CARMEN XXXVIII.

AD PUERUM.

Admonet ut cænam sine ambitioso apparatu struat.

PERSICOS odi, puer, apparatus :
Displicent nexæ philyrâ coronæ :
Mitte sectari, rosa quo locorum
Sera moretur.

Simplici myrto nihil allabores

Sedulus* curo: neque te ministrum
Dedecet myrtus, neque me, sub arcta
Vite bibentem.

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,
Ludumque Fortunæ, gravesque
Principum amicitias, et arma

Nondum expiatis* uncta cruoribus,
Periculosæ plenum opus alex,
Tractas, et incedis per ignes
Suppositos cineri doloso.

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
Desit theatris: mox, ubi publicas,
Res ordinâris, grande munus
Cecropio repetes cothurno,

Insigne moestis præsidium reis,
Et consulenti, Pollio, curiæ:
Cui laurus æternos honores

Dalmatico peperit triumpho.

Jam nunc minaci murmure cornuum
Perstringis aures: jam litui strepunt:
Jam fulgor armorum fugaces'

Terret equos, equitumque vultus.
Audire* magnos jam videor duces
Non indecoro pulvere sordidos,
Et cuncta terrarum subacta,

Præter atrocem animum Catonis.
Juno, et Deorum quisquis amicior
Afris, inultâ cesserat impotens
Tellure, victorum nepotes
Retulit inferias Jugurtha..

Quis non Latino sanguine pingufor
Campus sepulchris impia prælia
Testatur, auditumque Medis
Hesperia sonitum ruinæ ?

Quis gurges, aut quæ flumina lugubris
Ignara belli? quod mare Dauniæ
Non decoloravêre cædes?

Quæ caret ora cruore noștro?

Sed ne relictis, Musa procax, jocis,
Ceæ retractes munera næniæ:

Mecum Dionæo sub antro

Quære modos leviore plectro.

Videre magnos, Bentl. Cunn.

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