A difficult ex-mistress has a new, young lover. The metre, the scenario and the lady’s name are Greek: whether Horace knew a real “Pyrrha”, we can’t know. The language is very condensed in places – no-one ever used word order like this in conversation – and it uses strongly sexual imagery. Pyrrha is intoxicating but the poet uses stormy seas as a metaphor for the dangers of loving her. He has been shipwrecked, but made it to shore and, as thanks for his escape, hung up his wet clothes in the temple as an offering to “the powerful God of the sea” (Neptune, or Cupid?)
See the illustrated blog post here.
Metre: fourth Asclepiad
To listen, press play:
