Another poem on the theme of the shortness of life. Torquatus, to whom Horace addresses the poem, was a lawyer, hence the reference to eloquence. It is a much-loved piece to this day, though the emphasis is strictly on the inevitability of death – it happens even to heroes – and not on the fun to be had first. The metre – a longer, epic line alternating with a shorter, answering one – increases the piece’s resemblance to a funeral march. But if the the tone is melancholy, context is important. In the final Ode of the preceding book, Horace has already said that his poetry is a monument more lasting than bronze, and will make him immortal to posterity. In the Ode after this one (coming soon), he will suggest another way in which mortality can be foiled.
This ode is a good example of how much the skilled use of mythological references in poetry was admired as a sign of learning and taste. Aeneas is a Trojan hero from the Homeric poems and Virgil’s Aeneid, the legendary ancestor of Julius Caesar and Augustus and precursor of the founders of Rome. (His mention here looks like a compliment to Vergil, who was a friend.) Tullus and Ancus were ancient kings of Rome. Minos was one of the judges of the dead. Hippolytus was the son of Theseus, the legendary hero. He was devoted to Diana, the virgin goddess of the hunt: his death was plotted by his stepmother Phaedra when he rejected her advances. Theseus and Pirithous were a legendary pair symbolising unbreakable friendship.
Metre: Hexameters followed by an Archilochius minor
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