Go on Galatea, See If I Care:
Horace’s Ode 3.27

Sharada Price (University of Iowa)

Ode 3.27, like many of Horace’s Odes, starts with one topic and then seems to veer off into a completely new direction, never returning to the framework established in the beginning.  The first few stanzas contain features of a propemticon and are addressed to woman named Galatea, while from the seventh stanza until the end, the poem focuses on the story of the distraught Europa, abandoned by the bull.  For this reason, some critics have concluded that Horace merely uses the first few stanzas as a general starting point for the retelling of the Europa myth (Harrison 1988) or that this poem lacks a sense of unity (Fraenkel 1957).  Careful examination of the poem, however, shows that this is not the case.  The speaker uses the entire poem—beginning and end, propemticon and mythical narrative—toward his goal of frightening Galatea into not going on her journey.  The speaker is upset that Galatea is leaving to be with someone else (whether the speaker himself and Galatea were ever lovers or not) (Bradshaw 1978) but he does not wish to reveal his own jealous feelings.  While most propemticons offer well wishes and prayers, Ode 3.27 begins menacingly with a wish for several bad omens to befall the broadly termed “impious ones,” (impios 1) whom the speaker does not identify but later insinuates that Galatea may fall into this group (should she leave).  He intentionally chooses to mention frightening omens and omits any positive remarks in order to convince Galatea to stay behind by reminding her of all the bad things that could happen to her if she leaves (1-7).  He even claims to be an auspex (8) in order to lend credence to his knowledge about the omens but as Lowrie (1997) observes, “Horace stages the poet’s unreliability as auspex by botching the signs.”  While the propemticon warned of the dangers of travel, the Europa tale acts as an example from which Galatea should learn why leaving home to be with a man will only result in despair and danger (Quinn 1980).   The speaker’s telling of the story, however, becomes increasingly dramatic, verging on the melodramatic.  While he hopes Galatea will identify with Europa and perhaps learn from Europa’s mistakes, the melodrama reveals that he is trying too hard to make Europa seem wretched, and as a result, reveals his own intentions.  The two sections of the poem, although seemingly unrelated, both show the speaker’s motives as he tries, without expressly confessing his feelings, to keep Galatea from leaving.