Complete Works of Horace (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics)

by Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus

  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.