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

by Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus

  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,
/>   curat reponi deterioribus. 30

  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.