Summovet. Non, si male nunc, et olim

Sic erit. Quondam cithara tacentem

Suscitat Musam, neque semper arcum
Tendit Apollo.

Rebus angustis animosus atque

Fortis appare; sapienter idem

Contrahes vento nimium secundo

Turgida vela.

Od. ii. 14.

EHEU! fugaces, Postume, Postume,

Labuntur anni; nec pietas moram

Rugis et instanti senectæ

Afferet, indomitæque morti.

20

If hard thy lot, 'twill sometime mend :
Not Phoebus self unchang'd remains,

But ceases now his bow to bend,

Now wakes the slumb'ring Muses' strains.

20

Boldly to adverse fate oppose

A manly courage; when the gale

With too propitious favour blows,

Contract in time thy pendent sail.

Od. ii. 14.

ALAS, my Posthumus, alas!
The fleeting years too quickly pass,

And none may stay their course;

Nor purest life may respite seek

From wrinkled age, and furrow'd cheek,

And death's resistless force.

5

Non, si trecenis, quotquot eunt dies,

Amice, places illacrimabilem

Plutona tauris ; qui ter amplum
Geryonen Tityonque tristi

5

Compescit unda, scilicet omnibus,

Quicunque terræ munere vescimur,

10

Enaviganda, sive reges

Sive inopes erimus coloni.

Frustra cruento Marte carebimus,
Fractisque rauci fluctibus Adriæ;
Frustra per auctumnos nocentem
Corporibus metuemus Austrum:

15

Three hundred bullocks, daily slain,

Would seek to mitigate in vain

Th' inexorable King;

Whose drear dominion Tityus holds,

And Geryon's giant bulk enfolds
Within the watʼry ring

10

In vain of Adria's billows shun

The hoarse and broken flood;

In vain we dread the subtle death

Wherewith the south wind's pois'nous breath

In Autumn taints the blood.

20

Visendus ater flumine languido

Cocytos errans, et Danai genus

Infame, damnatusque longi

Sisyphus Æolides laboris.

Linquenda tellus, et domus, et placens
Uxor; neque harum, quas colis, arborum

Te, præter invisas cupressos,

Ulla brevem dominum sequetur.

Absumet hæres Cæcuba dignior

Servata centum clavibus; et mero

Tinguet pavimentum superbo

Pontificum potiore cœnis.