frustra: nam scopulis surdior Icari voces audit adhuc integer. at tibi ne vicinus Enipeus plus iusto placeat cave ; quamvis non alius flectere equum sciens Tusco denatat alveo. prima nocte domum claude neque in vias sub cantu querulae despice tibiae, et te saepe vocanti duram difficilis mane. 30 Yet all in vain, for deafer than the cliffs of Icaros, he listens to her pleas, heart-whole as yet. But have thou a care lest to thee thy neighbour Enipeus prove more pleasing than he ought, though no one else is seen to be as skilful to guide his steed over the Campus' sward and no one swims so swiftly down the Tiber's channel. At nightfall close thy dwelling, nor bend thy gaze into the streets at the music of his plaintive flute, and though oft he call thee cruel, do thou remain unyielding. ODE VIII A Glad Anniversary WHAT I, a bachelor, am doing on the Martian Kalends, what mean the flowers, the casket full of incense, and the embers laid on fresh-cut turf-at this you marvel, you versed in the lore of either tongue! I had vowed to Liber a savoury feast and a pure white goat, what time I narrowly escaped destruction by the falling tree. This festal day, each time the year revolves, shall draw a well-pitched cork forth from a jar set to drink the smoke 1 in Tullus' consulship. So drain, Maecenas, a hundred cyathi in celebration of your friend's escape, and keep the lamps alight till dawn! Banish far all angry brawls! Dismiss the cares of state! Crushed is the band of Dacian Cotiso; the hostile Parthians are fighting with each 1 I.e. sealed. 1 |