Odes

Horace

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

  • The silver, Sallust, shows not fair
  • While buried in the greedy mine:
  • You love it not till moderate wear
  • Have given it shine.
  • Honour to Proculeius! he
  • To brethren play'd a father's part;
  • Fame shall embalm through years to be
  • That noble heart.
  • Who curbs a greedy soul may boast
  • More power than if his broad-based throne
  • Bridged Libya's sea, and either coast
  • Were all his own.
  • Indulgence bids the dropsy grow;
  • Who fain would quench the palate's flame
  • Must rescue from the watery foe
  • The pale weak frame.
  • Phraates, throned where Cyrus sate,
  • May count for blest with vulgar herds,
  • But not with Virtue; soon or late
  • From lying words