THE

THIRD BOOK

OF THE

ODES OF HORACE.

ODE I.

That happiness consists not in honours and riches.

I ABOMINATE the uninitiated vulgar, and drive them off. Give a religious attention: I, the priest of the muses, sing to virgins and boys verses not heard before. The dominion of dread sovereigns is only over their own subjects,* that of Jupiter, glorious for his conquest over the giants, who shakes all nature with his nod, is over sovereigns themselves. It happens that one man plants

* Literally flocks. Homer is fond of terming kings shepherds of the people. Thus the true God entitles himself the shepherd of his people, and them, the sheep of his pasture: the expression therefore is not too low for the pomp of the strophe..

*

Est, ut viro vir latiùs ordinet
Arbusta sulcis; hic generosior
Descendat in campum petitor;

Moribus hic meliorque famâ
Contendat; ille turbâ clientium
Sit major: æquâ lege Necessitas
Sortitur insignes et imos;

Omne capax movet urna nomen.
Districtus ensis cui super impiâ
Cervice pendet, non Siculæ dapes
Dulcem elaborabunt saporem ;
Non avium citharæque cantus

Somnum reducent.
Lenis virorum non humiles domos
Fastidit, umbrosamque ripam,
Non Zephyris agitata Tempe.
Desiderantem quod satis est, neque
Tumultuosum solicitat mare,
Nec sævus Arcturi cadentis

Somnus agrestium

Impetus, aut orientis. Hœdi:

Non verberatæ grandine vineæ,

Fundusque mendax; arbore nunc aquas

Culpante; nunc torrentia agros
Sidera, nunc hiemes iniquas.

Contracta pisces æquora sentiunt,
Jactis in altum molibus: huc frequens
Cæmenta demittit redemptor

:

Cum famulis, dominusque terræ Fastidiosus sed timor, et minæ Scandunt eôdem quò dominus: neque Decedit æratâ triremi, et

Post equitem sedet atra cura.

* Esto ut viro. Bentl.

trees, in regular rows, to a greater extent than another; this man comes down into the Campus Martius as a candidate of a better family, while another vies with him for morals and a better reputation; a third has a superior number of dependents but death, by the impartial law of nature, is allotted both to the conspicuous and the obscure : the capacious urn keeps every name in motion. Sicilian dàinties will not force a delicious relish* to that man, over whose impious neck the naked sword impends: the songs of birds or the lyre will not restore his sleep. Gentle sleep disdains not the humble cottages of peasants, and the shady bank k; he disdains not Tempe, fanned by zephyrs. Him, who desires but a competency, neither the tempestuous sea renders anxious, nor the malign violence of Arcturus setting, or of the rising kid; nor his vineyards beaten down with hail, and a deceitful farm, his plantations at one season blaming the rains, at another, the influence of the constellations parching the grounds; at another, severe winters disturb him. The fishes perceive the seas contracted by the vast foundations that have been laid into the deep hither numerous undertakers, with their men, and lords disdainful of the land, send down mortar but anxiety, and the threats of conscience, ascend by the same way as the possessor: nor does gloomy care depart from the brazen-beaked galley, and she mounts behind the horseman. Seeing then neither the Phrygian marble, nor the

Quòd si dolentem nec Phrygius lapis,
Nec purpurarum sidere clarior
Delenit usus, nec Falerna

Vitis, Achæmeniumve costum ;
Cur invidendis postibus, et novo
Sublime ritų moliar atrium ?
Cur valle permutem Sabinâ
Divitias operosiores ?*

45

CARMEN II.

AD AMICOS.

Bellicam fortitudinem, probitatem, et arcani fidem

commendat.

ANGUSTAM, amici, pauperiem pati
Robustus acri militiâ puer

Condiscat, et Parthos feroces

Vexet eques metuendus hastâ ;

Vitamque sub dio, et trepidis agat

In rebus: illum ex moenibus hosticis
Matrona bellantis tyranni

Prospiciens, et adulta virgo,

Suspiret: Eheu! ne rudis agminum
Sponsus lacessat regius asperum
Tactu leonem, quem cruenta
Per medias rapit ira cædes !

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori :

• Divitias onerosiores. Bentl.

5

10

*

use of purple, more dazzling than the sun," nor the Falernian vine, nor the Persian perfume, composes a troubled mind, why should I set about a lofty edifice, with envy-exciting columns, and in the modern taste? Why should I exchange my Sabine vale for wealth, that is attended with more trouble

ODE II.

TO HIS FRIENDS.

He praises military bravery, probity, and fidelity, in the keeping of a secret.

LET the robust youth, my friends, learn to endure pinching want in the active exercise of arms, and an expert horseman, dreadful for his spear, let him harass the fierce Parthians; let him lead a life exposed to the open air, and in familiarity with dangers. Him the consort and marriageable virgin-daughter of some warring tyrant, viewing from the hostile walls, may sigh-alas! lest the royal husband, unacquainted with the state of the battle, should provoke, by a touch, this terrible lion, whom rage hurries through the midst of slaughter? It

It is presumed, that commentators upon this passage might have succeeded better, had they remembered Seneca's expression, clarum mundi sidus, speaking of the sun. The sun, in many languages, is frequently and emphatically termed the star. Clarior, here rendered dazzling, refers not at all to the colour of the purple, but only to the use of it as a badge of dignity and office.

Which he spreads wherever he goes.