Catullus and his contemporaries had imitated almost exclusively the poems of the Alexandrians, of the Greek poets, that is to say, who flourished after Greece had lost her independence. The Odes. Horace in his Epodes went farther back and imitated Archilochus, and in his Odes, without altogether neglecting the Alexandrians, he follows for the most part in the footsteps of Alcæus, Sappho, and Anacreon. Among his odes are several which are in part translations of extant fragments of these poets, and it is certain that if the poems of the early Greek lyrists were not almost entirely lost, we could recognize many of them in Latin version in the Odes of Horace. The Odes contain also lines that remind one of similar passages in the poems of Euripides, Bacchylides, and other Greek poets, but in form as well as in contents they are for the most part imitations of the three great early lyrists. Most of the Odes are divided into stanzas of four lines each, and in all such a division is possible, with perhaps one exception. The first three books of the Odes were published in 23 B. C., but their composition belongs in part as early as 30 B. C. The first book contains thirty-eight poems, the second twenty, the third thirty. The first ode of Book I serves as a dedication to Mæcenas, and in the odes immediately following nearly all the metres employed in the three books are used one after the other. Throughout the three books variety of metre governs the arrangement. The second book opens with an ode addressed to Pollio, and at the beginning of the third book are six odes celebrating in various tones the Roman glory. The last ode of Book III, beginning
Exegi monumentum ære perennius,
I’ve reared a monument than bronze more lasting,
serves as an epilogue to the finished collection.
The subjects of the odes are so various as to touch upon almost every circumstance of human life and every mood of human feeling. Friendship, love, the gods, patriotism, conviviality, the pleasures of country life, events of the day, and philosophical thoughts, all find their place. In tone the odes are grave and gay, lively and serene, sometimes fantastic, more often thoughtful or at least reasonable. More than once the thought that life is short and we should pluck its blossoms ere they fade occurs in one form or another. The workmanship of the odes is wonderful in its perfection. Horace is not one of those who believe that perfect poetry comes purely by inspiration, without labor. He writes no word without being sure that it is the best word in its place. His metres are adapted to the thought he wishes to express, and the perfection of the metre makes even simple or common thoughts beautiful. The odes are not the ardent outpourings of a passionate spirit, as are some of the poems of Catullus, but they are the carefully elaborated expressions of the thoughts and sentiments of a gentle, kindly, thoughtful, but gay and humorous man of the world. They do not stir our blood, but they arouse our admiration, satisfy our taste, and please us by their tone of cultured and refined sentiment. The variety of their contents can not be presented in selections, nor can all the qualities of any ode be adequately rendered in a translation. One of the shortest but not the least attractive odes is the following, addressed to his cup-bearer:
Persia’s pomp, my boy, I hate;
No coronals of flowerets rare
For me on bare of linden plait,
Nor seek thou to discover where