CARMEN XXXVIII.

AD PUERUM.

Admonet ut cænam fine ambitioso apparatu ftruat.

PERSIO

ERSICOS odi, puer, apparatus :
Difplicent nexæ philyra coronæ :

Mitte fectari, rofa quo locorum

Sera moretur.

Simplici myrto nihil allabores

Sedulus (a) curo: neque te ministrum'
Dedecet myrtus, neque me fub arcta
Vite bibentem.

(a) Sedulus curæ. Sedulus cura. Bentl.

5

Q. HORA

ODE

XXXVII.

To his SER VAN T.

He forwarns him against any extravagant doings at his entertainment."

OY, I deteft the pomp of the Perfians: chap

*

displease me: by no means hunt for the place where the latter rofe abides. It is my particular defire that you make no laborious addition to the plain myrtle; for myrtle is neither unbecoming you a fervant, 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 ufe of by way of ribband in their chaplets, &c.

THE

Q. HORATII FLACCI

CARMINUM

LIBER II.

CARMEN I.

AD ASINIUM POLLIONEM.

Hortatur ut, intermiffis tragœdiis, det fe totum fcribenda bellorum civilium hiftoriæ.

M

OTUM ex Metello confule civicum,
Bellique caufas, et vitia, et modos,
Ludumque Fortunæ, gravefque

Principum amicitias, et arma

Nondum expiatis (a) uncta cruoribus,
Periculofæ plenum opus alex

Tractas, et incedis per ignes
Suppofitos cineri dolofo.

(a) Tincta cruoribus.

5

Paulum

THE

SECOND BOOK

O' F THE

ODES

O F

HORA С E.

O DE I.

To ASINIUS POLLIO.

He entreats him to quit tragedy for the present, that he may apply himself wholly to the history of the civil wars.

OU are treating of the civil commotion, which began in the confulfhip of Metellus, and The caufes of the war, and the crimes that

werecommitted, and the measuresthat were taken, and the sport of fortune, and the pernicious * confederacy of the chiefs, and arms ftained with blood not yet expiated—a work full of hazardous consequence: and you are treading upon fires hid under deceitful

*The triumvirate of O&avius, Lepidus. and Antony,

Paulum feveræ Mufa tragoedia
De it theatris: mox, ubi publicas
Res ordinaris, grande munus
Cecropio repetes cothurno,
Infigne moeftis præfidium reis,
Et confulenti, Pollio, curiæ:
Cui laurus æternos honores

Dalmatico peperit triumpho.
Jam nunc minaci murmure cornuum
Perftringis aures: jam litui ftrepunt :
Jam fulgor armorum fugaces

Tecret equos, equitumque vultus.
Audire (a) magnos jar videor duces
Non indecoro pulvere fordidos,
Et cuncta terrarum fuba&ta,

Præter atrocem animum Catonis.
Juno, et Deorum quifquis amicior
Afris, inulta cefferat impotens

Tellure, victorum nepotes

Rettulit inferias Jugurtha.

Quis non Latino fanguine pinguior *

Campus fepulcris împia proelia

Teftatur, auditumque Medis

Hefperiæ fonitum ruine?

Qui gurges, aut quæ flumina lugubris
Iguara belli? quod mare Dauniæ
Non decoloravere cædes?

Que caret ora cruore noftro?

Sed ne relictis, Mufa procax, jocis,
Cea retractes munera næniæ :

Mecum Dionæo, fub antro
Quære modos leviore plectro.

(a) Videre magnos.`

ΤΟ

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CARMEN