Odes

Horace

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

Good sons and brave good sires approve:

Strong bullocks, fiery colts, attest

Their fathers' worth, nor weakling dove

Is hatch'd in savage eagle's nest.

But care draws forth the power within,

And cultured minds are strong for good:

Let manners fail, the plague of sin

Taints e'en the course of gentle blood.

How great thy debt to Nero's race,

O Rome, let red Metaurus say,

Slain Hasdrubal, and victory's grace

First granted on that glorious day

Which chased the clouds, and show'd the sun,

When Hannibal o'er Italy

Ran, as swift flames o'er pine-woods run,

Or Eurus o'er Sicilia's sea.