Odes

Horace

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

  • An equal mind, when storms o'ercloud,
  • Maintain, nor 'neath a brighter sky
  • Let pleasure make your heart too proud,
  • O Dellius, Dellius! sure te die,
  • Whether in gloom you spend each year,
  • Or through long holydays at ease
  • In grassy nook your spirit cheer
  • With old Falernian vintages,
  • Where poplar pale, and pine-tree high
  • Their hospitable shadows spread
  • Entwined, and panting waters try
  • To hurry down their zigzag bed.
  • Bring wine and scents, and roses' bloom,
  • Too brief, alas! to that sweet place;
  • While life, and fortune, and the loom
  • Of the Three Sisters yield you grace.
  • Soon must you leave the woods you buy,
  • Your villa, wash'd by Tiber's flow,
  • Leave,—and your treasures, heap'd so high,
  • Your reckless heir will level low.