BOOKTEXT13

STRANGE ENCOUNTERS

INTRODUCTION

The two Epodes in this section are clinical descriptions of individual encounters between the younger Horace and an elderly woman. Whether it is the same woman in both instances is not clear but in both the narrative appears to be of Horace's private thoughts.

In the first Epode, Horace, stung by a taunt of impotence, catalogues the appearance of the woman in objective, clinical terms and points out that he cannot be expected to rise to the occasion when faced with such physical deficiencies. Although the surroundings are luxurious and the atmosphere intellectual, he requires a great deal of stimulus before he can complete the task. Superficially it is a wry, amusing work but there are undercurrents which lead one to enquire why Horace finds it necessary to be there in the first place.

In the second Epode, Horace has been hurriedly summoned to the lady's house and is a little incensed by the peremptory nature of the summons. He has received gifts from the lady and is therefore beholden to her but plaintively enquires why the hurry. But the lady is impetuous and leaves him no time for recriminations and when, as might be expected, his body fails to respond she vilifies him for being immature, inconsistent and finding her unattractive. Horace closes the Epode without comment.

These two Epodes are usually avoided because of their explicit content but, on examination, there is no real obscenity. The sexual act is dealt with in a matter–of–fact manner, the description of the lady's cosmetic endeavours are quite amusing, if chauvinistic and the joke is really against Horace himself. There is no overt maliciousness; the narrative is more in the nature of a raconteur telling stories against himself.

These two works date from Horace's early years, years presumably when he was short of money and searching for patronage. There is certainly no perception of love in them and even lust is made noticeable by its absence, at least on the part of Horace. It has been suggested that they were mere exercises in invective iambi after the style of Archilochus but their common theme and the intensity with which Horace pursues it is puzzling. Having read them, one can hardly escape the feeling that Horace is speaking from experience, so detailed is the observation of an older woman's physiological attributes. As to her extravagant sexual appetite, Horace makes it entirely believable. If one is prepared to accept that these were born of experience, then the love poetry of Horace is rendered all the more believeable and his matter of fact approach to the subject more understandable. Presumably, if one has plumbed the depths anything that follows must be in the nature of an anticlimax. One can be objective but still appreciative.

Ore adlaborandum est tibi.

1.

To imply that my virility is losing strength, you, so foul

With sustained debauchery;

With a blackened tooth and a forehead that decrepit age has

Ploughed across with wrinkles;

Between withered buttocks, hairless private parts gape with

All the shamelessness of a cow!

A bosom with the kind of flapping breasts that belong more

To fecund mares, a soft undulating

Belly and swollen calves added on the end of slender thighs;

Really fills me with desire!

Be happy, and indeed may your many triumphs lead your funeral

Procession with their images.

May no offended wife equipped with well rounded berries

Happen to be passing by.

Why therefore do they love to throw pamphlets of Stoic

Philosophy amongst silken cushions?

Do illiterate sinews stiffen any more or the phallus languish

Any less for all of that?

Therefore it is up to you to bring about arrogance from below,

You must incite it with the mouth.

Agna lupos capreaeque leones!"

2.

Why the violence woman, most suitable from rogue elephants?

For what reason send letters to me with gifts

I am not a muscle bound youth nor one of delicate nose?

Yet with a fine sense of smell alone I detect,

As does a sharp dog the pig lying concealed, you nourish the

Goat like a polyp resides in an hairy armpit.

As she hastens to assuage untamed passion from a penis quite

Unready, what a strange smell arises from all over

The skinny body arising more than anything from the artificial

Complexion of crocodile droppings and Cretan chalk

That stays moist. Now by taking the action upon herself, the bed

Covering splits asunder, being strained too far.

And also she ridicules my fastidiousness with savage words:

"With Inachia you languish much less than with me:

You drain Inachia three times a night, for me the action is always

Soft at once. May she perish painfully, that

Lesbia who, when trying to find a bull, recommended slothful you,

When Amyntas of Cos might have wasted himself away

For me, within whose indomitable pubic zone is placed a mighty

Sinew more constant than a young mountain tree.

For whom do they hurriedly spin, for a second time, the new shorn

Wool with the purple dye of Tyre? For you

To be sure, for it would be amongst the company of her equals that

The woman could choose no better than you.

Oh, unhappy me, that you take flight, as the lamb fears severity

From wolves and the roebuck from lions."

ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY

These two Epodes are not really about love at all, but lust. Lust, not emanating from Horace but for Horace from much older women and it is made implicit that their lust is, per se, for any man; Horace is merely the unfortunate man of the moment. One may well ask, why? These are works of Horace's earlier years, years, presumably, when he was still reinstating himself into Roman society after his return from Philippi. We know that he was penniless and we must also assume that he was glad of any help, whatever its source. If acting the part of a gigolo was the price of survival, and ultimate public esteem, he would not have been alone in that predicament. That is, of course, attributing personal motivation to these two Epodes but another school of thought would have them as exercises in invective iambi, copying Greek models such as Archilochus or Hipponax. Certainly this theory would fit well with enthusiastic, youthful expeditions into obscenity under the guise of art but, even so, one senses that there is, in both examples, an undercurrent of personal involvement; as though the clear, unpleasant pictures evoked are the result of actual experience rather than fertile imagination.

EPODE VIII

It must be assumed here that Horace, intent on carrying out his part of an abhorrent physical encounter, carries out an inner conversation with himself. Only by adopting a jocular approach to the matter in hand can he hope to remain intellectually detached from his actions. He commences, in an unspoken answer to his partner's charge of lack of interest. Rogare longo putidam te saeculo, vires quid enervet meas. 'To imply that my virility is losing strength, by you [of all people], rotten with sustained debauchery'. Horace now catalogues his partner's defects, not in a vindictive way but more in the nature of a boost to his own, presumably, intact. Cum sit tibi dens ater ... vetus frontem ... exaret, hietque turpis inter aridas natis podex velut crudae bovis! These are meant to be detached, objective observations of an elderly woman's physical attributes. One should not invest them with unecessary obscenity; they are precisely what a younger man would note in his elderly partner. Neither should they be disregarded since they are an integral part of the poem. 'With a black tooth, a forehead that decrepit old age has ploughed with wrinkles, hairless private parts, that gape between withered buttocks, with the same crudity of a cow.' Horace attempts to introduce levity, sed incitat me pectus et mammae putres, ... venterque mollis ... exile suris additum. 'But it is the bosom with flapping breasts, the kind belonging to fruitful mares, the soft belly and thin thighs with swollen calves added on, that really fills me with desire.'

Horace continues in a cynical vein, supposing that the lady's lovers would have a short life, esto beata, funus atque imagines ducant triumphales tuum 'Be happy! Indeed, may your triumphs lead the funeral with their images.' Nec sit marita, quae rotundioribus onusta bacis ambulet 'May no offended wife, with well rounded berries [presumably berry–shaped breasts], pass by.' The translation of rotundioribus bacis is obviously an euphemism for well–shaped breasts and is obviously meant as a contrast to his current partner The comparison intended is unclear unless a counter–attraction is suggested. Horace contemplates the luxurious surroundings and questions whether the company of wealth is really worth all of this and whether it is sufficient to help him complete the task. Quid quod libelli Stoici inter Sericos facere pulvillos amant? Questioning whether stiff Stoic literature may stiffen his resolve, and other things; whether making love on soft silken pillows helps matters at all. 'Why therefore do they like to throw pamphlets of Stoic philosophy between Chinese silken pillows?'

Horace concludes that they do not, inlitterati num minus nervi rigent, minusve languet fascinum? 'Do illiterate sinews stiffen any more or the phallus languish any less?'

Horace completes the Ode by admitting that, whatever else, he will need his partner's help in completing the task. Quod ut superbo provoces ab inguine ore adlaborandum est tibi. 'Therefore, it is for you to bring about arrogance from the privy member, you must incite it by manipulating with the mouth.' So, with a plaintive cry for help, Horace concludes. We should accept this last couplet in the general context of the whole work and of today's liberated view of sexual encounters, where oral stimulation is taken very much for granted. Fraenkel finds it polished but repulsive, blaming it on the Greeks and on Horace's friend, Catullus.

EPODE XII

Horace again in the company of an elderly woman and again indulging in a conversation to himself as he tries to act the lover. This time. it would seem, the lady has sent her maid to demand his presence, having already showered him with gifts and letters. Horace is offended by the peremptory nature of his summons. Quid tibi vis, mulier nigris dignissima barris? 'Why the rush, woman, which is more suitable to black eleohants?', Horace enquires. We can only assume that nigris barris, refers to the military war elephants, used at the charge, and is the Roman equivalent to our 'bull in a china shop'. Horace seeks an explanation for this sudden action: he is not particularly young nor does he belong to the nobility, the 'delicate noses', munera cur mihi quidve tabellas mittis, nec firmo iuveni neque naris obesae? 'Why send presents to me with letters, I am not possessed by youth nor of a delicate nose?' Horace levels an accusation, namque sagacius unus odoror, polypus an gravis hirsutis cubet hircus in alis, quam canis acer, ubi lateat sus 'And yet, with a fine sense of smell alone, I have an inkling you nourish the old goat as an unwholesome polyp may reside in a hairy nose, as much as does a keen smelling dog, where an hog may lie concealed.', thus suggesting that the lady retains her libido and her many gifts now have to be paid for.

Qui sudor vietis ... undique membris crescit odor, cum pene soluto ... rabiem sedare 'As she hastens to allay untamed passion from a penis that is unready, what perspiration and what an unpleasant odour arises from the withered limbs, and that Cretan chalk complexion tinted with crocodile droppings is now becoming moist and already, by taking the action upon herself, the bed covering, having been stretched to its limits, bursts.' So Horace, having been summoned, is taken unawares by the lady's passion.

Seeing his unwillingness and his loathing, his partner turns on him with exasperation, vel mea cum saevis agitat fastidia verbis 'And also she ridicules my fastidiousness with savage words.' Horace now gives a voice to his partner. "Inachia langues minus ac me; Inachiam ter nocte potes, mihi semper ad unum mollis opus." '"With Inachia you weary much less than me; you avail Inachia three times a night, for me you soften the working part at once."' She curses Lesbia (presumably the friend) who seems to have recommended Horace to her. "Pereat male, quae te Lesbia quaerenti taurum monstravit inertem, cum mihi Cous adesset Amyntas, cuius in indomito constantior inguine nervos, quam nova collibus arbor inhaeret" '"May she die unpleasntly, Lesbia who, seeking a bull, discovered slothful you, when Amyntas of Cos might have wasted himself away for me, in whose invincible pubic zone is stuck a sinew more constant than a young mountain tree."' His partner comments sneeringly upon his social standing, muricibus Tyriis iteratae vellera lanae cui properabantur? '"For whom hurry they to spin again the new shorn wool with purple dye of Tyre?"' Tibi nempe, ne foret aequales inter conviva, magis quem diligeret mulier sua quam te. '"For you to be sure, for would it not have been among the company of her equals, that the woman would choose better than you."' She finishes with a lament, "O ego non felix, quam tu fugis, ut pavet acres agna lupos capreaeque leones" '"O I am unhappy, that you take flight, as lambs fear wolves and roebuck, lions."'.

Fraenkel comments that this Epode, in relation to the woman, is more fully worked out than Epode VIII, and that the lamentations of the elderly woman owe something to Hellenistic erotic poetry, but still finds the subject matter repulsive. One cannot really agree. Plain spoken certainly but on examination, it is a quite believable statement of an encounter between a young man, in need of of patronage, and an elderly, rich woman prepared to help, at a price. The narrative is objective and, taken in that context, not overly obscene or intended as such. If poetry is life encapsulated in a metrical structure, then all is grist to the mill; that Horace should extend his vision is in no way at fault and certainly not to be ignored.