Horace: EPISTULAE

Cum tot sustineas et tanta negotia solus,
res Italas armis tuteris, moribus ornes,
legibus emendes, in publica commoda peccem
si longo sermone morer tua tempora, Caesar.
Romulus et Liber pater et cum Castore Pollux,

Since you alone sustain so many and so great businesses,
you safeguard Italian affairs by arms, you adorn them with morals,
you amend them by laws, I would offend against the public advantages
if with a long discourse I should delay your time, Caesar.
Romulus and Father Liber and, with Castor, Pollux,

post ingentia facta deorum in templa recepti,
dum terras hominumque colunt genus, aspera bella
componunt, agros adsignant, oppida condunt,
plorauere suis non respondere fauorem
speratum meritis. Diram qui contudit hydram

after mighty deeds, received into the temples of the gods,
while they cultivate the lands and the race of men, they settle harsh wars,
assign fields, found towns,
they wept that the favor hoped for did not respond to their merits.
he who crushed the dire Hydra

notaque fatali portenta labore subegit,
comperit inuidiam supremo fine domari.
Vrit enim fulgore suo qui praegrauat artes
infra se positas; extinctus amabitur idem.
Praesenti tibi maturos largimur honores

and the well-known portents he subdued by fated labor,
he discovered that envy is tamed by the supreme end.
For he burns by his own brilliance, he who outweighs the arts placed beneath him;
the same man, extinguished, will be loved.
To you, present, we lavish mature honors

iurandasque tuom per numen ponimus aras,
nil oriturum alias, nil ortum tale fatentes.
Sed tuus hic populus sapiens et iustus in uno
te nostris ducibus, te Grais anteferendo
cetera nequaquam simili ratione modoque

and we set up altars to be sworn by your numen,
acknowledging that nothing will arise elsewhere, nothing such has arisen.
But your people here, wise and just in one respect,
by preferring you to our leaders, you to the Greeks,
the rest by no means with similar reason and mode

aestimat et, nisi quae terris semota suisque
temporibus defuncta uidet, fastidit et odit,
sic fautor ueterum ut tabulas peccare uetantis,
quas bis quinque uiri sanxerunt, foedera regum
uel Gabiis uel cum rigidis aequata Sabinis,

he estimates and, unless he sees things removed from the lands and defunct of their own times, he is fastidious and hates them,
so a favorer of the ancients that the Tables forbidding to sin,
which the twice-five men sanctioned, the treaties of kings
either at Gabii or equated with the rigid Sabines,

pontificum libros, annosa uolumina uatum
dictitet Albano Musas in monte locutas.
Si, quia Graiorum sunt antiquissima quaeque
scripta uel optima, Romani pensantur eadem
scriptores trutina, non est quod multa loquamur:

let him keep asserting the books of the pontiffs, the time-worn volumes of bards,
that the Muses spoke on the Alban Mount.
If, because among the Greeks whatever writings are the most ancient or the best,
the Roman writers are weighed on the same balance,
there is no need for us to say much:

nihil intra est oleam, nil extra est in nuce duri;
uenimus ad summum fortunae: pingimus atque
psallimus et luctamur Achiuis doctius unctis.
Si meliora dies, ut uina, poemata reddit,
scire uelim chartis pretium quotus adroget annus.

there is nothing inside the olive, nothing hard outside the nut;
we have come to the summit of fortune: we paint and we play the lyre and we wrestle more skillfully than the greased Achaeans.
If day, like wines, renders poems better,
I would wish to know how many years would add a price to the papers.

Scriptor abhinc annos centum qui decidit, inter
perfectos ueteresque referri debet an inter
uilis atque nouos? Excludat iurgia finis.
'Est uetus atque probus centum qui perficit annos.'
Quid?

An author who died a hundred years ago—should he be referred among the perfected and the ancients or among the cheap and the new? Let the finish exclude quarrels.
'He is ancient and approved who completes a hundred years.'
What?

Qui deperiit minor uno mense uel anno,

Who has perished short by one month or by a year,

inter quos referendus erit? Veteresne poetas
an quos et praesens et postera respuat aetas?
'Iste quidem ueteres inter ponetur honeste
qui uel mense breui uel toto est iunior anno.'
Vtor permisso caudaeque pilos ut equinae

among whom will he have to be listed? Among the ancient poets
or with those whom both the present and the following age rejects?
'This man indeed will be placed honorably among the ancients
who is junior by either a brief month or by a whole year.'
I use the permission and, as the hairs of a horse’s tail

paulatim uello et demo unum, demo etiam unum,
dum cadat elusus ratione ruentis acerui
qui redit in fastos et uirtutem aestimat annis
miraturque nihil, nisi quod Libitina sacrauit.
Ennius, et sapiens et fortis et alter Homerus,

gradually I pluck and remove one, I remove even one,
until, beguiled by the reasoning of the collapsing heap, it falls,
the sort who resorts to the fasti and estimates virtue by years,
and marvels at nothing except what Libitina has consecrated.
Ennius, both wise and brave and another Homer,

ut critici dicunt, leuiter curare uidetur
quo promissa cadant et somnia Pythagorea.
Naeuius in manibus non est et mentibus haeret
paene recens? Adeo sanctum est uetus omne poema.
Ambigitur quotiens uter utro sit prior, aufert

as the critics say, he seems to care lightly
where the promises may fall and the Pythagorean dreams.
Is not Naevius in our hands and clinging in our minds
almost fresh? To such a degree every old poem is sacrosanct.
Whenever it is disputed which of the two is prior to the other, he carries it off

Paccuuius docti famam senis, Accius alti,
dicitur Afrani toga conuenisse Menandro,
Plautus ad exemplar Siculi properare Epicharmi,
uincere Caecilius grauitate, Terentius arte.
Hos ediscit et hos arto stipata theatro

Pacuvius has the fame of a learned old man, Accius of the lofty;
it is said that Afranius’s toga suited Menander;
Plautus hastens toward the exemplar of the Sicilian Epicharmus;
Caecilius surpasses in gravity, Terence in art.
These it learns by heart—and these—the throng packed in a cramped theater

spectat Roma potens; habet hos numeratque poetas
ad nostrum tempus Liui scriptoris ab aeuo.
Interdum uolgus rectum uidet, est ubi peccat.
Si ueteres ita miratur laudatque poetas
ut nihil anteferat, nihil illis comparet, errat;

powerful Rome looks on; she has and numbers these poets
down to our time from the age of Livius the writer.
Sometimes the crowd sees the right; there are times when it errs.
If it so marvels at and lauds the ancient poets
that it prefers nothing before them, compares nothing with them, it errs;

si quaedam nimis antique, si pleraque dure
dicere credit eos, ignaue multa fatetur,
et sapit et mecum facit et Ioue iudicat aequo.
Non equidem insector delendaue carmina Liui
esse reor, memini quae plagosum mihi paruo

if he thinks certain things too antique, if he believes them to say most things harshly,
he candidly admits many points, and he shows taste and acts with me and judges with equitable Jove.
Not indeed do I pursue nor do I think the songs of Livius must be destroyed;
I remember the things which the flogging schoolmaster to me when small

Orbilium dictare; sed emendata uideri
pulchraque et exactis minimum distantia miror.
Inter quae uerbum emicuit si forte decorum,
si uersus paulo concinnior unus et alter,
iniuste totum ducit uenditque poema.

Orbilius to dictate; but I marvel that they seem emended and fair, and to differ by the least from exact pieces.
Among which, if by chance a decorous word flashed forth,
if one verse or another is a little more concinnate,
unjustly he parades and sells the whole poem.

Indignor quicquam reprehendi, non quia crasse
compositum inlepideue putetur, sed quia nuper,
nec ueniam antiquis, sed honorem et praemia posci.
Recte necne crocum floresque perambulet Attae
fabula si dubitem, clament periisse pudorem

I am indignant that anything is reprehended, not because it is thought
to be crudely composed or inelegant, but because it is recent,
and that not indulgence for the ancients, but honor and rewards are demanded.
Whether rightly or not Atta’s play perambulates in saffron and flowers
if I should doubt, let them shout that shame has perished.

cuncti paene patres, ea cum reprehendere coner
quae grauis Aesopus, quae doctus Roscius egit,
uel quia nil rectum, nisi quod placuit sibi, ducunt,
uel quia turpe putant parere minoribus et, quae
inberbes didicere, senes perdenda fateri.

almost all the fathers, when I try to censure those things
which grave Aesopus, which learned Roscius performed,
either because they deem nothing rectum except what has pleased themselves,
or because they think it shameful to obey their juniors, and that the things
which, beardless, they learned, as old men they must confess are to be discarded.

Iam Saliare Numae carmen qui laudat, et illud
quod mecum ignorat solus uolt scire uideri,
ingeniis non ille fauet plauditque sepultis,
nostra sed inpugnat, nos nostraque liuidus odit.
Quodsi tam Graecis nouitas inuisa fuisset

Now the man who praises Numa’s Saliarian song, and that piece
which, though he is ignorant of it together with me, wants to seem to know it alone,
he does not favor genius and he applauds the sepulchred,
but he impugns our works, and, livid, hates us and our own.
But if novelty had been so hateful to the Greeks

quam nobis, quid nunc esset uetus? Aut quid haberet
quod legeret tereretque uiritim publicus usus?
Vt primum positis nugari Graecia bellis
coepit et in uitium fortuna labier aequa,
nunc athletarum studiis, nunc arsit equorum,

than to us, what would now be old? Or what would public use, man by man, have to read and to wear threadbare? As soon as Greece, wars laid aside, began to trifle, and equal Fortune began to lapse into vice, now with enthusiasms for athletes, now it burned for horses,

marmoris aut eboris fabros aut aeris amauit,
suspendit picta uoltum mentemque tabella,
nunc tibicinibus, nunc est gauisa tragoedis;
sub nutrice puella uelut si luderet infans,
quod cupide petiit mature plena reliquit.

it loved craftsmen of marble or ivory or bronze,
it hung its face and mind upon a painted panel,
now it has rejoiced in flute-players, now in tragedians;
like a girl under her nurse, as if an infant were playing,
what it eagerly sought, when full-grown, it promptly left.

100

Quid placet aut odio est, quod non mutabile credas?
Hoc paces habuere bonae uentique secundi.
Romae dulce diu fuit et sollemne reclusa
mane domo uigilare, clienti promere iura,
cautos nominibus rectis expendere nummos,

What is pleasing or is in hatred, which you would not believe mutable?
This both good peaces and favorable winds have enjoyed.
At Rome it was sweet for a long time and customary, with the house unbarred in the morning,
to keep watch, to set forth the rights for a client,
to weigh out coins cautiously on correct accounts,

105

maiores audire, minori dicere per quae
crescere res posset, minui damnosa libido.
Mutauit mentem populus leuis et calet uno
scribendi studio; pueri patresque seueri
fronde comas uincti cenant et carmina dictant.

to hear the elders, to tell the junior by what things the estate could grow, the damaging libido be diminished.
The fickle populace has changed its mind and burns with one zeal for writing; boys and even stern fathers,
with foliage binding their hair, dine and dictate songs.

110

Ipse ego, qui nullos me adfirmo scribere uersus,
inuenior Parthis mendacior et prius orto
sole uigil calamum et chartas et scrinia posco.
Nauim agere ignarus nauis timet; habrotonum aegro
non audet nisi qui didicit dare; quod medicorum est

I myself, who affirm that I write no verses,
am found more mendacious than the Parthians, and before the sun has risen
wakeful I ask for the reed-pen and papers and writing-cases.
He who is ignorant to steer a ship is afraid of the ship; habrotonum for a sick man
no one dares to give except he who has learned; what pertains to physicians

115

promittunt medici; tractant fabrilia fabri:
scribimus indocti doctique poemata passim.
Hic error tamen et leuis haec insania quantas
uirtutes habeat, sic collige: uatis auarus
non temere est animus; uersus amat, hoc studet unum;

physicians promise; smiths handle smith‑work:
we, unlearned and learned, write poems everywhere.
This error, however, and this light insanity, how great
virtues it has, gather thus: a poet’s mind is not readily avaricious;
he loves verses; this one thing he studies.

120

detrimenta, fugas seruorum, incendia ridet;
non fraudem socio pueroue incogitat ullam
pupillo; uiuit siliquis et pane secundo;
militiae quamquam piger et malus, utilis urbi,
si das hoc, paruis quoque rebus magna iuuari.

he laughs at losses, at flights of slaves, at fires;
he does not contrive any fraud against a partner or any ward;
he lives on pods and second-rate bread;
although sluggish and bad for soldiering, he is useful to the city,
if you grant this, that great things too are helped by small things.

125

Os tenerum pueri balbumque poeta figurat,
torquet ab obscenis iam nunc sermonibus aurem,
mox etiam pectus praeceptis format amicis,
asperitatis et inuidiae corrector et irae,
recte facta refert, orientia tempora notis

The poet shapes the tender mouth of the boy and his stammering,
he turns the ear away from obscene discourses already now,
soon too he forms the heart with friendly precepts,
a corrector of harshness and envy and of anger,
he recounts right deeds, he marks the dawning times with notes

130

instruit exemplis, inopem solatur et aegrum.
Castis cum pueris ignara puella mariti
disceret unde preces, uatem ni Musa dedisset?
Poscit opem chorus et praesentia numina sentit,
caelestis implorat aquas docta prece blandus,

he instructs with examples, he consoles the needy and the sick.
together with chaste boys, the maiden ignorant of a husband—whence would she learn prayers, if the Muse had not given a vates?
the chorus asks for aid and senses present numina,
and, with learned prayer, winsomely implores heavenly waters,

135

auertit morbos, metuenda pericula pellit,
impetrat et pacem et locupletem frugibus annum;
carmine di superi placantur, carmine Manes.
Agricolae prisci, fortes paruoque beati,
condita post frumenta leuantes tempore festo

he averts diseases, he drives away dread perils,
he obtains both peace and a year opulent in produce;
by song the gods above are placated, by song the Manes.
the ancient farmers, stout and blessed with little,
having stored their grain, lightening their burdens at a festive time

140

corpus et ipsum animum spe finis dura ferentem,
cum sociis operum pueris et coniuge fida
Tellurem porco, Siluanum lacte piabant,
floribus et uino Genium memorem breuis aeui.
Fescennina per hunc inuenta licentia morem

the body and the soul itself, bearing hard things with hope of an end,
with their comrades of labors, the boys and the faithful spouse,
they would propitiate Earth with a pig, Silvanus with milk,
and with flowers and wine the Genius mindful of brief age.
through this custom the Fescennine license was invented

145

uersibus alternis opprobria rustica fudit,
libertasque recurrentis accepta per annos
lusit amabiliter, donec iam saeuos apertam
in rabiem coepit uerti iocus et per honestas
ire domos impune minax. Doluere cruento

in alternating verses it poured forth rustic reproaches,
and the liberty, accepted through recurring years,
played amiably, until now the jest began to turn savage
into open rage and to go through honorable homes
menacing with impunity. They grieved at the bloody

150

dente lacessiti, fuit intactis quoque cura
condicione super communi; quin etiam lex
poenaque lata, malo quae nollet carmine quemquam
describi; uertere modum, formidine fustis
ad bene dicendum delectandumque redacti.

stung by the tooth, there was concern even for the untouched
about the common condition; nay even a law
and penalty were passed, which would not wish anyone to be described
by an evil song; they changed the mode, by fear of the cudgel
brought back to speaking well and to delighting.

155

Graecia capta ferum uictorem cepit et artes
intulit agresti Latio; sic horridus ille
defluxit numerus Saturnius, et graue uirus
munditiae pepulere; sed in longum tamen aeuum
manserunt hodieque manent uestigia ruris.

Captured Greece captured her savage victor and brought the arts into rustic Latium; thus that rough Saturnian number ebbed away, and refinements drove out the heavy taint; but yet through a long age there remained, and even today remain, traces of the countryside.

160

Serus enim Graecis admouit acumina chartis
et post Punica bella quietus quaerere coepit,
quid Sophocles et Thespis et Aeschylos utile ferrent.
Temptauit quoque rem si digne uertere posset,
et placuit sibi, natura sublimis et acer;

For late indeed he applied his acumen to Greek writings,
and after the Punic wars, at leisure, he began to inquire
what Sophocles and Thespis and Aeschylus might bring of use.
He also attempted the matter, whether he could translate it worthily,
and it pleased him, sublime and acute by nature;

165

nam spirat tragicum satis et feliciter audet,
sed turpem putat inscite metuitque lituram.
Creditur, ex medio quia res arcessit, habere
sudoris minimum, sed habet comoedia tanto
plus oneris, quanto ueniae minus. Aspice, Plautus

for he breathes the tragic enough and dares successfully,
but, unwisely, he thinks the erasure disgraceful and fears it.
It is believed, because he summons his matter from the midst, to have the least sweat,
but comedy has so much more burden, as it has less indulgence. Look, Plautus

170

quo pacto partis tutetur amantis ephebi,
ut patris attenti, lenonis ut insidiosi,
quantus sit Dossennus edacibus in parasitis,
quam non adstricto percurrat pulpita socco;
gestit enim nummum in loculos demittere, post hoc

how he keeps to the parts of a loving ephebe,
as that of an attentive father, as that of an insidious pimp,
how great Dossennus is among ravenous parasites,
how he runs across the stage with a not‑tightened soccus;
for he is eager to drop coin into his little pockets; after this

175

securus, cadat an recto stet fabula talo.
Quem tulit ad scaenam uentoso Gloria curru
exanimat lentus spectator, sedulus inflat;
sic leue, sic paruum est animum quod laudis auarum
subruit aut reficit. Valeat res ludicra, si me

secure, whether the play fall or stand on a straight talus.
whom Glory carried to the stage on a windy chariot
the sluggish spectator deflates, the assiduous inflates;
so light, so small is the thing that subverts or refits a spirit greedy for praise.
let the stage-business prosper, if me

180

palma negata macrum, donata reducit opimum.
Saepe etiam audacem fugat hoc terretque poetam,
quod numero plures, uirtute et honore minores,
indocti stolidique et depugnare parati
si discordet eques, media inter carmina poscunt

the palm refused makes him lean; granted, it brings him back opulent.
This too often puts to flight and frightens even the bold poet,
because though more numerous in number, yet lesser in virtue and honor,
unlearned and stolid and ready to fight it out,
if the equestrian dissents, in the middle of the songs they demand

185

aut ursum aut pugiles; his nam plebecula gaudet.
Verum equitis quoque iam migrauit ab aure uoluptas
omnis ad incertos oculos et gaudia uana.
Quattuor aut pluris aulaea premuntur in horas
dum fugiunt equitum turmae peditumque cateruae;

or a bear or boxers; for in these the plebeian rabble delights.
But indeed the pleasure of the equestrian too has now migrated from the ear
entirely to wandering eyes and to empty joys.
Four or more stage-curtains are kept pressed down for hours
while squadrons of horsemen and companies of foot soldiers take to flight;

190

mox trahitur manibus regum fortuna retortis,
esseda festinant, pilenta, petorrita, naues,
captiuum portatur ebur, captiua Corinthus.
Si foret in terris, rideret Democritus, seu
diuersum confusa genus panthera camelo

soon the fortune of kings is dragged, with hands twisted behind their backs,
war-chariots hurry, carriages, four-wheeled wagons, ships,
captive ivory is carried, captive Corinth.
If he were on earth, Democritus would laugh, whether
a panther, a confusedly diverse kind, with a camel

195

siue elephans albus uolgi conuerteret ora;
spectaret populum ludis attentius ipsis
ut sibi praebentem nimio spectacula plura;
scriptores autem narrare putaret asello
fabellam surdo. Nam quae peruincere uoces

or if a white elephant would turn the faces of the crowd;
he would watch the people more attentively than the games themselves
as offering to him by far too many spectacles;
and he would suppose the writers were telling a little fable to a deaf little donkey.
for what voices could prevail

200

eualuere sonum, referunt quem nostra theatra?
Garganum mugire putes nemus aut mare Tuscum,
tanto cum strepitu ludi spectantur et artes
diuitiaeque peregrinae, quibus oblitus actor
cum stetit in scaena, concurrit dextera laeuae.

what voices have the strength to overcome the sound that our theatres echo?
you would think the Garganian grove bellows, or the Tuscan sea,
when with such a din the games are watched, and the arts
and foreign riches, at which, forgetful, the actor,
when he has stood on the stage, his right hand runs to meet the left.

205

Dixit adhuc aliquid? Nil sane. Quid placet ergo?

Has he said anything thus far? Nothing indeed. What, therefore, is your pleasure?

Lana Tarentino uiolas imitata ueneno.
Ac ne forte putes me, quae facere ipse recusem,
cum recte tractent alii, laudare maligne,
ille per extentum funem mihi posse uidetur

Wool, imitating violets with Tarentine dye.
And lest perchance you think that I, which to do I myself refuse,
while others treat it rightly, praise it malignly,
that fellow seems to me able to go along a stretched rope

210

ire poeta meum qui pectus inaniter angit,
inritat, mulcet, falsis terroribus implet,
ut magus, et modo me Thebis, modo ponit Athenis.
Verum age et his, qui se lectori credere malunt
quam spectatoris fastidia ferre superbi,

to go, the poet who vainly pinches my breast,
irritates, soothes, fills with false terrors,
like a magus, and now sets me in Thebes, now places me in Athens.
But come, and for these, who prefer to entrust themselves to a reader
rather than to bear the fastidiousness of a proud spectator,

215

curam redde breuem, si munus Apolline dignum
uis complere libris et uatibus addere calcar,
ut studio maiore petant Helicona uirentem.
Multa quidem nobis facimus mala saepe poetae
(ut uineta egomet caedam mea), cum tibi librum

make the concern brief, if you wish to complete an office worthy of Apollo and to add a spur to books and to the vates, so that with greater zeal they may seek verdant Helicon.
Many indeed harms we poets often do to ourselves
(as though I myself were cutting down my own vineyards), when to you a book

220

sollicito damus aut fesso; cum laedimur, unum
si quis amicorum est ausus reprehendere uersum;
cum loca iam recitata reuoluimus inreuocati;
cum lamentamur non apparere labores
nostros et tenui deducta poemata filo;

we give (a reading) to one anxious or to one weary; we are hurt, if any one of our friends has dared to reprehend a single verse; when, unrecalled, we roll back passages already recited; when we lament that our labors do not appear and that our poems have been drawn out on a slender thread;

225

cum speramus eo rem uenturam ut, simul atque
carmina rescieris non fingere, commodus ultro
arcessas et egere uetes et scribere cogas.
Sed tamen est operae pretium cognoscere qualis
aedituos habeat belli spectata domique

when we hope the matter will come to this point, that, as soon as
you have learned that the songs do not feign, you, obliging, will unbidden
summon us and forbid us to be in want and compel us to write.
But yet it is worth the effort to learn what sort of custodians
virtue, proven in war and at home, has

230

uirtus, indigno non committenda poetae.
Gratus Alexandro regi Magno fuit ille
Choerilos, incultis qui uersibus et male natis
rettulit acceptos, regale nomisma, Philippos.
Sed ueluti tractata notam labemque remittunt

virtue, not to be entrusted to an unworthy poet.
Pleasing to Alexander the Great king was that
Choerilus, who with uncultivated and ill-born verses
brought back, as received, the royal nomisma, the Philippi.
But just as things handled give back a mark and a blemish

235

attramenta, fere scriptores carmine foedo
splendida facta linunt. Idem rex ille, poema
qui tam ridiculum tam care prodigus emit,
edicto uetuit nequis se praeter Apellen
pingeret aut alius Lysippo duceret aera

inks: generally writers with foul song
smear splendid deeds. That same king, a poem
which so ridiculous, so dearly, he prodigally bought,
by an edict forbade that anyone besides Apelles
paint him or that anyone other than Lysippus draw out the bronze

240

fortis Alexandri uoltum simulantia. Quodsi
iudicium subtile uidendis artibus illud
ad libros et ad haec Musarum dona uocares,
Boeotum in crasso iurares aere natum.
At neque dedecorant tua de se iudicia atque

things resembling the countenance of brave Alexander. But if
you were to summon that subtle judgment, for viewing the arts,
to books and to these gifts of the Muses,
you would swear he was born in the thick air of the Boeotians.
But neither do your judgments about them disgrace you and

245

munera, quae multa dantis cum laude tulerunt
dilecti tibi Vergilius Variusque poetae,
nec magis expressi uoltus per aenea signa
quam per uatis opus mores animique uirorum
clarorum apparent. Nec sermones ego mallem

gifts, which brought much praise to the givers,
the poets Vergilius and Varius, beloved to you,
nor are faces more expressed through bronze statues
than through the poet’s work the characters and spirits of famous men
appear. Nor would I prefer conversations

250

repentis per humum quam res componere gestas
terrarumque situs et flumina dicere et arces
montibus impositas et barbara regna tuisque
auspiciis totum confecta duella per orbem,
claustraque custodem pacis cohibentia Ianum

creeping along the ground rather than to compose the deeds accomplished, and to tell the sites of lands and the rivers and the citadels imposed upon mountains, and the barbarian realms and, under your auspices, the wars completed throughout the whole orb, and the bars restraining Janus, the guardian of peace

255

et formidatam Parthis te principe Romam,
si, quantum cuperem, possem quoque; sed neque paruom
carmen maiestas recipit tua, nec meus audet
rem temptare pudor, quam uires ferre recusent.
Sedulitas autem stulte quem diligit urget,

and Rome, feared by the Parthians with you as leader,
if, as much as I would desire, I could also; but neither does your majesty
receive a small song, nor does my modesty dare
to attempt a matter which my powers refuse to bear.
Sedulity, however, foolishly presses the one whom it loves,

260

praecipue cum se numeris commendat et arte;
discit enim citius meminitque libentius illud
quod quis deridet quam quod probat et ueneratur.
Nil moror officium quod me grauat, ac neque ficto
in peius uoltu proponi cereus usquam

especially when it commends itself by its numbers and its art;
for one learns more quickly and remembers more willingly that
which one derides than that which one approves and venerates.
I do not concern myself with a duty that burdens me, nor, with a feigned
face for the worse, to be exhibited anywhere wax-like.

265

nec praue factis decorari uersibus opto,
ne rubeam pingui donatus munere et una
cum scriptore meo capsa porrectus operta
deferar in uicum uendentem tus et odores
et piper et quicquid chartis amicitur ineptis.

nor do I wish to be decorated by verses for crooked deeds,
lest I blush, presented with a fat gift, and, together
with my scribe, with a covered book-box (capsa) proffered,
be carried off to the alley selling incense and odors
and pepper and whatever is wrapped in inept papers.

270

Flore, bono claroque fidelis amice Neroni,
siquis forte uelit puerum tibi uendere natum
Tibure uel Gabiis et tecum sic agat: 'Hic et
candidus et talos a uertice pulcher ad imos
fiet eritque tuus nummorum milibus octo,

Florus, faithful friend to good and illustrious Nero,
if by chance someone should wish to sell you a boy born
at Tibur or at Gabii and should thus deal with you: ‘This one is
fair and handsome from the crown to the lowest ankles,
he will become and be yours for eight thousand coins,

uerna ministeriis ad nutus aptus erilis,
litterulis Graecis inbutus, idoneus arti
cuilibet; argilla quiduis imitaberis uda;
quin etiam canet indoctum, sed dulce bibenti.
Multa fidem promissa leuant, ubi plenius aequo

a homeborn slave, apt for the master’s services at his nod,
imbued with little Greek letters, suitable for any art whatsoever;
with moist clay you will imitate whatever you please;
nay even he will sing, untaught, yet sweet to the drinker.
Many promises lighten credibility, when more fully than is fair

laudat uenalis qui uolt extrudere merces.
Res urget me nulla; meo sum pauper in aere.
Nemo hoc mangonum faceret tibi; non temere a me
quiuis ferret idem. Semel hic cessauit et, ut fit,
in scalis latuit metuens pendentis habenae';

He who wants to push out his merchandise praises what is for sale.
No affair urges me; I am poor on my own coin.
None of the mongers would do this for you; nor lightly from me
would just anyone carry off the same. Once this fellow idled and, as happens,
he hid on the stairs, fearing the hanging strap';

des nummos, excepta nihil te si fuga laedit,
ille ferat pretium poenae securus, opinor.
Prudens emisti uitiosum, dicta tibi est lex;
insequeris tamen hunc et lite moraris iniqua?
Dixi me pigrum proficiscenti tibi, dixi

pay the coins, if, flight excepted, nothing injures you;
let him bear the price of the penalty secure, I suppose.
Forewarned, you bought a defective one; the law was stated to you;
yet do you pursue this fellow and delay him with iniquitous litigation?
I said I was sluggish to you as you were setting out, I said

talibus officiis prope mancum, ne mea saeuos
iurgares ad te quod epistula nulla rediret.
Quid tum profeci, mecum facientia iura
si tamen adtemptas? Quereris super hoc etiam quod
expectata tibi non mittam carmina mendax.

by such offices left almost maimed, lest you might angrily
quarrel that no epistle of mine returned to you.
What then have I accomplished, if, though the rights are with me,
you nevertheless attempt me? You complain over this also, that
I do not send to you the awaited songs—mendacious.

Luculli miles collecta uiatica multis
aerumnis, lassus dum noctu stertit, ad assem
perdiderat; post hoc uehemens lupus, et sibi et hosti
iratus pariter, ieiunis dentibus acer,
praesidium regale loco deiecit, ut aiunt,

A soldier of Lucullus, his viaticum collected with many hardships, while weary he snored at night, had lost it to the as; after this a vehement wolf, angry alike at himself and at his enemy, keen with fasting teeth, cast down the royal garrison from its position, as they say,

summe munito et multarum diuite rerum.
Clarus ob id factum donis ornatur honestis,
accipit et bis dena super sestertia nummum.
Forte sub hoc tempus castellum euertere praetor
nescio quod cupiens hortari coepit eundem

most strongly fortified and rich in many resources.
Famous on account of that deed, he is adorned with honorable gifts,
and he also receives, besides, 20,000 sesterces in coin.
By chance about this time the praetor, wishing to overthrow I know not what little fort,
began to exhort that same man

uerbis quae timido quoque possent addere mentem;
'I, bone, quo uirtus tua te uocat, i pede fausto,
grandia laturus meritorum praemia. Quid stas?'
Post haec ille catus, quantumuis rusticus: 'Ibit,
ibit eo, quo uis, qui zonam perdidit' inquit.

with words which could add heart even to a timid man;
'Go, good fellow, where your virtue calls you; go with an auspicious foot,
about to bear the great rewards of your merits. Why do you stand?'
After this he, shrewd, however rustic: 'He will go, he will go where you wish, the one who has lost his belt,' he said.

Romae nutriri mihi contigit atque doceri
iratus Grais quantum nocuisset Achilles.
Adiecere bonae paulo plus artis Athenae,
scilicet ut uellem curuo dinoscere rectum
atque inter siluas Academi quaerere uerum.

At Rome it befell me to be nourished and to be taught
how much Achilles, irate at the Greeks, had harmed them.
Kindly Athens added a little more of art,
namely that I should wish to discern the straight from the curved
and to seek the truth amid the groves of the Academy.

Dura sed emouere loco me tempora grato
ciuilisque rudem belli tulit aestus in arma
Caesaris Augusti non responsura lacertis.
Vnde simul primum me dimisere Philippi,
decisis humilem pinnis inopemque paterni

But harsh times removed me from a pleasant place,
and the heat of civil war bore me, raw to war, into arms
not to respond to the sinews of Caesar Augustus.
Whence, as soon as Philippi dismissed me,
with my pinions cut, lowly and destitute of my paternal inheritance

et laris et fundi paupertas impulit audax
ut uersus facerem; sed quod non desit habentem
quae poterunt umquam satis expurgare cicutae,
ni melius dormire putem quam scribere uersus?
Singula de nobis anni praedantur euntes;

and the bold poverty of hearth and farm drove me to make verses; but what that is not lacking to one who has it will hemlocks ever be able sufficiently to expurgate, unless I should think it better to sleep than to write verses?
One by one the years, as they go, plunder from us;

eripuere iocos, uenerem, conuiuia, ludum;
tendunt extorquere poemata; quid faciam uis?
Denique non omnes eadem mirantur amantque;
carmine tu gaudes, hic delectatur iambis,
ille Bioneis sermonibus et sale nigro.

they have snatched away jests, venery, convivial banquets, play;
they strain to extort poems; what do you wish me to do?
finally not all admire and love the same things;
you rejoice in song, this man is delighted with iambics,
that one with Bionian discourses and black salt.

Tres mihi conuiuae prope dissentire uidentur,
poscentes uario multum diuersa palato.
Quis dem? Quid non dem?

Three guests to me seem almost to dissent,
demanding very different things with a varied palate.
To whom shall I give? What shall I not give?

Renuis quod tu, iubet alter;
quod petis, id sane est inuisum acidumque duobus.
Praeter cetera me Romaene poemata censes

What you refuse, another commands;
what you seek is indeed odious and acid to both.
Besides the rest, do you reckon my poems Roman?

scribere posse inter tot curas totque labores?
Hic sponsum uocat, hic auditum scripta, relictis
omnibus officiis; cubat hic in colle Quirini,
hic extremo in Auentino, uisendus uterque;
interualla uides humane commoda. 'Verum

to be able to write amid so many cares and so many labors?
Here he calls to a betrothal, here to have writings heard, all duties left behind;
here he reclines on the hill of Quirinus,
here at the far end on the Aventine, each to be visited;
you see the intervals humanely commodious. 'But

purae sunt plateae, nihil ut meditantibus obstet.'
Festinat calidus mulis gerulisque redemptor,
torquet nunc lapidem, nunc ingens machina tignum,
tristia robustis luctantur funera plaustris,
hac rabiosa fugit canis, hac lutulenta ruit sus;

the streets are clean, so that nothing hinders those meditating.'
the hot-headed contractor hastens with mules and porters,
now he turns a stone, now a huge machine a beam,
somber funerals struggle with sturdy wagons,
this way a rabid dog flees, this way a muddy sow rushes;

i nunc et uersus tecum meditare canoros.
Scriptorum chorus omnis amat nemus et fugit urbem,
rite cliens Bacchi somno gaudentis et umbra;
tu me inter strepitus nocturnos atque diurnos
uis canere et contracta sequi uestigia uatum?

go now and rehearse melodious verses to yourself.
the whole chorus of writers loves the grove and flees the city,
duly a client of Bacchus rejoicing in sleep and shade;
you want me amid the nocturnal and diurnal racket
to sing and to follow the cramped foot-tracks of the bards?

Ingenium, sibi quod uacuas desumpsit Athenas
et studiis annos septem dedit insenuitque
libris et curis, statua taciturnius exit
plerumque et risu populum quatit: hic ego, rerum
fluctibus in mediis et tempestatibus urbis,

Talent, which has chosen for itself vacant Athens
and has given seven years to studies and has grown old
in books and cares, for the most part comes forth more taciturn than a statue
and with laughter shakes the people: here I, in the midst
of the billows of affairs and the tempests of the city,

uerba lyrae motura sonum conectere digner?
Frater erat Romae consulti rhetor, ut alter
alterius sermone meros audiret honores,
Gracchus ut hic illi, foret huic ut Mucius ille.
Qui minus argutos uexat furor iste poetas?

Should I deem myself worthy to connect words to the lyre, to set sound in motion?
There was at Rome a rhetor, brother of a jurisconsult, so that the one
by the discourse of the other might hear pure honors,
as this man was to him a Gracchus, so that that man would be to this one a Mucius.
Why does that frenzy vex the acute poets any less?

Carmina compono, hic elegos, 'mirabile uisu
caelatumque nouem Musis opus.' Aspice primum
quanto cum fastu, quanto molimine circum
spectemus uacuam Romanis uatibus aedem;
mox etiam, si forte uacas, sequere et procul audi

I compose songs, here elegies, 'marvelous to see and a work chased for the nine Muses.' Look first
with how much haughtiness, with how great an exertion we gaze all around
at the temple empty of Roman bards; soon also, if perchance you are at leisure, follow and listen from afar

quid ferat et qua re sibi nectat uterque coronam.
Caedimur et totidem plagis consumimus hostem,
lento Samnites ad lumina prima duello.
Discedo Alcaeus puncto illius; ille meo quis?

what each brings and for what reason each binds for himself a crown.
We are cut down and with just as many blows we consume the enemy,
like Samnites in a sluggish duel till first light.
I come off an Alcaeus by his point; he by mine—who?

Quis nisi Callimachus? Si plus adposcere uisus,

Who but Callimachus? If he seemed to demand more,

100

fit Mimnermus et optiuo cognomine crescit.
Multa fero ut placem genus inritabile uatum,
cum scribo et supplex populi suffragia capto;
idem finitis studiis et mente recepta
opturem patulas impune legentibus auris.

he becomes Mimnermus and grows with an elective cognomen.
I bear many things in order to please the irritable race of poets,
when I write and, a suppliant, I seize the people’s suffrages;
likewise, when my studies are finished and my mind recovered,
I would stop up wide-open ears for readers with impunity.

105

Ridentur mala qui componunt carmina; uerum
gaudent scribentes et se uenerantur et ultro,
si taceas, laudant quicquid scripsere beati.
At qui legitimum cupiet fecisse poema,
cum tabulis animum censoris sumet honesti;

Those who compose bad songs are laughed at; but truly
the writers rejoice and venerate themselves and, moreover,
if you keep silent, they praise whatever they, happy, have written.
But he who will desire to have made a legitimate poem
together with his tablets will assume the mind of an honorable censor.

110

audebit, quaecumque parum splendoris habebunt
et sine pondere erunt et honore indigna ferentur,
uerba mouere loco, quamuis inuita recedant
et uersentur adhuc inter penetralia Vestae;
obscurata diu populo bonus eruet atque

he will dare, whatever will have too little splendor
and will be without weight and will be held unworthy of honor,
to move words from their place, although unwilling they recede
and still are engaged among the inner sanctuaries of Vesta;
what has long been obscured to the people the good man will unearth and

115

proferet in lucem speciosa uocabula rerum,
quae priscis memorata Catonibus atque Cethegis
nunc situs informis premit et deserta uetustas;
adsciscet noua, quae genitor produxerit usus.
Vehemens et liquidus puroque simillimus amni

he will bring into the light the splendid vocabulary of things,
which the ancient Catos and Cethegi commemorated,
but which now shapeless mold presses down and forsaken antiquity;
he will adopt new ones, which begetter Usage will have brought forth.
Vehement and liquid, and most similar to a pure river

120

fundet opes Latiumque beabit diuite lingua;
luxuriantia compescet, nimis aspera sano
leuabit cultu, uirtute carentia tollet,
ludentis speciem dabit et torquebitur, ut qui
nunc Satyrum, nunc agrestem Cyclopa mouetur.

he will pour forth wealth and will enrich Latium with a rich tongue;
he will restrain luxuriances, what is too rough he will lighten with sound
cultivation, what lacks virtue he will elevate,
he will give the appearance of playing and will be strained, like one who
is now moved to a Satyr, now to a rustic Cyclops.

125

Praetulerim scriptor delirus inersque uideri,
dum mea delectent mala me uel denique fallant,
quam sapere et ringi. Fuit haud ignobilis Argis,
qui se credebat miros audire tragoedos
in uacuo laetus sessor plausorque theatro,

I would prefer to seem a delirious and inert writer,
so long as my faults delight me, or even at last deceive me,
rather than to be wise and snarl. There was a man in Argos by no means ignoble,
who believed that he was hearing wondrous tragedians—
a happy sitter and applauder in an empty theater,

130

cetera qui uitae seruaret munia recto
more, bonus sane uicinus, amabilis hospes,
comis in uxorem, posset qui ignoscere seruis
et signo laeso non insanire lagoenae,
posset qui rupem et puteum uitare patentem.

who in the rest would preserve the duties of life in right manner,
a truly good neighbor, an amiable host,
courteous toward his wife, who could forgive his servants,
and not go insane at a bottle with its seal injured,
who could avoid the cliff and the open well.

135

Hic ubi cognatorum opibus curisque refectus
expulit elleboro morbum bilemque meraco
et redit ad sese: 'Pol, me occidistis, amici,
non seruastis' ait, 'cui sic extorta uoluptas
et demptus per uim mentis gratissimus error.'

Here, when, refreshed by the opulence and cares of his kinsmen,
he expelled his disease with hellebore and his bile with neat wine,
and returns to himself: 'By Pollux, you have killed me, friends,
not saved me,' he says, 'from whom pleasure has been thus extorted
and the most grateful error of the mind removed by force.'

140

Nimirum sapere est abiectis utile nugis,
et tempestiuum pueris concedere ludum,
ac non uerba sequi fidibus modulanda Latinis,
sed uerae numerosque modosque ediscere uitae.
Quocirca mecum loquor haec tacitusque recordor:

Surely to be wise is useful with trifles cast aside,
and to concede timely play to boys,
and not to follow words to be modulated to Latin lyres,
but to learn by heart the numbers and modes of true life.
Wherefore I speak these things with myself and silently recall them.

145

'Si tibi nulla sitim finiret copia lymphae,
narrares medicis; quod, quanto plura parasti,
tanto plura cupis, nulline faterier audes?
Si uolnus tibi monstrata radice uel herba
non fieret leuius, fugeres radice uel herba

'If no supply of water were to put an end to your thirst,
you would tell the physicians; that, the more you have prepared,
the more you desire, do you not dare to confess?
If a wound for you, by a prescribed root or herb,
were not made lighter, you would flee the root or the herb

150

proficiente nihil curarier; audieras, cui
rem di donarent, illi decedere prauam
stultitiam, et cum sis nihilo sapientior, ex quo
plenior es, tamen uteris monitoribus isdem?
At si diuitiae prudentem reddere possent,

with it making progress, nothing would be cared for; you had heard that, for whom the gods donate the estate, to him perverse stupidity departs, and since you are no whit wiser from the time you are fuller, nevertheless you employ the same monitors? But if riches could render one prudent,

155

si cupidum timidumque minus te, nempe ruberes,
uiueret in terris te siquis auarior uno.
Si proprium est quod quis libra mercatus et aere est,
quaedam, si credis consultis, mancipat usus,
qui te pascit ager, tuus est, et uilicus Orbi,

if you were less greedy and less timid, surely you would blush,
if there lived on earth anyone more avaricious than you by a single degree.
If what someone has purchased by scale and bronze is his own,
use, if you trust the learned, mancipates certain things,
the field that feeds you is yours, and Orbius’s bailiff,

160

cum segetes occat tibi mox frumenta daturas,
te dominum sentit. Das nummos, accipis uuam,
pullos, oua, cadum temeti; nempe modo isto
paulatim mercaris agrum, fortasse trecentis
aut etiam supra nummorum milibus emptum.

when he harrows the cornfields for you, soon to give grain,
he recognizes you as master. You give coins, you receive grapes,
chicks, eggs, a cask of temetum; surely in this way
little by little you are buying the field, perhaps for 300,000
or even more, coins.

165

Quid refert, uiuas numerato nuper an olim?
Emptor Aricini quoniam Veientis et arui
emptum cenat holus, quamuis aliter putat, emptis
sub noctem gelidam lignis calefactat aenum,
sed uocat usque suum, qua populus adsita certis

What does it matter, whether you live on counted cash recently or long ago?
Since the buyer of an Arician or Veientine ploughland
dines on bought greens, although he thinks otherwise, with bought
logs he heats the brazen pot toward the gelid night,
but keeps calling it his own, where a poplar planted at fixed

170

limitibus uicina refugit iurgia; tamquam
sit proprium quicquam, puncto quod mobilis horae
nunc prece, nunc pretio, nunc ui, nunc morte suprema
permutet dominos et cedat in altera iura.
Sic quia perpetuus nulli datur usus et heres

planted near the boundaries shuns quarrels; as though
anything were proper to anyone, which in the instant of the mobile hour
now by prayer, now by price, now by force, now by ultimate death
changes masters and yields to other rights.
Thus, because perpetual use is granted to no one and the heir

175

heredem alterius uelut unda superuenit undam,
quid uici prosunt aut horrea? Quid Calabris
saltibus adiecti Lucani, si metit Orcus
grandia cum paruis, non exorabilis auro?
Gemmas, marmor, ebur, Tyrrhena sigilla, tabellas,

the heir of one comes upon the heir of another, like a wave comes over a wave;
what good are villages or granaries? What of Lucanian acres added to Calabrian glades,
if Orcus reaps the great together with the small, not to be appeased by gold?
gems, marble, ivory, Tyrrhenian little figurines, small panels,

180

argentum, uestes Gaetulo murice tinctas
sunt qui non habeant, est qui non curat habere.
Cur alter fratrum cessare et ludere et ungui
praeferat Herodis palmetis pinguibus, alter
diues et inportunus ad umbram lucis ab ortu

silver, garments dyed with Gaetulian purple
there are those who do not have, there is one who does not care to have.
Why should one of the brothers prefer to be idle and to play and to be anointed
to Herod’s rich palm-groves, the other
rich and importunate to the shade from the rising of light

185

siluestrem flammis et ferro mitiget agrum,
scit Genius, natale comes qui temperat astrum,
naturae deus humanae, mortalis in unum
quodque caput, uoltu mutabilis, albus et ater.
Vtar et ex modico, quantum res poscet, aceruo

let him tame the woodland field with flames and with iron,
the Genius knows, who, companion of the natal star, tempers it,
the god of human nature, mortal in each single head,
changeable in visage, white and black.
I too will use, from a modest heap, as much as the matter shall require,

190

tollam, nec metuam quid de me iudicet heres,
quod non plura datis inuenerit; et tamen idem
scire uolam quantum simplex hilarisque nepoti
discrepet et quantum discordet parcus auaro.
Distat enim, spargas tua prodigus an neque sumptum

I will take it, nor will I fear what the heir may judge about me,
because he will not have found more, since gifts have been given; and yet likewise
I will wish to know how much the simple and cheerful man differs from the spendthrift,
and how much the sparing man is at discord with the avaricious.
For it differs, whether you scatter your own things as a prodigal, or do not incur expense

195

inuitus facias neque plura parare labores,
ac potius, puer ut festis Quinquatribus olim,
exiguo gratoque fruaris tempore raptim.
Pauperies inmunda domus procul absit; ego utrum
naue ferar magna an parua, ferar unus et idem.

do nothing unwillingly, nor prepare greater labors,
and rather, as a boy once at the festive Quinquatria,
enjoy, in haste, a brief and welcome time.
Let Poverty—an unclean house—be far away; as for me, whether
I am borne by a large ship or a small, I am borne one and the same.

200

Non agimur tumidis uelis Aquilone secundo;
non tamen aduersis aetatem ducimus Austris,
uiribus, ingenio, specie, uirtute, loco, re
extremi primorum, extremis usque priores.
Non es auarus: abi. Quid? Cetera iam simul isto

We are not driven with billowing sails by a favorable North-wind;
nor yet do we lead our lifetime with adverse South-winds,
in strength, in talent, in appearance, in virtue, in rank, in resources
the last of the foremost, yet even before the last.
You are not avaricious: be off. What? The rest now together with that one

205

cum uitio fugere? Caret tibi pectus inani
ambitione? Caret mortis formidine et ira?

to flee along with the vice? Does your breast lack inane
ambition? Does it lack the fear of death and ire?

Somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, sagas,
nocturnos lemures portentaque Thessala rides?
Natalis grate numeras? Ignoscis amicis?

Dreams, magical terrors, miracles, sorceresses,
do you laugh at nocturnal lemures and Thessalian portents?
Do you count your birthday gratefully? Do you pardon your friends?

210

Lenior et melior fis accedente senecta?
Quid te exempta iuuat spinis de pluribus una?
Viuere si recte nescis, decede peritis.
Lusisti satis, edisti satis atque bibisti;
tempus abire tibi est, ne potum largius aequo

Do you become gentler and better with senescence approaching?
What does one thorn, taken out from many, profit you?
If you do not know how to live aright, step aside for the experienced.
You have played enough, you have eaten enough and drunk;
it is time for you to depart, lest you drink more copiously than is right

215

rideat et pulset lasciua decentius aetas.'

let the lascivious age laugh and beat more decently.'