Odes

Horace

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

  • O harder e'en than toughest heart of oak,
  • Deafer than uncharm'd snake to suppliant moans!
  • This side, I warn you, will not always brook
  • Rain-water and cold stones.
  • Come, Mercury, by whose minstrel spell
  • Amphion raised the Theban stones,
  • Come, with thy seven sweet strings, my shell,
  • Thy “diverse tones,”
  • Nor vocal once nor pleasant, now
  • To rich man's board and temple dear:
  • Put forth thy power, till Lyde bow
  • Her stubborn ear.
  • She, like a three-year colt unbroke,
  • Is frisking o'er the spacious plain,
  • Too shy to bear a lover's yoke,
  • A husband's rein.