Verse taught life’s duties, showed the future clear,
And won a monarch’s favour through his ear:
Verse gave relief from labour, and supplied
Light mirth for holiday and festal tide.
Then blush not for the lyre: Apollo sings
In unison with her who sweeps its strings.
But here occurs a question some men start,
If good verse comes from nature or from art.
For me, I cannot see how native wit
Can e’er dispense with art, or art with it.
Set them to pull together, they’re agreed,
And each supplies what each is found to need.
The youth who suns for prizes wisely trains,
Bears cold and heat, is patient and abstains:
The flute-player at a festival, before
He plays in public, has to learn his lore.
Not so our bardlings: they come bouncing in —
“I’m your true poet: let them laugh that win:
Plague take the last! although I ne’er was taught,
Is that a cause for owning I know nought?”
As puffing auctioneers collect a throng,
Rich poets bribe false friends to hear their song:
Who can resist the lord of so much rent,
Of so much money at so much per cent.?
Is there a wight can give a grand regale,
Act as a poor man’s counsel or his bail?
Blest though he be, his wealth will cloud his view,
Nor suffer him to know false friends from true.
Don’t ask a man whose feelings overflow
For kindness that you’ve shown or mean to show
To listen to your verse: each line you read,
He’ll cry, “Good! bravo! exquisite indeed!”
He’ll change his colour, let his eyes run o’er
With tears of joy, dance, beat upon the floor.
Hired mourners at a funeral say and do
A little more than they whose grief is true:
’Tis just so here: false flattery displays
More show of sympathy than honest praise.
’Tis said when kings a would-be friend will try,
With wine they rack him and with bumpers ply:
If you write poems, look beyond the skin
Of the smooth fox, and search the heart within.
Read verses to Quintilius, he would say,
“I don’t like this and that: improve it, pray:”
Tell him you found it hopeless to correct;
You’d tried it twice or thrice without effect:
He’d calmly bid you make the three times four,
And take the unlicked cub in hand once more.
But if you chose to vindicate the crime,
Not mend it, he would waste no further time,
But let you live, untroubled by advice,
Sole tenant of your own fool’s paradise.
A wise and faithful counsellor will blame
Weak verses, note the rough, condemn the lame,
Retrench luxuriance, make obscureness plain,
Cross-question this, bid that be writ again:
A second Aristarch, he will not ask,
“Why for such trifles take my friend to task?”
Such trifles bring to serious grief ere long
A hapless bard, once flattered and led wrong.
See the mad poet! never wight, though sick
Of itch or jaundice, moon-struck, fanatic,
Was half so dangerous: men whose mind is sound
Avoid him; fools pursue him, children hound.
Suppose, while spluttering verses, head on high,
Like fowler watching blackbirds in the sky,
He falls into a pit; though loud he shout
“Help, neighbours, help!” let no man pull him out:
Should some one seem disposed a rope to fling,
I will strike in with, “Pray do no such thing:
I’ll warrant you he meant it,” and relate
His brother bard Empedocles’s fate,
Who, wishing to be thought a god, poor fool,
Leapt down hot AEtna’s crater, calm and cool.
“Leave poets free to perish as they will:
Save them by violence, you as good as kill.
’Tis not his first attempt: if saved to-day,
He’s sure to die in some outrageous way.
Beside, none knows the reason why this curse
Was sent on him, this love of making verse,
By what offence heaven’s anger he incurred,
A grave denied, a sacred boundary stirred:
So much is plain, he’s mad: like bear that beats
His prison down and ranges through the streets,
This terrible reciter puts to flight
The learned and unlearned left and right:
Let him catch one, he keeps him till he kills,
As leeches stick till they have sucked their fills.”
The Latin Texts
The Gardens of Maecenas, built by Horace’s patron Gaius Maecenas, were the first gardens in the Hellenistic-Persian garden style in Rome. Maecenas sited them on the Esquiline Hill, atop the Servian Wall and its adjoining necropolis, near the gardens of Lamia. Horace was likely a frequent visitor of the gardens.
The interior of the auditorium
LIST OF LATIN TEXTS
In this section of the eBook, readers can view the original Latin texts of Horace’s works. You may wish to Bookmark this page for future reference.
CONTENTS
SERMONES
EPODES
CARMINA
EPISTULAE
CARMEN SAECULARE
ARS POETICA
SERMONES
CONTENTS
Liber I
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
1.9
1.10
Liber II
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.7
2.8
Liber I
1.1
Qui fit, Maecenas, ut nemo, quam sibi sortem
seu ratio dederit seu fors obiecerit, illa
contentus vivat, laudet diversa sequentis?
‘o fortunati mercatores’ gravis annis
miles ait, multo iam fractus membra labore; 5
contra mercator navim iactantibus Austris:
‘militia est potior. quid enim? concurritur: horae
momento cita mors venit aut victoria laeta.’
agricolam laudat iuris legumque peritus,
sub galli cantum consultor ubi ostia pulsat; 10
ille, datis vadibus qui rure extractus in urbem est,
solos felicis viventis clamat in urbe.
cetera de genere hoc — adeo sunt multa — loquacem
delassare valent Fabium. ne te morer, audi,
quo rem deducam. si quis deus ‘en ego’ dicat 15
‘iam faciam quod voltis: eris tu, qui modo miles,
mercator; tu, consultus modo, rusticus: hinc vos,
vos hinc mutatis discedite partibus. eia,
quid statis?’ nolint. atqui licet esse beatis.
quid causae est, merito quin illis Iuppiter ambas 20
iratus buccas inflet neque se fore posthac
tam facilem dicat, votis ut praebeat aurem?
praeterea, ne sic ut qui iocularia ridens
percurram: quamquam ridentem dicere verum
quid vetat? ut pueris olim dant crustula blandi 25
doctores, elementa velint ut discere prima:
sed tamen amoto quaeramus seria ludo:
ille gravem duro terram qui vertit aratro,
perfidus hic caupo, miles nautaeque, per omne
audaces mare qui currunt, hac men
te laborem 30
sese ferre, senes ut in otia tuta recedant,
aiunt, cum sibi sint congesta cibaria: sicut
parvola — nam exemplo est — magni formica laboris
ore trahit quodcumque potest atque addit acervo
quem struit, haud ignara ac non incauta futuri. 35
quae, simul inversum contristat Aquarius annum,
non usquam prorepit et illis utitur ante
quaesitis sapiens, cum te neque fervidus aestus
demoveat lucro neque hiems, ignis mare ferrum,
nil obstet tibi, dum ne sit te ditior alter. 40
quid iuvat inmensum te argenti pondus et auri
furtim defossa timidum deponere terra?
quod, si conminuas, vilem redigatur ad assem?
at ni id fit, quid habet pulcri constructus acervus?
milia frumenti tua triverit area centum: 45
non tuus hoc capiet venter plus ac meus: ut, si
reticulum panis venalis inter onusto
forte vehas umero, nihilo plus accipias quam
qui nil portarit. vel dic quid referat intra
naturae finis viventi, iugera centum an 50
mille aret? ‘at suave est ex magno tollere acervo.’
dum ex parvo nobis tantundem haurire relinquas,
cur tua plus laudes cumeris granaria nostris?
ut tibi si sit opus liquidi non amplius urna
vel cyatho et dicas ‘magno de flumine mallem 55
quam ex hoc fonticulo tantundem sumere.’ eo fit,
plenior ut siquos delectet copia iusto,
cum ripa simul avolsos ferat Aufidus acer.
at qui tantuli eget quanto est opus, is neque limo
turbatam haurit aquam neque vitam amittit in undis. 60
at bona pars hominum decepta cupidine falso
‘nil satis est’, inquit, ‘quia tanti quantum habeas sis’:
quid facias illi? iubeas miserum esse, libenter
quatenus id facit: ut quidam memoratur Athenis
sordidus ac dives, populi contemnere voces 65
sic solitus: ‘populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo
ipse domi, simul ac nummos contemplor in arca.’
Tantalus a labris sitiens fugientia captat
flumina — quid rides? mutato nomine de te
fabula narratur: congestis undique saccis 70
indormis inhians et tamquam parcere sacris
cogeris aut pictis tamquam gaudere tabellis.
nescis, quo valeat nummus, quem praebeat usum?
panis ematur, holus, vini sextarius, adde
quis humana sibi doleat natura negatis. 75
an vigilare metu exanimem, noctesque diesque
formidare malos fures, incendia, servos,
ne te conpilent fugientes, hoc iuvat? horum
semper ego optarim pauperrimus esse bonorum.
at si condoluit temptatum frigore corpus 80
aut alius casus lecto te adflixit, habes qui
adsideat, fomenta paret, medicum roget, ut te
suscitet ac reddat gnatis carisque propinquis?
non uxor salvum te volt, non filius; omnes
vicini oderunt, noti, pueri atque puellae. 85
miraris, cum tu argento post omnia ponas,
si nemo praestet, quem non merearis, amorem?
an si cognatos, nullo natura labore
quos tibi dat, retinere velis servareque amicos,
infelix operam perdas, ut siquis asellum 90
in campo doceat parentem currere frenis?
denique sit finis quaerendi, cumque habeas plus,
pauperiem metuas minus et finire laborem
incipias, parto quod avebas, ne facias quod
Ummidius quidam; non longa est fabula: dives 95
ut metiretur nummos, ita sordidus, ut se
non umquam servo melius vestiret, ad usque
supremum tempus, ne se penuria victus
opprimeret, metuebat. at hunc liberta securi
divisit medium, fortissima Tyndaridarum. 100
‘quid mi igitur suades? ut vivam Naevius aut sic
ut Nomentanus?’ pergis pugnantia secum
frontibus adversis conponere: non ego avarum
cum veto te, fieri vappam iubeo ac nebulonem:
est inter Tanain quiddam socerumque Viselli: 105
est modus in rebus, sunt certi denique fines,
quos ultra citraque nequit consistere rectum.
illuc, unde abii, redeo, qui nemo, ut avarus,
se probet ac potius laudet diversa sequentis,
quodque aliena capella gerat distentius uber, 110
tabescat neque se maiori pauperiorum
turbae conparet, hunc atque hunc superare laboret.
sic festinanti semper locupletior obstat,
ut, cum carceribus missos rapit ungula currus,
instat equis auriga suos vincentibus, illum 115
praeteritum temnens extremos inter euntem.
inde fit, ut raro, qui se vixisse beatum
dicat et exacto contentus tempore vita
cedat uti conviva satur, reperire queamus.
iam satis est. ne me Crispini scrinia lippi 120
conpilasse putes, verbum non amplius addam.
1.2
Ambubaiarum collegia, pharmacopolae,
mendici, mimae, balatrones, hoc genus omne
maestum ac sollicitum est cantoris morte Tigelli.
quippe benignus erat. contra hic, ne prodigus esse
dicatur metuens, inopi dare nolit amico, 5
frigus quo duramque famem propellere possit.
hunc si perconteris, avi cur atque parentis
praeclaram ingrata stringat malus ingluvie rem,
omnia conductis coemens obsonia nummis,
sordidus atque animi quod parvi nolit haberi, 10
respondet. laudatur ab his, culpatur ab illis.
Fufidius vappae famam timet ac nebulonis
[dives agris, dives positis in fenore nummis]:
quinas hic capiti mercedes exsecat atque
quanto perditior quisque est, tanto acrius urget; 15
nomina sectatur modo sumpta veste virili
sub patribus duris tironum. ‘maxime’ quis non
‘Iuppiter’ exclamat simul atque audivit? ‘at in se
pro quaestu sumptum facit hic?’ vix credere possis,
quam sibi non sit amicus, ita ut pater ille, Terenti 20
fabula quem miserum gnato vixisse fugato
inducit, non se peius cruciaverit atque hic.
siquis nunc quaerat ‘quo res haec pertinet?’ illuc:
dum vitant stulti vitia, in contraria currunt.
Maltinus tunicis demissis ambulat, est qui 25
inguen ad obscaenum subductis usque; facetus
pastillos Rufillus olet, Gargonius hircum:
nil medium est. sunt qui nolint tetigisse nisi illas
quarum subsuta talos tegat instita veste,
contra alius nullam nisi olenti in fornice stantem. 30
quidam notus homo cum exiret fornice, ‘macte
virtute esto’ inquit sententia dia Catonis;
‘nam simul ac venas inflavit taetra libido,
huc iuvenes aequom est descendere, non alienas
permolere uxores.’ ‘nolim laudarier’ inquit 35
‘sic me’ mirator cunni Cupiennius albi.
audire est operae pretium, procedere recte
qui moechis non voltis, ut omni parte laborent
utque illis multo corrupta dolore voluptas
atque haec rara cadat dura inter saepe pericla. 40
hic se praecipitem tecto dedit, ille flagellis
ad mortem caesus, fugiens hic decidit acrem
praedonum in turbam, dedit hic pro corpore nummos,
hunc perminxerunt calones; quin etiam illud
accidit, ut cuidam testis caudamque salacem 45
demeterent ferro. ‘iure’ omnes: Galba negabat.
tutior at quanto merx est
in classe secunda,
libertinarum dico: Sallustius in quas
non minus insanit quam qui moechatur. at hic si,
qua res, qua ratio suaderet quaque modeste 50
munifico esse licet, vellet bonus atque benignus
esse, daret quantum satis esset nec sibi damno
dedecorique foret. verum hoc se amplectitur uno,
hoc amat et laudat: ‘matronam nullam ego tango’,
ut quondam Marsaeus, amator Originis ille, 55
qui patrium mimae donat fundumque laremque,
‘nil fuerit mi’ inquit ‘cum uxoribus umquam alienis.’
verum est cum mimis, est cum meretricibus, unde
fama malum gravius quam res trahit. an tibi abunde
personam satis est, non illud, quidquid ubique 60
officit, evitare? bonam deperdere famam,
rem patris oblimare malum est ubicumque. quid inter-
est in matrona, ancilla peccesne togata?
Villius in Fausta Sullae gener, hoc miser uno
nomine deceptus, poenas dedit usque superque 65
quam satis est, pugnis caesus ferroque petitus,
exclusus fore, cum Longarenus foret intus.
huic si muttonis verbis mala tanta videnti
diceret haec animus ‘quid vis tibi? numquid ego a te
magno prognatum deposco consule cunnum 70
velatumque stola, mea cum conferbuit ira?’
quid responderet? ‘magno patre nata puella est.’
at quanto meliora monet pugnantiaque istis
dives opis natura suae, tu si modo recte
dispensare velis ac non fugienda petendis 75
inmiscere. tuo vitio rerumne labores,
nil referre putas? quare, ne paeniteat te,
desine matronas sectarier, unde laboris
plus haurire mali est quam ex re decerpere fructus.
nec magis huic, inter niveos viridisque lapillos 80
sit licet, hoc, Cerinthe, tuum tenerum est femur aut crus
rectius, atque etiam melius persaepe togatae.
adde huc, quod mercem sine fucis gestat, aperte
quod venale habet ostendit nec, siquid honesti est,
iactat habetque palam, quaerit, quo turpia celet. 85
regibus hic mos est, ubi equos mercantur: opertos
inspiciunt, ne si facies, ut saepe, decora
molli fulta pede est, emptorem inducat hiantem,
quod pulcrae clunes, breve quod caput, ardua cervix.
Complete Works of Horace (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) Page 52