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.

Horace, Ode 4.1

Intermissa, Venus, diu

rursus bella moves? Parce, precor, precor.

Non sum qualis eram bonae

sub regno Cinarae. Desine, dulcium

mater saeva Cupidinum,

circa lustra decem flectere mollibus

iam durum imperiis: abi,

quo blandae iuvenum te revocant preces.

Tempestivius in domum

Pauli, purpureis ales oloribus,

comissabere Maximi,

si torrere iecur quaeris idoneum.

Namque et nobilis et decens

et pro sollicitis non tacitus reis

et centum puer artium

late signa feret militiae tuae;

et quandoque potentior

largi muneribus riserit aemuli,

Albanos prope te lacus

ponet marmoream sub trabe citrea.

Illic plurima naribus

duces tura, lyraeque et Berecyntiae

delectabere tibiae

mixtis carminibus non sine fistula;

illic bis pueri die

numen cum teneris virginibus tuum

laudantes pede candido

in morem Salium ter quatient humum.

Me nec femina nec puer

iam nec spes animi credula mutui

nec certare iuvat mero

nec vincire novis tempora floribus.

Sed cur heu, Ligurine, cur

manat rara meas lacrima per genas?

Cur facunda parum decoro

inter verba cadit lingua silentio?

Nocturnis ego somniis

iam captum teneo, iam volucrem sequor

te per gramina Martii

campi, te per aquas, dure, volubilis.

Venus, are you again moving

the wars stopped for a long time? Spare me, I pray, I pray.

I am not the kind which I was

under the rule of good Cinara. Cease, savage

mother of sweet Cupids,

to now soften the hard one about fifty

to your gentle commands: go forth

to where the gentle prayers of youths call you back.

You will more timely carouse,

winged by purple swans, to the

house of Paulus Maximus,

if you seek a suitable liver to burn.

For a boy noble and pleasant

and not silent on behalf of worried defendants

and of one hundred skills

will bear your military standard far;

and at whatever time he, more powerful,

laughs at the gifts of a lavish rival,

he will put a marble you (or statue of you)

under a citrus-wood roof near the Alban lake.

There, you will lead to your nostrils

the greatest frankincenses, and you will delight in the

songs mixed with the Phrygian pipe

and the flute not without the pan-pipe;

There the boys with the

tender virgins praising your divinity twice a day

will shake the earth

three times in the Salian custom.

Now, neither a woman nor a boy

nor the trusting hope of a mutual spirit

nor to struggle with wine

nor to bind the times with fresh flowers is pleasing to me.

But alas, why, Ligurinus, why

does a rare tear flow down my cheeks?

Why does my elegant speech

fall to an unbecoming silence among words ?

Now I hold you, unfeeling,

caught in my dreams at night, now I follow you

flying through the grassy

Martius field, through rolling seas.