Scholars disagree in opinion about the question whether a colon or a period should be placed after line 36 in Horace's Carmen Saeculare, and many of them choose the latter. This choice, consequently, decides whether vestrum(37)in the next stanza refers to Apollo and Diana or others who are considered chiefly the Capitoline deities, that is to say, luppiter and luno. Some scholars think that the poem can be divided into two halves, 1-36 and 37-72, and that, primarily, Apollo and Diana-the new deities-are sung of in the first and the Capitoline deities-the traditional deities-in the latter. Therefore a full understanding of the C. S. depends on the way in which this point is treated. We find, surveying the whole structure, that both Apollo and Diana are invoked in stanzas 1, 9 and 19, which occupy the opening, central and ending part of the poem respectively. Further, if Sol(9) can be identified with Apollo and Ilithyia(14) with Diana, stanzas 3 and 16-17 are those in which Apollo alone is invoked, while Diana alone is invoked in stanzas 4-6 and 18. These stanzas are linked with each other (3-6〜16-18), thus occupying symmetrical positions in each of the two halves. Accordingly it is evident that Apollo- and Diana-stanzas form the main prop of the whole structure. In stanzas 3-6, Apollo and Diana are called and praised as Sol and Ilithyia, who, advancing time, bring round a new saeculum with fertility, so Fate or, so to say, a fundamental power which moves all things especially toward prosperity is suggested by both deities as such. In the latter half, we can say, the past, present and future of Rome are referred to(stanzas 10-11, 14-15 and 17 respectively), and the gods are begged to confer a benefit upon Rome and the Roman people both now and from now on, as they did upon Aeneas and his party for the foundation of Rome in the past-Roma si vestvum est opus(37). On the other hand, over both halves, the motif of prosperity and fertility is found in stanzas 4-5, 8 and 15, and lustrum(67) showing a cycle of time corresponds to orbis(22). In addition to these, the word 'Rome' appears symmetrically as urbe Roma(11)in the third stanza, Roma(37)in the middle and remque Romanam(66)in the third from the last. Therefore we realize that the prosperity of Rome, which extends from the past to the future, depends on the fundamental power symbolized by Apollo and Diana in the first half. I conclude from the above-stated that a colon should be placed after line 36, and that vestrum(37) refers to Apollo and Diana. It is both deities that are invoked primarily, so the poem must not be divided distinctly into two halves.
