Inultus ut tu riseris Cotyttia Impunè ut urbem nomine implêris meo? *Sed tardiora fata. eques: † Pelopis infidi pater. Vocibus possum meis, possum. 60 65 ΤΟ 75 80 rocks more deaf to the cries of the naked mariners. What, shall you, without being made an example of, deride the * Cotyttian mysteries, sacred to unrestrained love, which were divulged by you? and shall you, assuming the office of Pontiff, with regard to my Esquilian incantations, fill the city with my name, unpunished? What will it avail me to have enriched the Pelignian sorceresses with my charms, and to have prepared poison of more expedition than others, if a slower fate awaits you than is agreeable to my wishes? an irksome life shall be protracted by you, wretch as you are, only for this purpose, that you may perpetually be able to endure new tortures. Tantalus, the sire of the perfidious Pelops, always in want of that plenteous banquet which is always before him, wishes for respite? Prometheus, chained to the vulture, wishes for rest: Sisyphus wishes to place the stone upon the summit of the mountain: but the laws of Jupiter forbid. Thus you, in hopes of relief, shall desire at one time to leap down from an high tower; at another, to lay open your breast with the Noric sword; and, grieving with your tedious indisposition, shall tie nooses about your neck in vain. For I at that time will ride on your odious shoulders; and the whole earth shall acknowledge my unexampled power. What! shall I, who can give motion to waxen images, (as you yourself, inquisitive as you are, were convinced of,) and snatch the moon from heaven by my incantations, I, who can raise the dead after they are burned, and duly prepare the potion of love, shall I bewail the successless event of my art having no efficacy upon you? * Cotytto, or Cotys, was the goddess of impurity. In conformity to the opinion of M. Sanadon, and many other ingenious editors of our author, it is here thought proper to collect together, into one view, the several parts the Secular Ode may be supposed to have originally consisted of. Whether or not the generality of competent judges of antiquity and Horatian elegance, be convinced that this is the form in which its author wrote, and Rome admired it; most, I believe, will allow, that in this condition every part is consistent, each division adds dignity to the whole, and that there arises a poem, which is at once the finest monument of heathen worship, and perhaps the noblest specimen of Lyric poetry, that is any where remaining. Translations of the several parts will be found by the references in the margin. Ode 1. QUINTI HORATII FLACCI CARMEN SECULARE.* POETA AD POPULUM. Lib. 3. ODI profanum vulgus, et arceo, Virginibus puerisque canto. * The Secular Poem. The Poet to the People. AD PUEROS AC PUELLAS.* Lib. 4. SPIRITUM Phoebus mihi, Phœbus artem Ode 6. V. 29. Carminis, nomenque dedit poetæ, Deliæ tutela Deæ, fugaces Ritè Latonæ puerum canentes, Nupta jam dices; ego Dis amicum, 6 10 15 Vatis Horatî. 20 CONCENTUS PRIMUS.† HYMNUS AD APOLLINEM. UTERQUE CHORUS. Lib. 4. DIVE quem proles Niobea magnæ Phthius Achilles, To the Chorus of Youths and Virgins. First Concert. Hymn to Apollo. Chorus of Youths and Virgins. Cæteris major, tibi miles impar; Ille, mordaci velut icta ferro Ille non inclusus equo Minervæ Sed palam captis* gravis, heu! nefas, heu! Nescios fari pueros Achivis Ureret flammis, etiam latentes Matris in alvo: Ni, tuis victust Venerisque gratæ Doctor Argutæ‡ fidicen Thaliæ Levis Agyieu. Tuis flexus vocibus. 30 35 40 45 |