Odes

Horace

Horace. The Odes and Carmen Saeculare of Horace. Conington, John, translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1882.

  • Necessity precedes thee still
  • With hard fierce eyes and heavy tramp:
  • Her hand the nails and wedges fill,
  • The molten lead and stubborn clamp.
  • Hope, precious Truth in garb of white,
  • Attend thee still, nor quit thy side
  • When with changed robes thou tak'st thy flight
  • In anger from the homes of pride.
  • Then the false herd, the faithless fair,
  • Start backward; when the wine runs dry.
  • The jocund guests, too light to bear
  • An equal yoke, asunder fly.
  • O shield our Caesar as he goes
  • To furthest Britain, and his band,
  • Rome's harvest! Send on Eastern foes
  • Their fear, and on the Red Sea strand!