Quum serimus, coelum ventis aperite serenis;
Quum latet, aetheria spargite semen aqua;
Neve graves cultis Cerealia dona, cavete,
Agmine laesuro depopulentur aves.
Vos quoque subjectis, formicae, parcite granis: 685
Post messem praedae copia major erit.
Interea crescat scabrae robiginis expers,
Nec vitio coeli palleat aegra seges,
Et neque deficiat macie, neque pinguior sequo
Divitiis pereat luxuriosa suis; 690
Et careant loliis oculos vitiantibus agri;
Nec sterilis culto surgat avena solo.
Triticeos fetus, passuraque farra bis ignem,
Hordeaque ingenti fenore reddat ager.
Hoc ego pro vobis, hoc vos optate coloni, 695
Efficiatque ratas utraque diva preces.
Bella diu tenuere viros: erat aptior ensis
Vomere: cedebat taurus arator equo.
Sarcula cessabant, versique in pila ligones,
Factaque de rastri pondere cassis erat. 700
Gratia dîs domuique tuae! religata catenis
Jampridem nostro sub pede bella jacent.
Sub juga bos veniat, sub terras semen aratas.
Pax Cererem nutrit: pacis alumna Ceres.
At quae venturas praecedet sexta Kalendas, 705
Hac sunt Ledaeis templa dicata deis.
Fratribus illa deis fratres de gente deorum
Circa Juturnae composuere lacus.
Ipsum nos carmen deducit Pacis ad aram.
Haec erit a mensis fine secunda dies. 710
Frondibus Actiacis comptos redimita capillos
Pax ades, et toto mitis in orbe mane.
Dum desunt hostes, desit quoque causa triumphi.
Tu ducibus bello gloria major eris.
Sola gerat miles, qnibus arma coërceat, arma, 715
Canteturque fera, nil nisi pompa, tuba,
Horreat aeneadas et primus et ultimus orbis:
Si qua parum Romam terra timebit, amet.
Tura, sacerdotes, pacalibus addite flammis,
Albaque percussa victima fronte cadat: 720
Utque domus, quae praestat eam, cum pace perennet,
Ad pia propensos vota rogate deos.
Sed jam prima mei pars est exacta laboris,
Cumque suo finem mense libellus habe.
1. Tempora in Virgil. (Ecl. iii. 42. Geor. i. 257,) is the seasons, here it denotes the festivals and other remarkable days of the year.– Latium, adj. Latin, Latius annus is the solar year.
2. Lapsa ortaque signa. The subject of the poem is the Roman festivals, and the rising and setting of the constellations. See Introduction, § 1.
3. Caesar Germ, son of Drusus Claudius Nero, and nephew of Tiberius, by whom he was adopted at the desire of Augustus. See Tacit. Annal II. 73. Suet. Calig. 1-4.—Pacato vultu, etc. as if he were a deity.
5. Heinsius and Burmann, following some of the best MSS. read officii … In tibi devoto munere, which gives a good sense. Lenz, Mitscherlich and Krebs, prefer the present reading.
7, 8. See Introd. § 4.
9. Vobis, your family, i.e. the Claudii, or rather the Julii, into which he had been adopted.
10. Pater, Tiberius; avus, Augustus, who had adopted Tiberius.
11. Germanicus and his brother, the poet says, will perform actions and receive honors similar to those of Augustus and Tiberius. Drusus was the son of Tiberius; and therefore, only the adoptive brother of Germanicus. —Pictos. the Fasti, were like all other books, adorned with various colours.
13. Aras. The altars dedicated by Augustus, perhaps the altars raised to him, Hor. Ep. II. 1. 15. The following line shows the former sense to be preferable.
15-20. All the terms annue, etc. used here, are such as would be addressed to a deity.—Laudes, praiseworthy deeds.—Tuorum, like vobis, v. 9.—Pagina for liber.—Movetur scil; with awe. He personifies the book.—Clario Deo. There was a celebrated oracle of the Clarian Apollo, near Colophon, in Asia Minor, which Germanicus himself once consulted. Tac. Annal. xii. 22.
21, 22. Germanicus had pleaded causes publicly with success, Suet. Cal. 4. Dion. 56. 26.
23-25. He had written Greek comedies, Suet, ut sup. He also made a version of Aratus which is still extant,
26. Totus annus, i. e. the whole poem on the year.
27. Tempora, the parts of the year, i. e. months and days.—Cond. urb. Romulus.
28. See Introd. § 2.
33, 34. That is ten lunar months.
35, 35. This is putting the effect for the cause, the mourning was for ten months, because that was the length of the original year.—Tristia signa, the signs of grief, such as avoiding society, wearing mourning, &c.
37. Trabeati, Romulus wore the trabea. Liv. I. 8.
38. Populis, i. e. civibus.—Annua jura daret, i.e. regulated the year, v. 27.
40. Princeps head or origin. Venus was the mother of aeneas, Mars the father of Romulus.
41. See the beginning of Books III and IV.
42. Quinctilis, Sextilis, September, &c.
43. Nec avitas, see below II. 19. et seq.
45-62. See Introd. § 3.
50. Qui jam, &c. a half holiday, the latter part of the day might be devoted to business.
52. Honoratus, as bearing office. It was applied with peculiar propriety to the Praetor whose edicts were called the Jus honorarium.
53. The Dies comitiales on which cum populo licebat agi, i. e. laws might be proposed, &c.—Septis the wooden palings, within which the people were assembled in the Campus Martius, to pass laws.
54. The Nundinae. Every ninth day the country people came into Rome to attend the market. By the Hortensian law, these days were made fasti in order that their rustic disputes might be settled.
55. On all the Kalends the Pontifex Minor and the Regina Sacrorum sacrificed to Juno who was by some regarded as the moon. For the name Juno see my Mythology, p. 461.—Junonis, Heinsius would read Junonia.
56. A sacrifice of a lamb was offered on the Capitol to Jupiter on the Ides of each month.
57. The Nones were not under the care of any deity.
57-60. The days following the Kalends, Nones and Ides were termed Atri, black or unlucky, as on these days, the Romans had met with their most memorable defeats at the Cremera, the Allia, and elsewhere. A public calamity on any particular day of any one month rendered ater, that day in every other month.
61, 62. I say it once for all.
63. For the mythology of Janus, see Mythology, p. 466, et seq.
65. An. tac lab. denotes the noiseless pace of time.—Origo as the year began with January.
66. See his figure. Mythology, Plate xii. 4.
67. Ducibus, perhaps Tib. and Germ, after the victory gained by the latter over the Catti and Cherusci, and other German tribes, A.U.C. 770; it may, however, include Augustus and other generals.
68. Terra ferax, the [Greek: zeidoros arera] of Homer.
69. Tuis, Burmann would read tui as it seems awkward to say the Patres Jani and the Populus Quirini. Quirinus was a name of Janus (Janum Quirinum ter clusit Suet. Aug. 22.) and Gierig thinks the true reading might have been Quirine. After all it was perhaps the constraint of the metre that made the poet express himself thus.
70. Candida templa, either as being built of marble, or on account of those who frequented them on festival days, being clad in white. Gierig inclines to the latter, I should prefer the former sense.
71. Lin. anim. fav. [Greek: euphaemeite] by using no words of ill omen and by admitting no thoughts but what were good.
75. Odor. ig. with the frankincense, cinnamon, saffron, &c. which were burnt on the altars.
76. Spica Cilissa, the saffron from Mount Corycus in Cilicia.– Spica, the chives or filaments of the saffron.—Sonet, when the saffron was good it crackled in the fire.
77. Aurum, the gilded roof of the temple.
79, 80. Vest, intact. with new or white garments, the Roman toga was white.—Concolor, a festal or happy day was metaphorically termed white.—Tarp. Arces, the Capitol. It was the practice ever since A.U.C. 601 for the consuls elect, followed by the people, to go in procession to the Capitol and offer a sacrifice to Jupiter.
81, 82. The consuls entered on their office on this day.—Purpura, the toga praetexta or trabea, worn by magistrates.—Ebur, the curule chair.
83. Rudis operum, that had never been worked.
84. Herba Fal. &c., the land of Falerii in Etruria, whence the animals for sacrifice were chiefly brought, the water of the Clitumnus, in Umbria, was supposed to make them white, Virg. G. II. 146.
85. Arce, either the Capitol, or the dome of Heaven, see Met. I. 163. Virg aen. I. 223.
88. Pop. rer. pol. the Romanos rerum dominos of Virgil.
89. The poet here commences his enquiry into the mythology of Janus.
90. There was no deity worshipped in Greece whose attributes were the same as those of Janus. A curious similarity has been traced out between him and the Ganesa of India.
93. Tabellis, his writing-tables.
94. A usual sign of the presence of a Deity.
100. Ore priore, his front face. See his image.
101. Vat. oper. dier. Poet engaged on the days.
103. First opinion, Janus was the World.
105-110. Compare Met. I. init.
113, 114. His back and front figure were the same, a memorial of the time when the world was in a chaotic state of confusion, all its parts being alike. This is a very silly explanation.
115. Second opinion, see below v. 135-140.
116. His office of door-keeper (Janitor) of heaven and earth.
120. The cardines of heaven, if they are meant, are the cardinal points, where according to the poetic creed of the Augustan age there were doors for the gods to go in and out of heaven. Stat. Theb. i. 158, vii. 35. x. 1. See Mythology, p. 39.
121. He represents Peace and War as persons in the custody of Janus.– Placidis as being the abode of Peace.
122. Perpetuas, long.
125. See Hom. II. v. 749, et seq. Mythology p. 150.
127. Janus à janua.
127, 128. Cereale libum, the Janual, a kind of cake offered to Janus. Festus sub. voc.—Imponit on the altar.—Far mix. sal. the Mola salsa.
129, 130. Patulcius (à pateo) the Opener, Clusius (à claudo) the Shutter; sacrifical names of Janus.
133. Vis i.e. officium.
134. From what I have said you already in part perceive it.
137. Primi tecti, the first part of the house, i.e. the entrance.
141, 142. The three-faced Hecate, (see her figure Mythology, Plate III. 2.) was placed at the triviae, or the point where a road branched off (like the Greek capital Y) so that a face looked down each road.
149, 150. The poet naturally asks why the year began in the middle of winter and not in the spring. This gives him an opportunity of introducing the following lovely description with which compare, Virg. G. II. 324, et seq. Lucret I. 5, et seq. and below III. 236 et seq. IV. 87 et seq.
153. Oper. frond. Heinsius, Burmann and Gierig on the authority of nine MSS. read amicitur vitibus; four MSS. have amicitur frondibus which I should feel disposed to prefer.
154. Seminis herba appears to be the corn which had been sown and was now coming up; one MS. reads graminis.
157. Ignota, the stranger, as the swallow returns in spring.
158. Lut. fing. opus. her clay-built nest: Fingere is the proper term when speaking of pottery any work in clay.
163. Bruma, the winter solstice after which the days begin to lenghten.
165-170. It was usual with all classes of the people to practice a little at their respective trades, or occupations on the Kalends of January by way of omen and not for payment. Thus the shoe-maker or the fuller did some little job or another, the peasant some rural work, pleaders skirmished a little in the forum, &c,—Delibat, i.e. leviter attingit.
171-174. The reason is here required and given, why the Romans when about to sacrifice to any other of the gods, first made offerings to Janus. The old historian, Fabius Pictor, said it was because Janus first taught to use spelt (far) and wine in sacrifice. Macrobius says because he was the first who erected temples to the gods in Italy. Others give other reasons equally unsatisfactory.
175-182. In our own custom of wishing each other a happy new year, &c. may still be witnessed, the practice of which the poet here asks the reason. The bona verba were used for the sake of omen.—Ulla lingua, any tongue which then utters a prayer.—Caducas, unavailing.
186, 187. The strenae (Fr. étrennes) or New Year's gift—Palma, dates, the fruit of the palm, (caryotae) covered with gold leaf, were a part of the strenae.—Carica the [Greek: ischas] or dried fig.– Cado, some MSS. read favo.
189. Stipis, pieces of money were then as now, a part of the New-year's gift. Augustus himself, as inscriptions shew, did not scruple to receive money as his strenae on the Kalends of January, See Suet. Aug. 91.
191-218. The praises of ancient simplicity, and censure of the vices of his own times,—a common place with Ovid and the other poets.
191. Quam te fallunt, etc. How little you know the character of your own times.
193, 194. Such was hardly the case even in the golden age.
Pris. tem. an. In the years of the olden time.
199. Martigena, Mars-begotten, like terrigena, etc.
201. Angusta aede, either the temple of Jupiter Feretrius, built by Romulus on the Capitol, and which was not quite fifteen feet long, or that built by Numa, or rather any temple of those ancient times.—Vix totus stabat seems to mean that the statue was in a sitting posture, and the roof of the temple so low, that it would not admit of its being placed erect in it.
202. Fictile fulmen. The images of the gods at Rome, in those times, were of baked clay, manufactured in Etruria. Even the four-horse chariot which was placed on the Capitoline temple, when first built, was of baked clay. Niebuhr, Rom. Hist. I. 491.
208. Levis lamina is employed to express more strongly the simplicity of those days, as if the possession of even the smallest quantity of the precious metals was a crime. Fabricius, when censor, A.U.C. 478, put out of the senate Cornel. Rufinus, who had been twice consul and dictator, for having ten pounds weight of wrought silver.
210. Rome would appear to be personified in this place.
212, 213. The union of luxury and avarice, Sallust Cat. 5 and 12. They vie in gaining what they may consume, in regaining, what they have consumed, and these very alternations (of avarice and luxury) are the aliment (or support) of (these) vices.
215, 216. The usual comparison of avarice to the dropsy. See Hor. Carm. II. 2. 13.
217, 218. In pret. pret. a play on words.—Dat census, etc. Hor. Epist. I. 6.
219. cur sit. Heinsius, Burmann and Gierig, read si sit.—Quaeris, means you will probably ask, or you wish to know, for the poet had not yet asked the question.—Ausp. utile, a good omen.
220. Aera vestua, the stips or as. was a copper coin. In the old times, the Romans had none but copper money. See Neibuhr, Rom. Hist. I. 449 et seq.
223. Nos, we, the gods, or I, Janus.
226. The manners of each time are suited to it, and should be followed.
227. Munitus, acc. plur. of the substantive. Five MSS. read manitis.
229, 230. The old Roman coin bore on one side the figure of a ship; on the other, a two-headed Janus.
232. The impression on the old coins was, of course, often effaced by time and use.
234. Falcifer Saturn. See Mythology, p. 465, Virg. aen. viii. 315 et seq.
241. The Janiculum on the left, or Tuscan bank of the Tiber. See vv. 245, 246.
242. Aren. Tib. the flavus Tib. of Horace, Carm. I. 3.—Radit, like rodet and mordet, is very appropriately applied to a stream. See Hor. Carm. I. 22, 8.
243. Virg. aen. viii. 314. Propert, iv. 1. Tibul. II. 5, 25. This contrast of the former and the present state of the Seven Hills, was a favorite theme with poets of the Augustan age.—Incaedua uncut, i.e. ancient, denoting in general a wood, which was an object of religious awe and veneration.
245. Arx. The dwelling of the princes of the heroic ages was usually on an eminence, like the castles of the feudal chiefs of the middle ages.
247, 248. In the golden age.
249, 250. See Met. I. 89, et seq. 150. Hesiod [Greek: herga] 195. Mythology, 258-262.
251. Pudor, [Greek: Aidos].
257, 258. The Romans gave the name of Jani to arches, like that of Templebar, in London, under which people passed from one street into another. They were always double, people entering by one and going out the other, every one keeping to the right. Lenz, understands by Jani, in this place, temples of Janus, of which there were three at Rome.– Stas sacratus_ have a statue. For. duob. the fish and the ox-market. This temple was built by Duilius.
260. Oebalii, alluding to the fancied descent of the Sabines, from the Lacedaemmonians, one of whose ancient kings Oebalus is said to have been. Tati—One MS. reads Titi, which Heinsius and Gierig adopted. for this story, see Met. xiv. 771 et seq. and Livy I 11.
261. Levis custos Tarpeia.—levis, light-minded.
264. Arduus clivus, a steep path.
265. Portam, the Palantine gate.—Saturnia, Juno.
267. Tanto numine Scil. Juno.
268. Meae artis, that is, of openings.
269. He caused streams of hot sulphurous water to gush out of the groung.
274. When after the repulse of the Sabines, the hot waters ceased to flow, and the place became as it was before.
275, 276. This earliest temple was exceedingly small, containing nothing but a statue of the god, five feet high. Procopius (de Bell. Goth.) describes it. Strue. The strues—was a kind of cake.
277. The well known circumstance of the temple of Janus being open in time of war, closed in time of peace.
279-281. For what is probably the true reason, see Niebuhr's Roman History, I. 287, or Mythology, p. 467.
283. Diversa tuentes, on account of his two faces.
285, 286. This was A.U.C. 770, when on the vii. Kal. Jun. Germanicus triumphed over the Catti, the Cherusci, and the Angivarii, Tacit. An. II. 4l.—Fam. Rhe. aq. the river, as was usual with the poets, put for the people who dwelt on its banks, to denote that the Germans now obeyed Rome.
287. Face, fac.—Ministros pacis, Tiberius and Germanicus.
288. May not he (Germ. or Tib.) who has procured this peace for the empire, break it by resuming arms.
289, 290. The poet now ceases to discourse with Janus, and informs the reader of what he had found in the Fasti, namely, that two temples had been consecrated, at different times, on the Kalends of January.
291, 292. A.U.C. 462, in consequence of a plague at Rome, by the direction of the Sybelline books, an embassy was sent to Epidaurus, and one of the serpents sacred to Aesculapius was brought to Rome; a temple was built to the god on the island in the Tiber. See Met. xv. 622—744. Ph. n. Cor. nat. Aesculapius. See Mythology, p. 384.
293, 294. In parte est, is a sharer in the day and place. The temple of Jupiter in the island was dedicated by C. Servilius Duumvir, some time after the second Punic war.
295-310. Being now for the first time about to perform the other part of his promise, namely, to note the risings and settings of the stars, he prefaces it by the praises of the astronomers. See Introd. § 1.
299, 300. As the study of astronomy elevates the mind above the terrestrial abode of men, so it raises, or should raise it, above all mean and groveling pursuits and ideas.
305. They have brought the distant stars to our eyes. Gierig, following one MS. for nostris, reads terris, a reading which Burmann approved, though he did not adopt it.
307, 308. Alluding to the Alodïes, Otus and Ephialtes, Hom. Od. xi. 304-316. Virg. G. I. 280. Hor. Carm. III. 4, 49.
311-314. The cosmic setting of Cancer, on the morning of the 3rd January, the third before the Nones. See Introd. §. 1.
316. The cosmic rising of Lyra, which was usually attended with rain.
317, 318. On the 9th January was celebrated the festival of Jannus, named the Agonia or Agonalia, the origin of which name the poet now proceeds to discuss.
319-322. One etymon was ago, to do, as the popa or officiating minister of the altar cried Agone? Shall I act? before he struck the victim.—Agatne. Four of the best MSS. read Agone; they are followed by Heinsius, Burmann and Gierig.
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