Odes

Horace

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

  • Of battles fought I fain had told,
  • And conquer'd towns, when Phoebus smote
  • His harp-string: “Sooth, 'twere over-bold.
  • To tempt wide seas in that frail boat.”
  • Thy age, great Caesar, has restored
  • To squalid fields the plenteous grain,
  • Given back to Rome's almighty Lord
  • Our standards, torn from Parthian fane,
  • Has closed Quirinian Janus' gate,
  • Wild passion's erring walk controll'd,
  • Heal'd the foul plague-spot of the state,
  • And brought again the life of old,