Mean bard, I try not lofty themes, while diffidence forbids, As does withal the Muse who o'er the peaceful lyre presides, That from illustrious Caesar's, or from thy praises, I Should through defect of genius rub off the brilliancy. Who is there can, in fitting terms, the adamantine dress Wherewithal Mars is clothed, describe? or who Meriones, Blackened with Trojan dust? or who Tydidean Diomed, An equal match for gods supreme by help of Pallas made? Convivial carouses, I, and those engagements sing Where angry girls-though with pared nails-with boys are combating; These do I sing, alike when set from amorous fervours free, And when rekindling with my own habitual levity. There were two Munatii Planci, father and son, but as it is quite uncertain to which of them this ode was addressed, there would be little use in giving here biographical particulars of either. OTHERS shall celebrated Rhodes or Mitylene praise, which Apollo; And in Thessalian Tempe's praise may likewise others follow. Conamur, tenues grandia: dum pudor, Laudes egregii Caesaris, et tuas Quis Martem tunica tectum adamantina Nos convivia, nos proelia virginum VII. AD MUNATIUM PLANCUM. LAUDABUNT alii claram Rhodon, aut Mytilenen, Aut Epheson bimarisve Corinthi Moenia, vel Baccho Thebas vel Apolline Delphos Insignes, aut Thessala Tempe. There are whose one employment 'tis to celebrate the city As oftentimes the clear south wind sweeps from the darkened sky The misty clouds, and storms of rain breeds not perpetually, E'en so to wisely put an end in bowls of mellow wine To doleful thoughts and cares of life, be not thou, Plancus mine, Ever forgetful, whether thou within the camp abide, Where standards glisten, or amidst the thickset shades reside Of thine own Tibur. Teucer, when from Salamis he fled, And from his father Telamon, still not the less, 'tis said, With coronet of poplar leaves his wine-bathed temples bound, And thus addressed the saddened friends that still with him he found: 'O comrades and associates, go will we wheresoe'er Fortune, than parent kindlier, our devious course may steer, Sunt quibus unum opus est, intactae Palladis urbem Carmine perpetuo celebrare, et Undique decerptam fronti praeponere olivam. Plurimus, in Junonis honorem, Aptum dicet equis Argos, ditesque Mycenas. Nec tam Larissae percussit campus opimae, Et praeceps Anio, et Tiburni lucus, et uda Albus ut obscuro deterget nubila caelo Tristitiam vitaeque labores Molli, Plance, mero: seu te fulgentia signis Castra tenent, seu densa tenebit Tiburis umbra tui. Teucer Salamina patremque Cùm fugeret, tamen uda Lyaeo Tempora populea fertur vinxisse corona; Sic tristes affatus amicos: Quo nos cunque feret melior fortuna parente, With Teucer augur, Teucer guide, despair ye not of aught, For thus with steadfast promise 'twas unerring Phoebus taught: A new-found island shall become a rival Salamis. O gallant heroes, who with me have harder things than this Ofttimes endured, with generous wine dispel your sorrows now: To-morrow yet again will we far-stretching ocean plough.' Commentators have vainly endeavoured to guess what particular youth is here represented under the name of Sybaris. No doubt there were plenty at Rome in Horace's time whom the cap offered by him would have very well fitted. SAY, Lydia, pr'ythee, why 'tis Your love to ruin hurries Sybaris! Patient of dust and sun, Wherefore does he the sultry drill-ground shun? Wherefore, in martial guise, Rides he not with his peers, nor jagged bit tries On Gallic mouths? Why fears To bathe in yellow Tiber? Why appears More heedful to elude The athlete's unguent than the viper's blood? Why does he never now Arms, black and blue by wearing armour, show?— |