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Horace · Epodes §14.1-14.16

Excuse to Maecenas: Love as a Hindrance to Poetry

Passage 14 of 17 · Latin

Summary

Prompted by Maecenas to finish his promised poems, the poet excuses himself by blaming the overwhelming power of love, citing the precedent of Anacreon and comparing his situation to Maecenas's own passion.

§14.1Mollis inertia cur tantam diffuderit imis §14.2oblivionem sensibus, §14.3pocula Lethaeos ut si ducentia somnos §14.4arente fauce traxerim, §14.5candide Maecenas, occidis Saepe rogando: §14.6deus, deus nam me vetat §14.7inceptos, olim promissum carmen, iambos §14.8ad umbilicum adducere.
Why a soft inertia has diffused such great oblivion in my deepest senses, as if I had drained, with a parched throat, cups that bring Lethean slumbers, candid Maecenas, you kill me by asking so often: for a god, a god forbids me to bring to the scroll's end the iambics I have begun—the poem once promised.
§14.9non aliter Samio dicunt arsisse Bathyllo §14.10Anacreonta Teium, §14.11qui persaepe cava testudine flevit amorem §14.12non elaboratum ad pedem.
They say that Teian Anacreon burned for Samian Bathyllus in no other way, who so often wept his love on his hollow lyre in an unelaborated meter.
§14.13ureris ipse miser: quodsi non pulcrior ignis §14.14accendit obsessam Ilion, §14.15gaude sorte tua; me libertina, nec uno §14.16contenta, Phryne macerat.
You yourself, poor man, are burning: but if no fairer flame set besieged Ilium on fire, rejoice in your lot; as for me, Phryne, a freedwoman not content with one lover, wastes me away.

Notes

  1. 14.1diffuderit — Subjunctive perfect in the indirect question introduced by cur. It expresses the content of the gerund rogando ('by asking') in the main clause, denoting an action prior to the main verb occidis (present).
  2. 14.3ut si — Introduces a conditional clause of comparison ('as if'), taking the subjunctive perfect traxerim (14.4) to describe a hypothetical situation metaphorically.
  3. 14.8ad umbilicum — An idiomatic expression in the context of reading or writing. Derived from the wooden roller (umbilicus) around which a papyrus scroll (volumen) was wound, it means 'to bring to completion' or 'to finish a literary work.'
  4. 14.9arsisse — Perfect infinitive of ardere ('to burn, be in love'). It is part of the accusative-and-infinitive (A.C.I.) construction introduced by the reporting verb dicunt ('they say'), with Anacreonta Teium (14.10) as its subject accusative. The object of love is in the ablative Samio Bathyllo.
  5. 14.13non pulcrior ignis — Literally 'no fairer fire.' Here ignis ('fire') is a metaphor for the object of love (the mistress) who inflames Maecenas, compared here with the beauty of Helen, who caused the destruction of besieged Troy (Ilium).

Cite this passage

Horace, Epodes §14.1-14.16. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0893.phi003.humanitext-lat2:14.1-14.16

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