_iii_. THE INTERPRETER OF ROMAN RELIGION
Still farther, Horace is an eloquent interpreter of the religion of the
countryside. He knows, of course, the gods of Greece and the
East,--Venus of Cythera and Paphos, of Eryx and Cnidus, Mercury, deity
of gain and benefactor of men, Diana, Lady of the mountain and the
glade, Delian Apollo, who bathes his unbound locks in the pure waters of
Castalia, and Juno, sister and consort of fulminating Jove. He is
impressed by the glittering pomp of religious processions winding their
way to the summit of the Capitol. In all this, and even in the
emperor-worship, now in its first stages at Rome and more political than
religious, he acquiesces, though he may himself be a sparing frequenter
of the abodes of worship. For him, as for Cicero, religion is one of the
social and civic proprieties, a necessary part of the national
mechanism.
But the great Olympic deities do not really stir Horace's enthusiasm, or
even evoke his warm sympathy. The only _Ode_ in which he prays to one of
them with really fervent heart stands alone among all the odes to the
national gods. He petitions the great deity of healing and poetry for
what we know is most precious to him:
"W_hen, kneeling at Apollo's shrine_,
T_he bard from silver goblet pours_
L_ibations due of votive wine_,
W_hat seeks he, what implores_?
"N_ot harvests from Sardinia's shore_;
N_ot grateful herds that crop the lea_
I_n hot Calabria; not a store_
O_f gold, and ivory_;
"N_ot those fair lands where slow and deep_
T_hro' meadows rich and pastures gay_
T_hy silent waters, Liris, creep_,
E_ating the marge away_.
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