CARMEN XXXVIII. AD PUERUM. Admonet ut cænam sine ambitioso apparatu struat. PERSICOS odi, puer, apparatus : Simplici myrto nihil allabores Sedulus* curo: neque te ministrum Sedulus curæ. Cunn. Sedulus curâ. Bentl. .5 ODE XXXVIII. TO HIS SERVANT. He forewarns him against any extravagant doings at his entertainment. BOY, I detest the pomp of the Persians: chaplets, which are woven with the *Philyra displease me: by no means hunt for the place where the latter rose abides. It is my particular desire that you make no laborious addition to the plain myrtle; for myrtle is neither unbecoming you a servant, nor me, while I quaff under this mantling vine. Philyra: a thin membrane between the bark and the wood of the Tilia, or Linden-tree, which they made use of by way of riband in their chaplets, &c. Q. HORATII FLACCI CARMINUM LIBER II. CARMEN I. AD ASINIUM POLLIONEM. Hortatur ut, intermissis tragediis, det se totum scribendæ bellorum civilium historia. MOTUM ex Metello consule civicum, Bellique causas, et vitia, et modes, Nondum expiatis* uncta cruoribus, Tincta cruoribus 5 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE ODES OF HORACE. ODE I. TO ASINIUS POLLIO. He intreats him to quit tragedy for the present, that he may apply himself wholly to the history of the civil wars. YOU are treating of the civil commotion which began in the consulship of Metellus, and the causes of the war, and the crimes that were committed, and the measures that were taken, and the sport of fortune, and the pernicious* confederacy, of the chiefs, and arms stained with blood not yet expiated, a work full of hazardous consequence: and you are treading upon fires hid under * The triumvirate of Octavius, Lepidus, and Antony. Paulum severæ Musa tragœdiæ Insigne moestis præsidium reis, Dalmatico peperit triumpho. Jam nunc minaci murmure cornuum Terret equos, equitumque vultus. Præter atrocem animum Catonis. Quis non Latino sanguine pingufor Quis gurges, aut quæ flumina lugubris Quæ caret ora cruore noștro? Sed ne relictis, Musa procax, jocis, Mecum Dionæo sub antro Quære modos leviore plectro. Videre magnos, Bentl. Cunn. 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 |