IV
Descende caelo et dic age tibia
regina longum Calliope melos,
seu uoce nunc mauis acuta
seu fidibus citharaue Phoebi.
Auditis? An me ludit amabilis 5
insania? Audire et uideor pios
errare per lucos, amoenae
quos et aquae subeunt et aurae.
Me fabulosae Volture in Apulo
nutricis extra limina Pulliae 10
ludo fatigatumque somno
fronde noua puerum palumbes
texere, mirum quod foret omnibus
quicumque celsae nidum Aceruntiae
saltusque Bantinos et aruum
pingue tenent humilis Forenti, 15
ut tuto ab atris corpore uiperis
dormirem et ursis, ut premerer sacra
lauroque conlataque myrto,
non sine dis animosus infans. 20
Vester, Camenae, uester in arduos
tollor Sabinos, seu mihi frigidum
Praeneste seu Tibur supinum
seu liquidae placuere Baiae;
uestris amicum fontibus et choris 25
non me Philippis uersa acies retro,
deuota non extinxit arbor
nec Sicula Palinurus unda.
Vtcumque mecum uos eritis, libens
insanientem nauita Bosphorum
temptabo et urentis harenas 30
litoris Assyrii uiator,
uisam Britannos hospitibus feros
et laetum equino sanguine Concanum,
uisam pharetratos Gelonos 35
et Scythicum inuiolatus amnem.
Vos Caesarem altum, militia simul
fessas cohortes abdidit oppidis,
finire quaerentem labores
Pierio recreatis antro; 40
uos lene consilium et datis et dato
gaudetis, almae. Scimus ut impios
Titanas imnanemque turbam
fulmine sustulerit caduco,
qui terram inertem, qui mare temperat 45
uentosum et urbes regnaque tristia
diuosque mortalisque turmas
imperio regit unus aequo.
Magnum illa terrorem intulerat Ioui
fidens iuuentus horrida bracchiis 50
fratresque tendentes opaco
Pelion imposuisse Olympo.
Sed quid Typhoeus et ualidus Mimas
aut quid minaci Porphyrion statu,
quid Rhoetus euolsisque truncis 55
Enceladus iaculator audax
contra sonantem Palladis aegida
possent ruentes? Hinc auidus stetit
Volcanus, hinc matrona Iuno et
nunquam umeris positurus arcum, 60
qui rore puro Castaliae lauit
crinis solutos, qui Lyciae tenet
dumeta natalemque siluam,
Delius et Patareus Apollo.
Vis consili expers mole ruit sua; 65
uim temperatam di quoque prouehunt
in maius; idem odere uires
omne nefas animo mouentis.
Testis mearum centimanus gigas
sententiarum, notus et integrae 70
temptator Orion Dianae,
uirginea domitus sagitta.
Iniecta monstris Terra dolet suis
maeretque partus fulmine luridum
missos ad Orcum; nec peredit 75
impositam celer ignis Aetnen,
incontinentis nec Tityi iecur
reliquit ales, nequitiae additus
custos; amatorem trecentae
Pirithoum cohibent catenae. 80
ODE IV.
TO CALLIOPE.
Descend from heaven, queen Calliope, and come sing with your pipe a lengthened strain; or, if you had now rather, with your clear voice, or on the harp or lute of Phoebus. Do ye hear? or does a pleasing frenzy delude me? I seem to hear [her], and to wander [with her] along the hallowed groves, through which pleasant rivulets and gales make their way. Me, when a child, and fatigued with play, in sleep the woodland doves, famous in story, covered with green leaves in the Apulian Vultur, just without the limits of my native Apulia; so that it was matter of wonder to all that inhabit the nest of lofty Acherontia, the Bantine Forests, and the rich soil of low Ferentum, how I could sleep with my body safe from deadly vipers and ravenous bears; how I could be covered with sacred laurel and myrtle heaped together, though a child, not animated without the [inspiration of the] gods. Yours, O ye muses, I am yours, whether I am elevated to the Sabine heights; or whether the cool Praeneste, or the sloping Tibur, or the watery Baiae have delighted me. Me, who am attached to your fountains and dances, not the army put to flight at Philippi, not the execrable tree, nor a Palinurus in the Sicilian Sea has destroyed. While you shall be with me with pleasure will I, a sailor, dare the raging Bosphorus; or, a traveler, the burning sands of the Assyrian shore: I will visit the Britons inhuman to strangers, and the Concanian delighted [with drinking] the blood of horses; I will visit the quivered Geloni, and the Scythian river without hurt. You entertained lofty Caesar, seeking to put an end to his toils, in the Pierian grotto, as soon as he had distributed in towns his troops, wearied by campaigning: you administer [to him] moderate counsel, and graciously rejoice at it when administered. We are aware how he, who rules the inactive earth and the stormy main, the cities also, and the dreary realms [of hell], and alone governs with a righteous sway both gods and the human multitude, how he took off the impious Titans and the gigantic troop by his falling thunderbolts. That horrid youth, trusting to the strength of their arms, and the brethren proceeding to place Pelion upon shady Olympus, had brought great dread [even] upon Jove. But what could Typhoeus, and the strong Mimas, or what Porphyrion with his menacing statue; what Rhoetus, and Enceladus, a fierce darter with trees uptorn, avail, though rushing violently against the sounding shield of Pallas? At one part stood the eager Vulcan, at another the matron Juno, and he, who is never desirous to lay aside his bow from his shoulders, Apollo, the god of Delos and Patara, who bathes his flowing hair in the pure dew of Castalia, and possesses the groves of Lycia and his native wood. Force, void of conduct, falls by its own weight; moreover, the gods promote discreet force to further advantage; but the same beings detest forces, that meditate every kind of impiety. The hundred-handed Gyges is an evidence of the sentiments I allege: and Orion, the tempter of the spotless Diana, destroyed by a virgin dart. The earth, heaped over her own monsters, grieves and laments her offspring, sent to murky Hades by a thunderbolt; nor does the active fire consume Aetna that is placed over it, nor does the vulture desert the liver of incontinent Tityus, being stationed there as an avenger of his baseness; and three hundred chains confine the amorous Pirithous.
V
Caelo tonantem credidimus Iouem
regnare: praesens diuus habebitur
Augustus adiectis Britannis
imperio grauibusque Persis.
Milesne Crassi coniuge barbara 5
turpis maritus uixit et hostium,
pro curia inuersique mores!
consenuit socerorum in armis
sub rege Medo Marsus et Apulus
anciliorum et nominis et togae 10
oblitus aeternaeque Vestae,
incolumi Ioue et urbe Roma?
Hoc cauerat mens prouida Reguli
dissentientis condicionibus
foedis et exemplo trahenti 15
perniciem ueniens in aeuum,
si non periret inmiserabilis
captius pubes: ‘Signa ego Punicis
adfixa delubris et arma
militibus sine caede’ dixit 20
‘derepta uidi; uidi ego ciuium
retorta tergo bracchia libero
portasque non clausas et arua
Marte coli populata nostro.
Auro repensus scilicet acrior 25
miles redibit. Flagitio additis
damnum. Neque amissos colores
lana refert medicata fuco,
nec uera uirtus, cum semel excidit,
Si pugnat extricata densis
cerua plagis, erit ille fortis,
qui perfidis se credidit hostibus,
et Marte Poenos proteret altero,
qui lora restrictis lacertis 35
sensit iners timuitque mortem.
Hic, unde uitam sumeret inscius,
pacem duello miscuit. O pudor!
o magna Carthago, probrosis
altior Italiae ruinis!’ 40
Fertur pudicae coniugis osculum
paruosque natos ut capitis minor
ab se remouisse et uirilem
toruus humi posuisse uoltum,
donec labantis consilio patres 45
firmaret auctor nunquam alias dato
interque maerentis amicos
egregius properaret exul.
Atqui sciebat quae sibi barbarus
tortor pararet; non aliter tamen 50
dimouit obstantis propinquos
et populum reditus morantem
quam si clientum longa negotia
diiudicata lite relinqueret,
tendens Venafranos in agros 55
aut Lacedaemonium Tarentum.
ODE V.
ON THE RECOVERY OF THE STANDARDS FROM PHRAATES.
We believe from his thundering that Jupiter has dominion in the heavens: Augustus shall be esteemed a present deity the Britons and terrible Parthians being added to the empire. What! has any soldier of Crassus lived, a degraded husband with a barbarian wife? And has (O [corrupted] senate, and degenerate morals!) the Marsian and Apulian, unmindful of the sacred bucklers, of the [Roman] name and gown, and of eternal Vesta, grown old in the lands of hostile fathers-in-law, Jupiter and the city being in safety? The prudent mind of Regulus had provided against this, dissenting from ignominious terms, and inferring from such a precedent destruction to the succeeding age, if the captive youth were not to perish unpitied. I have beheld, said he, the Roman standards affixed to the Carthaginian temples, and their arms taken away from our soldiers without bloodshed. I have beheld the arms of our citizens bound behind their free-born backs, and the gates [of the enemy] unshut, and the fields, which were depopulated by our battles, cultivated anew. The soldier, to be sure, ransomed by gold, will return a braver fellow! — No — you add loss to infamy; [for] neither does the wool once stained by the dye of the sea-weed ever resume its lost color; nor does genuine valor, when once it has failed, care to resume its place in those who have degenerated through cowardice. If the hind, disentangled from the thickset toils, ever fights, then indeed shall he be valorous, who has intrusted himself to faithless foes; and he shall trample upon the Carthaginians in a second war, who dastardly has felt the thongs with his arms tied behind him, and has been afraid of death. He, knowing no other way to preserve his life, has confounded peace with war. O scandal! O mighty Carthage, elevated to a higher pitch by Italy’s disgraceful downfall! He (Regulus) is reported to have rejected the embrace of his virtuous wife and his little sons like one degraded; and to have sternly fixed his manly countenance on the ground, until, as an adviser, by his counsel he confirmed the wavering senators, and amid his weeping friends hastened away, a glorious exile. Notwithstanding he knew what the barbarian executioner was providing for him, yet he pushed from his opposing kindred and the populace retarding his return, in no other manner, than if (after he had quitted the tedious business of his clients, by determining their suit) he was only going to the Venafrian plains, or the Lacedaemonian Tarentum.
VI
Delicta maiorum inmeritus lues,
Romane, donec templa refeceris
aedisque labentis deorum et
foeda nigro simulacra fumo.
Dis te minorem quod geris, imperas: 5
hinc omne principium, huc refer exitum.
Di multa neglecti dederunt
Hesperiae mala luctuosae.
Iam bis Monaeses et Pacori manus
non auspicatos contudit impetus 10
nostros et adiecisse praedam
torquibus exiguis renidet.
Paene occupatam seditionibus
deleuit urbem Dacus et Aethiops,
hic classe formidatus, ille 15
missilibus melior sagittis.
Fecunda culpae saecula nuptias
primum inquinauere et genus et domos:
hoc fonte deriuata clades
in patriam populumque fluxit. 20
Motus doceri gaudet Ionicos
matura uirgo et fingitur artibus,
iam nunc et incestos amores
de tenero meditatur ungui.
Mox iuniores quaerit adulteros 25
inter mariti uina, neque eligit
cui donet inpermissa raptim
gaudia luminibus remotis,
sed iussa coram non sine conscio
surgit marito, seu uocat institor 30
seu nauis Hispanae magister,
dedecorum pretiosus emptor.
Non his iuuentus orta parentibus
infecit aequor sanguine Punico
Pyrrhumque et ingentem cecidit 35
Antiochum Hannibalemque dirum;
sed rusticorum mascula militum
proles, Sabellis docta ligonibus
uersare glaebas et seuerae
matris ad arbitrium recisos 40
portare fustis, sol ubi montium
mutaret umbras et iuga demeret
bobus fatigatis, amicum
tempus agens abeunte curru.
Damnosa quid non inminuit dies? 45
aetas parentum, peior auis, tulit
nos nequiores, mox daturos
progeniem uitiosiorem.
ODE VI.
TO THE ROMANS.
Thou shalt atone, O Roman, for the sins of your ancestors, though innocent, till you shall have repaired the temples and tottering shrines of the gods, and their statues, defiled with sooty smoke. Thou boldest sway, because thou bearest thyself subordinate to the gods; to this source refer every undertaking; to this, every event. The gods, because neglected, have inflicted many evils on calamitous Italy. Already has Monaeses, and the band of Pacorus, twice repelled our inauspicious attacks, and exults in having added the Roman spoils to their trivial collars. The Dacian and Ethiopian have almost demolished the city engaged in civil broils, the one formidable for his fleet, the other more expert for missile arrows. The times, fertile in wickedness, have in the first place polluted the marriage state, and [thence] the issue and families. From this fountain perdition being derived, has overwhelmed the nation and people. The marriageable virgin delights to be taught the Ionic dances, and even at this time is trained up in [seductive] arts, and cherishes unchaste desires from her very infancy. Soon after she courts younger debauchees when her husband is in his cups, nor has she any choice, to whom she shall privately grant her forbidden pleasures when the lights are removed, but at the word of command, openly, not without the knowledge of her husband, she will come forth, whether it be a factor that calls for her, or the captain of a Spanish ship, the extravagant purchaser of her disgrace. It was not a youth born from parents like these, that stained the sea with Carthaginian gore, and slew Pyrrhus, and mighty Antiochus, and terrific Annibal; but a manly progeny of rustic soldiers, instructed to turn the glebe with Sabine spades, and to carry clubs cut [out of the woods] at the pleasure of a rigid mother, what time the sun shifted the shadows of the mountains, and took the yokes from the wearied oxen, bringing on the pleasant hour with his retreating chariot. What does not wasting time destroy? The age of our fathers, worse than our grandsires, produced us still more flagitious, us, who are about to product am offspring more vicious [even than ourselves].
VII
Quid fles, Asterie, quem tibi candidi
primo restituent uere Fauonii
Thyna merce beatum,
constantis iuuenem fide
Gygen? Ille Notis actus ad Oricum 5
post insana Caprae sidera frigidas
noctes non sine multis
&
nbsp; insomnis lacrimis agit.
Atqui sollicitae nuntius hospitae,
suspirare Chloen et miseram tuis 10
dicens ignibus uri,
temptat mille uafer modis.
Vt Proetum mulier perfida credulum
falsis inpulerit criminibus nimis
casto Bellerophontae 15
maturare necem, refert;
narrat paene datum Pelea Tartaro,
Magnessam Hippolyten dum fugit abstinens,
et peccare docentis
fallax historias monet. 20
Frustra: nam scopulis surdior Icari
uocis audit adhuc integer. At tibi
ne uicinus Enipeus
plus iusto placeat caue;
quamuis non alius flectere equum sciens 25
aeque conspicitur gramine Martio,
nec quisquam citus aeque
Tusco denatat alueo,
prima nocte domum claude neque in uias
sub cantu querulae despice tibiae 30
et te saepe uocanti
duram difficilis mane.
ODE VII.
TO ASTERIE.
Why, O Asterie, do you weep for Gyges, a youth of inviolable constancy, whom the kindly zephyrs will restore to you in the beginning of the Spring, enriched with a Bithynian cargo? Driven as far as Oricum by the southern winds, after [the rising] of the Goat’s tempestuous constellation, he sleepless passes the cold nights in abundant weeping [for you]; but the agent of his anxious landlady slyly tempts him by a thousand methods, informing him that [his mistress], Chloe, is sighing for him, and burns with the same love that thou hast for him. He remonstrates with him how a perfidious woman urged the credulous Proetus, by false accusations, to hasten the death of the over-chaste Bellerophon. He tells how Peleus was like to have been given up to the infernal regions, while out of temperance he avoided the Magnesian Hippolyte: and the deceiver quotes histories to him, that are lessons for sinning. In vain; for, heart-whole as yet, he receives his words deafer than the Icarian rocks. But with regard to you, have a care lest your neighbor Enipeus prove too pleasing. Though no other person equally skillful to guide the steed, is conspicuous in the course, nor does any one with equal swiftness swim down the Etrurian stream, yet secure your house at the very approach of night, nor look down into the streets at the sound of the doleful pipe; and remain inflexible toward him, though he often upbraid thee with cruelty.
Complete Works of Horace (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) Page 83