horace 2.3 historical information

2.3 structure

• stanzas 1 - 2: general statement to be moderate in all things

• stanzas 3-4: the beauties of the countryside are there for our enjoyment before it is too late

• stanzas 5-7: the annihilation of death awaits us all

Aequam memento rebus in arduis

servare mentem, non secus in bonis 

ab insolenti temperatam 

laetitia, moriture Delli,

• when life is difficult, stay calm

• when life is going well, don’t be too happy or else it will be devastating when times are bad

• you are going to have bad and good times

seu maestus omni tempore vixeris  

seu te in remoto gramine per dies 

festos reclinatum bearis 

interiore nota Falerni.

• anaphora of seu

• Falerian: famous roman wine, good quality → don’t overdo it with imported wine

• you should enjoy life → weighting towards pleasant alternative (draws attention towards it)

• acknowledging there is reason to be gloomy, but don’t be gloomy all the time

Quo pinus ingens albaque populus 

umbram hospitalem consociare amant 

ramis? Quid obliquo laborat

lympha fugax trepidare rivo?

• personification + imagery (visual)

• chiasmus (reversed pairs): unity of the trees next to each other

• answer to rhetorical questions: for pleasant enjoyment (sounds of the stream) + personification (nature deliberately providing pleasant setting, for you (reader) to enjoy

Huc vina et unguenta et nimium brevis

flores amoenae ferre iube rosae,

dum res et aetas et Sororum

fila trium patiuntur atra

• tricolon crescendo (wine, perfume, flower) → gets bigger

• olfactory imagery → scent

• tricolon: time, circumstances, black threads

• metaphor: three sisters spinning someone’s life, reminding people of death

Cedes coemptis saltibus et domo

villaque, flavus quam Tiberis lavit,

cedes, et exstructis in altum

divitiis potietur heres.

• tricolon: purchased pastures, house, villa

• personification:  yellow Tiber washes, Dellius is wealthy → pastures, house, villa

• anaphora: repetition at the start of the phrase → emphasises that he is going to die + leave them behind (for pathos)

Divesne prisco natus ab Inacho

nil interest an pauper et infima

de gente sub divo moreris,

victima nil miserantis Orci;

• metaphor: not actually born from Inachus

• antithesis: contrasting pairs of dives vs pauper, Inachus vs infima gente → whether you are rich or poor, you will die

• allusion (to religion), metaphor: waiting under sky for Orcus → you are going to die 

• antithesis: open sky vs Orcus (in the underworld) → divine vs down 

omnes eodem cogimur, omnium

versatur urna serius ocius

sors exitura et nos in aeternum

exilium impositura cumbae.

• metaphor: of a lottery, random → don’t know when your life will end, but it will

• allusion to Charon’s boat along the River Styx

• pathos in idea of eternal exile → death, loaded work of “exile”