerity with which they lived, an approach which was in tune with the push that Augustus was making, with limited success, to restore traditional Roman virtues and values to contemporary society. The mention in this context of Cato, a recent figure among the historical ones, is apt but daring, given his ferocious commitment to the defence of the republican system. In the climax, Augustus is shown as second on earth only to Jupiter: Jupiter rules the heavens, while Augustus’s power has no match in the mortal world.
Metre: Sapphics
See the illustrated blog post here.
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