Odes

Horace

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

  • Lethe's true draught is Massic wine;
  • Fill high the goblet; pour out free
  • Rich streams of unguent. Who will twine
  • The hasty wreath from myrtle-tree
  • Or parsley? Whom will Venus seat
  • Chairman of cups? Are Bacchants sane?
  • Then I'll be sober. O, 'tis sweet
  • To fool, when friends come home again!
  • Had chastisement for perjured truth,
  • Barine, mark'd you with a curse—
  • Did one wry nail, or one black tooth,
  • But make you worse—
  • I'd trust you; but, when plighted lies
  • Have pledged you deepest, lovelier far
  • You sparkle forth, of all young eyes
  • The ruling star.
  • 'Tis gain to mock your mother's bones,
  • And night's still signs, and all the sky,
  • And gods, that on their glorious thrones
  • Chill Death defy.