Why in the Field of Mars he hate to run,
He so enduring once of dust and sun?
Why not a gallant soldier on the plain,
And like his peers a Gallic courser rein?
Why not his arm the yellow Tiber cleave,
The wrestler's olive, why, as poison leave?
That arm now all unused to bruising steel,
Could dart the javelin far, the discus wheel.
Why hides, like Thetis' son, when loth to go,
And charge in manly arms the Lycian foe?
SEEST thou Soracte, glistening with snow,
The loaded woods, the rivers ceased to flow?
Be warm at home; with logs heap high the fire,
Freely let wine mirth, Thaliarch, inspire.
Trust in the gods; when pleaseth them, the seas,
The winds are hush'd, nor rock'd the forest trees.
Think not the ill to-morrow may bring forth,
Of present joy appreciate the worth.
Strike up the dance, the viol and the song;
Youth, snatch the pleasures that to youth belong! The course, the chase, may spring-time hours delight, The social feast, but most the rapturous night.
Quid sit futurum cras, fuge quærere; et Quem fors dierum cunque dabit, lucro Appone; nec dulces amores
Sperne puer, neque tu choreas,
Donec virenti canities abest
Morosa. Nunc et campus, et areæ,
Lenesque sub noctem susurri
Composita repetantur hora;
Nunc et latentis proditor intimo
Gratus puellæ risus ab angulo,
Pignusque dereptum lacertis,
Aut digito male pertinaci.
CARMINUM LIBER I. CARMEN X.
Hymnus ad Mercurium.
MERCURI, facunde nepos Atlantis,
Qui feros cultos hominum recentum
Voce formasti catus, et decoræ
More palestræ:
Te canam, magni Jovis et Deorum
Nuncium, curvæque lyræ parentem;
Callidum, quidquid placuit, jocoso
Condere furto.
Te, boves olim nisi reddidisses
Per dolum amotas, puerum minaci
Voce dum terret, viduus pharetra
Risit Apollo.
Nut-brown thy locks, in softer sports engage,
Far yet awhile the peevishness of age.
In corner sly the damsel's treacherous laugh
Her fearful joy betrays, consenting half.
Dare then to loose her bracelet's yielding spring,
Or spoil, love's pledge, the finger of its ring.
GRANDSON of Atlas, eloquent, with grace
Forming the Athlete in the dance and race,
I sing thee, Mercury; whose vocal power,
First rude from Nature's hand, could charm the boor.
Thee, master of the bended lyre, and sly
To hide your playful thefts and trickery.
Apollo's herd you drove away when young,
Apolla frighted you with threatening tongue.
But when again his oxen he had won,
Apollo smiled to find his quiver gone.
You guided Priam safe from Ilion's towers,
Through hostile camps, through proud Atrides'
Quin et Atridas, duce te, superbos,
Ilio dives Priamus relicto,
Thessalosque ignes, et iniqua Troja
Castra fefellit.
Tu pias lætis animas reponis
Sedibus, virgaque levem coërces
Aurea turbam, superis Deorum
Gratus, et imis.
CARMINUM LIBER I. CARMEN XI.
Tu ne quæsieris (scire nefas) quem mihi, quem tibi Finem Dî dederint, Leuconoë; nec Babylonios Tentaris numeros. Ut melius, quidquid erit, pati! Seu plures hiemes, seu tribuit Jupiter ultimam, Quæ nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare Tyrrhenum. Sapias, vina liques, et spatio brevi Spem longam reseces. Dum loquimur, fugerit invida Ætas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.
Beloved by gods above, below, thou lead'st
The pious spirits to their mansions blest;
Gathering the shadowy crowd, with golden wand,
To darksome Hades, on the Stygian strand.
SEEK not, Leuconoe, by dark art to know,
What end on you or me shall Fate bestow;
Nor by quaint figures Babylonian try,
To cast the horoscope of destiny;
Our future days, to calculate, foretell.
Ills, if they come, bear rather, and bear well.
Whether you hear again the wintry blast,
Or this of all your seasons be the last,
The Winter, that now chafes the Tyrrhene sea,
Lashing yon mole's usurping masonry'.
Be wise to-day, and clarify your wine,
Spin not long hopes in life so short as thine.
Whilst yet we talk, the envious moments fly,
Joy now; nor trust to-morrow, till you die!
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