Odes

Horace

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

  • O think of Phaethon half burn'd,
  • And moderate your passion's greed:
  • Think how Bellerophon was spurn'd
  • By his wing'd steed.
  • So learn to look for partners meet,
  • Shun lofty things, nor raise your aims
  • Above your fortune. Come then, sweet,
  • My last of flames
  • (For never shall another fair
  • Enslave me), learn a tune, to sing
  • With that dear voice: to music care
  • Shall yield its sting.
  • The gales of Thrace, that hush the unquiet sea,
  • Spring's comrades, on the bellying canvas blow:
  • Clogg'd earth and brawling streams alike are free
  • From winter's weight of snow.
  • Wailing her Itys in that sad, sad strain,
  • Builds the poor bird, reproach to after time
  • Of Cecrops' house, for bloody vengeance ta'en
  • On foul barbaric crime.