HORACE: Odes 3.6: Moral Decadence Flashcards
Romans, you’ll still…
Romans, you’ll still expiate your father’s sins
Till you’ve restored…
Till you’ve restored the temples, and the tumbling shrines of all the gods, and their images, soiled with black smoke
All things begin…
All things begin with them: credit them with the outcome
Neglected gods have…
Neglected gods have made many woes for sad Italy
Dacians and Ethiopians…
Dacians and Ethiopians almost toppled the City, mired in civil war
Our age, fertile…
Our age, fertile in its wickedness
Has first defiled…
Has first defiled the marriage bed, our offspring, and homes
The young girl…
The young girl early takes delight in learning Greek dances
Without her husband’s…
Without her husband’s knowledge, whether its for some pedlar, or Spanish ship’s captain
The young men…
The young men who stained the Punic Sea with blood they were not born of such parentage
They were a….
They were a virile crowd of rustic soldiers
At the instruction…
At the instruction of their strict mothers
Soon to bear…
Soon to bear still more sinful children
Roman’s, you’ll still expiate your father’s sins:
- Alludes to a great misdeed committed by a prior generation
- This could even refer to the founding of Rome- when Romulus killed Remus
When was this poem written?
23BC
What is this poem about?
- Deals with the issue of lax morality in Rome, and links this with misfortunes that had befallen the Roman people in recent years.
- They believed this occurred because they had neglected the gods and their moral standards had declined.
Till you’ve restored the temples and the tumbling shrines of all the gods:
- Reference to Augustus, who started to restore 82 temples in 28BC
And their images, soiled with black smoke:
- Shows the religious duty to ritually clean shrines and temples hasn’t been observed- they would get smoky because candles would be lit as offerings.
All things begin with them: credit them with the outcomes:
- Romans regarded their empire as a reward for their piety to the gods
- Here, Horace reiterates the god’s importance and how they haven’t been appreciated in recent years
Neglected gods have made many woes for sad Italy
- Personification reiterates moral decline
Already Parthians, and Monaeses and Pacorus, have crushed our inauspicious assaults:
- List of Parthian generals
- First person plural possessive ‘our’ suggests at a sense of shared shame and the collective fault of Rome
The City, mired in civil war:
- Moral laxity has led to an abundance of civil wars
Has first defiled the marriage bed:
- Roman religious belief was that chaste women were particularly loved by the gods
- This suggests at women not being chaste before marriage, which would have had a negative impact on their relationship with the gods, and there’d be less women to partake in important religious rituals
The young girl early takes delight in learning Greek dances:
- Greek culture was seen by traditional Romans as corrupting and luxurious
Whether its for some peddler, or Spanish ship’s captain:
- A peddler would not have been seen as a respectable job by upper-class Romans
- The captain being foreign adds to the ilicitness of the scene
The young men who stained the Punic Sea with blood:
- Reference to Punic wars from 264-146BC
- Suggests Rome has lost its way, previous generations were loyal to their city and helped lead Rome to great triumph and victory- the men of today are nothing like that
Already Parthians… laugh now to have added our spoils to their meagre treasure:
- More contemporary reference to loss of standards to Parthia
- This could make Augustus look better, as it shows earlier failings of Rome in 53BC due to the decline in moral standards then vs. Augustus’ successful peace negotiations with Parthia in 20BC- shows the idea of Augustus’ reforms making Rome more successful
Those who struck at Pyrrhus, and struck at great Antiochus, and fearful Hannibal:
- Roman enemies
Soon to bear still more sinful children:
- Continuation of the lack of moral standards
