Horace Odes I.23

Meter: Fourth Asclepiadean

ˉ ˉ ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ // ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ ˘ x(First Asclepiadean)

ˉ ˉ ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ // ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ ˘ x(First Asclepiadean)

ˉ ˉ ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ x(Pherecratean)

ˉ ˉ ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ ˘ x(Glyconic)

Vitas inuleo[HWC1] me similis, Chloe[HWC2],

quaerenti pavidam[FH3] montibus aviis

matrem non sine vano

aurarum et siluae[FH4] metu.

Nam seu mobilibus veris[HWC5]inhorruit[fhs6] 5

adventus foliis, seu virides rubum[HWC7]

dimovere lacertae[HWC8],

et corde et genibus tremit.

Atqui[HWC9] non ego te tigris ut aspera

Gaetulus[fhs10]ve leo frangere[HWC11] persequor: 10

tandem desine matrem

tempestiva[HWC12] sequi viro.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How does the seasonal metaphor function in the poem?
  1. How is it fitting with the themes of the poem that the name Chloe means “green bud” or “shoot”? With what mythological deities would one logically associate the name Chloe?
  1. Discuss the contrast between the literal language and the figurative language of the poem.
  1. What is the significance of the word frangere in the poem?
  1. Comment on the placement of mē and tē in the first and last stanzas respectively.
  1. Discuss the effect of word order in this poem and, in particular, the final two lines of the poem.
  1. Do you think Chloe is tempestiva? Why? Why not?
  1. Discuss the poem’s sexual imagery. Does this recall any other poems either by Horace or Catullus? If so, which ones?
  1. Compare Chloe to Leuconoe in Odes I.11. Although Horace is trying to persuade the two women to focus on the present, how do the concerns and obsessions of each differ?
  1. Compare this poem to Odes I.5 on Pyrrha. How might Horace explain to Chloe that his relationship to her was different from the one between Pyrrha and the puer? In particular, look closely at lines 1 and 9 in each poem and show how Horace has demonstrated the difference through clever use of word order.

[HWC1]inuleo: inuleus, -ī, m. (also hinnuleus)– a fawn, young stag

[HWC2]Chloe: a young courtesan, object of Horace’s teasing interest here and also referenced in Odes III.9.6 as Lydia’s rival, whose name means “green bud,” “twig,” “green shoot,” or “fresh, young thing”; the name is associated with the festival of Demeter Chloe and Kore at Eleusis, thereby suggesting feminine youth and maturity at the same time; the oe is not a diphthong

[FH3]pavidam: a regular epithet of deer, “startled, shivering”

[FH4]siluae: trisyllabic as the u is treated as a vowel and not a consonant here

[HWC5]veris: ver, veris, n., “spring”

[fhs6]inhorruiut: this 1st principal part is inhorrescō – what type of verb is that? How should it be rendered in the perfect tense?

[HWC7]rubum: rubus, ī, m., “bramble, thorn bush”

[HWC8]lacertae:lacerta, ae, m, “lizard”; the adjective form means “brawny” and the masculine noun means upper arm or lizard; cf. Ovid Met.I.500-1: “...laudat digitosque manusque / bracchiaque et nudos media plus parte lacertos”

[HWC9]atqui: conj., “nevertheless, and yet, but,” used to introduce the abrupt denial

[fhs10]Gaetulus: Gaetulia in Africa

[HWC11]frangere: infinitive expressive purpose after persequor; cf. Ovid Met.I.504 ff. “Nympha, precor Penei, mane! non insequor hostis; / nympha mane! sic agna lupum, sic cerva leonem, / sic aquilam penna fugiunt trepidante columbae,/ hostes quaeque suos: amor est mihi causa sequendi!

[HWC12]tempestiva: “seasonable, mature, ripe”