16
votes
Accepted
Why would avoiding olive oil be a negative thing?
In the classical period, olive oil was considered a must-have piece of equipment for an athlete. The exact details of its use aren't known perfectly, but it appears that it was coated on an athlete's ...
- 2,500
15
votes
Accepted
What era of Latin did Horace write in?
Horace, or Quintus Horatius Flaccus as he is known in Latin, wrote in Classical Latin.
He lived 65–8 BCE, whereas the era of Classical Latin is considered to be roughly 75 BCE–300 CE.
As his entire ...
- 111k
11
votes
Accepted
What does "quibus intemptata nites" (Odes 1.5.10–11) mean?
Horace's poem here is about a pretty young girl, Pyrrha, and I understand the phrase to describe how unfortunate (miseri) the men are who have not been able to touch (tempto/tento) her.
I might ...
- 551
10
votes
Accepted
Horace quotes a Greek proverb in Ars Poetica, what does it mean?
The Greek proverb is very straightforward:
ὤδινεν ὄρος, εἶτα μυν ἀπέτεκεν
A mountain is in labor, then gives birth to a mouse.
As your commentary notes, Horace transposed it into the future. The ...
- 19.3k
8
votes
Accepted
Who are Maecenas' atavi?
They are Etruscans. Atavi here does not mean any specific ancestor (i.e. pater abavi), but in general "ancestors." Horace makes the connection explicit later (Odes 3.29.1):
Tyrrhena regum ...
cmw♦
- 52.2k
8
votes
Why would avoiding olive oil be a negative thing?
It is easy to forget how different cultural assumptions can be. Nowadays, a bath is for hygienic purposes, and private. For the Romans, though, a visit to the baths was social and cultural; the actual ...
- 181
8
votes
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"Desinat in piscem" in Horace's Ars Poetica: morphology or looks or what exactly?
Horatius describes a "combined animal" with human's head, horse's neck, bird's feathers and fish's rear end.
This creature ends in a fish: instead of legs it presumably has a fishtail.
No details of ...
- 111k
8
votes
Accepted
Origin of "seize the day" as a translation of Horace's carpe diem
I have looked into this some more and think I can now give a precise answer to the question. The earliest published translation of Horace 1,11 to render “carpe diem” as “seize the day” is in THE WORKS ...
- 17.6k
7
votes
Horace quotes a Greek proverb in Ars Poetica, what does it mean?
cnread has already ably translated the proverb but I wanted to unpack Brink’s observation that “one might note however that the proverb makes better sense in Lucian's context than in H's and Lucian ...
- 8,651
5
votes
Origin of "seize the day" as a translation of Horace's carpe diem
Just a brief comment on the verb carpo - here's a screenshot of the entry in the OLD:
So, carpo as "seize" is even in the OLD. It makes sense - if time fleets (or runs or flies), you may want to ...
- 11.6k
4
votes
Accepted
What was "ultra terminum" translated to from Horace's poem?
The notes on Perseus hint at the answer. For Horace to be ultra terminum (probably) means he is beyond the boundary of his farm, i.e. he is wandering in the Sabine forest. It's essentially the same ...
cmw♦
- 52.2k
3
votes
Accepted
On the word order of "Sapere aude"
Do not read too much into word order in poetry.
The metric constraints on language distort the word order quite a bit.
Not all freedom is lost, but it is difficult to see what was the author's design ...
- 111k
2
votes
Accepted
Understanding a sacrifice in Horace's carmen 1.5
This is how it is read.
But as for the “sacrificial” tradition, it is not a sacrifice but a votive offering in a tradition still practised in many parts of the Latin-speaking world. You promise God ...
- 1,448
2
votes
Origin of "seize the day" as a translation of Horace's carpe diem
The question is misconceived: 'Seize the day' isn't a mistranslation at all. This is an example of the perennial problem for any translator, that of transforming style and idiom into language that is ...
- 18k
2
votes
"Purissimum penem" in Suetonius's Life of Horace
Yes, Horace, the man who is the purest penis. The word penis when applied to a person indicated someone given to wanton impulses, especially of a sexual nature. For example, from the Satire of Persius:...
- 6,536
1
vote
What does "quibus intemptata nites" (Odes 1.5.10–11) mean?
Miseri es pobre o miserable.
quibus es un dativo, que significa para quienes/ a quién/ para quien.
intemptata declina de intentatus que es adj de 1ra clase y verbo pasivo. Por lo cuál se puede llegar ...
- 21
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