Monday, March 7, 2011

Horace, Ode 1.20

Vile potabis modicis Sabinum
cantharis, Graeca quod ego ipse testa
conditum levi, datus in theatro
cum tibi plausus,

care Maecenas eques, ut paterni
fluminis ripae simul et iocosa
redderet laudes tibi Vaticani
montis imago.

Caecubum et prelo domitam Caleno
tu bibes uvam: mea nec Falernae
temperant vites neque Formiani
pocula colles.


You will drink cheap Sabine wine from
plain cups, which I myself sealed, put into
Greek jars, when applause had been given
to you in the theater,

dear knight Maecenas, as at the same time
the banks of the ancestral river and the funny
echo of the Vaticanus mountain return
praises to you.

You may drink Caecuban wine and the grape
crushed with a Calenian wine-press; neither
Falernian vines nor Formian wines
flavor my cups.

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