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.

Horace, Epistle 1.2

Troiani belli scriptorem, Maxime Lolli,

dum tu declamas Romae, Praeneste relegi;

qui quid sit pulchrum, quid turpe, quid utile, quid non,

planius ac melius Chrysippo et Crantore dicit.

Cur ita crediderim, nisi quid te detinet, audi.

Fabula, qua Paridis propter narratur amorem

Graecia barbariae lento collisa duello,

stultorum regum et populorum continet aestus.

Antenor censet belli praecidere causam:

quid Paris? Ut salvus regnet vivatque beatus

cogi posse negat. Nestor componere litis

inter Peliden festinat et inter Atriden;

hunc amor, ira quidem communiter urit utrumque.

Quicquid delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi.

Seditione, dolis, scelere, atque libidine et ira,

Iliacos intra muros peccatur et extra.

Rursus, quid virtus et quid sapientia possit,

utile proposuit nobis exemplar Ulixen;

qui, domitor Troiae, multorum providus urbes

et mores hominum inspexit, latumque per aequor,

dum sibi, dum sociis reditum parat, aspera multa

pertulit, adversis rerum immersabilis undis.

Sirenum voces et Circae poscula nosti;

quae si cum sociis stultus cupidusque bibisset,

sub domina meretrice fuisset turpis et excors

vixisset canis immundus vel amica luto sus.

Nos numerus sumus et fruges consumere nati,

sponsi Penelopae nebulones, Alcinoique

in cute curanda plus aequo operata iuventus,

cui pulchrum fuit in medios dormire dies et

ad strepitum citharae cessantem ducere somnum.

Ut iugulent hominem, surgunt de nocte latrones;

ut te ipsum serves, non expergisceris? Atqui

si noles sanus, curres hydropicus; et ni

posces ante diem librum cum lumine, si non

intendes animum studiis et rebus honestis,

invidia vel amore vigil torquebere. Nam cur

quae laedunt oculum festinas demere; si quid

est animum, differs curandi tempus in annum?

Dimidium facti qui coepit habet: sapere aude:

incipe. Qui recte vivendi prorogat horam,

rusticus exspectat dum defluat amnis; at ille

labitur et labetur in omne volubilis aevum.

Quaeritur argentum puerisque beata creandis

uxor et incultae pacantur vomere silvae;

quod satis est cui contingit, nihil amplius optet.

Non domus et fundus, non aeris acervus et auri

aegroto domini deduxit corpore febris,

non animo curas; valeat possessor oportet,

si comportatis rebus bene cogitat uti.

Qui cupit aut metuit, iuvat illum sic domus et res,

ut lippum pictae tabulae, fomenta podagram,

auriculas citharae colelcta sorde dolentes.

Sincerum est nisi vas, quodcumque infundis acescit.

Sperne voluptates; nocet empta dolore voluptas.

Semper avarus eget; certum voto pete finem.

Invidus alterius macrescit rebus opimis;

invidia Siculi non invenere tyranni

maius tormentum. Qui non moderabitur irae,

infectum volet esse dolor quod suaserit et mens,

dum poenas odio per vim festinat inulto.

Ira furor brevis est: animum rege, qui nisi paret,

imperat; hunc frenis, hunc tu compesce catena.

Fingit equum tenera docilem cervice magister

ire viam qua monstret eques; venaticus ex quod

tempore cervinam pellem latravit in aula,

militat in silvis catulus. Nun adbibe puro

pectore verba puer, nun te melioribus offer.

Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem

testa diu. Quodsi cessas aut strenuus anteis,

nec tardum opperior nec praecedentibus insto.

While you have been declaiming in Rome, Lollius Maximus,

I have been rereading the author of the Trojan War in Praeneste;

he who says that which is noble, which is disgraceful, which is useful, which is not,

better and more clearly than Chrysippus and Crantor.

Listen, because I have thus trusted, unless something has drawn you away.

The story, which narrates the Greeks, crushed by long

war with a barbaric people, because of the love of Paris,

maintains the passions of foolish kings and peoples.

Antenor moves to cut back the cause of the war:

what about Paris? So that he may safely rule and happily live,

he refuses to be able to be compelled. Nestor hastens to put together

the quarrels among Agamemnon and among Achilles;

love burns this one, indeed anger burns generally on both sides.

Whatever kings rage (about), the Acheans are punished.

While fighting, with tricks, with crime, and desire and anger,

there is sin among the Trojan walls and beyond.

On the other hand, he is able with anything virtuous and anything wise,

to display a helpful example to us by Odysseus;

the conqueror of Troy, he who prophetically considered the

cities of many and the customs of men, and carried through the sea,

while he obtained a return for himself and for his companions, he carried

them through many rough places, unsinkable by adverse waves of affairs.

You summon the Siren and the cup of Circe to us;

which if he had drank with his companions with foolish eagerness,

he would have become disgraceful as a courtesan under a mistress and,

stupid, unclean, he would have lived as dog or a swine friendly to dirt.

We are a sum and born to consume crops,

the wasteful suitors of Penelope, and the young men of

Alcinoi, working at arranging their appearance more even,

for whom it is noble to sleep in the middle of the day and

to lead their delayed sleep by the sound of the lyre.

Robbers rise by night, in order to murder a man;

will you not awake, so that you may save yourself? But

if, healthy, you do not wish to run, you will run when you have dropsy; and if

you do not ask for the book with light before day, if you

do not stretch your mind with studies and worthy things,

(while) awake, you will be bent by envy or love. For why

do you hasten to remove that which offends your eye; why, if anything

eats your mind, do you delay the time of worrying for a year?

He who begins has half of what is made: dare to be wise:

begin. He who prolongs the hour of living rightly,

is like a farmer who waits while the river flows by; but the river

flows and will flow, winding in all time.

Silver is sought, a rich wife for creating boys is sought

and uncultivated forests are subdued by the plow;

to he who desires nothing greater is given that which is enough.

Not a house nor a farm, not a pile of money and gold

removed the fever from the sick body of the master,

nor the cares from his mind; it is right for the owner to be well,

if he considers to well use the collected things.

He who desires or fears, thus his house and things please him,

just as painted tablets help his watery eye, or a dressing helps his gout,

or lyres help his ears pained by collected filth.

Unless the vase is clean, whatever you pour in will sour.

Scorn pleasures; the pleasure that is bought with pain does harm.

The miser always lacks; reach for a sure end to desire.

An envious man wastes away by the better things of others;

Sicilian tyrants invented no greater torture than

envy. He who does not check his anger,

will wish that the anger and injury which he urged be undone,

while he hastens punishments with unpunished hate through power.

Anger is a brief madness: rule your mind, unless it obeys,

it controls; restrain this with a bridle, this with a chain.

The teacher trains the docile horse with a tender neck

to go by the road which the horseman shows; from which time the hunting

dog in the hall barks at the deer skin,

the puppy serves in the forests. Now, boy, drink in my words

with a pure heart, now present yourself to your betters.

A jar will save the odor which it was once soaked in fresh

for a long time. But if you delay or, active, precede,

I neither wait for the slow nor pursue the one preceding.

Horace, Ode 2.16

Otium divos rogat in patenti

prensus Aegaeo, simul atra nubes

condidit lunam neque certa fulgent

sidera nautis;

otium bello furiosa Thrace,

otium Medi pharetra decori,

Grosphe, non gemmis neque purpura ve-

nale nec auro.

Non enim gazae neque consularis

summovet lictor miseros tumultus

mentis et curas laqueata circum

tecta volantis.

Vivitur parvo bene, cui paternum

splendet in mensa tenui salinum

nec levis somnos timor aut cupido

sordidus aufert.

Quid brevi fortes iaculamur aevo

multa? Quid terras alioi calentis

sole mutamus? Patriae quis exsul

se quoque fugit?

Scandit aeratas vitiosa navis

Cura nec turmas equitum relinquit,

ocior cervis et agente nimbos

ocior Euro.

Laetus in praesens animus quod ultra est

oderit curare et amara lento

temperet risu. Nihil est ab omni

parte beatum.

Abstulit clarum cita mors Achillem,

longa Tithonum minuit senectus;

et mihi forsan tibi quod negarit,

porriget hora.

Te greges centum Siculaeque circum

mugiunt vaccae, tibi tollit hinnitum

apta quadrigis equa, te bis Afro

murice tinctae

vestiunt lanae; mihi parva rura et

spiritum Graiae tenuem Camenae

Parca non mendax dedit et malignum

spernere vulgus.

The sailor caught in the open Aegean sea asks

the gods for leisure, at the same time a black cloud

has hidden the moon and the sure constellations

don't shine for sailors;

Thrace, wild from war, asks for leisure,

the Medes, decorated with a quiver, ask for leisure,

Grosphus, which is not for sale for gems or

purple or gold.

Indeed neither treasure nor an attendant of a

consul clears away the wretched riots

of the mind and the cares flying around

the paneled ceiling.

He lives well on little, on whose thin table

an ancestral salt-cellar shines,

and for whom unclean fear and desire

do not carry away light slumbers.

Why do we, brave for a short time, aim for many

things? Why do we exchange lands burning

for another sun? Which exile of the fatherland

likewise flees himself?

Vicious worry climbs bronze ships

and does not abandon the troops of horsemen,

swifter than the deer and swifter than the clouds

driven by the east wind.

May the mind happy in the present hate to worry

about that which is beyond and may it combine

bitterness with untroubled laughter. Nothing is fortunate

from every part.

Quick death took away bright Achilles,

long old age diminished Tithonus;

and, perhaps, time will extend for me that which

it has denied to you

One hundred herds and Sicilian cows low
around you, the mare suitable for a chariot
raises a neigh for you, the wool stained twice
with African shellfish

clothes you; not-deceitful Fate has given to me
a small farm and the slight breath of the Greek Muse
and has allowed me to scorn the
spiteful crowd.

Horace, Ode 2.20

Non usitata nec tenui ferar

penna biformis per liquidum aethera

vates, neque in terris morabor

longius invidiaque maior

urbes relinquam. Non ego, pauperum

sanguis parentum, non ego, quem vocas,

dilecte Maecenas, obibo

nec Stygia cohibebor unda.

Iam iam residunt cruribus asperae

pelles, et album mutor in alitem

superne, nascunturque leves

per digitos umerosque plumae.

Iam Daedaleo notior Icaro

visam gementis litora Bosphori

Syrtisque Gaetulas canorus

ales Hyperboreosque campos.

Me Colchus et, qui dissimulat metum

Marsae cohortis, Dacus et ultimi

nosent Geloni, me peritus

discet Hiber Rhodanique potor.

Absint inani funere neniae

luctusque turpes et querimoniae;

compesce clamorem ac sequlcri

mitte supervacuos honors.

A two-formed poet, I will be borne through the

clear sky on wings neither slight nor

common, nor will I delay in lands

for a long time and greater than envy

I will abandon the cities. Not I, the family of

poor parents, not I, whom you send for,

dear Maecenas, I will not die

nor will I be restrained by a Stygian wave.

Now already the rough skins shrink

on my legs, and I am changed to a white bird

above, and light feathers spring forth

on my fingers and shoulders.

Now, more famous than Icarus son of Daedalus,

I, a melodious bird, will visit the shores of the

groaning Bosphorus and Syrtis and Gaetulia and

the Hyperborean fields.

The Colchians will know me, who hide their

fear of the Marsian friend, and the Dacians and the

farthest Gelonians will know me, the skilled

Spaniard and the drinker of the Rhone will hear of me.

The funeral dirges and shameful grievings and

complaints are absent from the empty funeral;

restrain the noise and dismiss the unnecessary

honors of the tomb.

Horace, Ode 3.30

Exegi monumentum aere perennnius

regalique situ pyramidum altius,

quod non imber edax, non Aquilo impotens

possit diruere aut innumerabilis

annorum series et fuga temporum.

Non omnis moriar multaque pars mei

vitabit Libitinam; usque ego postera

crescam laude recens. Dum Capitolium

scandet cum tacita virgine pontifex,

dicar, qua violens obstrepit Aufidus

et qua pauper aquae Daunus agrestium

regnavit populorum, ex humili potens,

princeps Aeolium carmen ad Italos

deduxisse modos. Sume superbiam

quaesitam meritis et mihi Delphica

lauro cinge volens, Melpomene, comam.

I have finished a monument more lasting than bronze

and higher than the royal structure of the pyramids,

which neither the destructive rain, nor wild Aquilo

is able to destroy, nor the countless

series of years and flight of ages.

I will not wholly die and a great part of me

will avoid Libitina; I will continuously arise

fresh with later praise. While a priest will climb

the Capitoline with a silent maiden,

I shall be spoken of where the violent Aufidus roars

and where Daunus, poor in water, ruled

a rural people, powerful from humble origin,

the first to have brought Aeolic song to

Italian meters. Accept the proud honor

obtained by your merits and with the Delphic

laural, Melpomene, gladly encircle my hair.

Horace, Ode 1.38

Persicos odi, puer, apparatus;

displicent nexae philyra coronae;

mitte sectari rosa quo locorum

sera moretur.

Simplici myrto nihil allabores

sedulus curo: neque te ministrum

dedecet myrtus neque me sub arta

vite bibentem.

I hate Persian trappings, slave;

the crowns tied with lime-tree displease me;

do not pursue where of all places the

late rose delays.

I desire that you not take the trouble to

add anything to simple myrtle: nor is myrtle

unsuitable for you, attending, or for me, drinking

under a narrow vine.