Compescit unda, scilicet omnibus,
Quicumque terrae munere vescimur,
Enaviganda, sive reges

Sive inopes erimus coloni.

Frustra cruento Marte carebimus
Fractisque rauci fluctibus Hadriae,
Frustra per autumnos nocentem
Corporibus metuemus Austrum :

Visendus ater flumine languido
Cocytos errans et Danai genus
Infame damnatusque longi
Sisyphus Aeolides laboris.

Linquenda tellus et domus et placens
Uxor, neque harum, quas colis, arborum
Te praeter invisas cupressos

Ulla brevem dominum sequetur.

Absumet heres Caecuba dignior
Servata centum clavibus et mero
Tinguet pavimentum superbis
Pontificum potiore cenis.

XV.

AGAINST LUXURY.

1. Outline of the Poem:

a) Our princely estates with their fish-ponds bid fair to banish farming from the land; plane-trees, myrtle, and violets threaten to supplant the vine and olive, 1-10 ;

b) Far different was it in the days of old; then private wealth was small, and simple were men's abodes; but rich was the

state and splendid were the public buildings, 10-20 (cf. Cic. pro Murena 36. 76, odit populus Romanus privatam luxuriam, publicam magnificentiam diligit).

2. Time: Probably 28 B.C.

3. Metre Alcaic. Introd. § 43.

This poem stands alone among Horace's odes in that it is not addressed to any individual.

XVI.

CONTENTMENT WITH OUR LOT THE ONLY TRUE
HAPPINESS.

1. Outline of the Poem :

a) Peace and happiness, O Grosphus, are the quest of all, 1–6; b) But these cannot be bought with jewels or with gold; wealth avails not to still the restless tumults of the soul, 7-12; c) Simple tastes and self-restraint must be the means, not eager striving for more, nor yet roving in foreign lands; let our hearts enjoy the present, meet its ills with resignation, and refuse to borrow care for the future, 13-27 ;

d) Yet no one can be altogether happy; witness Achilles and Tithonus. Fortune, too, grants to one man what she denies another; to thee she has given lands and kine, horses, and purple; me she has endowed with the glorious gift of song, 27-40.

2. Time: Probably 28 B.C.

3. Metre Sapphic and Adonic. Introd. § 44.

Otium divos rogat in patenti

Prensus Aegaeo, simul atra nubes
Condidit lunam neque certa fulgent
Sidera nautis ;

Otium bello furiosa Thrace,

Otium Medi pharetra decori,

Grosphe, non gemmis neque purpura ve-
nale neque auro.

5

Non enim gazae neque consularis
Summovet lictor miseros tumultus

10

Mentis et curas laqueata circum
Tecta volantis.

Vivitur parvo bene, cui paternum
Splendet in mensa tenui salinum
Nec levis somnos timor aut cupido
Sordidus aufert.

Quid brevi fortes iaculamur aevo
Multa? Quid terras alio calentis
Sole mutamus? Patriae quis exsul
Se quoque fugit?

Scandit aeratas vitiosa navis
Cura nec turmas equitum relinquit,

Ocior cervis et agente nimbos

Ocior Euro.

Laetus in praesens animus quod ultra est
Oderit curare et amara lento
Temperet risu. Nihil est ab omni

Parte beatum.

Abstulit clarum cita mors Achillem,
Longa Tithōnum minuit senectus;
Et mihi forsan, tibi quod negarit,
Porriget hora.

Te greges centum Siculaeque circum
Mugiunt vaccae, tibi tollit hinnitum
Apta quadrigis equa, te bis Afro

Murice tinctae

Vestiunt lanae; mihi parva rura et
Spiritum Graiae tenuem Camenae
Parca non mendax dedit et malignum
Spernere volgus.

XVII.

DESPAIR NOT, MAECENAS! ONE STAR LINKS OUR

DESTINIES.

1. Occasion of the Poem: The ode seems to have been called forth by a serious illness which befell Maecenas in the fall of 30 B.C. and threatened to prove fatal.

2. Outline of the Poem:

a) Think not that thou shalt die before me, Maecenas! Why should I linger after thee? One and the same day shall see us enter on that final journey, nor shall any power of earth or hell tear me from thee, 1-16;

b) Whatever planet guides our destinies, our fates are surely linked together. Thee Jove, me Faunus, saved from destruction, 17-30;

c) And so an offering to the gods in commemoration of their favor! 30-32.