Odes

Horace

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

  • The pleasures of Lucretilis
  • Tempt Faunus from his Grecian seat;
  • He keeps my little goats in bliss
  • Apart from wind, and rain, and heat.
  • In safety rambling o'er the sward
  • For arbutes and for thyme they peer,
  • The ladies of the unfragrant lord,
  • Nor vipers, green with venom, fear,
  • Nor savage wolves, of Mars' own breed,
  • My Tyndaris, while Ustica's dell
  • Is vocal with the silvan reed,
  • And music thrills the limestone fell.
  • Heaven is my guardian; heaven approves
  • A blameless life, by song made sweet;
  • Come hither, and the fields and groves
  • Their horn shall empty at your feet.
  • Here, shelter'd by a friendiy tree,
  • In Teian measures you shall sing
  • Bright Circe and Penelope,
  • Love-smitten both by one sharp sting.