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

by Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus

  EPODES

  I

  Ibis Liburnis inter alta navium,

  amice, propugnacula,

  paratus omne Caesaris periculum

  subire, Maecenas, tuo:

  quid nos, quibus te vita sit superstite

  iucunda, si contra, gravis?

  utrumne iussi persequemur otium

  non dulce, ni tecum simul,

  an hunc laborem mente laturi, decet

  qua ferre non mollis viros?

  feremus et te vel per Alpium iuga

  inhospitalem et Caucasum

  vel occidentis usque ad ultimum sinum

  forti sequemur pectore.

  roges, tuom labore quid iuvem meo,

  inbellis ac firmus parum?

  comes minore sum futurus in metu,

  qui maior absentis habet:

  ut adsidens inplumibus pullis avis

  serpentium adlapsus timet

  magis relictis, non, ut adsit, auxili

  latura plus praesentibus.

  libenter hoc et omne militabitur

  bellum in tuae spem gratiae,

  non ut iuvencis inligata pluribus

  aratra nitantur meis

  pecusve Calabris ante Sidus fervidum

  Lucana mutet pascuis

  neque ut superni villa candens Tusculi

  Circaea tangat moenia:

  satis superque me benignitas tua

  ditavit, haud paravero

  quod aut avarus ut Chremes terra premam,

  discinctus aut perdam nepos.

  EPODE I.

  TO MAECENAS.

  Thou wilt go, my friend Maecenas, with Liburian galleys among the towering forts of ships, ready at thine own [hazard] to undergo any of Caesar’s dangers. What shall I do? To whom life may be agreeable, if you survive; but, if otherwise, burdensome. Whether shall I, at your command, pursue my ease, which can not be pleasing unless in your company? Or shall I endure this toil with such a courage, as becomes effeminate men to bear? I will bear it? and with an intrepid soul follow you, either through the summits of the Alps, and the inhospitable Caucus, or to the furthest western bay. You may ask how I, unwarlike and infirm, can assist your labors by mine? While I am your companion, I shall be in less anxiety, which takes possession of the absent in a greater measure. As the bird, that has unfledged young, is in a greater dread of serpents’ approaches, when they are left; — not that, if she should be present when they came, she could render more help. Not only this, but every other war, shall be cheerfully embraced by me for the hope of your favor; [and this,] not that my plows should labor, yoked to a greater number of mine own oxen; or that my cattle before the scorching dog-star should change the Calabrian for the Lucanian pastures: neither that my white country-box should equal the Circaean walls of lofty Tusculum. Your generosity has enriched me enough, and more than enough: I shall never wish to amass, what either, like the miser Chremes, I may bury in the earth, or luxuriously squander, like a prodigal.

  II

  ‘Beatus ille qui procul negotiis,

  ut prisca gens mortalium,

  paterna rura bubus exercet suis

  solutus omni faenore

  neque excitatur classico miles truci

  neque horret iratum mare

  forumque vitat et superba civium

  potentiorum limina.

  ergo aut adulta vitium propagine

  altas maritat populos

  aut in reducta valle mugientium

  prospectat errantis greges

  inutilisque falce ramos amputans

  feliciores inserit

  aut pressa puris mella condit amphoris

  aut tondet infirmas ovis.

  vel cum decorum mitibus pomis caput

  Autumnus agris extulit,

  ut gaudet insitiva decerpens pira

  certantem et uvam purpurae,

  qua muneretur te, Priape, et te, pater

  Silvane, tutor finium.

  libet iacere modo sub antiqua ilice,

  modo in tenaci gramine:

  labuntur altis interim ripis aquae,

  queruntur in Silvis aves

  frondesque lymphis obstrepunt manantibus,

  somnos quod invitet levis.

  at cum tonantis annus hibernus Iovis

  imbris nivisque conparat,

  aut trudit acris hinc et hinc multa cane

  apros in obstantis plagas

  aut amite levi rara tendit retia

  turdis edacibus dolos

  pavidumque leporem et advenam laqueo gruem

  iucunda captat praemia.

  quis non malarum quas amor curas habet

  haec inter obliviscitur?

  quodsi pudica mulier in partem iuvet

  domum atque dulcis liberos,

  Sabina qualis aut perusta Solibus

  pernicis uxor Apuli,

  sacrum vetustis exstruat lignis focum

  lassi Sub adventum viri

  claudensque textis cratibus laetum pecus

  distenta siccet ubera

  et horna dulci vina promens dolio

  dapes inemptas adparet:

  non me Lucrina iuverint conchylia

  magisve rhombus aut scari,

  siquos Eois intonata fluctibus

  hiems ad hoc vertat mare,

  non Afra avis descendat in ventrem meum,

  non attagen Ionicus

  iucundior quam lecta de pinguissimis

  oliva ramis arborum

  aut herba lapathi prata amantis et gravi

  malvae salubres corpori

  vel agna festis caesa Terminalibus

  vel haedus ereptus lupo.

  has inter epulas ut iuvat pastas ovis

  videre properantis domum,

  videre fessos vomerem inversum boves

  collo trahentis languido

  positosque vernas, ditis examen domus,

  circum renidentis Laris.’

  haec ubi locutus faenerator Alfius,

  iam iam futurus rusticus,

  omnem redegit idibus pecuniam,

  quaerit kalendis ponere.

  EPODE II.

  THE PRAISES OF A COUNTRY LIFE.

  Happy the man, who, remote from business, after the manner of the ancient race of mortals, cultivates his paternal lands with his own oxen, disengaged from every kind of usury; he is neither alarmed by the horrible trump, as a soldier, nor dreads he the angry sea; he shuns both the bar and the proud portals of citizens in power. Wherefore he either weds the lofty poplars to the mature branches of the vine; and, lopping off the useless boughs with his pruning-knife, he ingrafts more fruitful ones: or he takes a prospect of the herds of his lowing cattle, wandering about in a lonely vale; or stores his honey, pressed [from the combs], in clean vessels; or shears his tender sheep. Or, when autumn has lifted up in the fields his head adorned with mellow fruits, how does he rejoice, while he gathers the grafted pears, and the grape that vies with the purple, with which he may recompense thee, O Priapus, and thee, father Sylvanus, guardian of his boundaries! Sometimes he delights to lie under an aged holm, sometimes on the matted grass: meanwhile the waters glide along in their deep channels; the birds warble in the woods; and the fountains murmur with their purling streams, which invites gentle slumbers. But when the wintery season of the tempestuous air prepares rains and snows, he either drives the fierce boars, with many a dog, into the intercepting toils; or spreads his thin nets with the smooth pole, as a snare for the voracious thrushes; or catches in his gin the timorous hare, or that stranger the crane, pleasing rewards [for his labor]. Among such joys as these, who does not forget those mischievous anxieties, which are the property of love. But if a chaste wife, assisting on her part [in the management] of the house, and beloved children (such as is the Sabine, or the sun-burned spouse of the industrious Apulian), piles up the sacred hearth with old wood, just at the approach of her weary husband; and, shutting up the fruitful cattle in the woven hurdles, milks dry their distended udders: and, drawing this year’s wine out of a well-seasone
d cask, prepares the unbought collation: not the Lucrine oysters could delight me more, nor the turbot, nor the scar, should the tempestuous winter drive any from the eastern floods to this sea: not the turkey, nor the Asiatic wild-fowl, can come into my stomach more agreeably, than the olive gathered from the richest branches from the trees, or the sorrel that loves the meadows, or mallows salubrious for a sickly body, or a lamb slain at the feast of Terminus, or a kid rescued from the wolf. Amid these dainties, how it pleases one to see the well-fed sheep hastening home! to see the weary oxen, with drooping neck, dragging the inverted ploughshare! and slaves, the test of a rich family, ranged about the smiling household gods! When Alfius, the usurer, now on the point of turning countryman, had said this, he collected in all his money on the Ides; and endeavors to put it out again at the Calends.

  III

  Parentis olim siquis inpia manu

  senile guttur fregerit,

  edit cicutis alium nocentius.

  o dura messorum ilia.

  quid hoc veneni saevit in praecordiis?

  num viperinus his cruor

  incoctus herbis me fefellit? an malas

  Canidia tractavit dapes?

  ut Argonautas praeter omnis candidum

  Medea mirata est ducem,

  ignota tauris inligaturum iuga

  perunxit hoc Iasonem,

  hoc delibutis ulta donis paelicem

  serpente fugit alite.

  nec tantus umquam Siderum insedit vapor

  siticulosae Apuliae

  nec munus umeris efficacis Herculis

  inarsit aestuosius.

  at siquid umquam tale concupiveris,

  iocose Maecenas, precor,

  manum puella savio opponat tuo,

  extrema et in sponda cubet.

  EPODE III.

  TO MAECENAS.

  If any person at any time with an impious hand has broken his aged father’s neck, let him eat garlic, more baneful than hemlock. Oh! the hardy bowels of the mowers! What poison is this that rages in my entrails? Has viper’s blood, infused in these herbs, deceived me? Or has Canidia dressed this baleful food? When Medea, beyond all the [other] argonauts, admired their handsome leader, she anointed Jason with this, as he was going to tie the untried yoke on the bulls: and having revenged herself on [Jason’s] mistress, by making her presents besmeared with this, she flew away on her winged dragon. Never did the steaming influence of any constellation so raging as this rest upon the thirsty Appulia: neither did the gift [of Dejanira] burn hotter upon the shoulders of laborious Hercules. But if ever, facetious Maecenas, you should have a desire for any such stuff again, I wish that your girl may oppose her hand to your kiss, and lie at the furthest part of the bed.

  IV

  Lupis et agnis quanta Sortito obtigit,

  tecum mihi discordia est,

  Hibericis peruste funibus latus

  et crura dura compede.

  licet superbus ambules pecunia,

  fortuna non mutat genus.

  videsne, sacram metiente te viam

  cum bis trium ulnarum toga,

  ut ora vertat huc et huc euntium

  liberrima indignatio?

  ‘sectus flagellis hic triumviralibus

  praeconis ad fastidium

  arat Falerni mille fundi iugera

  et Appiam mannis terit

  sedilibusque magnus in primis eques

  Othone contempto sedet.

  quid attinet tot ora navium gravi

  rostrata duci pondere

  contra latrones atque servilem manum

  hoc, hoc tribuno militum?’

  EPODE IV.

  TO MENAS.

  As great an enmity as is allotted by nature to wolves and lambs, [so great a one] have I to you, you that are galled at your back with Spanish cords, and on your legs with the hard fetter. Though, purse-proud with your riches, you strut along, yet fortune does not alter your birth. Do you not observe while you are stalking along the sacred way with a robe twice three ells long, how the most open indignation of those that pass and repass turns their looks on thee? This fellow, [say they,] cut with the triumvir’s whips, even till the beadle was sick of his office, plows a thousand acres of Falernian land, and wears out the Appian road with his nags; and, in despite of Otho, sits in the first rows [of the circus] as a knight of distinction. To what purpose is it, that so many brazen-beaked ships of immense bulk should be led out against pirates and a band of slaves, while this fellow, this is a military tribune?

  V

  ‘At o deorum quidquid in caelo regit

  terras et humanum genus,

  quid iste fert tumultus aut quid omnium

  voltus in unum me truces?

  per liberos te, si vocata partubus

  Lucina veris adfuit,

  per hoc inane purpurae decus precor,

  per inprobaturum haec Iovem,

  quid ut noverca me intueris aut uti

  petita ferro belua?’

  ut haec trementi questus ore constitit

  insignibus raptis puer,

  inpube corpus, quale posset inpia

  mollire Thracum pectora:

  Canidia, brevibus illigata viperis

  crinis et incomptum caput,

  iubet sepulcris caprificos erutas,

  iubet cupressos funebris

  et uncta turpis ova ranae Sanguine

  plumamque nocturnae strigis

  herbasque, quas Iolcos atque Hiberia

  mittit venenorum ferax,

  et ossa ab ore rapta ieiunae canis

  flammis aduri Colchicis.

  at expedita Sagana, per totam domum

  spargens Avernalis aquas,

  horret capillis ut marinus asperis

  echinus aut Laurens aper.

  abacta nulla Veia conscientia

  ligonibus duris humum

  exhauriebat, ingemens laboribus,

  quo posset infossus puer

  longo die bis terque mutatae dapis

  inemori spectaculo,

  cum promineret ore, quantum exstant aqua

  suspensa mento corpora;

  exsucta uti medulla et aridum iecur

  amoris esset poculum,

  interminato cum semel fixae cibo

  intabuissent pupulae.

  non defuisse masculae libidinis

  Ariminensem Foliam

  et otiosa credidit Neapolis

  et omne vicinum oppidum,

  quae sidera excantata voce Thessala

  lunamque caelo deripit.

  hic inresectum saeva dente livido

  Canidia rodens pollicem

  quid dixit aut quid tacuit? ‘o rebus meis

  non infideles arbitrae,

  Nox et Diana, quae silentium regis,

  arcana cum fiunt sacra,

  nunc, nunc adeste, nunc in hostilis domos

  iram atque numen vertite.

  formidulosis cum latent silvis ferae

  dulci sopore languidae,

  senem, quod omnes rideant, adulterum

  latrent Suburanae canes

  nardo perunctum, quale non perfectius

  meae laborarint manus.

  quid accidit? cur dira barbarae minus

  venena Medeae valent,

  quibus Superbam fugit ulta paelicem,

  magni Creontis filiam,

  cum palla, tabo munus imbutum, novam

  incendio nuptam abstulit?

  atqui nec herba nec latens in asperis

  radix fefellit me locis.

  indormit unctis omnium cubilibus

  oblivione paelicum?

  a, a, solutus ambulat veneficae

  scientioris carmine.

  non usitatis, Vare, potionibus,

  o multa fleturum caput,

  ad me recurres nec vocata mens tua

  Marsis redibit vocibus.

  maius parabo, maius infundam tibi

  fastidienti poculum

  priusque caelum Sidet inferius mari

  tellure porrecta super

  qua
m non amore sic meo flagres uti

  bitumen atris ignibus.’

  sub haec puer iam non, ut ante, mollibus

  lenire verbis inpias,

  sed dubius unde rumperet silentium,

  misit Thyesteas preces:

  ‘venena maga non fas nefasque, non valent

  convertere humanam vicem.

  diris agam vos: dira detestatio

  nulla expiatur victima.

  quin, ubi perire iussus exspiravero,

  nocturnus occurram Furor

  petamque voltus umbra curvis unguibus,

  quae vis deorum est Manium,

  et inquietis adsidens praecordiis

  pavore somnos auferam.

  vos turba vicatim hinc et hinc saxis petens

  contundet obscaenas anus;

  post insepulta membra different lupi

  et Esquilinae alites

  neque hoc parentes, heu mihi superstites,

  effugerit spectaculum.’

  EPODE V.

  THE WITCHES MANGLING A BOY.

  But oh, by all the gods in heaven, who rule the earth and human race, what means this tumult? And what the hideous looks of all these [hags, fixed] upon me alone? I conjure thee by thy children (if invoked Lucina was ever present at any real birth of thine), I [conjure] thee by this empty honor of my purple, by Jupiter, who must disapprove these proceedings, why dost thou look at me as a step-mother, or as a wild beast stricken with a dart? While the boy made these complaints with a faltering voice, he stood with his bandages of distinction taken from him, a tender frame, such as might soften the impious breasts of the cruel Thracians; Canidia, having interwoven her hair and uncombed head with little vipers, orders wild fig-trees torn up from graves, orders funeral cypresses and eggs besmeared with the gore of a loathsome toad, and feathers of the nocturnal screech-owl, and those herbs, which lolchos, and Spain, fruitful in poisons, transmits, and bones snatched from the mouth of a hungry bitch, to be burned in Colchian flames. But Sagana, tucked up for expedition, sprinkling the waters of Avernus all over the house, bristles up with her rough hair like a sea-urchin, or a boar in the chase. Veia, deterred by no remorse of conscience, groaning with the toil, dug up the ground with the sharp spade; where the boy, fixed in, might long be tormented to death at the sight of food varied two or three times in a day: while he stood out with his face, just as much at bodies suspended by the chin [in swimming] project from the water, that his parched marrow and dried liver might be a charm for love; when once the pupils of his eyes had wasted away, fixed on the forbidden food. Both the idle Naples, and every neighboring town believed, that Folia of Ariminum, [a witch] of masculine lust, was not absent: she, who with her Thessalian incantations forces the charmed stars and the moon from heaven. Here the fell Canidia, gnawing her unpaired thumb with her livid teeth, what said she? or what did she not say? O ye faithful witnesses to my proceedings, Night and Diana, who presidest over silence, when the secret rites are celebrated: now, now be present, now turn your anger and power against the houses of our enemies, while the savage wild beasts lie hid in the woods, dissolved in sweet repose; let the dogs of Suburra (which may be matter of ridicule for every body) bark at the aged profligate, bedaubed with ointment, such as my hands never made any more exquisite. What is the matter? Why are these compositions less efficacious than those of the barbarian Medea? by means of which she made her escape, after having revenged herself on [Jason’s] haughty mistress, the daughter of the mighty Creon; when the garment, a gift that was injected with venom, took off his new bride by its inflammatory power. And yet no herb, nor root hidden in inaccessible places, ever escaped my notice. [Nevertheless,] he sleeps in the perfumed bed of every harlot, from his forgetfulness [of me]. Ah! ah! he walks free [from my power] by the charms of some more knowing witch. Varus, (oh you that will shortly have much to lament!) you shall come back to me by means of unusual spells; nor shall you return to yourself by all the power of Marsian enchantments, I will prepare a stronger philter: I will pour in a stronger philter for you, disdainful as you are; and the heaven shall subside below the sea, with the earth extended over it, sooner than you shall not burn with love for me, in the same manner as this pitch [burns] in the sooty flames. At these words, the boy no longer [attempted], as before, to move the impious hags by soothing expressions; but, doubtful in what manner he should break silence, uttered Thyestean imprecations. Potions [said he] have a great efficacy in confounding right and wrong, but are not able to invert the condition of human nature; I will persecute you with curses; and execrating detestation is not to be expiated by any victim. Moreover, when doomed to death I shall have expired, I will attend you as a nocturnal fury; and, a ghost, I will attack your faces with my hooked talons (for such is the power of those divinities, the Manes), and, brooding upon your restless breasts, I will deprive you of repose by terror. The mob, from village to village, assaulting you on every side with stones, shall demolish you filthy hags. Finally, the wolves and Esquiline vultures shall scatter abroad your unburied limbs. Nor shall this spectacle escape the observation of my parents, who, alas! must survive me.