Translation Horace 30.3

[Auditor Hominorum]

Can anyone help me to understand the next line?

"[...]Exegi monumentum aere perennius, regalique situ pyramidum altius."

Word by word, I'd translate "I raised a monument more long-lasting than bronze, in a royal site more high than pyramids."

And a question, why pyramidum is in the plural genitive case, considering that altius is the neuter form of comparative of superiority which accompanies the neuter substantive in ablative case, situ?

Thank you.

[bedwere]

The first part of your translation is right, but not the second. The term of comparison should be in the ablative (or quam +nominative):

altius quam regalis situs pyramidum

[mwh]

The accusative altius in on a par with perennius, agreeing with monumentum, and the ablative regali situ is on a par with aere, governed by the comparative adjective: “longer-lasting than bronze and loftier than the royal situs (decaying structure) of the pyramids.”

He’s making a grandiose claim for his poetic achievement in the three books of the Odes. (He added a fourth later.)

[Auditor Hominorum]

Thank you both so much. Now I perfectly understand this passage. Bedwere, in this case wouldn't be "quam+accusative"?

[bedwere]

Yes, you are right. The two compared things should be in the same case.