ODE XXII. AD DIANAM. ONTIUM cuftos nemorumque virgo,. MQue laborantes utero puellas Ter vocata audis, adimifque leto, Imminens villæ tua pinus efto,. CARMEN This Ode was probably written in Gratitude for Favours, which fome of the Poet's Miftreffes had received from Diana, but the Circumftances and Perfon are unknown, DAC. Verf. 3. Ter vocata.] Horace mentions the Number three, becaufe it was always a myfterious Number, or because Women in Labour invoked the Goddess by three principal Names. In the next Line fhe is called Triformis, as the was Luna in Heaven, Diana upon Earth, and Proferpine in Hell, from whence fhe was painted with three Heads, one of a Lion, another of a Bull, and the third of a Dog. SAN. OF ODE XXII. To DIANA. F Groves and Mountains guardian Maid, To Thee I confecrate the Pine, Which nodding waves my Villa round,. ́ And here, beneath thy hallow'd Shrine, Yearly fhall bleed a felal Swine, That meditates the fide-long Wound. 5. Tua pinus efto.] The Commentators are much perplexed in their Learning, to know why Horace confecrates a Pine to Diana; whether it was an Emblem of perpetual Virginity, quod femel excifa nunquam repullulafcit; or becaufe Ifis and Cybele, to whom this Tree was facred, were only other Names for Diana. But perhaps the Poet did not intend to perplex his gueffing Commentators, and only defigned to make a Prefent of his favourite Tree to the Goddess, for preferving one of his Miftreffes. D6 ODE XXIII. AD PHIDYLEN. OE LO fupinas fi tuleris manus CO Nafcente Lunâ, ruftica Phidyle; Si thure placâris & hornâ Fruge lares, avidâque porcâ; Aut crefcit Albanis in herbis LA 10 Cervice It is not unpleasant to fee an Epicurean Poet inftructing a pious, female Farmer, how to regulate her Devotions, while the fincerely believes He is really acted by a Spirit of Religion and Piety. Mr. Dacier and Sanadon think that Phidyle was his own Servant, and that all his Directions are given with a View to his own Intereft. Perhaps the Reader may find fomething probable in the Conjecture, but it does not feem neceffary to explain the Ode. Verf. 1. Supinas fi taleris manus.] This was the ufual Gefture of the Ancients when they prayed; but with this Difference, that when they addreffed themselves to the celeftial Gods they held the Palms of their Hands upwards, as if to receive a Bleffing; but turned them towards the Earth in their Prayers to the infernal Gods, as if to avert an Evil. CRUQ 2. Nafcente Luna.] Women of the Country are commonly very exact in all outward Ceremonies of Religion, and very fcrupulous not to let any Festival pass by without a Sacrifice. Every Month in ODE XXIII. TO PHIDYLE. F on the new-born Moon, with Hands fupine, If the with Incense, and a ravening Swine, And yearly Fruits her Houfhold Gods appease, Nor peftilential Storm fhall fmite her Vines, Nor barren Mildew fhall her Harvefts fear, Let the devoted Herds, that lowing feed In fnow-top'd Algidum's high-branching Wood; Or the fair Kine of rich Albania bleed, And ftain the Pontiff's hallow'd Axe with Blood; The in the Heathen Calendar produced feveral Holidays, the Calends, Nones, and Ides, without mentioning the particular Feafts of Pan, Diana, Priapus, and other rural Deities. But Horace would confine this lavish Piety to the Time of the new Moon, and would even then regulate the Expence of the Sacrifice. SAN. 7. Rubigo.] Huetius gives an ingenious and probable Account of this Blight or Mildew in Corn. He fancies, that the Drops of Dew, being collected, are like convex or burning Glaffes, which being heated by the Rays of the Sun, contract a cauftic Quality, that burns the Grain, Fruits, Flowers or Leaves, upon which they lie. 9. Nam, que nivali.] The Reafon, which the Poet urges to Phidyle for moderating her pious Profufion, is, that our Prefents to the Gods ought to be proportioned to our Station and Abilities; and that a Diftinction ought to be preferved between public and private Sacrifices, SAN. 15. Parves Cervice tinget. Te nihil attinet Tentare multâ cæde bidentium, Rore Deos, fragilique myrto. Immunis aram fi tetigit manus, Non fumtuofa blandior hoftia Mollirit averfos penates Farre pio, & faliente micâ. 15. 20 15. Parvos Deos.] In Oppofition to what precedes. Pontiffs offer Victims fattened in the richeft Paftures, because they facrifice to the great tutelar Gods of Rome, of their Country, and of the whole Empire; but it is fufficient to crown the petty, domeftic, rural Deities, who prefide over a little Country-Seat, with Myrtle and Rosemary. Horace might indeed defire that Phidyle fhould understand him in this Senfe, but perhaps he defigned, under Favour of this Equivocal Term, to divert himself at the Expence of these little Gods. This is not improbable Raillery in an Epicurean Poet. SAN. 17. Immunis aram.] Some of our late Annotators affert that immunis can only fignify fine muneribus, as if the Hand could be faid to be empty, which offers to the Gods Barley, Salt, Incense, and Fruits, CARMEN XXIV. IN AVAROS. opulentior INTACT AS Opulent divitis India, Cæmentis licet occupes Tyrrhenum omne tuis, & mare Apulicum;: Si figit adamantinos Summis verticibus dira neceffitas 5 Clavos; To inftruct with Dignity and Delight is almost the peculiar Character of Lyric Poetry, which creates Refpect for moral Truth by Sublimity of Sentiments, Majefty of Cadence, Boldness of Figures, and Force of Expreffion, while it prevents Difguft by its Brevity, Variety, and a Choice of Ornaments which a good Poet knows how to ufe with Propriety. Among a great Num-ber of Pieces, which Horace wrote in this Kind, the prefent Ode is not the leaft eftimable. It is naturally divided into three Parts. In the first he expofes the licentious Enormities of his Age; in the |