Showing posts with label Apollo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Apollo. Show all posts

Monday, April 18, 2011

Horace, Carmen Saeculare

Phoebe silvarumque potens Diana,
lucidum caeli decus, o colendi
semper et culti, date quae precamur
tempore sacro,

quo Sibyllini monuere versus
virgines lectas puerosque castos
dis quibus septem placuere colles
dicere carmen.

Alme Sol, curru nitido diem qui
promis et celas aliusque et idem
nasceris, possis nihil urbe Roma
visere maius!

Rite maturos aperire partus
lenis, Ilithyia, tuere matres,
sive tu Lucina probas vocari
seu Genitalis.

Diva, producas subolem patrumque
prosperes decreta super iugandis
feminis prolisque novae feraci
lege marita,

certus undenos deciens per annos
orbis ut cantus referatque ludos
ter die claro totiensque grata
nocte frequentis.

Vosque veraces cecinisse, Parcae,
quod semel dictum est, stabilisque rerum
terminus servet, bona iam peractis
iungite fata.

Fertilis frugum pecorisque tellus
spicea donet Cererem corona;
nutriant fetus et aquae salubres
et Iovis aurae.

Condito mitis placidusque telo
supplices audi pueros, Apollo;
siderum regina bicornis, audi,
Luna, puellas.

Roma si vestrum est opus Iliaeque
litus Etruscum tenuere turmae,
iussa pars mutare Lares et urbem
sospite cursu,

cui per ardentem sine fraude Troiam
castus Aeneas patriae superstes
liberum munivit iter, daturus
plura relictis,

di, probos mores docili iuventae,
di, senectuti placidae quietem,
Romulae genti date remque prolemque
et decus omne.

Quaeque vos bubus veneratur albis
clarus Anchisae Venerisque sanguis,
impetret, bellante prior, iacentem
lenis in hostem.

Iam mari terraque manus potentis
Medus Albanasque timet securis,
iam Scyythae responsa petunt superbi
nuper et Indi.

Iam Fides et Pax et Honos Pudorque
priscus et neglecta redire Virtus
audet, apparetque beata pleno
Copia cornu.

Augur et fulgente decorus arcu
Phoebus acceptusque novem Camenis,
qui salutari levat arte fessos
corporis artus,

si Palatinas videt aequus aras,
remque Romanam Latiumque felix
alterum in lustrum meliusque semper
prorogat aevum;

quaeque Aventinum tenet Algidumque,
quindecim Diana preces virorum
curat et votis puerorum amicas
applicat auris.

Haec Iovem sentire deosque cunctos
spem bonam certamque domum reporto,
doctus et Phoebi chorus et Dianae
dicere laudes.


Phoebus and Diana, ruler of the forests,
shining glory of heaven, oh you to be worshiped
and must always be worshiped, give that which we pray for
in this sacred time,

when the Sabylline verses advised
the chosen virgins and pure boys
to sing a song for the gods for whom the seven
hills are pleasing.

Nourishing Sol, you who brings forth and conceals the day
with your shining chariot, and are born another and
the same, may you be able to see nothing greater
than the city of Rome!

Duly gentle to uncover timely
births, Ilithyia, watch over mothers,
whether you assent to be called Lucina
or Genitalis.

Goddess, may you bring forth offspring and bless
the decrees of our fathers over marriage to
women, and the law on marriage with new
fruitful offspring,

so that the fixed orbit of ten times eleven years
may bring back songs and games
crowded three times in the bright day and as often
in the pleasing night.

And you, Fates, truthful to have sung
that which had once been fixed, and may the
boundary of stable things keep it (so), now join
good fates with completed ones.

May the earth, fertile in fruits and the herd,
present Ceres with a crown of grain;
may the healthy rains and breezes of Jove
nourish the harvest.

Apollo, gentle and calm, with your weapon
put away, hear the suppliant youths;
Luna, two-horned queen of stars, hear
the girls.

If Rome is your work and Ilian
troops held the Etruscan shore,
a part ordered to change their home and city
in a safe course,

for whom chaste Aeneas, survivor of the fatherland,
built a way for freedom through burning Troy
without trickery, about to give more (good things)
than those left behind:

gods, grant honest manners to the docile youth,
gods, grant peace in the calm of old age,
grant resources and offspring and every honor
to the race of Romulus.

And that which, with white bulls, the bright
family of Anchises and Venus asks of you,
superior to the warring one, gentle to the
fallen enemy.

Now the Parthian fears our troops, lords of
sea and land, and the axes of Alba,
now the Scythians and the Indi, haughty until recently,
seek answers.

Now Faith and Peace and Honor and ancient
Modesty and neglected Virtue dare to
return and blessed Plenty, with a full horn,
makes an appearance.

Phoebus, prophet decorated with a gleaming
bow and dear to the nine Muses,
who, with his saving art, relieves the tired
limbs of the body,

if he kindly looks on the altars on the Palatine,
and and always prolongs Roman strength and
the prosperity of Latium for a further cycle and
to a better age,

and Diana, she who holds Aventine and Algidus,
attends to the prayers of the fifteen men
and places friendly ears nears the
appeals of the youth.

So that Jupiter and all the gods perceive these
(words), I carry back home a good and sure hope,
I and the chorus taught to tell the praises of
Phoebus and of Diana.


Monday, March 21, 2011

Horace, Ode 2.10

Rectius vives, Licini, neque altum
semper urgendo neque, dum procellas
cautus horrescis, nimium premendo
litus iniquum.

Auream quisquis mediocritatem
diligit, tutus caret obsoleti
sordibus tecti, caret invidenda
sobrius aula.

Saepius ventis agitatur ingens
pinus et celsae graviore casu
decidunt turres feriuntque summos
fulgura montis.

Sperat infestis, metuit secundis
alteram sortem bene praeparatum
pectus. Informis hiemes reducit
Iuppiter; idem

summovet. Non, si male nunc, et olim
sic erit: quondam cithara tacentem
suscitat Musam neque semper arcum
tendit Apollo.

Rebus angustis animosus atque
fortis appare; sapienter idem
contrahes vento nimium secundo
turgida vela.



You will live better, Licinius, by neither
always pressing the deep nor, while you carefully
dread storms, by excessively pressing
the treacherous shore.

Whoever values a golden mean
is safely free from the squalor
of a worn-out house, is soberly free from
an envious palace.

The vast pine is more often moved
by the wind and the high towers fall
with a more serious fall and the lightening
strikes the highest mountains.

The well-prepared heart hopes for the other fate
in dangerous affairs, and fears the other fate in favorable
affairs. Jupiter brings back ugly
winters; likewise,

he removes them. If it is badly now, once it will
not be so: once Apollo stirs the silent
Muse with his lyre and does not
always stretch his bow.

Appear strong and firm in steep
affairs; likewise, you will wisely
shorten your sails swollen in a
too favorable wind.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Horace, Ode 3.21

O nata mecum consule Manlio,
seu tu querelas sive geris iocos
seu rixam et insanos ameres
seu facilem, pia testa, somnum,

quocumque lectum nomine Massicum
servas, moveri digna bono die,
descende Corvino iubente
promere languidiora vina.

Non ille, quamquam Socraticis madet
sermonibus, te negleget horridus:
narratur et prisci Catonis
saepe mero caluisse virtus.

Tu lene tormentum ingenio admoves
plerumque duro; tu sapientium
curas et arcanum iocoso
consilium retegis Lyaeo;

tu spem reducis mentibus anxiis
viresque et addis cornua pauperi,
post te neque iratos trementi
regum apcies neque militum arma.

Te Liber et si laeta aderit Venus
senesque nodum slovere Gratiae
vivaeque producent lucernae,
dum rediens fugat astra Phoebus.


Oh pious jar, born by consul Manlius with me,
whether you carry complaints with jokes
or a fight and insane loves
or easy sleep,

You preserve select Massic wine under whatever
pretext, worthy to be brought down on an auspicious day,
descend by Corvinus ordering
to bring out a fainter wine.

That one, although he is wet with Socratic
speeches, will not be so austere as to neglect you:
and the virtue of ancient Cato is often said
to have grown warm with wine.

You apply a twist of the arm with an
unusually harsh nature; you reveal the problems
of philosophers and secret
debates to funny Bacchus;

you restore hope to anxious minds
and you increase strength and horns for the poor,
after you trembling at neither the angry crowns
of kings nor the weapons of soldiers.

Liber and Venus, if she arrives happy,
and the Graces slow to break their clasp
and the oil lamps alight will prolong you,
while Phoebus returning will chase away the stars.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Ovid ('Daphne and Apollo' lines 463 - 469, with close reading)

Filius huic Veneris, "Figat tuus omnia, Phoebe,
te meus arcus," ait, "quantoque animalia cedunt
cuncta deo, tanto minor est tua gloria nostra."
Dixit et, eliso percussis aere pennis,
impiger umbrosa Parnasi constitit arce,
eque sagittifera prompsit duo tela pharetra
diversorum operum.


The son of Venus said to him, "Your bow pierces all things, Phoebus,
my bow pierces you, and so much as all animals are inferior
to gods, so your glory is inferior to mine."
So he said, crashing through the air with his beating wings,
he swiftly hunkers down on the shady hilltop of Parnassus,
and from his arrow-bearing quiver he pulls out two weapons
of different purposes.


1. Chiasmus in lines 463 and 464: tuus omnia . . . te meus (all things to you . . . you to me), emphasizes the comparison between Cupid and Apollo
2. Cupid's use of Phoebus in line 463 implies a condescending tone, as though he is only using this name to further taunt and belittle Apollo.
3. The metaphor of Apollo as a mere animal in line 464 emphasizes the point that Cupid is more powerful than Apollo and can do with him as he pleases: . . . quantoque animalia cedunt/ cuncta deo . . .
4. Enjambment between lines 464 and 465: . . . quantoque animalia cedunt/ cuncta deo . . .
5. The use of nostra in line 465 shows that Cupid is setting up Apollo as a sort of lowly 'outsider' among the other gods (lit. " . . . so your glory is inferior to ours.").
6. Synchysis in line 466: . . . eliso percussis aere pennis (. The interlocking word order heightens the imagery and emphasizes the movement going on in this line.
7. The use of pennis is almost a synecdoche. By referring to just a part, or the 'feathers,' Ovid is truly talking about the whole, or the 'wings.'
8. In line 467 Cupid chooses to shoot his arrows from Parnassus, which was a place sacred to the Muses and Apollo. This could be yet another insult to Apollo.
9. Line 468: . . . sagittifera prompsit duo tela pharetra . . . The word order is almost a chiasmus and mirrors the imagery of the arrows inside the quiver.
10. Antithesis between Figat and prompsit (piercing and pulling out).
11. Enjambment between lines 468 and 469: . . . eque safittifera prompsit duo tela pharetra/ diversorum operum.
12. In line 469 diversorum operum foreshadows the difference in affection between Daphne and Apollo. These words also slightly rhyme.
13. The overall tone throughout these lines is mocking and condescending. We get hte sense that Cupid is fed up and has reached his breaking point.