Odes

Horace

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

  • And the Thracians too may warn us; truth and falsehood, good and ill,
  • How they mix them, when the wine-god's hand is heavy on them laid!
  • Never, never, gracious Bacchus, may I move thee 'gainst thy will,
  • Or uncover what is hidden in the verdure of thy shade!
  • Silence thou thy savage cymbals, and the Berecyntine horn;
  • In their train Self-love still follows, dully, desperately blind,
  • And Vain-glory, towering upwards in its emptyheaded scorn,
  • And the Faith that keeps no secrets, with a window in its mind.
  • Cupid's mother, cruel dame,
  • And Semele's Theban boy, and Licence bold,
  • Bid me kindle into flame
  • This heart, by waning passion now left cold.