Odes

Horace

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

  • No dirges for my fancied death;
  • No weak lament, no mournful stave;
  • All clamorous grief were waste of breath,
  • And vain the tribute of a grave.
  • Bid the unhallow'd crowd avaunt!
  • Keep holy silence; strains unknown
  • Till now, the Muses' hierophant,
  • I sing to youths and maids alone.
  • Kings o'er their flocks the sceptre wield;
  • E'en kings beneath Jove's sceptre bow:
  • Victor in giant battle-field,
  • He moves all nature with his brow.
  • This man his planted walks extends
  • Beyond his peers; an older name
  • One to the people's choice commends;
  • One boasts a more unsullied fame;
  • One plumes him on a larger crowd
  • Of clients. What are great or small?
  • Death takes the mean man with the proud;
  • The fatal urn has room for all.