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

by Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus

  VIII

  Martis caelebs quid agam Kalendis,

  quid uelint flores et acerra turis

  plena miraris positusque carbo in

  caespite uiuo,

  docte sermones utriusque linguae. 5

  Voueram dulcis epulas et album

  Libero caprum prope funeratus

  arboris ictu.

  Hic dies anno redeunte festus

  corticem adstrictum pice dimouebit 10

  amphorae fumum bibere institutae

  consule Tullo.

  Sume, Maecenas, cyathos amici

  sospitis centum et uigilis lucernas

  perfer in lucem; procul omnis esto 15

  clamor et ira.

  Mitte ciuilis super urbe curas.

  Occidit Daci Cotisonis agmen,

  Medus infestus sibi luctuosis

  dissidet armis, 20

  seruit Hispanae uetus hostis orae

  Cantaber sera domitus catena,

  iam Scythae laxo meditantur arcu

  cedere campis.

  Neglegens ne qua populus laboret, 25

  parce priuatus nimium cauere et

  dona praesentis cape laetus horae,

  linque severa.

  ODE VIII.

  TO MAECENAS.

  O Maecenas, learned in both languages, you wonder what I, a single man, have to do on the calends of March; what these flowers mean, and the censer replete with frankincense, and the coals laid upon the live turf. I made a vow of a joyous banquet, and a white goat to Bacchus, after having been at the point of death by a blow from a tree. This day, sacred in the revolving year, shall remove the cork fastened with pitch from that jar, which was set to inhale the smoke in the consulship of Tullus. Take, my Maecenas, a hundred cups on account of the safety of your friend, and continue the wakeful lamps even to day-light: all clamor and passion be far away. Postpone your political cares with regard to the state: the army of the Dacian Cotison is defeated; the troublesome Mede is quarreling with himself in a horrible [civil] war: the Cantabrian, our old enemy on the Spanish coast, is subject to us, though conquered by a long-disputed victory: now, too, the Scythians are preparing to quit the field with their imbent bows. Neglectful, as a private person, forbear to be too solicitous lest the community in any wise suffer, and joyfully seize the boons of the present hour, and quit serious affairs.

  IX

  ‘Donec gratus eram tibi

  nec quisquam potior bracchia candidae

  ceruici iuuenis dabat,

  Persarum uigui rege beatior.’

  ‘Donec non alia magis 5

  arsisti neque erat Lydia post Chloen,

  multi Lydia nominis,

  Romana uigui clarior Ilia.’

  ‘Me nunc Thressa Chloe regit,

  dulcis docta modos et citharae sciens, 10

  pro qua non metuam mori,

  si parcent animae fata superstiti.’

  ‘Me torret face mutua

  Thurini Calais filius Ornyti,

  pro quo bis patiar mori, 15

  si parcent puero fata superstiti.’

  ‘Quid si prisca redit Venus

  diductosque iugo cogit aeneo,

  si flaua excutitur Chloe

  reiectaeque patet ianua Lydiae?’ 20

  ‘Quamquam sidere pulchrior

  ille est, tu leuior cortice et inprobo

  iracundior Hadria,

  tecum uiuere amem, tecum obeam lubens.’

  ODE IX.

  TO LYDIA.

  HORACE. As long as I was agreeable to thee, and no other youth more favored was wont to fold his arms around thy snowy neck, I lived happier than the Persian monarch.

  LYDIA. As long as thou hadst not a greater flame for any other, nor was Lydia below Chloe [in thine affections], I Lydia, of distinguished fame, flourished more eminent than the Roman Ilia.

  HOR. The Thracian Chloe now commands me, skillful in sweet modulations, and a mistress of the lyre; for whom I would not dread to die, if the fates would spare her, my surviving soul.

  LYD. Calais, the son of the Thurian Ornitus, inflames me with a mutual fire; for whom I would twice endure to die, if the fates would spare my surviving youth.

  HOR. What! if our former love returns, and unites by a brazen yoke us once parted? What if Chloe with her golden locks be shaken off, and the door again open to slighted Lydia.

  LYD. Though he is fairer than a star, thou of more levity than a cork, and more passionate than the blustering Adriatic; with thee I should love to live, with thee I would cheerfully die.

  X

  Extremum Tanain si biberes, Lyce,

  saeuo nupta uiro, me tamen asperas

  porrectum ante foris obicere incolis

  plorares Aquilonibus.

  Audis quo strepitu ianua, quo nemus 5

  inter pulchra satum tecta remugiat

  uentis, et positas ut glaciet niues

  puro numine Iuppiter?

  Ingratam Veneri pone superbiam,

  ne currente retro funis eat rota: 10

  non te Penelopen difficilem procis

  Tyrrhenus genuit parens.

  O quamuis neque te munera nec preces

  nec tinctus uiola pallor amantium

  nec uir Pieria paelice saucius 15

  curuat, supplicibus tuis

  parcas, nec rigida mollior aesculo

  nec Mauris animum mitior anguibus:

  non hoc semper erit liminis aut aquae

  caelestis patiens latus. 20

  ODE X.

  TO LYCE.

  O Lyce, had you drunk from the remote Tanais, in a state of marriage with tome barbarian, yet you might be sorry to expose me, prostrate before your obdurate doors, to the north winds that have made those places their abode. Do you hear with what a noise your gate, with what [a noise] the grove, planted about your elegant buildings, rebellows to the winds? And how Jupiter glazes the settled snow with his bright influence? Lay aside disdain, offensive to Venus, lest your rope should run backward, while the wheel is revolving. Your Tyrrhenian father did not beget you to be as inaccessible as Penelope to your wooers. O though neither presents, nor prayers, nor the violet-tinctured paleness of your lovers, nor your husband smitten with a musical courtezan, bend you to pity; yet [at length] spare your suppliants, you that are not softer than the sturdy oak, nor of a gentler disposition than the African serpents. This side [of mine] will not always be able to endure your threshold, and the rain.

  XI

  Mercuri, — nam te docilis magistro

  mouit Amphion lapides canendo, —

  tuque testudo resonare septem

  callida neruis,

  nec loquax olim neque grata, nunc et 5

  diuitum mensis et amica templis,

  dic modos, Lyde quibus obstinatas

  applicet auris,

  quae uelut latis equa trima campis

  ludit exultim metuitque tangi, 10

  nuptiarum expers et adhuc proteruo

  cruda marito.

  Tu potes tigris comitesque siluas

  ducere et riuos celeres morari;

  cessit inmanis tibi blandienti 15

  ianitor aulae

  Cerberus, quamuis furiale centum

  muniant angues caput eius atque

  spiritus taeter saniesque manet

  ore trilingui. 20

  Quin et Ixion Tityosque uoltu

  risit inuito, stetit urna paulum

  sicca, dum grato Danai puellas

  carmine mulces.

  Audiat Lyde scelus atque notas 25

  uirginum poenas et inane lymphae

  dolium fundo pereuntis imo

  seraque fata,

  quae manent culpas etiam sub Orco.

  Impiae (nam quid potuere maius?) 30

  impiae sponsos potuere duro

  perdere ferro.

  Vna de multis face nuptiali

  digna periurum fuit in parentem

  splendide mendax et in omne uirgo 35

  nobilis aeuom,

  ‘
Surge’, quae dixit iuueni marito,

  ‘surge, ne longus tibi somnus, unde

  non times, detur; socerum et scelestas

  falle sorores, 40

  quae uelut nactae uitulos leaenae

  singulos eheu lacerant. Ego illis

  mollior nec te feriam neque intra

  claustra tenebo.

  Me pater saeuis oneret catenis, 45

  quod uiro clemens misero peperci,

  me uel extremos Numidarum in agros

  classe releget.

  I, pedes quo te rapiunt et aurae,

  dum fauet Nox et Venus, i secundo 50

  omine et nostri memorem sepulcro

  scalpe querellam.’

  ODE XI.

  TO MERCURY.

  O Mercury, for under thy instruction the ingenious Amphion moved rocks by his voice, you being his tutor; and though my harp, skilled in sounding, with seven strings, formerly neither vocal nor pleasing, but now agreeable both to the tables of the wealthy and the temples [of the gods]; dictate measures to which Lyde may incline her obstinate ears, who, like a filly of three years old, plays and frisks about in the spacious fields, inexperienced in nuptial loves, and hitherto unripe for a brisk husband. You are able to draw after your tigers and attendant woods, and to retard rapid rivers. To your blandishments the enormous porter of the [infernal] palace yielded, though a hundred serpents fortify his head, and a pestilential steam and an infectious poison issue from his triple-tongued mouth. Moreover, Ixion and Tityus smiled with a reluctant aspect: while you soothe the daughters of Danaus with your delightful harmony, their vessel for some time remained dry. Let Lyde hear of the crime, and the well-known punishment of the virgins, and the cask emptied by the water streaming through the bottom, and what lasting fates await their misdeeds even beyond the grave. Impious! (for what greater impiety could they have committed?) Impious! who could destroy their bridegrooms with the cruel sword! One out of the many, worthy of the nuptial torch, was nobly false to her perjured parent, and a maiden illustrious to all posterity; she, who said to her youthful husband, “Arise! arise! lest an eternal sleep be given to you from a hand you have no suspicion of; disappoint your father-in-law and my wicked sisters, who, like lionesses having possessed themselves of calves (alas)! tear each of them to pieces; I, of softer mold than they, will neither strike thee, nor detain thee in my custody. Let my father load me with cruel chains, because out of mercy I spared my unhappy spouse; let him transport me even to the extreme Numidian plains. Depart, whither your feet and the winds carry you, while the night and Venus are favorable: depart with happy omen; yet, not forgetful of me, engrave my mournful story on my tomb.”

  XII

  Miserarum est neque amori dare ludum neque dulci

  mala uino lauere aut exanimari

  metuentis patruae uerbera linguae.

  Tibi qualum Cythereae puer ales, tibi telas

  operosaeque Mineruae studium aufert, 5

  Neobule, Liparaei nitor Hebri,

  simul unctos Tiberinis umeros lauit in undis,

  eques ipso melior Bellerophonte,

  neque pugno neque segni pede uictus;

  catus idem per apertum fugientis agitato 10

  grege ceruos iaculari et celer arto

  latitantem fruticeto excipere aprum.

  ODE XII.

  TO NEOBULE.

  It is for unhappy maidens neither to give indulgence to love, nor to wash away cares with delicious wine; or to be dispirited out of dread of the lashes of an uncle’s tongue. The winged boy of Venus, O Neobule, has deprived you of your spindle and your webs, and the beauty of Hebrus from Lipara of inclination for the labors of industrious Minerva, after he has bathed his anointed shoulders in the waters of the Tiber; a better horseman than Bellerophon himself, neither conquered at boxing, nor by want of swiftness in the race: he is also skilled to strike with his javelin the stags, flying through the open plains in frightened herd, and active to surprise the wild boar lurking in the deep thicket.

  XIII

  O fons Bandusiae splendidior uitro,

  dulci digne mero non sine floribus,

  cras donaberis haedo,

  cui frons turgida cornibus

  primis et uenerem et proelia destinat. 5

  Frustra: nam gelidos inficiet tibi

  rubro sanguine riuos

  lasciui suboles gregis.

  Te flagrantis atrox hora Caniculae

  nescit tangere, tu frigus amabile 10

  fessis uomere tauris

  praebes et pecori uago.

  Fies nobilium tu quoque fontium

  me dicente cauis impositam ilicem

  saxis, unde loquaces 15

  lymphae desiliunt tuae.

  ODE XIII.

  TO THE BANDUSIAN FOUNTAIN.

  O thou fountain of Bandusia, clearer than glass, worthy of delicious wine, not unadorned by flowers; to-morrow thou shalt be presented with a kid, whose forehead, pouting with new horns, determines upon both love and war in vain; for this offspring of the wanton flock shall tinge thy cooling streams with scarlet blood. The severe season of the burning dog-star cannot reach thee; thou affordest a refreshing coolness to the oxen fatigued with the plough-share, and to the ranging flock. Thou also shalt become one of the famous fountains, through my celebrating the oak that covers the hollow rock, whence thy prattling rills descend with a bound.

  XIV

  Herculis ritu modo dictus, o plebs,

  morte uenalem petiisse laurum,

  Caesar Hispana repetit penatis

  victor ab ora.

  Vnico gaudens mulier marito 5

  prodeat iustis operata sacris

  et soror clari ducis et decorae

  supplice uitta

  uirginum matres iuuenumque nuper

  sospitum. Vos, o pueri et puellae ac 10

  iam uirum expertae, male nominatis

  parcite uerbis.

  Hic dies uere mihi festus atras

  eximet curas; ego nec tumultum

  nec mori per uim metuam tenente 15

  Caesare terras.

  I, pete unguentum, puer, et coronas

  et cadum Marsi memorem duelli,

  Spartacum si qua potuit uagantem

  fallere testa. 20

  Dic et argutae properet Neaerae

  murreum nodo cohibere crinem;

  si per inuisum mora ianitorem

  fiet, abito.

  Lenit albescens animos capillus 25

  litium et rixae cupidos proteruae;

  non ego hoc ferrem calidus iuuenta

  consule Planco.

  ODE XIV.

  TO THE ROMANS.

  Augustus Caesar, O ye people, who was lately said, like another Hercules, to have sought for the laurel to be purchased only by death, revisits his domestic gods, victorious from the Spanish shore. Let the matron (Livia), to whom her husband alone is dear, come forth in public procession, having first performed her duty to the just gods; and (Octavia), the sister of our glorious general; the mothers also of the maidens and of the youths just preserved from danger, becomingly adorned with supplicatory fillets. Ye, O young men, and young women lately married, abstain from ill-omened words. This day, to me a real festival, shall expel gloomy cares: I will neither dread commotions, nor violent death, while Caesar is in possession of the earth. Go, slave, and seek for perfume and chaplets, and a cask that remembers the Marsian war, if any vessel could elude the vagabond Spartacus. And bid the tuneful Neaera make haste to collect into a knot her auburn hair; but if any delay should happen from the surly porter, come away. Hoary hair mollifies minds that are fond of strife and petulant wrangling. I would not have endured this treatment, warm with youth in the consulship of Plancus.

  XV

  Vxor pauperis Ibyci,

  tandem nequitiae fige modum tuae

  famosisque laboribus;

  maturo propior desine funeri

  inter ludere uirgines 5

  et stellis nebulam spargere candidis.

  Non, s
i quid Pholoen satis,

  et te, Chlori, decet. Filia rectius

  expugnat iuuenum domos,

  pulso Thyias uti concita tympano. 10

  Illam cogit amor Nothi

  lasciua similem ludere capreae:

  te lanae prope nobilem

  tonsae Luceriam, non citharae decent

  nec flos purpureus rosae 15

  nec poti uetulam faece tenus cadi.

  ODE XV.

  TO CHLORIS.

  You wife of the indigent Ibycus, at length put an end to your wickedness, and your infamous practices. Cease to sport among the damsels, and to diffuse a cloud among bright constellations, now on the verge of a timely death. If any thing will become Pholoe, it does not you Chloris, likewise. Your daughter with more propriety attacks the young men’s apartments, like a Bacchanalian roused up by the rattling timbrel. The love of Nothus makes her frisk about like a wanton she-goat. The wool shorn near the famous Luceria becomes you now antiquated: not musical instruments, or the damask flower of the rose, or hogsheads drunk down to the lees.