Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

CARMEN XXXIV.

Fictâ Palinodiâ Deorum providentiam prorsus

evertit.

PARCUS Deorum cultor et infrequens,

Insanientis dum sapientiæ

Consultus erro; nunc retrorsum

Vela dare, atque iterare cursus Cogor relictos. Namque Diespiter, Igni corusco nubila dividens

Plerumque, per purum tonantes

Egit equos volucremque currum;
Quo bruta tellus, et vaga flumina,
Quo Styx, et invisi horrida Tænari
Sedes, Atlanteusque finis

Concutitur. Valet ima summis
Mutare, et insignem attenuat Deus,
Obscura promens: hinc apicem rapax
Fortuna cum stridore acuto

Sustulit; hîc posuisse gaudet.

5

10

15

Cogor relectos. Heins.

Insignia attenuat.

ODE XXXIV.

In a pretended recantation, he absolutely overthrows the arguments in favour of the providence of the Gods.

I WAS an unfrequent and remiss worshipper of the gods, while I professed the errors of a senseless philosophy; but now I am obliged to set sail back again, and to renew the course that I had deserted: For Jupiter, who usually cleaves the clouds* with his gleaming lightning, lately drove his thundering horses and rapid chariot through the clear serene: at which the sluggish earth, and wandering rivers, at which Styx, and the horrid seat of detested Tænarus, and the utmost boundary of Atlas, was shaken. The Deity is able to make an exchange between the highest and lowest, and diminishes the exalted, by bringing to light the obscure: rapacious fortune, with a shrill whizzing, hath borne off the plume from one head, and delights in having placed, not fixed, it on another.

It was the opinion of the Epicureans, that thunder was caused by the collision of one cloud against another. But Horace, hearing thunder in a cloudless sky, gives up their doctrine.

G 2

CARMEN XXXV.

AD FORTUNAM.

Pro republicâ, Augusto, et Romanis exercitibus deprecatur.

O DIVA, gratum quæ regis Antium,
Præsens vel imo tollere de gradu
Mortale corpus, vel superbos

Vertere funeribus triumphos :
Te pauper ambit sollicitâ prece
Ruris colonus: te dominam æquoris,
Quicunque Bithynâ lacessit
Carpathium pelagus carinâ.

Te Dacus asper, te profugi Scythæ,
Urbesque, gentesque, et Latium ferox,
Regumque matres barbarorum, et
Purpurei metuunt tyranni :

Injurioso ne pede proruas

Stantem columnam; neu populus frequens

Ad arma cessantes, ad arma

Concitet, imperiumque frangat.

Te semper anteit* sæva Necessitas,
Clavos trabales et cuneos manu
Gestans ahena: nec severus

Uncus abest, liquidumque plumbum.

Te Spés, et albo rara Fides colit
Velata panno; nec comitem abnegat,
Utcunque mutatâ potentes

Veste domos inimicat linquis.

At vulgus infidum, et meretrix retro

* Serva Necessitas.

Inimica vertis. Bentl.

5

[ocr errors]

10

15

20

30

25

ODE XXXV.

TO FORTUNE.

He prays to her for the commonwealth, Augustus, \ and the Roman armies.

O GODDESS, who presidest over beautiful Antium; thou that art ready to exalt mortal man from the most abject state, or to convert superb triumphs into funerals! Thee, the poor countryman solicits with his anxious vows; and whosoever ploughs the Carpathian sea with the Bithynian vessel, importunes thee as mistress of the sea. Thee, the rough Dacian; thee, the wandering Scythians, and cities and nations, the warlike Latium also, and the mothers of barbarian kings, and tyrants clad in purple, are in dread of. Spurn not, with destructive foot, that column which now `stands firm, nor let popular tumults rouse those who now rest quiet to arms,-to arms-and break the empire. Inexorable necessity always marches before you, holding in her brazen hand huge* spikes and wedges: nor is the tormenting hook absent, or the melted lead. Thee hope reverences, and fidelity rare, robed in a white garment; nor does she desert thee, howsoever in wrath thou change thy robe, and abandon the houses of the powerful. But the faithless crowd of companions,

These were several instruments of punishment and death, which were sculptured in the temple of Fortune at Antium.

Perjura cedit; diffugiunt cadis
Cum fæce siccatis amici,

Ferre jugum pariter dolosi.

Serves iturum Cæsarem in ultimos
Orbis Britannos, et juvenum recens
Examen, Eois timendum

Partibus, Oceanoque rubro.

Eheu! cicatricum et sceleris pudet,
Fratrumque: quid nos dura refugimus
Etas? quid intactum nefasti

Liquimus? unde manus juventus
Metu Deorum continuit? quibus
Pepercit aris? ô utinam novâ
Incude defingas* retusum in
Massagetas Arabasque ferrum.

30

35

40

CARMEN XXXVI.

AD POMPONIUM NUMIDAM.

Pomponio Numide faustum ex Hispania reditum gratulatur.

ET thure et fidibus juvat

Placare, et vituli sanguine debito Custodes Numidæ Deos:

Qui nunc Hesperiâ sospes ab ultimâ,

Caris multa sodalibus,

Nulli plura tamen dividit oscula,

Quam dulci Lamiæ, memor

Acte non alio rege pueritiæ,

Diffingas reçusum.

5

« PredošláPokračovať »