This book seeks to explore the Book IV odes of Horace not as isolated works of adulatory verse but as a collection of a subliminal vignettes on Roman society in the early days of the Principate. That they were written as individual items over a period of time, ranging from 13 BC. to 8 BC., is not disputed. That they were really intended by Horace as a complete entity in their own right is the raison d'etre of this book and will be the primary argument in the following pages. This will be supported by a full translation, commentary and analysis of the Latin text.
However, rather than submit the reader immediately to the heavy task of pursuing the argument, step by step, through the one hundred or so pages of translation, commentary and analysis, it is proposed to provide the summary of its findings at the outset. This takes the form of a prose translation of the odes in an alternative sequence, linked together to form a workable, if empirical, premise on which the subsequent argument can most profitably be sustained.
Book IV is about people, important and influential people who presumably imposed their individual psyches on Roman society to such an extent that Horace selected them to be objects for closer scrutiny and thereby as admirable subjects for his verse. Since Horace was then the principal poet of Rome, their inclusion in Book IV must have seemed to be the ultimate compliment to the people concerned. Not so much because they were the subject of an ode in itself but that they appeared in the glorious company of the putative emperor and his family.
Living, as we do today, in a social environment tyrranized, almost to extinction, by an overbearing and omnipotent media, whose communication skills have been honed, razor–sharp, on unfortunate carcasses from all ranks of society, it is difficult to visualize the position that poets held in the Augustan era. They were the fabricators of history, the arbiters of taste and fashion and the makers, or breakers, of reputations. They were therefore courted almost as much for what they did not reveal as for what they illuminated in their verse. Since the grammatical level of the Latin language they employed and the metrical media into which it was moulded was way above that used in common converse and communiction, it would have required real academic and poetical skills to unravel the true meaning precisely. For most listeners and the few readers, only the gist and apparent trend would have been comprehensible. It is therefore quite within the bounds of possibility that poets took advantage of the situation and wrote subliminally.
Horace was a client of Maecenas and we have the evidence of Suetonius that Augustus had tried to seduce him, unsuccessfully, into his own patronage, presumably after the death of Virgil left him without a major court poet of his own. This fact is doubly significant; firstly it underlines the power that Maecenas held in being able to refuse a request of Augustus and secondly emphasises the fact that he retained the power of propanda under his own wing.
This is of vital importance if we are to fully understand the social environment at the time that Book IV was written for there seems, to all intents and purposes, to have been a clear dichotomy in Augustan society at that time. This was crystallized around the persons of Augustus and Maecenas respectively in which those who were intellectually inclined gathered around Maecenas while those of a more pragmatic nature favoured Augustus. There was undoubtedly a balance of power in evidence, one that had developed since Actium, when the combined talents of Octavian, Maecenas and Agrippa had defeated Mark Antony. Octavian had provided the name of Caesar to rally around, Maecenas had provided the political acumen and Agrippa had controlled the military and naval strategy. In the subsequent years these roles had stengthened, for it is doubtful if Augustus, despite his Imperium, could have won over either the Senate or the Army on his own. So that by 13 BC. all were dependant upon one another and none possessed the power to assume overall control and although there had been challenges to their authority, notably Varrus Murena in 19 BC., this de facto 'triumvirate' had remained firm.
It was not until the sudden death of Agrippa in 12 BC. that the position changed and Livia, the wife of Augustus, may well have been the unwitting author. If she did indeed arrange for the death of Agrippa, she would have done so, not on behalf of her husband, but to remove someone who had already deputized for Augustus during illness and, further, to clear the military path of command for her sons by a previous marriage, Tiberius and Drusus. However, Agrippa's demise had a more immediate impact than intended. From being only the inheritor of the name of Caesar, Augustus now gained full control of the military power with which Julius had imposed his will on the Senate. From this moment the role of Princeps changed to Emperor in all but name and Augustus no longer had need of Maecenas in manipulating the Senate.
This change in the balance of power must have been a significant factor in the decline of Meacenas's authority and influence that seems to have been evident in the last five years of his life. The effect of this decline on his clients would have been severe and the closer the bond the greater the trauma. For Terentia, his wife and Horace, whose intimacy was evident in the number of odes addressed to Maecenas, it must have been a very testing time. While Terentia would seem to have solved her dilemma by becoming a mistress of Augustus, it might be argued that Horace took advantage of a request for another book of lyrical verse and turned in a volume of adulatory odes which has come down to us as Book IV.
This is the simplistic solution which could offer an explanation for the uneasy feeling that Book IV always engenders in the reader; the heretical feeling that it contains a lot of less than perfect verse, quite unworthy of the author. Yet, if this were indeed the case, one might ask why did Horace invoke the muse of tragedy to watch over its creation? Why did he invoke Apollo Agyieus, the protector of streets, in a what amounts to a valedictory vein? These two odes stand out starkly in this group of fifteen odes, otherwise devoted to real individuals in contemporary Rome. Also, the remaining odes are hardly constructed as straighforward praise and the mythological references he uses, by way of allegory, are very strange choices indeed.
When we consider the people nominated another strange anomaly emerges. In many of the odes Horace changes the emphasis within the ode itself to someone else entirely. That to Iullus Antonius is really about Augustus, as is those to Drusus and Tiberius respectively. That to Lyce devolves upon the long dead Cinara while the ambiguous ode to Paullus Maximus introduces us to Ligurinus. Again, what has the ode ostensibly lamenting the absence of Augustus to do with a young man forced to languish on a foreign shore? Could this be the poet Tibullus? Was his absence more to be lamented than that of the Princeps? Why introduce Lollius, Torquatus and Censorinus and why devote an entire ode to each of them? Lollius had lost an eagle to the Sygambri. Torquatus can be reasonably identified as a certain Nonius Asprenas whom Suetonius says was a friend of Augustus arraigned on a charge of poisoning. Nothing is known of Censorinus save for his consulship in 8 BC. but the ambiguous phrasing within leaves only puzzlement behind. Was the ode to Phyllis really intended to be about Maecenas and was the ode to a certain Vergilius actually directed to the shade of the poet Virgil?
These are all elusive questions to which answers are sorely needed and would, if known, most probably preclude mere laudatory intent. Dare we consider that Horace, in Book IV, produced a coup de theatre in which his real intention was to reveal the iniquities in Augustan society while sucessfully concealing that intent in superficial praise? In the following section of this book a prose translation of Book IV is offered with the odes dealt with in different sequence to that of the published version. It is thereby hoped that this will show how the odes might have been read if this was the intention of Horace. Marginal markings will lead to an extended explanation, in the subsequent section, of how certain parts of the translation have been approached and dealt with. In Part II a fully detailed analysis and commentary of Book IV is to be found.
However, to briefly summarize the individual odes:–
1. Ode IV,3 is clearly an invocation to the muse Melpomene and refers to the recently completed Carmen Saeculare as having elevated Horace to the ranks of the great poets. It seems to be, at one and the same time, an apologia for Book IV and a declaration on the part of Horace of his fitness to undertake the work.
2. Ode IV,15 summarizes the state of Rome under Augustus with its many contradictions. The public face and the private acts. The official insistence on the old Republican forms but the actual erosion of ethical and moral standards by both the Princeps and the Establishment.
4. Ode IV,14 is the promised eulogy to Tiberius as the competent soldier who carries out the commands of Augustus, however vainglorious. Does Horace use this ode as a vehicle to castigate Augustus for despoiling the image of Rome, Italy and the Latin ethos in the eyes of the people of the Empire?
3. Ode IV,4 is the eulogy to Drusus that Augustus had commanded but not quite as he had wished. Horace appears to weave into the ode the crude propaganda and self–aggrandizement of the Danube campaign as opposed to the battles and wars of the Republican past, which were fought for reasons of defence and against worthy foes.
5. Ode IV,5 comments on the long absence of Augustus in Gaul and Spain, making an ambiguous plea for his early return while, at the same time, inferring that Rome is managing quite well without him.
6. Ode IV,2 is, however, a wry commentary on what Augustus may expect upon his return to Rome; a triumph, to say the least, with fawning oratory from the dilettante poet, Iullus Antonius, the younger son of Mark Antony. Horace is at pains to advise that Pindar should not be emulated for such a recipient.
7. Ode IV,13 is a malicious attack on a woman who appears to be a very powerful force in Rome whom Horace all but blames for the premature death of his earlier love, Cinara. The motive appears to be jealousy for Cinara's beauty but now she herself has lost her beauty as well. Horace contrasts the early death of Cinara,in full beauty, to a belated death in the degradation of old age. Whether Horace intends this ode to be addressed to Livia and that 'Lyce' is a derivation from the Greek of 'wolf' could be a matter for speculation only.
8. Ode IV,9 is about corruption and about a corrupt man, Marcus Lollius, one of the 'new men' of Augustus. It is also about the power of the poet in informing future generations about such men. It is about a covert threat of exposure. In the climate of the Rome of that time it would also have been a very dangerous endeavour on the part of Horace.
9. Ode IV,7 is about the inevitability of human death and of human justice. That is, of course, unless the latter is subverted by gifts or favouritism. Torquatus, assumed here to be a certain Nonius Asprenas, arraigned on a charge of poisoning, is advised to give his wealth to a friend to avoid it passing to a greedy heir. The 'friend' might intervene in the verdict. Who knows?
10. Ode IV,1 is about homosexual love set against a seemingly orgiastic background provided by another 'new man', Paullus Maximus. Horace is tempted by a young boy, whom he has probably met under the aegis of that same new man. He seeks to avoid the issue but his dreams betray him. An ode that portrays the decadence of the middle Augustan era.
11. Ode IV,10 is the resolution of the previous ode. Nothing has happened between him and the boy but Horace, no doubt feeling his age, allows his bitterness to escape as he mocks the boy on the effect that ageing will have on his youthful good looks. This ode merely reiterates the previous theme.
12. Ode IV,12 reveals the dreadful truth that Virgil might well have been poisoned by one of his noble young associates. Whether on orders from above is not specified; the question is posed but the answer is left hanging. The ode reveals the perils of attending parties without being equipped with suitable antidotes to poison. Horace invites the shade of Virgil to a party and counsels against a desire for revenge.
13. Ode IV,11 ostensibly a party for Phyllis, but may be seen to revolve around Maecenas who is required to provide some sort of accounting of himself and his actions. Could he have fallen foul of the law? For instance, a new law protecting the person of the head of state from slander was promulgated in early 8 BC. If this wass so, then this ode must have been written in that year and the same law would have had severe implications for Horace also.
14 Ode IV,8 is in a placatory vein, denying, on Horace's part that he is a wealthy man and cannot give a certain Censorinus anything of value save his poetry. Horace seems to be in a position of having to forfeit any items of value that he possesses. Has he fallen foul of the law and is this Censorinus, the consul in 8 BC., acting in an official capacity? Has Horace succumbed to the same fate as Maecenas?
15. Ode IV,6 is an appeal to Apollo, on the part of Horace, for protection. From the threat of the new treason law? Having made the plea, Horace asks the 'children of Rome' to remember him and to bear witness to the truth of what he has written.
PROSE TRANSLATION
(IV,3) Melpomene, once you have watched over, with gentle eye, that
which has been created, it will not serve to glorify a boxer in
the Isthmian Games, nor, an impetuous rider, who will lead a
A. chariot to victory in the Achaian Games, nor, in matters relating
to war, a leader adorned with the Delian laurel, who may have
crushed the puffed–up pride of kings, to display them on the
Capitol; but the prolific waters that flow through Tiburi and the
dense leaves of the woods will mould the fashionable people to
Aeolian song.
The progeny of Rome, that most distinguished of cities, consider
B. me worthy to be placed amongst the chorus of inspired poets, and
already I am bitten less by the envious tooth. O golden shell
that resounded for the Pierean Muse, with sweet modulations and
who, if it may be agreeable, is about to present the swan's voice
C. to the inarticulate. This is all of your gifts, that I am pointed
out by the finger of those passing by as a Roman poet of a lyre:
that I breathe and if I please, it is your breath with which I
please.
(IV,15) Caesar, while wishing to discourse on warriors and cities
being conquered, Phoebus, in protest, withheld the music from my
D. lyre, lest I might despatch an insignificant vessel through the
Etruscan sea. Your time in office has brought back and restored
our legionary standards to the temple of Quirinal Jupiter without
E. conflict and, having been torn away from the gates of the proud
Parthians with abundant produce from the farms, has closed the
temple of Janus. It has revived the ancient practices and it has
F. invited the return of freedom to behave as one would wish thereby
inspiring full liberty for overstepping the bounds of decency
and has removed all blame. By which means the Latin name and the
power of Italy have been propagated from the sun's rising to its
couch in the Hesperides, but only by the dignity and reputation
of the government having been laid low.
For Caesar, the guardian of affairs, who forges swords and makes
G. unfriendly cities wretched, will drive away ease, not wrath or
civil force or disturbance. They who drink deeply of Danube
waters will not break the Julian edicts, nor the Thracians nor
the Chinese and the faithless Persians, nor (they) having been
born near the river Tanais. While on holy festival days you will
lead us, with wives and offspring, to pray before the gods of our
H. ancestors with the appropriate forms having been performed in the
characteristic custom of our fathers and we will celebrate, in
song, Troy and Anchises and his famous progeny; on other days,
song having been mingled with the Lydian flute, (you will lead
us) to carouse amid the pleasures of Bacchus and Venus.
(IV,14) Augustus, with what full honours of the Senate or offices of
the People may the eternal calendar immortalize your virtues and
I. may be mindful with inscriptions. Most distinguished of chief
citizens, by whom the sun makes light in the habitable world,
could you have been able to convert the Vindelici to the
benefits of Latin law, having no need for recourse to Mars? For
J. Drusus, fierce offspring from a soldier, hurled down the Genauni
and the Breuni from the terrible ramparts of the Alps; a more
simple, sharp and rapid alternative solution having been imposed.
By and by, following in quick succession and under the command of
the elder Nero, he combined in heavy conflict and routed the
K. savage Rhaetians. How great the martial contest having been
devoted to death, for the catastrophe to be beheld might trouble
the hearts of free men. As the south wind, tearing asunder the
clouds, soon converts the untamed waters to the chorus of the
Pleiades, eager to shatter the enemy host and raging to send his
horse into the midst of the conflict.
So Ox–like Aufidus is twisted around as it flows past the kingdom
of Apulian Daunus, for while it rages with frightful inundation
it may be considered to cultivate the land. So in the same way
Claudius destroys with rapid motion and lays waste with steel the
L. armies of barbarians. From you the orders, from you the means,
from your gods the blessing, for in this way suppliant Alexandria
opened the harbours and vacant palace for you on this same day.
After three lustrums the fortune of war is restored following
another invasion and you will have accomplished an exploit of war
having been long desired but appropriated for yourself praise
M. from the state to which you have no claim.
O protector, the Cantabrian, never tameable before, the Median
and the Indian, the fugitive Scythian, each is astonished at you
being mounted over Rome, the mistress of Italy. Also the Nile
which hides the origins of its streams, the lower Danube, the
rapid Tigris, and the Ocean, full of monsters that beats upon far
off Britain. For Gaul and the hard land of Hiberia hears from
you without quaking with fear of sudden destruction. The Sygambri
N, rejoicing at having been reconciled, may be honoured for the
killing of Romans equipped by you!
(IV,4) Of such a kind the winged servant of the thunderbolt, for
whom the king of the gods allowed the kingdom of the roving birds
O. having been proved diligent in the matter of golden Ganymede. For
the first time youth and paternal force drags him away from the
nest, ignorant of lifes labour and already, unaccustomed to being
afraid of the distant storms, the spring zephyrs have taught him
flight. By and by, true to form and violent urge he has alighted
like an enemy on a sheepfold; now in facing unwilling dragons he
has required conflict and also a need for human sacrifices. As
the anxious roebuck in fruitful pastures that has already seen
the lion driven from the milk under the udder of its tawny mother
about to try out its new teeth!
So the Vindelici saw Drusus bringing war to Raetia under the
Alps. From which the origin of the legend having been culled that
their right hands (the Vindelici) may have only been armed with
P. Amazonian axes. I have foregone to enquire further, there is
something to be said for not knowing everything. But by the
the counsels of youth, the conquerors reconquered the crowd of
barbarians both far and wide who then perceived that such an
intellectual nature, that so easily nurtured good fortune, might
have been directed by the paternal influence of Augustus upon the
young Neros. The strong are produced by the powerful and the
able; the quality for young men, as it is for horses, is the
quality of the sires; predatory eagles do not engender the
Q. peaceful dove. Training improves but hostile forces having been
inbred, they are equally reinforced by a divine right and
cultivated in the breast. However, having been born noble, to
rebel against the fault may dishonour the custom.
Oh Rome, what may you owe to the Neros, the conquered Hasdrubal
and the river Metaurus bear witness and that noble day you put to
flight black ignominy, that day the propitious reward of valour
smiled, as if a flame through pine trees or the south–east wind
over the waters of Sicily. After this the Roman population by
continuous and sustained dedication increased in size, and having
been laid waste by the godless tumult of the Carthaginians, they
had the temples of the gods re–erected.
At length perfidius Hannibal said: "we may as well eagerly hunt
stags, the quarry of ravening wolves, whose splendid triumph it
R. is to deceive and fly away. This durable race, having been
through the fire before Ilium and brought to Italian towns,
having been scattered across the Tuscan seas, with the young and
the old and the sacred images of ancestors. As strong as the
holm–oak on Mount Algido, having been shorn by the double–edged
axe for the bounty of the black foliage, through loss, through
shearing, it draws renewed life and power from the very steel
itself. No more stronger grew the Hydra, to be conquered by
Hercules, having suffered pain and with the body having been cut
S. to pieces. Neither from Colchis nor Echionian Thebes a greater
marvel to be subordinated. You may immerse in the depths, it
comes forth more magnificent; you wrestle, and with great eclat
it will overthrow the conqueror and having begun afresh, will
wage war to be spoken of by posterity. Now I will send no proud
messengers to Carthage: it dies, all our the hope and good luck
of our name has died, having been destroyed with Hasdrubal."
T. The Claudian hand, having been made cunning by war, accomplishes
nothing that Jupiter does not watch over with benign divinity and
which keen perception and carefullness makes expedient!
( IV,5). "Best champion of the race of Romulus, born from the good Gods,
already you are absent far too long. Having promised an early
U. return to the sacred council of the fathers, return good leader,
bring back the light to your fatherland. For when the true
image of your countenance has once looked favourably upon the
people, the day passes more pleasantly and the sunlight shines
much brighter" So a mother who calls for the youth kept from his
beloved home, detained upon a beautiful curving shore across the
smooth Carpathian Sea for far longer than a year, by the South
Wind with envious blast. Neither with vows, exhortations and
prayers is he able to be moved. So, with grief for his absence,
the lyre strings have been struck. In a similar vein, the
fatherland enquires from Caesar.
V. Does the oxen roam around a countryside made completely safe?
Do Ceres and propitious Faustitas nourish the farms and sailors
travel swiftly across a peaceful sea? Does fidelity fear to be
blamed? Is no chaste house being polluted by debauchery? Has
custom and law subdued tainted sin? Are nursing mothers praised
for a child's resemblance? Does just punishment press upon
guilt?
With a Caesar at large, who would be afraid of the Parthian, who
the frosty Scythian, who the shaggy brood which Germany brings
forth? Who would be bothered about the war in wild Hiberia?
W. Each and everone passes the day on his own hillside, tending the
vine and marrying it to widowed trees. From this activity it
returns with wine and that will joyfully transport you to a place
at the tables of the Gods!
Having poured out a libation into a shallow dish, you will
present the wine with many prayers to your household Gods and
also, mindful of Grecian Castor and great Hercules, include with
this a nod in the direction of divine Caesar.
"O good leader" we say, early in the day, completely sober, "would
X. that you may keep long holidays with the sun in Western Lands!"
But, when completly drunk, we say, "with the sun under Oceanus!"
(IV,2) Whomsoever studies to emulate Pindar, Julius, is ascending on
wings having been smeared in wax with the help of Daedelus, and
is about to give a name to a glittering sea. Even as with a
mountain stream rushing down, storm lashed, you may swell over
Y. the limits of the banks within which, Pindar, with profound
voice, rushes on and reaches immeasurable depths, to be presented
with Apollo's laureate crown, having set free the restrictions
on poetical metres, whether he is rolling off an audacious
dithyramb or bringing in new words.
Or, while you will show the gods in a just light, he tells of the
gods' thirst for blood through which the Centaurs fell to death,
and the fire of the terrible Chimaera was put out. Or tells when
a superhuman athlete or horseman brings back home the Elean palm,
Z. to an emotional bride and presents her with a gift more precious
than a hundred statues. Or laments a golden natured youth torn
from life, and raises up the spirit to the skies and begrudges
the dark underworld.
A mighty wind elevates the Dircaean Swan. So often he reaches
into the heights, Antonius, having drawn away the veil of
clouds. I, in the style and manner of the Matinaean bee, sucking
out the nectar from the grateful thyme by the utmost labour,
AA. around the grove and the moist banks of Tibuli, in a small way,
I fashion painstaking poetry. When he drags the warlike Sygambri
along the Sacred Way, having been awarded a fitting laurel crown,
you, a much weightier poet, will sing the praises of Caesar with
lyrical poetry thus,
"The fates have not presented to the world at any time a greater
or better example of a good leader. Nor will they ever do so,
however much the ancient golden times return once more", and you
will also praise the festive day and of the city's public games,
AB. having obtained from above the return of brave Augustus and forum
free of contention. If I may say anything for the hearing when
the blessed one is approaching, it will be "Oh glorious sun" and
"Oh worthy to be praised." I may also say, sotto voce, "what a
fortunate Sygambrian withdrawal for Caesar!"
From you, when you go to meet him, a "hurrah for a Triumph!" We
will also say, "hurrah for a Triumph!", and not only once and we,
all the citizens, will offer incense to the kindly gods. From
you, ten bulls and just as many cows; from me, a tender bull
calf, which having been abandoned by the mother and growing to
AC. abundant youth on my grass, has been vowed and will be moving on.
With a crescent–like forehead to imitate the light of the new
moon, seeming to appear snow white, while in reality remaining a
dirty yellow, but restoring that heavenly body. So in that way
the ignominy will be covered up.
(IV,13) Lyce, the gods have heard my wish, they have heard Lyce. You are
made into an old woman, yet you wish to seem quite beautiful and
skittish. You drink shamelessly and once inebriated you sollicit
phlegmtic Cupid with tremulous song. You may be singing but he
keeps watch over clever Chia, blooming with fair cheeks. Unmoved
by shrivelled oaks, he hastily passes over and turns away from
you because of yellow teeth and because white hair and facial
wrinkles make you ugly.
Now no purple Coan garments nor expensive jewels bring back that
face to you, those arrogant marks which, once having been
established, fleeting time has enclosed, after it had taken away
AD. happy and wonderful Cinara from me. Alas! Where has that beauty
and demeanour gone? Where the becoming deportment? What have
you of her, of her who was the breathing passion for me? While
they were about to preserve Lyce too long, equal to the lifespan
of an aged crow, the Fates dedicated a brief span of life to
Cinara. So that passionate young men might be able to ponder
upon, not without grim irony , the ashes that might be made
of a beautiful body, disintegrated in a funeral pyre.
(IV,9) Not powerful, born by long, full sounding Aufidus, you may
believe that the words I speak, not having been made public
knowledge before,skillfully accompanied by plucked strings, are
AG. about to perish. If Maeonius Homer holds the prior seat, the
Muses of Pindar and Ceos and menacing Alcaeus and weighty
Stesichorus are not hidden from view; nor has time destroyed that
with which Anacreon amused himself; still the love of that
Aeolian maid breathes and the passions live, to be re–awakened by the lyre.
Not only Lacedaemonian Helen glowed with adulterous love, having
been dazzled by gold encrusted hair and vestments, the regal
bearing and attendants, or Teucer the first to direct an arrow
from a Cretan bow; nor Ilium shattered a single time; nor huge
AH. Idomeneus or Sthhenelus alone fought battles to be spoken of by
the Muses; nor courageous Hector or energetic Deiphobus the first
who endures a heavy blow on behalf of virtuous wives and
children. Many great men lived before Agamemnon; but all are
beset by endless night, unknown and unlamented, because they are
without a dedicated poet. Having been concealed within the
grave, little separates the courageous from the cowardly.
Lollius, I shall not be silent, my pages having been left
unadorned by you, nor will I suffer your many undertakings to
pass over with impunity into envious forgetfullness. For you the
AI. principle is to be very prudent in straightforward matters and
circumstances and to be favourable in doubtful matters and
circumstances, a protector of avaricious fraud, attracting and
retaining all bribes to himself and not even a consul of one
year! But how often has the good and also faithful judge brought
forward an honest verdict?. How often has he thrown back damaging
gifts with haughty mien, how often has he justified his actions
by standing against the opposition as a military hero? You would
rightfully call acquiring possessions by monetary fines as not
playing the game, he rightfully attains a name for playing the
game who learns to use the opportunities allowed by the Gods more
AJ. wisely and understands what it is to endure harsh poverty, not to
be afraid to die on behalf of beloved friends and country and to
fear dishonour worse than death.
(IV,7) Already the grass returns to the fields and the foliage to the
trees to disperse the snow; the earth mutates the interchange and
the rivers, decreasing their flow, pass by between their banks;
the Grace, with her twin born sisters and Nymphs, dares to lead
the choral dance unclothed. Time, by the hour, snatches away the
indulgent day and advises that you may not hope for immortality.
The coldness becomes milder with the Zephyrs, spring is driven
away by summer, about to perish, in the same way, when fruit–
bearing autumn will have poured forth its harvest and presently,
inactive winter hastens back. However the rapid wanings of the
moon restore the heavenly balance; we, as soon as we fall down,
to where dutiful Aeneas, whither wealthy Tullus and Ancus lie, we
are dust and insubstantial shadow. Who knows if the upper Gods
may apply tomorrow's time to the sum of today? For everything
which you may have given up to a dear friend, will escape the
AK. greedy hand of the heir. Torquatus, when once you are dead and
illustrious Minos will have made the judgement concerning you, no
family connection, no eloquence from you, no piety, will bring
you back again; for neither from the darkness of the infernal
AL. regions may Diana set free virtuous Hippolytus, nor is Theseus
strong enough to break dear Pirithous from Lethean bonds.
(IV,1) Venus, you renew the contest after having been suspended for a
long time. Mercy, I beg you, I entreat you. I am not of the kind
I once was, under the reign of sweet Cinara. Desist, strict
AM. Goddess of such sweet longings, to entice me now with gentle
commands, after ten hard lustrums.
Begone to where the flattering prayers of young men call for you.
More appropriately to the house of Paullus Maximus if you seek a
worthy area of passion to parch and where you will be carousing
AN. with fledgling purple swans.
Well known and fitting the part, unlikely to be silent before
such a suppliant but extremely rapturous; a youth of very many
artifices. Widely he will bear the banners of your service and
whenever rivals in love, more able to give abundant gifts,
conspire, he will triumph over them. He will build for you, near
the Alban Lake, a marble statue under a roof of citrus wood and
there you will inhale the very best incense and you will take
delight in the mixed music of the lyre and Berecynthian flute,
AO. not without the shepherds pipe. In that place you are remembered
twice daily; by maidens and young men, praising your majesty with
artless rhythm and shaking the ground repeatedly in the Salian
manner.
For me, now, neither woman nor youth nor credulous hope of mutual
attraction. It no longer pleases to wallow in unmixed wine nor
to bind the forehead with fresh blossoms. But why alas, why
Ligurinus, does an unexpected tear course down my cheek? Why
does the eloquent tongue I possess halt between words into
inadequate silence?
AP. Nightly in dreams, hard to the touch, I pursue you, winged, over
the grass of the Field of Mars! Now through the swirling
waters! Now, having taken possession, I hold you close!
(IV,10) O Ligurinus, still possessing the powerful gifts of Venus and
hitherto unfeeling. What will happen when the unexpected down on
the chin shall impinge upon your pride and the locks of hair,
which now float over the shoulder, will have fallen flat? The
complexion, which is now the pale pink of the first blossom on
the rose, having been changed, may have turned into a bristly
countenance? How often will you have seen the other you in the
mirror, exclaiming, "alas, what character is it today? Why not
the same boy as it was?". Or "why are these cheeks not restored
unblemished to physical perfection?"
(IV,12) Already Spring's attendants, the north winds of Thrace that
moderate the sea, impel the ship's sails; now the meadows are not
stiff nor the streams swollen with winter snow. Groaning
AQ. tearfully for Itys, the unhappy bird builds her nest, having
brought eternal disgrace to the race of birds and the house of
Cecrops because the barbarous lust of kings was improperly
avenged.
Attendants of the contented sheep in tender grass play songs upon
the shepherd's pipe to the delight of the Gods; to whom are such
AR. simple folk agreeable in the black hills of Arcadia? O Virgil,
to bring you back with a thirst for old times. However, having
been brought back to life with the juice of Bacchus pressed at
Cales, as a cherished client of young nobles, you will be needing
a wine well mixed with spikenard. The small onyx casket of nard
from the warehouse of Sulpicius, that now lies beside your place,
AS. will neutralize a wine jar. To make you renew everlasting hope
and to present an efficient cure to wash away unpleasantness.
If to which joyfullness you aspire, come for your swift reward, I
am pressing so much wine that there is plenty and I intend to
make it safe for you; I do not intend to imbue it with any
AT. poison of mine! Nevertheless, put aside the reckoning and be
mindful of the passage of time and of the darkness of death.
Insofar as it is allowed, mingle brief folly with the verdict of
the funeral pyres; it is sweet to be foolish at the right moment!
(IV,11) There is parsley in the garden, Phyllis, for fashioning a wreath;
it is very stylish with a wealth of ivy which, fastened behind
the hair by whatever means, will make you distinguished. For me a
full jar of Alban wine that is nine years old surpasses all.
The house glistens with silver, the spotless altar, having been
decorated with sacred branches, wishes to be sprinkled by the
sacrificed lamb! Everyone's hand is in rapid motion, to and fro
they run, a mixture of girls with boys. The flames are agitated,
rolling off filthy smoke in an eddy.
However, to which noteable occasion of ours will you be summoned?
The Ides are to be celebrated for you, the day which divides
April, the month of sea–born Venus. Almost, for me, a more solemn
occasion than being born, because, by a recent public law, my
AU. Maecenas must give a reckoning and make an account of his ongoing
activities. As Phaethon, having been scorched by lightning,
hastily abandons malicious intent, and the winged horse Pegasus,
AV. having to bear the terrifying Bellerophon. So you reach
towards young Telephus, not of your rank, whom a rich and wanton
AX. girl has taken possession and holds in a welcome binding shackle.
So that you should always follow that which is suitable for you
and further to hope for that which is not permitted only insofar
as it is allowed, by reflecting you may avoid a disparate match
Now, greatest of my loves, set matters in motion (for after
this for no other woman shall I be inflamed) learn thoroughly the
ways, that you may reawaken the loving voice; black cares will be
diminished with song.
(IV,8) Censorinus, I might present to my companions charming and
appropriate copper bowls, I might present sacred tripods, the
rewards of courageous Greeks, neither might you sequester the
meanest of valuables. If, that is, it is assumed I am endowed
with costly works of art which either Parrhasius or Scopas
created, this one in granite, that one in liquid colours; now to
portray a AE. man, now the skilful likeness of a God. But not
from me such manner of wealth, nor to you such things. Nor does
the spirit find need of such delights.
You rejoice in songs: we are able to tell the value of song and
make you a gift. Not stone monuments having been engraved with
public records, by which the breath of life is given back to
brave commanders after death, not the swift reversals of
Hannibal's threats and the rapid retreats, not the burning of
that godless Carthage. He who, having conquered, came back from
Africa, having won that name, to more illustrious praise than
the muses of Calbria would proclaim. Nor, unless the parchments
should be well silenced on what you may have done, would you have
AF. borne that proud name. What might have become of the son of Ilia
and Mars, if envious silence may have stood in the way of Romulus
having been deserved of merit?
Aecus, having been snatched from the Stygian waves, is dediccated
to the service of the Gods in the Blessed Isles by the virtue,
goodwill and influence of influential poets. The Muse forbids
the hero, endowed with praise, to die. The Muse ever bestows
immortality. So diligent Hercules is under the patronage of
Jupiter, elected to the table of the Gods. Castor and Pollux
rescue ships, shaken by storm, from the bottomless seas and the
temple having been adorned with sweet vine, Bacchus leads good
intentions astray.
(IV,6) O God, who the the offspring of Niobe and the ravisher, Tityos,
perceived as an avenger of brash claims, as did Phthian Achilles,
a near victor at ancient Troy greater than the rest. But, as a
warrior, no match for you, albeit a son of the sea–goddess
Thetis, so fond of fighting with terrible javelin, he might shake
the Dardanian towers. He, even as a pine tree having been struck
by biting steel or a cypress having been thrown to the ground by
the east wind, fell forward full length and placed the neck in
Trojan dust. He, would not have been enclosed within the horse,
invented as a sacrifice to Minerva so that it might improperly
deceive Troy into keeping holidays and the joyful court of Priam
to choral dancing. But, without concealment, heavy handed to
captives alas a horrible thing, a crime that he might have burned
helpless children with Greek fire in the name of the Gods even to
AY. mothers concealing in the womb. And, to which, the father of the
gods might yet have given his consent had not the magical powers
of yourself and beloved Venus have intervened for the interests
of Aeneas in building safer walls. Phoebus Apollo, lyrist
teacher of expressive Thalis, you who wash hair in the river
Xanthus, experienced protector of the streets, defend the
integrity of the prophesying muse of Daunia.
Apollo gave breath to me, the art of song and the name of poet.
Now, foremost among virgins and young men, having been born of
illustrious fathers; as the fleeting lynxes and stags, being held
together by the Delian Goddess, protected by the bowstring, keep
to the Lesbian rhythm and the striking of the strings of my lyre.
AZ. And, in the proper manner, celebrate the son of Latona as with a
torch rekindling the moonlight. To rotate the favourable months
of fruitfullness and swift prosperity. Then, married, you will
say, 'I, a friend of the poet Horace, attentive to the measures,
brought back benediction from the Gods.'