Page:Odes and Carmen Saeculare.djvu/185

 fact that the previous line begins with cervice would rather have led to the change of tentare into certare than vice versâ.

translated this difficult passage nearly as it stands, not professing to decide whether tops of buildings or human heads are meant. Either is strange till explained; neither seems at present to be supported by any exact parallel in ancient literature or ancient art. Necessity with her nails has met us before in Ode 35 of Book I, and Orelli describes an Etruscan work of art where she is represented with that cognizance; but though the nail is an appropriate emblem of fixity, we are apparently not told where it is to be driven. The difficulty here is further complicated by the following metaphor of the noose, which seems to be a new and inconsistent image.

Ritter I have connected semper udum (an interpretation first suggested by Tate, who turned ne into ut); but I do not press it as the best explanation of the Latin. The general effect of the stanza is the same either way.

I have understood molem generally of the buildings of Rome, not specially of Mæcenas' tower. The parallel passage in Virg. Æn. i. 421—

"Miratur molem Æneas, magalia quondam, Miratur portas strepitumque et strata viarum"—

is in favour of the former view.