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The Odes of Horace (IA Cu31924084679640)
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THE ODES OF HORACE
GLADSTONE
THE ODES OF HORACE
TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH
BY W. E. GLADSTONE ^ >
((nil I J
TROW DIREOTORY
PRINTINQ AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY
NEW YORK
PREFACE
VI PREFACE
perform it.
^Julius Caesar, v. 3.
CONTENTS
X
CONTENTS XI
ODE
XVII. To Maecenas ....
XVIII. Philosophy of Life
66
68
XIX. Praise of Bacchus 69
XX. On his Translation to the Skies 71
Xll CONTENTS
ODE
THE ODES OF HORACE
'\
:
THE
ODES OF HORACE
BOOK I
ODE I
TO MAECENAS
ODE II
TO AUGUSTUS
ODE III
SO SomayHelen's
the Queen of Cyprian heights.
brethren, starry lights,
ODE IV
TO THE RICH SEXTIUS
No more by cast
shalt rule the feast,
Of no more wilt gaze on forms
dice,
whose tender beauties move
At once to wonder and to love '.
ODE V
TO PYRRHA'
\ ^ JHAT scented stripling, Pyrrha, woos thee now,
' » In pleasant grotto, all with roses fair ?
For whom those auburn tresses bindest thou
With simple care?
ODE VI
TO AGRIPPA
'
In this stanza, which was extremely difficult to compress, I
abridge Meriones after the manner of Diomed, and use both dis-
syilabically.
;
ODE VII
TO PLANCUS
FAMED Rhodes, Apollo's Delphi, Mitylene,
Or two seas between,
Corinth's walls,
Thessalian Temp^, Thebes through Bacchus known.
And Ephesus, I let alone.
In builded strains some only hymn thy town,
Chaste Pallas and the olive crown
;
ODE VIII
TO LYDIA
BY Wherefore
gods all the I charge thee, Lydia, say
so fast through loving slay
Thy Sybaris? Patient once of dust and sun
The open field now see him shun.
A trooper, with his peers he doth not ride,
His Gallic steed he doth not guide
With dogtooth bit. Why dreads he now to brave,
Unclad, the Tiber's golden wave?
Why worse than viper's gore the oil eschews ?
Why bear his arms no livid bruise
Of curling ? He, once so famed, full often, past
*
'
not to my knowledge any English word which describes
There is
ODE IX
TO THALIARCHUS
ODE X
TO MERCURY
ODE XI
TO LEUCONOE
ODE XII
TO AUGUSTUS
'
The Parent's. Here only Jupiter is described in Horace by this
ODE XIII
TO LYDIA
s
8
ODE XIV
TO THE SHIP OF STATE
o SHIP
Seaward.
! nevir billow^s svi^eep
be stout.
What wilt thou
thee out
? hold the port,
ODE XV
THE FALL OF TROY
'
Thou lead'st ill bodes beyond
her to thy home,
Whom Greece with mighty host will claim again.
'
What sweat for men and horses in the war
Alack, what slaughter for the Dardan line!
Pallas e'en now prepares her helm and car,
Her aegis grasps, and stirs her wrath divine.
!
'
What, art thou bold, with Venus hovering near ?
Comb out thy locks, and in unwarlike strain
Scan thou the lays, that ladies love to hear.
Within thy chamber walls go hide in vain
'
From point of Gnossian dart, from spearman's thrust,
From din of war, from Ajax swift as light.
Foul, thine adulterous hair shall lie in dust.
But all too late. See, born thy race to smite,
'
Ulysseslook on Nestor, Pylian king
;
;
'
Meriones to boot ; him shalt thou know,
And more than him with passion all on
; fire,
'
And
thou As in the glen some deer that spies
!
'
Achilles and his angered warriors may
Hold back for Ilion its predestined hour;
But the fixed tale of seasons brings the day
Achaian flames shall Trojan halls devour.'
; ; ; ; ; 1
ODE XVI
A PALINODE
ODE XVII
TO TYNDARIS
The gods me
they approve
are with ;
ODE XVIII
TO QUINTILIUS VARUS
ODE XIX
ON GLYCERA
THE
The son
tyrant mother of the Cupids twain,
of Theban Semelfe,
And random senses, all agree
To snare my soul in quitted loves again;
I burn for Glycera, gleaming white,
Than Parian marble purer bright:
Her froward charm inflames me too,
And face, ah ! perilous to view.
ODE XX
TO MAECENAS
ODE XXI
THE DELIAN GODS
well,
And both Latona, who from Jove
Hath all the strength of all his love.
ODE XXII
IN PRAISE OF LALAGE
ODE XXIII
TO CHLOE
No Gaetulian lion I,
ODE XXIV
TO VIRGIL
WHAT
For
bounds can Shame, can Moderation, set,
one so dear, to yearning and regret ?
Lead thou the dirge, for Jove, Melpomenfe,
Gave lyre and song to thee.
ODE XXV
TO LYDIA
ODE XXVI
TO THE MUSES
THEToMuses' friend,
wanton winds and
I cast aside
Cretic tide
My tears and woes ; 't is nought to me
Who lords it o'er the icy sea
ODE XXVII
A BANQUET
THELet Thracians
born
goblets, for ends of joy.
for their frays employ:
We spurn the savage use ; and more.
Our Bacchus ne'er shall reek with gore.
ODE XXVIII
ARCHYTAS
ODE XXIX
TO ICCIUS
Ode XXX
TO VENUS
r
ODE XXXI
PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE
ODE XXXII
HIS LYRE
ODE XXXIII
TO ALBIUS TIBULLUS
ODE XXXIV
HIS RELIGION
ODE XXXV
TO FORTUNA
ODE XXXVI
FOR NUMIDA'S RETURN
ODE XXXVII
THE DEATH OF CLEOPATRA
ODE XXXVIII
TO HIS SERVANT
OFFHate
with Persian hate
gear, I
bound.
Care not where the latest roses
Linger on the ground :
BOOK 11
ODE I
TO ASINIUS POLLIO
THE War,
That from
its causes, faults,
Metellus Consul dates
and states,
ODE II
TO SALUSTIUS
NO My charm of silver
Sallust, in the
comes to birth,
niggard earth
Thou lov'st not what the mines produce,
Until it shine with ordered use.
ODE III
TO DELLIUS
ODE IV
TO XANTHIAS
ODE V
ON lalage:
T T ER
neck beneath the yoke to set,
-^ -•- Or draw
joint burdens in a pair,
Thine heifer is not ripe, nor yet
The massive bull's embrace to bear.
ODE VI
TO SEPTIMIUS
ODE VII
TO HIS COMRADE POMPEIUS
OOFT
To
with me, where Brutus
straits what reduced, say in
fought,
wise
Came it, that thou art safely brought
Back to thy country's gods and skies?
Pompey, my
ol^omrades thou
chief !
ODE VIII
TO barinJ:
ODE IX
TO VALGIUS, AGAINST EXCESSIVE MOURNING
NOTUpon
always do
clammy
the
the rains descend
fields, my friend
Valgius: nor with perpetual strain
Do storms disturb the Caspian main.
ODE X
TO LICINIUS
'
iKfievos ovpos. II. i. 479-
: ; ;
ODE XI
TO QUINTIUS HIRPINUS
WHAT
Or
warlike Spaniards, Quintius,
Scythians, to inquire forbear,
mean
ODE XII
TO MAECENAS
ODE XIII
ODE XIV
TO POSTUMUS
ODE XV
AGAINST THE ABSORPTION OF CULTIVATED
AND OPEN LANDS BY VILLAS
ODE XVI
TO GROSPHUS
WHEN
When
clouds the moon with
stars refuse the sailors aid,
blackness shade,
ODE XVII
TO MAECENAS
WHY 'T
tease
is
me with complaints.
not the gods' nor my design
Yes, wfiy
ODE XVIII
PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE
ODE XIX
PRAISE OF BACCHUS
'
More apt for dance
and sport and jest,
No Such was rumour's course.
fighter.'
But now thy godhead stands confessed
In war as peace a central force.
;
ODE XX
ON HIS TRANSLATION TO THE SKIES
'
This Ode has some special interest as illustrating the inter-
mixture of traditions.Part of what is here assigned to Bacchus
belongs, and is elsewhere acknowledged by Horace as belonging,
to the legends of Apollo. So in Odes I. x. 6, xxi. 12 the invention
of the lyre is given to Mercury.
:
BOOK III
ODE I
ON MODERATION
ODE II
LETRobustly
hardy youth warfare dare
in
pinching want to bear
The savage Parthian then shall fear
ODE III
ON JUSTICE
THENo madding
man, just purpose
crowd can bend
in his strong,
to wrong.
The forceful tyrant's brow and word,
Rude Auster, fickle Adria's lord.
'
To me and Pallas doomed a prey,
Her king and people, from the day
When false Laomedon detained
The wage that gods by pact had gained.
'
The adulterous wife, the guest's disgrace
Are noised no more no perjured race
:
'
But only while a breadth of sea
Parts Rome from Troy. Lords let them be.
Save there, in every region blest
Where Priam and where Paris rest,
'
With dread renown pushed far and wide,
Yea widest, where the severing tide
Parts Europe from the southern shores
And flooding Nile the field restores
'
Still spurning gold, for gold is best
'
Their arms shall touch Earth's farthest bound ;
•
'
For warlike Rome 't is thus foretold.
But so, that, neither overbold
Nor overfond, she be not fain
To rear ancestral Troy again.
'
NoTroy, reborn with omens ill,
:
ODE IV
THE RULE OF THE MUSES
ODE V
ON SOLDIERLY SPIRIT
'
Have seen the arms of Romans bound
On backs once free : seen gates unbarred
For passage, and a harvest found
On fields our bands had once with ruin scarred.
'
Will the repurchased soldier dare
As once he dared? Add not the lie
'
Ah no. True merit once resigned,
No trick nor feint will serve as well.
If, from strong meshes loosed, the hind
'
Who cower before the foe abhorred.
Will he new Punic onsets try.
Who on bound wrists hath felt the cord
Without a pang, and hath not dared to die?
'
Bewildered, yet for life athirst,
ODE VI
RESTORATION OF RELIGION
ODE VII
TO ASTERIE
ODE VIII
TO MAECENAS
ODE IX
HORACE AND LYDIA
Horace.
w
Thy
HILE no more welcome arms could twine
Around thy snowy neck, than mine
smile, thy heart, while I possessed,
Not Persia's monarch lived as blessed.
Lydia. •
Horace.
Me now Threician Chloe sways.
Skilled in soft lyre and softer lays;
My forfeit life I '11 freely give.
So she, my better life, may live.
.
Lydia.
The son of Ornytus inspires
My burning breast with mutual fires:
I '11 face two several deaths with joy,
So Fate but spare my Thurian boy. ,
Horace.
What, if our ancient love awoke.
And bound us with its golden yokef'"' ''3 "<
Lydia.
Though fairer than the stars is he,
Thou rougher than the Adrian sea.
And fickle as light cork, yet I
With thee would live, with thee would die.
ODE X
TO LYCE IN BLOOM
To play Penelopfe.
ODE XI
TO MERCURY, ON HYPERMNESTRA
'
Let cruel fetters be my fate
For mercy to my hapless mate;
Let far Numidian home be mine
Beyond the brine:
'
While night and Venus aid, and wind,
O speed thee be the omens kind
:
ODE XII
TO NEOBULE
ODE XIII
TO THE FOUNTAIN OF BANDUSIA
FOUNTAIN
O
A
meet for flowers and wine,
Bandusia, more than mirror bright,
kid to-morrow shall be thine
Whose forehead augurs love's delight,
ODE XIV
TO ROME
My provoked amiss
taste for frays
Grey purged
hairs have my youth's hot morn,
:
ODE XV
TO CHLORIS, A CRONE
ODE XVI
THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE
THEAndbrazen
wakeful
tower, strong gates well barred,
dogs, had sure availed.
Imprisoned Danae to guard.
And prowling ravishers had failed.
'
The rows of equestrian seats in the theatre.
) ; ;
ODE XVII
TO AELIUS LAMIA
OJ)E XVIII
TO FAUNUS
ODE XIX
TO TELEPHUS
THETo Codrus,
from Inachus you count
years
keen Greece for to die,
And then to Aeacus remount,
And sacred Ilion's captive cry.
ODE XX
TO PYRRHUS
ODE XXI
TO HIS CASK
ODE XXII
TO DIANA
ODE XXIII
TO PHIDYLE
ODE XXIV
REFORMATION
ODE XXV
TO BACCHUS
ODE XXVI
ON CHLOE
ODE XXVII
THE RAPE OF EUROPA
WITH
Lanuvian
littered fox,
wolf,
and lapwing's call,
and pregnant bitch
For omens, let the impious fall
Into the ditch.
A terror be.
8
—
114 THE ODES OF HORACE [Book III
'
Some vision from the ivory door,
Begetting dream. Oh it were well
To pluck fresh flowers, nor travel o'er
That weary swell?
'
Unshamed our household gods I fled,
Unshamed live on. Ye powers above
That hear me, would my steps were led
Where lions rove!
'
" If beetling crag for death thou ask.
Leap with the wingfed storm, to die;
'
" As harlot, for some barbarous queen."
Stood Venus by, and slily smiled,
And there, with bow unbent, was seen
To stand, her child.
'
A
consort of high Jove thou art.
Sigh not; great fortune greatly wear;
Of the wide world a mighty part
Thy name shall bear.'
ODE XXVIII
TO LYDE
TOWhat Neptune's
honour
festal
shall
day
we pay?
Up, Lyd6 that fine juice.
;
Of Neptune be my song,
And all the Nereid throng
With tresses green'; then fire
ODE XXIX
TO MAECENAS
O
Rose
CHILD Tuscan royalty,
of
A cask ne'er stirred of mellow wine.
flowers, and oil for hair, with me
Have long been stored, but marked as thine.
' virides.
8 ; :
?_______
Of purpose, God all future doom
Wraps in a darkness thick as night,
And smiles in scorn, if man presume
Beyond the boundary lines of right.
I
Shifts, as a shifting stream will now
Tow'rd Tuscan waters gently glide,
Then hurl from off some craggy brow
ODE XXX
AN EPILOGUE
BOOK IV
ODE I
TO VENUS
ODE II
TO JULUS ANTONIUS
My songs prepare.
'
lo triumphe '
all the town
Not once, nor twice, will cry, and crown
Thy march, and bounteous gods invoke
While altars smoke.
:;
ODE III
TO MELPOMENE
ODE IV
THE VICTORY OF DRUSUS
'
Then, as on Algidus the oak
Pruned by the biting axe anew,
From wounds, from deaths, from every stroke
Resource and freshening vigour drew.
'
No fiercer portent Thebes despoiled
Or Colchis : not the Hydra, when
Alcides, rankling to be foiled.
Saw the lopped limbs grow quick again.
'
Drown it in floods, more fair 't will rise
Do battle, it will overthrow
With echoing fame thy victories.
And plunge expectant dames in woe.
*
No more from me of vaunting tales
'Tis past; all hope hath perished, all;
ODE V
TO AUGUSTUS
As Hercules may,
in Greece, or Castor,
So thou hast our libations and our prayers;
Before our Lares we, our debt to pay,
Thy godhead blend with theirs.
ODE VI
APOLLO, AND HIS OWN OFFICE AS POET
ODE VII
TO TORQUATUS; THE CONTRAST OF
NATURE AND LIFE
Hippolytus remains ;
ODE VIII
TO CENSORINUS
ODE IX
TO LOLLIUS
ODE X
TO LIGURINUS
O STRONG
When
When
in gifts of love, yet cruel
winter, all unsought, thy pride shall
more about thy shoulders play,
locks no
still,
kill,
ODE XI
TO PHYLLIS
ODE XIV
VICTORY OF TIBERIUS
ODE XV
TO AUGUSTUS