vel nos in Capitolium, quo clamor vocat et turba faventium, vel nos in mare proximum gemmas et lapides aurum et inutile, summi materiem mali, mittamus, scelerum si bene paenitet. eradenda cupidinis pravi sunt elementa et tenerae nimis mentes asperioribus formandae studiis. nescit equo rudis haerere ingenuus puer venarique timet, ludere doctior, seu Graeco iubeas trocho, seu malis vetita legibus alea, cum periura patris fides consortem socium fallat et hospites indignoque pecuniam heredi properet. scilicet improbae crescunt divitiae; tamen curtae nescio quid semper abest rei. 50 60 To the Capitol, amid the plaudits of the noisy crowd, or to the nearest sea let us send our gems and jewels and our baneful gold, the cause of our chiefest woe, if we repent us truly of our crimes. Destroy the causes of our perverted greed, and let our too feeble hearts be trained in sterner tasks! The freeborn lad, unpractised, knows not how to ride his steed; he fears to hunt, more skilled in games, whether you bid him try with Grecian hoop or rather with the dice the law forbids; while his perjured father defrauds his partner and his friends, and hastens to lay up store of money for his unworthy heir. His gains, ill-gotten, grow apace, 'tis true, yet something is ever lacking to the fortune incomplete. XXV Qvo me, Bacche, rapis tui plenum ? quae nemora aut quos agor in specus, velox mente nova? quibus antris egregii Caesaris audiar aeternum meditans decus stellis inserere et consilio Iovis ? dicam insigne, recens, adhuc indictum ore alio. non secus in iugis exsomnis stupet Euhias, Hebrum prospiciens et nive candidam Thracen ac pede barbaro lustratam Rhodopen, ut mihi devio ripas et vacuum nemus mirari libet. o Naiadum potens Baccharumque valentium proceras manibus vertere fraxinos, nil parvum aut humili modo, nil mortale loquar. dulce periculum est, o Lenaee, sequi deum cingentem viridi tempora pampino. 10 20 ODE XXV A Dithyramb WHITHER, O Bacchus, dost thou hurry me, o'erflowing with thy power? Into what groves or grottoes am I swiftly driven in fresh inspiration? In what caves shall I be heard planning to set amid the stars, and in Jove's council, peerless Caesar's immortal glory? I will sing of a noble exploit, recent, as yet untold by other lips. Just so upon the mountain-tops does the sleepless Bacchanal stand rapt, looking out o'er Hebrus and o'er Thrace glistening with snow, and Rhodope trodden by barbarian feet-even as I love to stray and to gaze with awe upon the unfrequented banks and groves. O thou master of the Naiads and of the Bacchanals that have might to uproot lofty ash-trees with their hands, nothing trifling or of humble strain, nothing mortal will I utter. Sweet is the peril, O lord of the wine-press, to follow the god, crowning my temples with verdant vine-sprays. XXVI VIXI duellis 1 nuper idoneus laevum marinae qui Veneris latus o quae beatam diva tenes Cyprum et Memphin carentem Sithonia nive, regina, sublimi flagello tange Chloen semel arrogantem. 1 duellis Franke: puellis MSS. 10 |