The title of this poem means "Threatening Tyrant." It comes from
Horace's "Ode on the Just Man," in _Odes_, III, 3, i. The just man is
not frightened by the frown of the threatening tyrant--_non vullus
instantis tyranni_. Archdeacon Farrar refers the incidents to
persecution of the early Christians. The poem certainly deals with some
period when the ruler of a great realm had unlimited power to follow out
his most insignificant animosities, and when just men and just causes
had no human recourse.
The general idea of the poem is clear and forcible, but there are many
minor difficulties of interpretation.
6. _What was his force?_ An ironic question. The man groveled because he
was powerless to resist, and (line 10) because resistance might bring
even worse punishment.
11. _Were the object_, etc. If the man could be made rich, if his life
could be crowded with pleasures, if there could be found relatives or
friends whom he loved, then there would be obvious ways of hurting him,
he would stand forth in sufficient importance to make the swing of the
tyrant's hand effective. But as it is, the man's poverty and
friendlessness and meagerness of life render it difficult to find out
vulnerable points of attack. He remains hidden (_perdue_) and, like the
midge of the egg of an insect (_nit_), is safe through his very
insignificance.
21. _spilth._ That which is poured out profusely. The _flagon_ is a
vessel with one handle and a long narrow neck or spout.
35. _Then a humor_, etc. The tyrant goes through various changes of mood
in his attitude toward his enemy. In lines 35-43 he feels a moment of
contemptuous compunction at the man's suffering, and recognizes the
absurdity of a contest between a great king and a person as
insignificant as a tricksy elf, a toad, or a rat. But in line 44 his
mood turns. He perceives that the burden (_gravamen_) of the whole
matter lies in the incredibly petty nature of this unconquerable,
baffling opposition to his will. He sees how the situation would awaken
the wonder of the great lords who abjectly obey his lightest word, but
he concludes that, after all, the small becomes great if it vexes you.
53. _I soberly_, etc. Even the tyrant sees a kind of grotesque humor as
he narrates first the elaborate plans to entrap and crush so seemingly
powerless a foe, and then the striking reversal of position when the man
proves to have God on his side, and the tyrant becomes the one to cower
in fear.