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

by Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus

  XXX

  Exegi monumentum aere perennius

  regalique situ pyramidum altius,

  quod non imber edax, non Aquilo inpotens

  possit diruere aut innumerabilis

  annorum series et fuga temporum. 5

  Non omnis moriar multaque pars mei

  uitabit Libitinam; usque ego postera

  crescam laude recens, dum Capitolium

  scandet cum tacita uirgine pontifex.

  Dicar, qua uiolens obstrepit Aufidus 10

  et qua pauper aquae Daunus agrestium

  regnauit populorum, ex humili potens

  princeps Aeolium carmen ad Italos

  deduxisse modos. Sume superbiam

  quaesitam meritis et mihi Delphica 15

  lauro cinge uolens, Melpomene, comam.

  ODE XXX.

  ON HIS OWN WORKS.

  I have completed a monument more lasting than brass, and more sublime than the regal elevation of pyramids, which neither the wasting shower, the unavailing north wind, nor an innumerable succession of years, and the flight of seasons, shall be able to demolish. I shall not wholly die; but a great part of me shall escape Libitina. I shall continualy be renewed in the praises of posterity, as long as the priest shall ascend the Capitol with the silent [vestal] virgin. Where the rapid Aufidus shall murmur, and where Daunus, poorly supplied with water, ruled over a rustic people, I, exalted from a low degree, shall be acknowledged as having originally adapted the Aeolic verse to Italian measures. Melpomene, assume that pride which your merits have acquired, and willingly crown my hair with the Delphic laurel.

  Liber IV

  I

  Intermissa, Venus, diu

  rursus bella moues? Parce precor, precor.

  Non sum qualis eram bonae

  sub regno Cinarae. Desine, dulcium

  mater saeua Cupidinum, 5

  circa lustra decem flectere mollibus

  iam durum imperiis: abi,

  quo blandae iuuenum te reuocant preces.

  Tempestiuius in domum

  Pauli purpureis ales oloribus 10

  comissabere Maximi,

  si torrere iecur quaeris idoneum;

  namque et nobilis et decens

  et pro sollicitis non tacitus reis

  et centum puer artium 15

  late signa feret militiae tuae,

  et, quandoque potentior

  largi muneribus riserit aemuli,

  Albanos prope te lacus

  ponet marmoream sub trabe citrea. 20

  Illic plurima naribus

  duces tura, lyraque et Berecyntia

  delectabere tibia

  mixtis carminibus non sine fistula;

  illic bis pueri die

  numen cum teneris uirginibus tuum 25

  laudantes pede candido

  in morem Salium ter quatient humum.

  Me nec femina nec puer

  iam nec spes animi credula mutui 30

  nec certare iuuat mero

  nec uincire nouis tempora floribus.

  Sed cur heu, Ligurine, cur

  manat rara meas lacrima per genas?

  Cur facunda parum decoro 35

  inter uerba cadit lingua silentio?

  Nocturnis ego somniis

  iam captum teneo, iam uolucrem sequor

  te per gramina Martii

  campi, te per aquas, dure, uolubilis. 40

  ODE I.

  TO VENUS.

  After a long cessation, O Venus, again are you stirring up tumults? Spare me, I beseech you, I beseech you. I am not the man I was under the dominion of good-natured Cynara. Forbear, O cruel mother of soft desires, to bend one bordering upon fifty, now too hardened for soft commands: go, whither the soothing prayers of youths, invoke you. More seasonably may you revel in the house of Paulus Maximus, flying thither with your splendid swans, if you seek to inflame a suitable breast. For he is both noble and comely, and by no means silent in the cause of distressed defendants, and a youth of a hundred accomplishments; he shall bear the ensigns of your warfare far and wide; and whenever, more prevailing than the ample presents of a rival, he shall laugh [at his expense], he shall erect thee in marble under a citron dome near the Alban lake. There you shall smell abundant frankincense, and shall be charmed with the mixed music of the lyre and Berecynthian pipe, not without the flageolet. There the youths, together with the tender maidens, twice a day celebrating your divinity, shall, Salian-like, with white foot thrice shake the ground. As for me, neither woman, nor youth, nor the fond hopes of mutual inclination, nor to contend in wine, nor to bind my temples with fresh flowers, delight me [any longer]. But why; ah! why, Ligurinus, does the tear every now and then trickle down my cheeks? Why does my fluent tongue falter between my words with an unseemly silence? Thee in my dreams by night I clasp, caught [in my arms]; thee flying across the turf of the Campus Martius; thee I pursue, O cruel one, through the rolling waters.

  II

  Pindarum quisquis studet aemulari,

  Iulle, ceratis ope Daedalea

  nititur pinnis, uitreo daturus

  nomina ponto.

  Monte decurrens uelut amnis, imbres 5

  quem super notas aluere ripas,

  feruet inmensusque ruit profundo

  Pindarus ore,

  laurea donandus Apollinari,

  seu per audacis noua dithyrambos 10

  uerba deuoluit numerisque fertur

  lege solutis,

  seu deos regesque canit, deorum

  sanguinem, per quos cecidere iusta

  morte Centauri, cecidit tremendae 15

  flamma Chimaerae,

  siue quos Elea domum reducit

  palma caelestis pugilemue equomue

  dicit et centum potiore signis

  munere donat, 20

  flebili sponsae iuuenemue raptum

  plorat et uiris animumque moresque

  aureos educit in astra nigroque

  inuidet Orco.

  Multa Dircaeum leuat aura cycnum, 25

  tendit, Antoni, quotiens in altos

  nubium tractus; ego apis Matinae

  more modoque

  grata carpentis thyma per laborem

  plurimum circa nemus uuidique 30

  Tiburis ripas operosa paruus

  carmina fingo.

  Concines maiore poeta plectro

  Caesarem, quandoque trahet ferocis

  per sacrum cliuum merita decorus 35

  fronde Sygambros;

  quo nihil maius meliusue terris

  fata donauere bonique diui

  nec dabunt, quamuis redeant in aurum

  tempora priscum. 40

  Concines laetosque dies et urbis

  publicum ludum super impetrato

  fortis Augusti reditu forumque

  litibus orbum.

  Tum meae, si quid loquar audiendum, 45

  uocis accedet bona pars, et: ‘O sol

  pulcher, o laudande!’ canam recepto

  Caesare felix;

  teque, dum procedis, io Triumphe!

  non semel dicemus, io Triumphe! 50

  ciuitas omnis, dabimusque diuis

  tura benignis.

  Te decem tauri totidemque uaccae,

  me tener soluet uitulus, relicta

  matre qui largis iuuenescit herbis 55

  in mea uota,

  fronte curuatos imitatus ignis

  tertius lunae referentis ortum,

  qua notam duxit niueus uideri,

  cetera fuluus. 60

  ODE II.

  TO ANTONIUS IULUS.

  Whoever endeavors, O Iulus, to rival Pindar, makes an effort on wings fastened with wax by art Daedalean, about to communicate his name to the glassy sea. Like a river pouring down from a mountain, which sudden rains have increased beyond its accustomed banks, such the deep-mouthed Pindar rages and rushes on immeasurable, sure to merit Apollo’s laurel, whether he rolls down new-formed phrases through the daring dithyrambic, and is borne on in numbers exempt from rule: whether he sings the g
ods, and kings, the offspring of the gods, by whom the Centaurs perished with a just destruction, [by whom] was quenched the flame of the dreadful Chimaera; or celebrates those whom the palm, [in the Olympic games] at Elis, brings home exalted to the skies, wrestler or steed, and presents them with a gift preferable to a hundred statues: or deplores some youth, snatched [by death] from his mournful bride — he elevates both his strength, and courage, and golden morals to the stars, and rescues him from the murky grave. A copious gale elevates the Dircean swan, O Antonius, as often as he soars into the lofty regions of the clouds: but I, after the custom and manner of the Macinian bee, that laboriously gathers the grateful thyme, I, a diminutive creature, compose elaborate verses about the grove and the banks of the watery Tiber. You, a poet of sublimer style, shall sing of Caesar, whenever, graceful in his well-earned laurel, he shall drag the fierce Sygambri along the sacred hill; Caesar, than whom nothing greater or better the fates and indulgent gods ever bestowed on the earth, nor will bestow, though the times should return to their primitive gold. You shall sing both the festal days, and the public rejoicings on account of the prayed-for return of the brave Augustus, and the forum free from law-suits. Then (if I can offer any thing worth hearing) a considerable portion of my voice shall join [the general acclamation], and I will sing, happy at the reception of Caesar, “O glorious day, O worthy thou to be celebrated.” And while [the procession] moves along, shouts of triumph we will repeat, shouts of triumph the whole city [will raise], and we will offer frankincense to the indulgent gods. Thee ten bulls and as many heifers shall absolve; me, a tender steerling, that, having left his dam, thrives in spacious pastures for the discharge of my vows, resembling [by the horns on] his forehead the curved light of the moon, when she appears of three days old, in which part he has a mark of a snowy aspect, being of a dun color over the rest of his body.

  III

  Quem tu, Melpomene, semel

  nascentem placido lumine uideris,

  illum non labor Isthmius

  clarabit pugilem, non equus impiger

  curru ducet Achaico 5

  uictorem, neque res bellica Deliis

  ornatum foliis ducem,

  quod regum tumidas contuderit minas,

  ostendet Capitolio;

  sed quae Tibur aquae fertile praefluunt 10

  et spissae nemorum comae

  fingent Aeolio carmine nobilem.

  Romae principis urbium

  dignatur suboles inter amabilis

  uatum ponere me choros, 15

  et iam dente minus mordeor inuido.

  O testudinis aureae

  dulcem quae strepitum, Pieri, temperas,

  o mutis quoque piscibus

  donatura cycni, si libeat, sonum, 20

  totum muneris hoc tui est,

  quod monstror digito praetereuntium

  Romanae fidicen lyrae;

  quod spiro et placeo, si placeo, tuum est.

  ODE III.

  TO MELPOMENE.

  Him, O Melpomene, upon whom at his birth thou hast once looked with favoring eye, the Isthmian contest shall not render eminent as a wrestler; the swift horse shall not draw him triumphant in a Grecian car; nor shall warlike achievement show him in the Capitol, a general adorned with the Delian laurel, on account of his having quashed the proud threats of kings: but such waters as flow through the fertile Tiber, and the dense leaves of the groves, shall make him distinguished by the Aeolian verse. The sons of Rome, the queen of cities, deign to rank me among the amiable band of poets; and now I am less carped at by the tooth of envy. O muse, regulating the harmony of the gilded shell! O thou, who canst immediately bestow, if thou please, the notes of the swan upon the mute fish! It is entirely by thy gift that I am marked out, as the stringer of the Roman lyre, by the fingers of passengers; that I breathe, and give pleasure (if I give pleasure), is yours.

  IV

  Qualem ministrum fulminis alitem,

  cui rex deorum regnum in auis uagas

  permisit expertus fidelem

  Iuppiter in Ganymede flauo,

  olim iuuentas et patrius uigor 5

  nido laborum protulit inscium

  uernique iam nimbis remotis

  insolitos docuere nisus

  uenti pauentem, mox in ouilia

  demisit hostem uiuidus impetus, 10

  nunc in reluctantis dracones

  egit amor dapis atque pugnae;

  qualemue laetis caprea pascuis

  intenta fuluae matris ab ubere

  iam lacte depulsum leonem 15

  dente nouo peritura uidit:

  uidere Raeti bella sub Alpibus

  Drusum gerentem; Vindelici — quibus

  mos unde deductus per omne

  tempus Amazonia securi 20

  dextras obarmet, quaerere distuli,

  nec scire fas est omnia — sed diu

  lateque uictrices cateruae

  consiliis iuuenis reuictae

  sensere, quid mens rite, quid indoles 25

  nutrita faustis sub penetralibus

  posset, quid Augusti paternus

  in pueros animus Nerones.

  Fortes creantur fortibus et bonis;

  est in iuuencis, est in equis patrum 30

  uirtus neque inbellem feroces

  progenerant aquilae columbam;

  doctrina sed uim promouet insitam

  rectique cultus pectora roborant;

  utcumque defecere mores, 35

  indecorant bene nata culpae.

  Quid debeas, o Roma, Neronibus,

  testis Metaurum flumen et Hasdrubal

  deuictus et pulcher fugatis

  ille dies Latio tenebris, 40

  qui primus alma risit adorea,

  dirus per urbes Afer ut Italas

  ceu flamma per taedas uel Eurus

  per Siculas equitauit undas.

  Post hoc secundis usque laboribus 45

  Romana pubes creuit et impio

  uastata Poenorum tumultu

  fana deos habuere rectos;

  dixitque tandem perfidus Hannibal:

  ‘Cerui, luporum praeda rapacium, 50

  sectamur ultro, quos opimus

  fallere et effugere est triumphus.

  Gens, quae cremato fortis ab Ilio

  iactata Tuscis aequoribus sacra

  natosque maturosque patres 55

  pertulit Ausonias ad urbes,

  duris ut ilex tonsa bipennibus

  nigrae feraci frondis in Algido,

  per damna, per caedes ab ipso

  ducit opes animumque ferro. 60

  Non hydra secto corpore firmior

  uinci dolentem creuit in Herculem,

  monstrumue submisere Colchi

  maius Echioniaeue Thebae.

  Merses profundo, pulchrior euenit; 65

  luctere, multa proruet integrum

  cum laude uictorem geretque

  proelia coniugibus loquenda.

  Carthagini iam non ego nuntios

  mittam superbos; occidit, occidit 70

  spes omnis et fortuna nostri

  nominis Hasdrubale interempto.

  Nil Claudiae non perficient manus,

  quas et benigno numine Iuppiter

  defendit et curae sagaces 75

  expediunt per acuta belli’.

  ODE IV

  THE PRAISE OF DRUSUS.

  Like as the winged minister of thunder (to whom Jupiter, the sovereign of the gods, has assigned the dominion over the fleeting birds, having experienced his fidelity in the affair of the beauteous Ganymede), early youth and hereditary vigor save impelled from his nest unknowing of toil; and the vernal winds, the showers being now dispelled, taught him, still timorous, unwonted enterprises: in a little while a violent impulse dispatched him, as an enemy against the sheepfolds, now an appetite for food and fight has impelled him upon the reluctant serpents; — or as a she-goat, intent on rich pastures, has beheld a young lion but just weaned from the udder of his tawny dam, ready to be devoured by his newly-grown tooth: such
did the Rhaeti and the Vindelici behold Drusus carrying on the war under the Alps; whence this people derived the custom, which has always prevailed among them, of arming their right hands with the Amazonian ax, I have purposely omitted to inquire: (neither is it possible to discover everything.) But those troops, which had been for a long while and extensively victorious, being subdued by the conduct of a youth, perceived what a disposition, what a genius rightly educated under an auspicious roof, what the fatherly affection of Augustus toward the young Neros, could effect. The brave are generated by the brave and good; there is in steers, there is in horses, the virtue of their sires; nor do the courageous eagles procreate the unwarlike dove. But learning improves the innate force, and good discipline confirms the mind: whenever morals are deficient, vices disgrace what is naturally good. What thou owest, O Rome, to the Neros, the river Metaurus is a witness, and the defeated Asdrubal, and that day illustrious by the dispelling of darkness from Italy, and which first smiled with benignant victory; when the terrible African rode through the Latian cities, like a fire through the pitchy pines, or the east wind through the Sicilian waves. After this the Roman youth increased continually in successful exploits, and temples, laid waste by the impious outrage of the Carthaginians, had the [statues of] their gods set up again. And at length the perfidious Hannibal said; “We, like stags, the prey of rapacious wolves, follow of our own accord those, whom to deceive and escape is a signal triumph. That nation, which, tossed in the Etrurian waves, bravely transported their gods, and sons, and aged fathers, from the burned Troy to the Italian cities, like an oak lopped by sturdy axes in Algidum abounding in dusky leaves, through losses and through wounds derives strength and spirit from the very steel. The Hydra did not with more vigor grow upon Hercules grieving to be overcome, nor did the Colchians, or the Echionian Thebes, produce a greater prodigy. Should you sink it in the depth, it will come out more beautiful: should you contend with it, with great glory will it overthrow the conqueror unhurt before, and will fight battles to be the talk of wives. No longer can I send boasting messengers to Carthage: all the hope and success of my name is fallen, is fallen by the death of Asdrubal. There is nothing, but what the Claudian hands will perform; which both Jupiter defends with his propitious divinity, and sagacious precaution conducts through the sharp trials of war.”