V
Nondum subacta ferre iugum ualet
ceruice, nondum munia comparis
aequare nec tauri ruentis
in uenerem tolerare pondus.
Circa uirentis est animus tuae 5
campos iuuencae, nunc fluuiis grauem
solantis aestum, nunc in udo
ludere cum uitulis salicto
praegestientis. Tolle cupidinem
immitis uuae: iam tibi liuidos 10
distinguet autumnus racemos
purpureo uarius colore;
iam te sequetur; currit enim ferox
aetas et illi quos tibi dempserit
adponet annos; iam proterua
fronte petet Lalage maritum, 15
dilecta, quantum non Pholoe fugax,
non Chloris albo sic umero nitens
ut pura nocturno renidet
luna mari Cnidiusue Gyges, 20
quem si puellarum insereres choro,
mire sagacis falleret hospites
discrimen obscurum solutis
crinibus ambiguoque uoltu.
ODE V.
Not yet is she fit to be broken to the yoke; not yet is she equal to the duties of a partner, nor can she support the weight of the bull impetuously rushing to enjoyment. Your heifer’s sole inclination is about verdant fields, one while in running streams soothing the grievous heat; at another, highly delighted to frisk with the steerlings in the moist willow ground. Suppress your appetite for the immature grape; shortly variegated autumn will tinge for thee the lirid clusters with a purple hue. Shortly she shall follow you; for her impetuous time runs on, and shall place to her account those years of which it abridges you; shortly Lalage with a wanton assurance will seek a husband, beloved in a higher degree than the coy Pholoe, or even Chloris; shining as brightly with her fair shoulder, as the spotless moon upon the midnight sea, or even the Gnidian Gyges, whom if you should intermix in a company of girls, the undiscernible difference occasioned by his flowing locks and doubtful countenance would wonderfully impose even on sagacious strangers.
VI
Septimi, Gadis aditure mecum et
Cantabrum indoctum iuga ferre nostra et
barbaras Syrtis, ubi Maura semper
aestuat unda,
Tibur Argeo positum colono 5
sit meae sedes utinam senectae,
sit modus lasso maris et uiarum
militiaeque.
Vnde si Parcae prohibent iniquae,
dulce pellitis ouibus Galaesi 10
flumen et regnata petam Laconi
rura Phalantho.
Ille terrarum mihi praeter omnis
angulus ridet, ubi non Hymetto
mella decedunt uiridique certat 15
baca Venafro,
uer ubi longum tepidasque praebet
Iuppiter brumas et amicus Aulon
fertili Baccho minimum Falernis
inuidet uuis. 20
Ille te mecum locus et beatae
postulant arces; ibi tu calentem
debita sparges lacrima fauillam
uatis amici.
ODE VI.
TO SEPTIMUS.
Septimus, who art ready to go with me, even to Gades, and to the Cantabrian, still untaught to bear our yoke, and the inhospitable Syrtes, where the Mauritanian wave perpetually boils. O may Tibur, founded by a Grecian colony, be the habitation of my old age! There let there be an end to my fatigues by sea, and land, and war; whence if the cruel fates debar me, I will seek the river of Galesus, delightful for sheep covered with skins, and the countries reigned over by Lacedaemonian Phalantus. That corner of the world smiles in my eye beyond all others; where the honey yields not to the Hymettian, and the olive rivals the verdant Venafrian: where the temperature of the air produces a long spring and mild winters, and Aulon friendly to the fruitful vine, envies not the Falernian grapes. That place, and those blest heights, solicit you and me; there you shall bedew the glowing ashes of your poet friend with a tear due [to his memory].
VII
O saepe mecum tempus in ultimum
deducte Bruto militiae duce,
quis te redonauit Quiritem
dis patriis Italoque caelo,
Pompei, meorum prime sodalium, 5
cum quo morantem saepe diem mero
fregi, coronatus nitentis
malobathro Syrio capillos?
Tecum Philippos et celerem fugam
sensi relicta non bene parmula, 10
cum fracta uirtus et minaces
turpe solum tetigere mento;
sed me per hostis Mercurius celer
denso pauentem sustulit aere,
te rursus in bellum resorbens 15
unda fretis tulit aestuosis.
Ergo obligatam redde Ioui dapem
longaque fessum militia latus
depone sub lauru mea, nec
parce cadis tibi destinatis. 20
Obliuioso leuia Massico
ciboria exple, funde capacibus
unguenta de conchis. Quis udo
deproperare apio coronas
curatue myrto? Quem Venus arbitrum 25
dicet bibendi? Non ego sanius
bacchabor Edonis: recepto
dulce mihi furere est amico.
ODE VII.
TO POMPEIUS VARUS.
O thou, often reduced with me to the last extremity in the war which Brutus carried on, who has restored thee as a Roman citizen, to the gods of thy country and the Italian air, Pompey, thou first of my companions; with whom I have frequently broken the tedious day in drinking, having my hair, shining with the Syrian maiobathrum, crowned [with flowers]! Together with thee did I experience the [battle of] Phillippi and a precipitate flight, having shamefully enough left my shield; when valor was broken, and the most daring smote the squalid earth with their faces. But Mercury swift conveyed me away, terrified as I was, in a thick cloud through the midst of the enemy. Thee the reciprocating sea, with his tempestuous waves, bore back again to war. Wherefore render to Jupiter the offering that is due, and deposit your limbs, wearied with a tedious war, under my laurel, and spare not the casks reserved for you. Fill up the polished bowls with care-dispelling Massic: pour out the perfumed ointments from the capacious shells. Who takes care to quickly weave the chaplets of fresh parsely or myrtle? Whom shall the Venus pronounce to be master of the revel? In wild carouse I will become frantic as the Bacchanalians. ’Tis delightful to me to play the madman, on the reception of my friends.
VIII
Vlla si iuris tibi peierati
poena, Barine, nocuisset umquam,
dente si nigro fieres uel uno
turpior ungui,
crederem; sed tu simul obligasti 5
perfidum uotis caput, enitescis
pulchrior multo iuuenumque prodis
publica cura.
Expedit matris cineres opertos
fallere et toto taciturna noctis 10
signa cum caelo gelidaque diuos
morte carentis.
Ridet hoc, inquam, Venus ipsa, rident
simplices Nymphae, ferus et Cupido
semper ardentis acuens sagittas 15
cote cruenta.
Adde quod pubes tibi crescit omnis,
seruitus crescit noua nec priores
impiae tectum dominae relinquont
saepe minati. 20
Te suis matres metuunt iuuencis,
te senes parci miseraeque nuper
uirgines nuptae, tua ne retardet
aura maritos.
ODE VIII.
TO BARINE.
If any punishment, Barine, for your violated oath had ever been of prejudice to you: if you had become less agreeable by the blackness of a single tooth or nail, I might believe you. But you no sooner have bound your perfidious head with vows, but you shine out more charming by far, and come forth the public care of our youth. It is of advantage to you to deceive the buried ashes of your mother, and the silent constellations of the night, together with all heaven, a
nd the gods free from chill death. Venus herself, I profess, laughs at this; the good-natured nymphs laugh, and cruel Cupid, who is perpetually sharpening his burning darts on a bloody whetstone. Add to this, that all our boys are growing up for you; a new herd of slaves is growing up; nor do the former ones quit the house of their impious mistress, notwithstanding they often have threatened it. The matrons are in dread of you on account of their young ones; the thrifty old men are in dread of you; and the girls but just married are in distress, lest your beauty should slacken [the affections of] their husbands.
IX
Non semper imbres nubibus hispidos
manant in agros aut mare Caspium
uexant inaequales procellae
usque, nec Armeniis in oris,
amice Valgi, stat glacies iners 5
mensis per omnis aut Aquilonibus
querqueta Gargani laborant
et foliis uiduantur orni:
tu semper urges flebilibus modis
Mysten ademptum, nec tibi Vespero 10
surgente decedunt amores
nec rapidum fugiente solem.
At non ter aeuo functus amabilem
plorauit omnis Antilochum senex
annos nec inpubem parentes 15
Troilon aut Phrygiae sorores
fleuere semper. Desine mollium
tandem querellarum et potius noua
cantemus Augusti tropaea
Caesaris et rigidum Niphaten 20
Medumque flumen gentibus additum
uictis minores uoluere uertices
intraque praescriptum Gelonos
exiguis equitare campis.
ODE IX.
TO TITUS VALGIUS.
Showers do not perpetually pour down upon the rough fields, nor do varying hurricanes forever harass the Caspian Sea; nor, my friend Valgius, does the motionless ice remain fixed throughout all the months, in the regions of Armenia; nor do the Garganian oaks [always] labor under the northerly winds, nor are the ash-trees widowed of their leaves. But thou art continually pursuing Mystes, who is taken from thee, with mournful measures: nor do the effects of thy love for him cease at the rising of Vesper, or when he flies the rapid approach of the sun. But the aged man who lived three generations, did not lament the amiable Antilochus all the years of his life: nor did his parents or his Trojan sisters perpetually bewail the blooming Troilus. At length then desist from thy tender complaints; and rather let us sing the fresh trophies of Augustus Caesar, and the Frozen Niphates, and the river Medus, added to the vanquished nations, rolls more humble tides, and the Gelonians riding within a prescribed boundary in a narrow tract of land.
X
Rectius uiues, Licini, neque altum
semper urgendo neque, dum procellas
cautus horrescis, nimium premendo
litus iniquom.
Auream quisquis mediocritatem 5
diligit, tutus caret obsoleti
sordibus tecti, caret inuidenda
sobrius aula.
Saepius uentis agitatur ingens
pinus et celsae grauiore casu 10
decidunt turres feriuntque summos
fulgura montis.
Sperat infestis, metuit secundis
alteram sortem bene praeparatum
pectus. Informis hiemes reducit 15
Iuppiter, idem
summouet. Non, si male nunc, et olim
sic erit: quondam cithara tacentem
suscitat Musam neque semper arcum
tendit Apollo. 20
Rebus angustis animosus atque
fortis appare; sapienter idem
contrahes uento nimium secundo
turgida uela.
ODE X.
TO LICINIUS MURENA.
O Licinius, you will lead a more correct course of life, by neither always pursuing the main ocean, nor, while you cautiously are in dread of storms, by pressing too much upon the hazardous shore. Whosoever loves the golden mean, is secure from the sordidness of an antiquated cell, and is too prudent to have a palace that might expose him to envy, if the lofty pine is more frequently agitated with winds, and high towers fall down with a heavier ruin, and lightnings strike the summits of the mountains. A well-provided breast hopes in adversity, and fears in prosperity. ’Tis the same Jupiter, that brings the hideous winters back, and that takes them away. If it is ill with us now, it will not be so hereafter. Apollo sometimes rouses the silent lyric muse, neither does he always bend his bow. In narrow circumstances appear in high spirits, and undaunted. In the same manner you will prudently contract your sails, which are apt to be too much swollen in a prosperous gale.
XI
Quid bellicosus Cantaber et Scythes,
Hirpine Quincti, cogitet Hadria
diuisus obiecto, remittas
quaerere nec trepides in usum
poscentis aeui pauca: fugit retro 5
leuis iuuentas et decor, arida
pellente lasciuos amores
canitie facilemque somnum.
Non semper idem floribus est honor
uernis neque uno luna rubens nitet 10
uoltu: quid aeternis minorem
consiliis animum fatigas?
Cur non sub alta uel platano uel hac
pinu iacentes sic temere et rosa
canos odorati capillos, 15
dum licet, Assyriaque nardo
potamus uncti? dissipat Euhius
curas edacis. Quis puer ocius
restinguet ardentis Falerni
pocula praetereunte lympha? 20
Quis deuium scortum eliciet domo
Lyden? Eburna dic, age, cum lyra
maturet, in comptum Lacaenae
more comas religata nodum.
ODE XI.
TO QUINTIUS HIRPINUS.
O Quintius Hirpinus, forbear to be inquisitive what the Cantabrian, and the Scythian, divided from us by the interposed Adriatic, is meditating; neither be fearfully solicitous for the necessaries of a life, which requires but a few things. Youth and beauty fly swift away, while sapless old age expels the wanton loves and gentle sleep. The same glory does not always remain to the vernal flowers, nor does the ruddy moon shine with one continued aspect; why, therefore, do you fatigue you mind, unequal to eternal projects? Why do we not rather (while it is in our power) thus carelessly reclining under a lofty plane-tree, or this pine, with our hoary locks made fragrant by roses, and anointed with Syrian perfume, indulge ourselves with generous wine? Bacchus dissipates preying cares. What slave is here, instantly to cool some cups of ardent Falernian in the passing stream? Who will tempt the vagrant wanton Lyde from her house? See that you bid her hasten with her ivory lyre, collecting her hair into a graceful knot, after the fashion of a Spartan maid.
XII
Nolis longa ferae bella Numantiae,
nec durum Hannibalem nec Siculum mare
Poeno purpureum sanguine mollibus
aptari citharae modis,
nec saeuos Lapithas et nimium mero 5
Hylaeum domitosque Herculea manu
Telluris iuuenes, unde periculum
fulgens contremuit domus
Saturni ueteris; tuque pedestribus
dices historiis proelia Caesaris, 10
Maecenas, melius ductaque per uias
regum colla minacium.
Me dulcis dominae Musa Licymniae
cantus, me uoluit dicere lucidum
fulgentis oculos et bene mutuis 15
fidum pectus amoribus;
quam nec ferre pedem dedecuit choris
nec certare ioco nec dare bracchia
ludentem nitidis uirginibus sacro
Dianae celebris die. 20
Num tu quae tenuit diues Achaemenes
aut pinguis Phrygiae Mygdonias opes
permutare uelis crine Licymniae,
plenas aut Arabum domos
cum flagrantia detorquet ad oscula 25
ceruicem aut facili saeuitia negat
quae poscente magis gaudeat eripi,
inter
dum rapere occupet?
ODE XII.
TO MAECENAS.
Do not insist that the long wars of fierce Numantia, or the formidable Annibal, or the Sicilian Sea impurpled with Carthaginian blood, should be adapted to the tender lays of the lyre: nor the cruel Lapithae, nor Hylaeus excessive in wine and the earth born youths, subdued by Herculean force, from whom the splendid habitation of old Saturn dreaded danger. And you yourself, Maecenas, with more propriety shall recount the battles of Caesar, and the necks of haughty kings led in triumph through the streets in historical prose. It was the muse’s will that I should celebrate the sweet strains of my mistress Lycimnia, that I should celebrate her bright darting eyes, and her breast laudably faithful to mutual love: who can with a grace introduce her foot into the dance, or, sporting, contend in raillery, or join arms with the bright virgins on the celebrated Diana’s festival. Would you, [Maecenas,] change one of Lycimnia’s tresses for all the rich Achaemenes possessed, or the Mygdonian wealth of fertile Phrygia, or all the dwellings of the Arabians replete with treasures? Especially when she turns her neck to meet your burning kisses, or with a gentle cruelty denies, what she would more delight to have ravished than the petitioner — or sometimes eagerly anticipates to snatch them her self.
Complete Works of Horace (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) Page 80