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Horace · Epodes §4.1-4.20

Denunciation of an Upstart Freed Slave

Passage 4 of 17 · Latin

Summary

The poet fiercely denounces an upstart who was once a slave, criticizing his arrogant display of wealth and the absurdity of his serving as a military tribune.

§4.1Lupis et agnis quanta Sortito obtigit, §4.2tecum mihi discordia est, §4.3Hibericis peruste funibus latus §4.4et crura dura compede.
As great a discord as fell by lot to wolves and lambs, is that between you and me, you whose flanks are branded by Iberian ropes, and whose shins are scarred by hard fetters.
§4.5licet superbus ambules pecunia, §4.6fortuna non mutat genus.
Although you may walk about proud of your money, fortune does not change your birth.
§4.7videsne, sacram metiente te viam §4.8cum bis trium ulnarum toga, §4.9ut ora vertat huc et huc euntium §4.10liberrima indignatio?
Do you not see, as you pace the Sacred Way with a toga of twice three cubits, how the most outspoken indignation of those passing by turns their faces this way and that?
§4.11“sectus flagellis hic triumviralibus §4.12praeconis ad fastidium §4.13arat Falerni mille fundi iugera §4.14et Appiam mannis terit §4.15sedilibusque magnus in primis eques §4.16Othone contempto sedet.
"This man, flogged by the triumvirs' whips until the herald was weary, plows a thousand acres of Falernian estate, and wears out the Appian Way with his ponies, and sits as a great knight in the front rows, holding Otho in contempt.
§4.17quid attinet tot ora navium gravi §4.18rostrata duci pondere §4.19contra latrones atque servilem manum §4.20hoc, hoc tribuno militum?”
What is the point of so many beaked prows of ships, of heavy weight, being led out against bandits and a band of slaves, when this, yes this man is a military tribune?"

Notes

  1. §4.3peruste — Vocative masculine singular of the perfect passive participle of perurere ('to burn up', 'scorch'). The following nouns latus ('flank', accusative singular) and crura ('shins', accusative plural) are accusatives of specification (or Greek accusatives), qualifying the participle to mean 'O you, scorched in your flank... and in your shins...'.
  2. §4.7metiente te — Ablative absolute consisting of the pronoun te (ablative singular) and the present active participle metiente (from metiri, 'to measure', 'traverse'). It expresses the temporal circumstance: 'while you are measuring (pacing) the Sacred Way'.
  3. §4.9ut — Conjunction introducing an indirect question clause with the subjunctive vertat (third-person singular present of vertere), serving as the object of the main verb videsne ('Do you not see how...').
  4. §4.16Othone contempto — Ablative absolute. Otho refers to L. Roscius Otho, who introduced the law (Lex Roscia theatralis, 67 BC) reserving the first fourteen rows in the theater for the equestrian order. The upstart, lacking proper equestrian census, sits there 'holding Otho's law in contempt.'
  5. §4.20hoc, hoc tribuno militum — Ablative absolute consisting of the pronoun hoc (ablative masculine singular of hic) and the noun tribuno militum, without a participle of the copula. It functions concessively or circumstantially: 'with this, this very man being a military tribune.'

Cite this passage

Horace, Epodes §4.1-4.20. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0893.phi003.humanitext-lat2:4.1-4.20

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