Odes

Horace

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

  • Thus may Cyprus' heavenly queen,
  • Thus Helen's brethren, stars of brightest sheen,
  • Guide thee! May the sire of wind
  • Each truant gale, save only Zephyr, bind!
  • So do thou, fair ship, that ow'st
  • Virgil, thy precious freight, to Attic coast,
  • Safe restore thy loan and whole,
  • And save from death the partner of my soul!
  • Oak and brass of triple fold
  • Encompass'd sure that heart, which first made bold
  • To the raging sea to trust
  • A fragile bark, nor fear'd the Afric gust
  • With its Northern mates at strife,
  • Nor Hyads' frown, nor South-wind fury-rife,
  • Mightiest power that Hadria knows,
  • Wills he the waves to madden or compose.
  • What had Death in store to awe
  • Those eyes, that huge sea-beasts unmelting saw,
  • Saw the swelling of the surge,
  • And high Ceraunian cliffs, the seaman's scourge?