Q. HORATII FLACCI CARMINUM LIBER IV. . CARMEN I. AD VENEREM. Se jam eâ ætate esse, ut à rebus Venereis alieno animo esse debeat. INTERMISSA, Venus, diu Rursus bella moves? parce, precor, precor. Non sum qualis eram bonæ Sub regno Cynaræ: desine, dulcium Mater sæva Cupidinum, Circa lustra decem flectere mollibus Jam durum imperiis: abi, Quò blandæ juvenum te revocant preces. “ Tempestiviùs in domo THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE ODES OF HORACE. ODE I. TO VENUS. He was now arrived at such an age, that he ought no longer to think of love affairs. AFTER a long cessation, O Venus, again are you stirring up tumult? Spare me, I beseech you, I beseech you. I am not the man I was under the dominion of good-natured Cynara. Forbear, thou cruel mother of soft desires, to bend one bordering upon fifty, now too hardened for your soft commands; go whither the soothing prayers of youth invoke thee. More seasonably may you revel in the house of Paulus Maximus, flying thither with Pauli, purpureis ales oloribus, Si torrere jecur quæris idoneum : Late signa feret militiæ tuæ : Et, quandoque potentior 10 15 Largis muneribus riserit æmuli, Albanos prope te lacus Ponet marmoream sub trabe citreâ. Illic plurima naribus Duces thura; lyræque et Berecynthia Delectabere tibiæ Mixis carminibus, non sinè fistulâ. Illic bis pueri die Numen cum teneris virginibus tuum Laudantes, pede candido In morem Salium ter quatient humum. Me nec fœmina, nec puer 20 25 Jam, nec spes animi credula mutui, 30 Nec certare juvat mero, Nec vincire novis tempora floribus. Sed cur, heu! Ligurine, cur Manat rara meas lachryma per genas? Cur facunda parùm decoro 35 Inter verba cadit lingua silentio ? Nocturnis te ego somniis Jam captum teneo, jam volucrem sequor Te per gramina Martii Campi, te per aquas, dure, volubiles. Lyrâque et Berecynthiâ-tibiâ. 40 your splendid swans, if you seek to inflame a suitable breast; for he is both noble and graceful, and by no means silent in the cause of distressed defendants, and a youth of an hundred accomplishments; he shall bear the ensigns of your warfare far and wide; and whenever more prevailing than the ample presents of a rival, he shall laugh at his expense, he shall erect thee in marble, under a citron dome, near the Alban lake. There you shall smell abundant frankincense, and shall be charmed with the mixed music of the lyre and Berecynthian pipe, not without the flageolet. There the youths, together with the tender maidens, twice a-day celebrating your divinity, shall Salian-like, with snow-white foot, thrice shake the ground. As for me, neither woman nor youth, nor the fond hope of a mutual inclination, nor to contend in wine, nor to bind my temples with fresh flowers, delight me any longer. But why, ah! why, O Ligurinus, does the tear every now and then trickle down my cheeks? why does my fluent tongue falter between my words with an ill-becoming silence? Thee in my dreams by night I clasp, caught in my arms ; thee, flying across the turf of the Campus Martius, thee I pursue, O cruel one, through the rolling waters. "Priests of Mars, CARMEN II. AD ANTONIUM IULUM. Invitatus Horatius ad Augusti victorias, carmine Pindarico celebrandas, ita se excusat ut id ipsum maximè præstet quod videtur detrectare. PINDARUM quisquis studet æmulari, ceratis ope Dædaleâ Iule, Nititur pennis, vitreo daturus Nomina ponto. Monte decurrens velut amnis, imbres Laureâ donandus Apollinari, Seu Deos, regesque canit, Deorum Sive, quos Elea domum reducit Palma cœlestes, pugilemve, equumve Munere donat; Flebili sponsæ juvenemve raptum Plorat; et vires, animumque moresque Invidet Orco. Multa Dircæum levat aura cygnum, * Aureos reducit in astra. |