HORACE

Od. i. 4.

SOLVITUR acris hiems grata vice veris et Favonî,

5

Trahuntque siccas machinæ carinas;
Ac neque jam stabulis gaudet pecus, aut arator igni;

Nec prata canis albicant pruinis.
Jam Cytherea choros ducit Venus imminente Luna;

Junctæque Nymphis Gratiæ decentes
Alterno terram quatiunt pede; dum graves Cyclopum

Vulcanus ardens urit officinas.
Nunc decet aut viridi nitidum caput impedire myrto,

Aut flore, terræ quem ferunt solutæ.
Nunc et in umbrosis Fauno decet immolare lucis,

Seu poscat agna, sive malit hædo.
Pallida mors æquo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas,

Regumque turres. O beate Sexti,

10

HORACE

Od. i. 4.

5

STERN
TERN Winter melts as genial airs the balmy Spring restore,

And keels, long dry, are carried to the shore;
The ploughman now the fireside leaves, nor berds in stalls remain,

Nor hoar-frost glitters o'er the whiten'd plain;
And Venus now by moonlight leads ber revelry and mirth,

And Nymphs, with Graces mingling, make the earth
Ring with the music of their feet; while with his Cyclops train,

At sweltring forge, stout Vulcan toils amain. Our glossy hair should now with wreaths of myrtle green be found,

Or flow’rs new-burst from out the loosen'd ground.
And now the wonted sacrifice, beneath the forest's shade,

Of lamb or kid, to Faunus should be paid.
Pale Death upon the peasant's door and prince's lordly gate

Impartial knocks. 0 Sextius, rich and great !

10 15

.

Vitæ summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam.

Jam te premet nox, fabulæque manes,
Et domus exilis Plutonia; quo simul meâris,

Nec regna vini sortiere talis;
Nec tenerum Lycidam mirabere, quo calet juventus

Nunc omnis, et mox virgines tepebunt.

20

Od. i. 8.

LYDIA dic, per omnes
Te deos oro, Sybarin cur properes amando

Perdere ? cur apricum
Oderit campum, patiens pulveris atque solis ?

Cur neque militaris
Inter æquales equitat, Gallica nec lupatis

Temperat ora frænis ?
Cur timet flavum Tiberim tangere? cur olivum

5 16

Our life's short span should moderate our lengthen'd hope's excess;

Night and unreal ghosts shall round thee press Ere long, and vainly wouldst thou hope, in Pluto's drear domain,

By lot the banquet's sceptre to obtain ; Or

*

*

Od. 1. 8.

5

LYDIA, by all the Gods above,
Why Sybaris destroy with fatal love?

Why now the Campus does he shun,
Unshrinking once from dust and scorching sun ?

Why now no more, in martial pride,
Among his youthful comrades does he ride,

Curbing his fiery Gallic horse ?
Why fear with active limb to stem the force

Of yellow. Tiber's swollen flood ?
Why, with abhorrence as of viper's blood,

10

10

Sanguine viperino
Cautius vitat? neque jam livida gestat armis

Brachia, sæpe disco,
Sæpe trans finem jaculo nobilis expedito ?

Quid latet, ut marina
Filium dicunt Thetidis sub lacrimosa Troja

Funera, ne virilis
Cultus in cædem et Lycias proriperet catervas ?

15

Od. i. 9.

VIDEs, ut alta stet nive candidum

Soracte, nec jam sustineant onus
Silvæ laborantes, geluque

Flumina constiterint acuto.

5

Dissolve frigus, ligna super

foco Large reponens: atque benignius Deprome quadrimum Sabina,

O Thaliarche, merum diota.