Horace’s lyric meters: Asclepiadeans (Odes 1.1)

Herewith a re-do of a poem I have done on an earlier podcast, this time with special attention to the meter. It is part of a series on Horace’s lyric meters. This installment focuses on a meter that scholars call variously Asclepiads, asclepiadeans, the First Asclepiad, and the Lesser Asclepiad. The name is given by ancient grammarians, and evidently derives from a certain Greek poet named Asclepiades, though which one and why are unclear. I generally hate the cryptic way textbooks and scholarly publications deal with Latin meters, but there is one article I found helpful in thinking about this one, Leon Richardson, “On the Form of Horace’s Lesser Asclepiads, ” America Journal of Philology 22 (1901) 283-296 (look past the outdated terminology and check out the stats on sense pauses, ictus and accent, word length, and ‘compactness’) . There is a reasonably literal  translation of the poem here. Hope you enjoy, and do leave a comment if you would like to.

Horace, Odes 1.1new

Maecenas atavis edite regibus,

o et praesidium et dulce decus meum:

sunt quos curriculo pulverem Olympicum

collegisse iuvat metaque fervidis

evitata rotis palmaque nobilis 5

terrarum dominos evehit ad deos;

hunc, si mobilium turba Quiritium

certat tergeminis tollere honoribus;

illum, si proprio condidit horreo

quidquid de Libycis verritur areis. 10

gaudentem patrios findere sarculo

agros Attalicis condicionibus

numquam demoveas, ut trabe Cypria

Myrtoum pavidus nauta secet mare;

luctantem Icariis fluctibus Africum 15

mercator metuens otium et oppidi

laudat rura sui: mox reficit rates

quassas indocilis pauperiem pati.

est qui nec veteris pocula Massici

nec partem solido demere de die 20

spernit, nunc viridi membra sub arbuto

stratus, nunc ad aquae lene caput sacrae;

multos castra iuvant et lituo tubae

permixtus sonitus bellaque matribus

detestata; manet sub Iove frigido 25

venator tenerae coniugis inmemor,

seu visa est catulis cerva fidelibus,

seu rupit teretes Marsus aper plagas.

me doctarum hederae praemia frontium

dis miscent superis, me gelidum nemus 30

Nympharumque leves cum Satyris chori

secernunt populo, si neque tibias

Euterpe cohibet nec Polyhymnia

Lesboum refugit tendere barbiton.

quodsi me lyricis vatibus inseres, 35

sublimi feriam sidera vertice.