LIBER II. CARMEN XVIII.

Non ebur neque aureum

Mea renidet in domo lacunar,
Non trabes Hymettiae

Premunt columnas ultima recisas

Africa, neque Attali

Ignotus heres regiam occupavi,
Nec Laconicas mihi

Trahunt honestae purpuras clientae.
At fides et ingeni

Benigna vena est, pauperemque dives

Me petit: nihil supra

Deos lacesso nec potentem amicum
Largiora flagito,

Satis beatus unicis Sabinis.

Truditur dies die,

Novaeque pergunt interire lunae :

BOOK II. ODE XVIII.

No iv'ry nor golden gleam

In my house glitters from a panelled ceiling-beam ; No timbers from Hymettus brought

Press columns in the quarries of far Afric wrought; Nor yet from Attalus who reigned

Have I, an unknown heir, a regal house obtained;
Nor of Laconian wool for me

Do noble maidens weave rich purple drapery;
Yet faith and genius are to me,

A kindly-flowing vein; and, though so poor I be,
The rich man seeks me; for no more

I importune the Gods, nor from my friend in power
More liberal gifts do I require :

Enough the blessing of my farm, my one desire.
Day ever pushes onward day,

And newly-risen moons hasten to pass away;

Tu secanda marmora

Locas sub ipsum funus et sepulcri
Immemor struis domos

Marisque Bais obstrepentis urges
Summovere litora,

Parum locuples continente ripa.
Quid quod usque proximos

Revellis agri terminos et ultra
Limites clientium

Salis avarus? Pellitur paternos
In sinu ferens deos

Et uxor et vir sordidosque natos.

Nulla certior tamen

Rapacis Orci sede destinata

Aula divitem manet

Erum. Quid ultra tendis? Æqua tellus Pauperi recluditur

Regumque pueris, nec satelles Orci

Callidum Promethea

Revexit auro captus: hic superbum
Tantalum atque Tantali

Genus coercet, hic levare functum

Pauperem laboribus

Vocatus atque non vocatus audit.

Thou, though so near the fun'ral gloom, Dost order marbles to be cut, and, of the tomb Not mindful, palaces dost found!

And, where the sea makes Baiæ with a roar resound, Thou hurriest to remove the shore,

Not rich enough, because the bank confines thee sore! Why add that, at the boundary,

Thou thrustest back the landmarks, and beyond where lie The limits of thy clients' land

Thou leapest avaricious! Lo! an outcast band

The wife and husband, on their breast

Bearing their fathers' Gods and ragged children prest!
And yet no hall more certainly

Awaits the rich lord than the destined boundary
Of ravenous Hell! Ah! wherefore try

To stretch to yonder distance? With strict equity
Earth opens to the poor as well

As to the sons of kings. The satellite of Hell,
For all Prometheus' subtlety,

Did not convey him back, captured by gold. 'Tis he
Keeps haughty Tantalus, and all

The race of Tantalus confined: 'tis he withal

Who, when the poor his work has done,

Invoked or not invoked to give relief, is won.

LIBER III.

CARMEN I.

Odi profanum vulgus et arceo,
Favete linguis : carmina non prius
Audita musarum sacerdos
Virginibus puerisque canto.

Regum timendorum in proprios greges, Reges in ipsos imperium est Iovis, Clari Giganteo triumpho,

Cuncta supercilio moventis.

Est ut viro vir latius ordinet
Arbusta sulcis, hic generosior
Descendat in campum petitor,
Moribus hic meliorque fama