Complete Works of Horace (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics)
Page 81
XIII
Ille et nefasto te posuit die,
quicumque primum, et sacrilega manu
produxit, arbos, in nepotum
perniciem obprobriumque pagi;
illum et parentis crediderim sui 5
fregisse ceruicem et penetralia
sparsisse nocturno cruore
hospitis, ille uenena Colcha
et quidquid usquam concipitur nefas
tractauit, agro qui statuit meo 10
te, triste lignum, te, caducum
in domini caput inmerentis.
Quid quisque uitet, nunquam homini satis
cautum est in horas: nauita Bosphorum
Poenus perhorrescit neque ultra 15
caeca timet aliunde fata,
miles sagittas et celerem fugam
Parthi, catenas Parthus et Italum
robur; sed inprouisa leti
uis rapuit rapietque gentis. 20
Quam paene furuae regna Proserpinae
et iudicantem uidimus Aeacum
sedesque discriptas piorum et
Aeoliis fidibus querentem
Sappho puellis de popularibus 25
et te sonantem plenius aureo,
Alcaee, plectro dura nauis,
dura fugae mala, dura belli.
Vtrumque sacro digna silentio
mirantur umbrae dicere, sed magis 30
pugnas et exactos tyrannos
densum umeris bibit aure uolgus.
Quid mirum, ubi illis carminibus stupens
demittit atras belua centiceps
auris et intorti capillis 35
Eumenidum recreantur angues?
Quin et Prometheus et Pelopis parens
dulci laborum decipitur sono
nec curat Orion leones
aut timidos agitare lyncas. 40
ODE XIII.
TO A TREE.
O tree, he planted thee on an unlucky day whoever did it first, and with an impious hand raised thee for the destruction of posterity, and the scandal of the village. I could believe that he had broken his own father’s neck, and stained his most secret apartments with the midnight blood of his guest. He was wont to handle Colchian poisons, and whatever wickedness is anywhere conceived, who planted in my field thee, a sorry log; thee, ready to fall on the head of thy inoffensive master. What we ought to be aware of, no man is sufficiently cautious at all hours. The Carthaginian sailor thoroughly dreads the Bosphorus; nor, beyond that, does he fear a hidden fate from any other quarter. The soldier dreads the arrows and the fleet retreat of the Parthian; the Parthian, chains and an Italian prison; but the unexpected assault of death has carried off, and will carry off, the world in general. How near was I seeing the dominions of black Proserpine, and Aeacus sitting in judgment; the separate abodes also of the pious, and Sappho complaining in her Aeohan lyre of her own country damsels; and thee, O Alcaeus, sounding in fuller strains on thy golden harp the distresses of exile, and the distresses of war. The ghosts admire them both, while they utter strains worthy of a sacred silence; but the crowded multitude, pressing with their shoulders, imbibes, with a more greedy ear, battles and banished tyrants. What wonder? Since the many headed monster, astonished at those lays, hangs down his sable ears; and the snakes, entwined in the hair of the furies, are soothed. Moreover, Prometheus and the sire of Pelops are deluded into an insensibility of their torments, by the melodious sound: nor is Orion any longer solicitous to harass the lions, or the fearful lynxes.
XIV
Eheu fugaces, Postume, Postume,
labuntur anni nec pietas moram
rugis et instanti senectae
adferet indomitaeque morti,
non, si trecenis quotquot eunt dies, 5
amice, places inlacrimabilem
Plutona tauris, qui ter amplum
Geryonen Tityonque tristi
compescit unda, scilicet omnibus
quicumque terrae munere uescimur 10
enauiganda, siue reges
siue inopes erimus coloni.
Frustra cruento Marte carebimus
fractisque rauci fluctibus Hadriae,
frustra per autumnos nocentem 15
corporibus metuemus Austrum:
uisendus ater flumine languido
Cocytos errans et Danai genus
infame damnatusque longi
Sisyphus Aeolides laboris. 20
Linquenda tellus et domus et placens
uxor, neque harum quas colis arborum
te praeter inuisas cupressos
ulla breuem dominum sequetur;
absumet heres Caecuba dignior 25
seruata centum clauibus et mero
tinguet pauimentum superbo,
pontificum potiore cenis.
ODE XIV.
TO POSTUMUS.
Alas! my Postumus, my Postumus, the fleeting years gilde on; nor will piety cause any delay to wrinkles, and advancing old age, and insuperable death. You could not, if you were to sacrifice every passing day three hundred bulls, render propitious pitiless Pluto, who confines the thrice-monstrous Geryon and Tityus with the dismal Stygian stream, namely, that stream which is to be passed over by all who are fed by the bounty of the earth, whether we be kings or poor ninds. In vain shall we be free from sanguinary Mars, and the broken billows of the hoarse Adriatic; in vain shall we be apprehensive for ourselves of the noxious South, in the time of autumn. The black Cocytus wandering with languid current, and the infamous race of Danaus, and Sisyphus, the son of the Aeolus, doomed to eternal toil, must be visited; your land and house and pleasing wife must be left, nor shall any of those trees, which you are nursing, follow you, their master for a brief space, except the hated cypresses; a worthier heir shall consume your Caecuban wines now guarded with a hundred keys, and shall wet the pavement with the haughty wine, more exquisite than what graces pontifical entertainment.
XV
Iam pauca aratro iugera regiae
moles relinquent, undique latius
extenta uisentur Lucrino
stagna lacu platanusque caelebs
euincet ulmos; tum uiolaria et 5
myrtus et omnis copia narium
spargent oliuetis odorem
fertilibus domino priori;
tum spissa ramis laurea feruidos
excludet ictus. Non ita Romuli 10
praescriptum et intonsi Catonis
auspiciis ueterumque norma.
Priuatus illis census erat breuis,
commune magnum; nulla decempedis
metata priuatis opacam 15
porticus excipiebat Arcton,
nec fortuitum spernere caespitem
leges sinebant, oppida publico
sumptu iubentes et deorum
templa nouo decorare saxo. 20
ODE XV.
AGAINST THE LUXURY OF THE ROMANS.
The palace-like edifices will in a short time leave but a few acres for the plough; ponds of wider extent than the Lucrine lake will be every where to be seen; and the barren plane-tree will supplant the elms. Then banks of violets, and myrtle groves, and all the tribe of nosegays shall diffuse their odors in the olive plantations, which were fruitful to their preceding master. Then the laurel with dense boughs shall exclude the burning beams. It was not so prescribed by the institutes of Romulus, and the unshaven Cato, and ancient custom. Their private income was contracted, while that of the community was great. No private men were then possessed of galleries measured by ten-feet rules, which collected the shady northern breezes; nor did the laws permit them to reject the casual turf [for their own huts], though at the same time they obliged them to ornament in the most sumptuous manner, with new stone, the buildings of the public, and the temples of the gods, at a common expense.
XVI
Otium diuos rogat in patenti
prensus Aegaeo, simul atra nubes
condidit lunam neque certa fulgent
sidera nautis;
otium bello furiosa Thrace, 5
otium Medi pharetra decori
,
Grosphe, non gemmis neque purpura
uenale neque auro.
Non enim gazae neque consularis
summouet lictor miseros tumultus 10
mentis et curas laqueata circum
tecta uolantis.
Viuitur paruo bene, cui paternum
splendet in mensa tenui salinum
nec leuis somnos timor aut cupido 15
sordidus aufert.
Quid breui fortes iaculamur aeuo
multa? Quid terras alio calentis
sole mutamus? Patriae quis exul
se quoque fugit? 20
Scandit aeratas uitiosa nauis
cura nec turmas equitum relinquit,
ocior ceruis et agente nimbos
ocior Euro.
Laetus in praesens animus quod ultra est 25
oderit curare et amara lento
temperet risu: nihil est ab omni
parte beatum.
Abstulit clarum cita mors Achillem,
longa Tithonum minuit senectus, 30
et mihi forsan, tibi quod negarit,
porriget hora.
Te greges centum Siculaeque circum
mugiunt uaccae, tibi tollit hinnitum
apta quadrigis equa, te bis Afro 35
murice tinctae
uestiunt lanae; mihi parua rura et
spiritum Graiae tenuem Camenae
Parca non mendax dedit et malignum
spernere uolgus. 40
ODE XVI.
TO GROSPHUS.
O Grosphus, he that is caught in the wide Aegean Sea; when a black tempest has obscured the moon, and not a star appears with steady light for the mariners, supplicates the gods for repose: for repose, Thrace furious in war; the quiver-graced Medes, for repose neither purchasable by jewels, nor by purple, nor by gold. For neither regal treasures nor the consul’s officer can remove the wretched tumults of the mind, nor the cares that hover about splendid ceilings. That man lives happily on a little, who can view with pleasure the old-fashioned family salt-cellar on his frugal board; neither anxiety nor sordid avarice robs him of gentle sleep. Why do we, brave for a short season, aim at many things? Why do we change our own for climates heated by another sun? Whoever, by becoming an exile from his country, escaped likewise from himself? Consuming care boards even brazen-beaked ships: nor does it quit the troops of horsemen, for it is more fleet than the stags, more fleet than the storm-driving east wind. A mind that is cheerful in its present state, will disdain to be solicitous any further, and can correct the bitters of life with a placid smile. Nothing is on all hands completely blessed. A premature death carried off the celebrated Achilles; a protracted old age wore down Tithonus; and time perhaps may extend to me, what it shall deny to you. Around you a hundred flocks bleat, and Sicilian heifers low; for your use the mare, fit for the harness, neighs; wool doubly dipped in the African purple-dye, clothes you: on me undeceitful fate has bestowed a small country estate, and the slight inspiration of the Grecian muse, and a contempt for the malignity of the vulgar.
XVII
Cur me querellis exanimas tuis?
Nec dis amicum est nec mihi te prius
obire, Maecenas, mearum
grande decus columenque rerum.
A! te meae si partem animae rapit 5
maturior uis, quid moror altera,
nec carus aeque nec superstes
integer? Ille dies utramque
ducet ruinam. Non ego perfidum
dixit sacramentum: ibimus, ibimus, 10
utcumque praecedes, supremum
carpere iter comites parati.
Me nec Chimaerae spiritus igneae
nec, si resurgat centimanus gigas,
diuellet umquam: sic potenti 15
Iustitiae placitumque Parcis.
Seu Libra seu me Scorpios aspicit
formidolosus, pars uiolentior
natalis horae, seu tyrannus
Hesperiae Capricornus undae, 20
utrumque nostrum incredibili modo
consentit astrum; te Iouis impio
tutela Saturno refulgens
eripuit uolucrisque Fati
tardauit alas, cum populus frequens 25
laetum theatris ter crepuit sonum;
me truncus inlapsus cerebro
sustulerat, nisi Faunus ictum
dextra leuasset, Mercurialium
custos uirorum. Reddere uictimas 30
aedemque uotiuam memento;
non humilem feriemus agnam.
ODE XVII.
TO MAECENAS.
Why dost thoti kill me with thy complaints? ’Tis neither agreeable to the gods, nor to me, that thou shouldest depart first, O Maecenas, thou grand ornament and pillar of my affairs. Alas! if an untimely blow hurry away thee, a part of my soul, why do I the other moiety remain, my value lost, nor any longer whole? That [fatal] day shall bring destruction upon us both. I have by no means taken a false oath: we will go, we will go, whenever thou shalt lead the way, prepared to be fellow-travelers in the last journey. Me nor the breath of the fiery Chimaera, nor hundred-handed Gyges, were he to rise again, shall ever tear from thee: such is the will of powerful Justice, and of the Fates. Whether Libra or malignant Scorpio had the ascendant at my natal hour, or Capricon the ruler of the western wave, our horoscopes agree in a wonderful manner. Thee the benign protection of Jupiter, shining with friendly aspect, rescued from the baleful influence of impious Saturn, and retarded the wings of precipitate destiny, at the time the crowded people with resounding applauses thrice hailed you in the theatre: me the trunk of a tree, falling upon my skull, would have dispatched, had not Faunus, the protector of men of genius, with his right hand warded off the blow. Be thou mindful to pay the victims and the votive temple; I will sacrifice an humble lamb.
XVIII
Non ebur neque aureum
mea renidet in domo lacunar;
non trabes Hymettiae
premunt columnas ultima recisas
Africa, neque Attali 5
ignotus heres regiam occupaui,
nec Laconicas mihi
trahunt honestae purpuras clientae.
At fides et ingeni
benigna uena est pauperemque diues 10
me petit; nihil supra
deos lacesso nec potentem amicum
largiora flagito,
satis beatus unicis Sabinis.
Truditur dies die 15
nouaeque pergunt interire lunae;
tu secanda marmora
locas sub ipsum funus et sepulcri
inmemor struis domos
marisque Bais obstrepentis urges 20
summouere litora,
parum locuples continente ripa.
Quid quod usque proximos
reuellis agri terminos et ultra
limites clientium 25
salis auarus? Pellitur paternos
in sinu ferens deos
et uxor et uir sordidosque natos.
Nulla certior tamen
rapacis Orci fine destinata 30
aula diuitem manet
erum. Quid ultra tendis? Aequa tellus
pauperi recluditur
regumque pueris, nec satelles Orci
callidum Promethea 35
reuexit auro captus. Hic superbum
Tantalum atque Tantali
genus coercet, hic leuare functum
pauperem laboribus
uocatus atque non uocatus audit. 40
ODE XVIII.
AGAINST AVARICE AND LUXURY.
Nor ivory, nor a fretted ceiling adorned with gold, glitters in my house: no Hymettian beams rest upon pillars cut out of the extreme parts of Africa; nor, a pretended heir, have I possessed myself of the palace of Attalus, nor do ladies, my dependants, spin Laconian purple for my use. But integrity, and a liberal vein of genius, are mine: and the man of fortune makes his court to me, who am but poor. I importune the gods no further, nor do I require of my friend in power any larger enjoyments, sufficiently happy with my Sabine farm a
lone. Day is driven on by day, and the new moons hasten to their wane. You put out marble to be hewn, though with one foot in the grave; and, unmindful of a sepulcher, are building houses; and are busy to extend the shore of the sea, that beats with violence at Baiae, not rich enough with the shore of the mainland. Why is it, that through avarice you even pluck up the landmarks of your neighbor’s ground, and trespass beyond the bounds of your clients; and wife and husband are turned out, bearing in their bosom their household gods and their destitute children? Nevertheless, no court more certainly awaits its wealthy lord, than the destined limit of rapacious Pluto. Why do you go on? The impartial earth is opened equally to the poor and to the sons of kings; nor has the life-guard ferryman of hell, bribed with gold, re-conducted the artful Prometheus. He confines proud Tantalus; and the race of Tantalus, he condescends, whether invoked or not, to relieve the poor freed from their labors.
XIX
Bacchum in remotis carmina rupibus
uidi docentem, credite posteri,
Nymphasque discentis et auris
capripedum Satyrorum acutas.
Euhoe, recenti mens trepidat metu 5
plenoque Bacchi pectore turbidum
laetatur. Euhoe, parce Liber,
parce, graui metuende thyrso.
Fas peruicacis est mihi Thyiadas
uinique fontem lactis et uberes 10
cantare riuos atque truncis