Odes

Horace

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

  • The raven. Gather, while 'tis fine,
  • Your wood; tomorrow shall be gay
  • With smoking pig and streaming wine,
  • And lord and slave keep holyday.
  • O wont the flying Nymphs to woo,
  • Good Faunus, through my sunny farm
  • Pass gently, gently pass, nor do
  • My younglings harm.
  • Each year, thou know'st, a kid must die
  • For thee; nor lacks the wine's full stream
  • To Venus' mate, the bowl; and high
  • The altars steam.
  • Sure as December's Nones appear,
  • All o'er the grass the cattle play;
  • The village, with the lazy steer,
  • Keeps holyday.
  • Wolves rove among the fearless sheep;
  • The woods for thee their foliage strow;
  • The delver loves on earth to leap,
  • His ancient foe.