In the original text, the Latin was printed on left-hand (even-numbered) pages, with English on facing pages. Not all translations are line for line. Note that poem numbering is consistently inverted: “Ode 25, Lib. 2” means Book 2, Ode 25. “Epi.” stands for both “Epode” and “Epigram”.
[
Od. 1. Lib. 1.]
Cum infeſtæ Thracum Copiæ Pannoniâ exceſſiſſent.
|
Od. 1. Lib. 1.
When the hatefull forces of the Thracians departed out of
Pannonia.
|
|---|
|
Am minæ sævi cecidere belli:
Jam profanatis malè pulsa terris
Et salus, & pax niveis revisit
Oppida bigis:
|
he threats of cruell Warre now cease:,
In stead of them safety and peace,
Banish’d th’unhallowed earth, doe please
’Returne in their white Waine;
|
|
Iam fides, & fas, & amæna præter
Faustitas, læto volat arva curru:
Iam fluunt passim pretiosa largis
Sæcula rivis.
|
Faith joyn’d with Truth, and Plenty too
O’re pleasant fields doe nimbly goe;
The precious Ages past, doe flow
With liberall streames againe.
|
|
Candidi soles veterisque venæ
Fontibus nati revocantur Anni:
Grandinat Gemmis, riguoque Cœlum
Depluit Auro.
|
Cleare dayes, such yeares as were of old
Recalled are, o’th’ ancient mold,
The Heavens hayle Pearles, and molten Gold
Doth raine down-right in showres;
|
|
Meque veraci cecinisse plectro
Inter Octobreis, tua festa, pompas,
Prisca Saturni rediisse sæcla,
Approbat Orbis.
|
Whilst I with my Prophetique string
Thy Winter feastivalls doe sing,
The whole world doth with Ecchoes ring
Old Saturn’s age is ours.
|
|
Aurei patrum niveique mores,
Exul & serâ procul usque Thule,
Candor, & pulchro remeare virtus
Audet Olympo.
|
Our Fathers pure and golden rule
Exil’d as farre as farthest Thule,
Justice from bright Olympus schoole
Comes boldly back againe.
|
|
Lactis, & fusi per aprica mellis
Garruli Campos secuêre rivi:
Et superfuso tumuêre plenæ
Nectare ripæ.
|
The streams which Milk and Honey yeild,
Their passage cut through open field,
And the full banks with Nectar swell’d
Doe drowne the flowrie plaine.
|
|
Lætior vulgò seges inquietis
Fluctuat culmis, titubantque frugum
Uberes Campi, nec avara sulcis
Invidet æstas.
|
The glad Corne in the restles stalke
Waves, and the fields as wee doe walke,
So fruitfull reele, to any balke
The Heat no spight doth owe.
|
|
Pastor Erranteis comitatus Hœdos
Provocat raucas calamo cicadas:
Mugiunt Colles, & anhela fessis
Silva Iuvencis.
|
The Herdsmans Pipe to’s wandring Goats,
Provokes the Grashoppers hoarse notes;
The tyred Herd with strayned throats,
Makes Hills and Woods to low.
|
|
Pace subsultant juga, pace rident
Tetrica rupes: leve separatos
Otium colleis amat, & sequestri
Gaudia pagi.
|
The Mountaines leape, and rough Rocks smile
For gentle Peace rejoyceth still
Such solitary roomes to fill
Hills set apart, ’lone Townes.
|
|
Te Ceres flavis redimita culmis,
Magne pacati moderator orbis,
Te suis Æstas opulenta Circum-
fundit aristis.
|
Ceres with yellow Chaplet, and
The Summer rich with eares doth stand,
Great Prince of our appeased Land,
Thee to encompasse round.
|
|
Supplici Myrtus tibi servit umbrâ,
Serviunt Lauri: tibi celsa longè
Quercus assurgit, tremuloque pinus
Vertice nutat.
|
The Myrtle begs with humble shade
To serve thee and the Laurel’s glade;
The lofty Oake doth rise; Its head
The trembling Pine doth bow;
|
|
Siderum præses, dominusque terræ,
Lucidâ Romam speculatus aree,
Regna tranquillet, Cupidoque patrem
Te velit orbi.
|
Hee that o’re Starrs and earth hath powre,
Beholding us, from his bright Towre,
Calms all, and sets thee father o’re
The covetous world below.
|
|
Laurus annosum tibi signet ævum:
Fata te norint, properentque parcæ
Nescium carpi tibi destinatos
Stamen in annos.
|
The Laurell signe long life to thee,
Let Fates and destinies agree
To twine thy thred, which cannot bee
Cut ’till th’ appointed time.
|
|
Quæque formosos sedet inter igneis,
Sedulam pro te miserata Romam
Virgo, quam circum glomerantur albis
Astra choreis.
|
May shee amidst those glorious fires,
For thy sake, pittying our desires,
’Bout whom the beauteous starrs inquires,
And flowing measures swim;
|
|
Curet effusas Latii querelas,
Virginum castas juvenumque voces
Curet, & votis procerum reclinem
accommodet aurem.
|
May shee, I say, our Country’s griefe
Cure, and the chast complaints releive
Of all our youth, and willing eares
Apply to th’ praiers of all our Peeres.
|
|
[
Ad Aurelium Lycum.]
Ode 2. Lib. 1.
|
To Aurelius Lycas.
Ode 2. Li. 1.
|
|
Nè plus æquo de adverſâ fortunâ queratur.
|
That hee would not complaine too much of adverſe fortune.
|
|
I
ndignas, Lyce, nænias,
Et mæstum gemitu pectus, & hispidis
Frontem nubibus expedi,
Cum Sol non solito lumine riserit,
Et fortuna volubilis
Fati difficilem jecerit aleam.
Quod vexant hodié Noti,
Cras lambent hilares æquor Ætesiæ.
Mœstum sol[A] hodiè caput,
Cras lætum roseo promet ab æquore.
Alterno redeunt choro
Risus & gemitus, & madidis propè
Sicci cum Lacrymis joci.
Nascuntur mediis gaudia luctibus,
Sic fatis placitum. suis
Tempestiva fluunt fata periculis.
|
U
nmanly howlings, Lycuas,
leave,
Thy sad breast doe not vex, nor grieve;
Thy rugged brow from cloudes set free,
Although with usuall beames ’on thee
The Sun not shines; or fortune late
Hath throwne the hardest chance of Fate.
With th’ waves, that South windes tosse to day,
The cheerfull Easterne gales will play;
The Sun that now hangs downe his head,
With joy from blushing Thetis bed
I’th’ morne will rise. Laughter and woe
Keepe time, and in their courses goe.
Cleare merriment succeeds wet eyes,
And joyes in mid’st of sorrows rise.
Thus pleaseth it the Fates, that flow
With various hazards here below.
|
|
Fessos duxit heri boves,
Dat magnis hodiè jura Quiritibus:
Et quæ bobus ademerat,
Imponit Gabiis, & Curibus juga.
Idem Phosphorus aspicit
Magnum quem tenuem viderat Hesperus.
Quod si seria ludicris
Fortuna placeat texere; Rusticus
Hesternam repetet casam,
Ridentis populi non humilis jocus:
Et queis rexerat omnia,
Findet laurigeris ligna securibus.
Quod si defuerit salix
Fasces pauperibus subjiciet focis.
|
Hee who his Oxen tyr’d, did drive,
Doth lawes to day, to th’ City give:
And the same yokes he tooke from those,
Upon the Citizens impose.
The day-starre great, that man doth see,
Whom th’ Evening saw in low degree.
But if the things that serious are
With Fortunes pastimes to compare
Doth please you; See, this Country-man
Betakes himselfe to’s farme againe,
Of’s jeering neighbours th’only sport,
And with those Axes which i’th’ Court
Hee ruled all with, Cleaves his wood,
Whose Helves are made of Laurell good.
And if a want of wood there growes,
The Fasces on the fire he throwes.
|
|
[
Ad Tarquinium Lavinum.]
Od. 13. lib. 1.
|
To Tarquinius Lavinus.
Ode 13. lib. 1.
|
|
N
on si[A]
Sol semel occidit,
Non rubris iterum surget ad Indiis;
Nec si quos celeris rotæ
Sors non exiguo proruit impetu,
Non lapsos iterum levet,
Arguto docilis ludere cum joco.
|
A
s if the Sun that once doth set,
From th’ blushing East a new birth doth not get
As if that those whom Fortunes frowne
By the swift violence of her wheele, throwes
down,
Shee would not raise again with ease,
So active in such nimble sports as these.
|
|
Ne spem projice, Tarquini:
Cujus pænè retro lambere pulverem
Et vestigia diceris,
Cum fortuna levem verterit orbitam,
Effusam super & luto
Fumantem poteris cernere purpuram.
|
Despaire not (Sir) whose footsteps now
Thou’rt said to kisse, and lick the dust of’s
shooe,
Let Fortune her light wheele but turne,
And then Tarquinius, thou shalt soon
discerne
From his proud height, him downward thrust,
His trampled robes smoking in mire and dust.
|
|
Tunc & risibus abstine,
Neu turpi domino Lumina paveris:
Neu calces nimium, memor
Fortunæ geminam sæpe jaci pilam.
|
Thy jeeres and laughter then forbeare,
His all-bespattred lookes thou shalt not feare,
Nor trample on, remembring how
Fortune a double ball doth often throw.
|
|
[
Ad Publium Memmium.]
Ode 2. Lib. 2.
Vitæ humanæ brevitatem benefactis extendendam eſſe.
|
To Publius Memmius.
Ode 2. Lib. 2.
That the ſhortneſſe of mans life is to bee lengthened by good
deeds.
|
|---|
|
Q
ua tegit Canas modò bruma valleis,
Sole vicinos jaculante monteis
Deteget rursum. Tibi cum nivosa
Bruma senecta
In caput seris cecidit pruinis,
Decidet nunquam. Cita fugit Æstas,
Fugit Autumnus, fugient propinqui
Tempora veris:
At tibi frigus, capitique cani
Semper hærebunt, neque multa Nardus
Nec parum gratum repetita dement
Serta colorem.
|
T
he Valleys, now, all clad in gray
By Winter, when Sol darts his ray
On neighbouring hills, hee’l naked lay,
As heretofore.
But when the winter of thy yeares
With snow, within thy locks appeares,
When hoary frost shall dye thine haires,
It parts no more.
Summer, and Autumn’s quickly gone,
Th’approaching Spring will passe as soon:
Gray hayres, and chilling cold alone
With thee will stay.
To thy ill colour, Nard distill’d,
Nor the renew’d perfumes o’th’ field
Of flowres, can any vertue yeild,
Or tak’t away.
|
|
Una quem nobis dederat juventus:
Una te nobis rapiet senectus:
Sed potes, Publi, geminare magnâ
Sæcula famâ,
Quem sui raptum gemuêre cives.
Hic diu vixit. Sibi quisque famam
Scribat Hæredem: rapiunt avaræ
Cetera Lunæ.
|
Thee, whom thy youth hath giv’n tó day.
At night old age will take away.
Thy time to double, is, to lay
A fame most bright.
Whom snach’d by death, his friends bemone,
He hath liv’d long. Let every one
Write Fames sole heire: that’s free alone,
From th’ rape of night.
|
|
[
E Rebus Humanis Exceſſus.]
Ode 5. Lib. 2.
|
A Departure from things humane.
Ode 5. Lib. 2.
|
|
H
umana linquo: tollite præpetem
Nubesque ventique. Ut mihi devii
Montes resedere, & volanti
Regna procul, populosque vastos
Subegit aer! jam radiantia
Delubra Divum, jam mihi regiæ
Turres recessere, & relicta in
Exiguum tenuantur urbes;
Totasque qua se cunque ferunt vaga
Despecto Gentes. O lacrymabilis
Jncerta fortuna! ô fluentûm
Principia, interitúsque rerum!
|
L
ift me up quickly on your wings,
Ye Clouds, and Winds; I leave all earthly things;
How Devious Hills give way to mee!
And the vast ayre brings under, as I fly,
Kingdomes and populous states! see how
The Glyst’ring Temples of the Gods doe bow;
The glorious Tow’rs of Princes, and
Forsaken townes, shrunke into nothing, stand:
And as I downward looke, I spy
Whole Nations every where all scattred lye.
Oh the sad change that Fortune brings!
The rise and fall of transitory things!
|
|
Hîc ducta primis oppida mœnibus
Minantur in Cœlum: hîc veteres ruunt
Muríque turresque: hîc supinas
Pæné cinis sepelivit arces.
Hîc mite Cœlum, sed rapidæ ruunt
In Bella Gentes: hîc placida sedent
In pace, sed latè quietos
Dira lues populatur agros.
|
Here walled townes that threatned Heav’n,
Now old and ruin’d, with the earth lye even:
Here stately Pallaces, that thrust
Their heads i’th’ayre, lye buried all in dust.
Here the Ayre Temp’rate is and mild,
But the fierce people rush to warres, most wild:
Here in a joyfull peace they rest,
But Direfull Murraines their quiet fields lay wast.
|
|
Hîc pænè tellus tota micantibus
Ardet sub armis: stant acies adhuc
Pendente fatorum sub ictu,
Et dubio furor hæsitavit
In bella passu: parte aliâ recens
Jam mista Mavors agmina mutuam
Collisit in mortem, & Cadentûm
Cæde virûm, Cumulísque latos
Insternit agros: hîc Mareotica
Secura merces æquora navigant,
Portusque certatim frequentes
Centum operis populisque fervent.
|
Here the whole Land doth scorching lye
Under the glittering Armes o’ th’ Enemy:
Under the hovering stroke o’ th’ Fates
The Armies yet both stand; and fury waites
With doubfull steps, upon the warre;
Fresh courage here, the mingled troopes prepare.
Each against other fiercely run,
And mutually they worke destruction:
The slaughtered heapes in reeking gore
With bloudy covering spread the fields all o’re:
Here on safe Seas, as joyfull prize
Is strip’d away th’ Ægyptian Merchandize,
Whilst the full Havens thick beset,
Doe furiously with fierce contention fret.
|
|
Nec una Marti causa, nec unius
Sunt Arma moris. Bellat Adultera
Ridentis è vultu voluptas,
Inque Helena procus ardet
orbis.
Hic verba bellis vindicat: hic canis,
Heu vile furtum! Se mala comparant;
Rarum sub exemplo superbit,
Nec sceleris scelus instar omne est.
|
Mars hath his divers Causes, and
His severall fashion’d weapons to command.
From the Adultresse smiling lookes
Pleasure doth fight, and unto Warre provokes,
The doting world with Helen burnes.
This sordid man, oh base advantage! turnes
Revenge of vvords to blowes;
Mischiefe begets it selfe, from mischiefe growes.
Small sins by example higher dare,
Nor doth all sin, alvvaies like sin appeare.
|
|
Eous illinc belligerâ latet
Sub Classe pontus: Jam Thetis æneá
Mugire flammarum procellâ, &
Attonitæ trepidare cautes,
Et ipsa circum littora percuti
Majore fluctu. Sistite barbari,
Ferroque neu simplex, & igni
&
Naufragio geminate fatum.
|
There th’Easterne Sea lyes coverd o’re
With vvarlike Fleets: Thetis begins to rore
With stormes of flaming Brasse, and here
Th’ astonish’d Rocks all trembling stand with feare.
The troubled Sea vvith vvinds beset
With stronger vvaves ’gainst the full shore doth beat.
Forbeare, cruell men to multiply
With fire, Sword-vvrack your single destiny.
|
|
Parumnè Tellus in miseras patet
Immensa mortes? hinc miserabili
Quassata terrarum tumultu
Stare pavent titubantque regna,
Unâque tandem funditus obruunt
Cives ruinâ. Stat tacitus cinis,
Cui serus inscribat viator:
Cum populo jacet hic & ipso
Cum Rege Regnũ. Quid memorem super-
Infusa totis æquora portubus
Urbes inundare, & repenti
Tecta Deúm sonuisse fluctu.
|
Is the large Earth too narrovv grovvne,
Such slaughters, such dire tragedies to ovvne?
Large Kingdomes there, brought under thrall
With Tumult, stagger, and for feare doe fall;
Where in one Ruine wee may see
The dying people all o’rewhelmed lye.
The silent dust remaines, to let
The weary Pilgrim this Inscription set
(In after times, at hee goes by)
King, Kingdome, People here entombed lye.
What should I name the raging Seas,
Whole Havens over-flowing, and with these
I’th’ sudden floud whole Cities drown’d
The shaken Temples of the Gods that found?
|
|
Regumque Turres, & pelago Casas
Jamjam latentes? jam video procul
Merceisque differri, & natantem
Oceano fluitare gazam.
Alterna rerum militat efficax
In damna mundus. Cladibus instruit
Bellisque rixisque &
ruinis
Sanguineam libitina scenam,
Suprema doxec stelligerum dies
Claudat Theatrum. Quid morer hactenus
Viator aurarum & serenas
Sole domos aditurus usque
|
Kings Pallaces what should I name
Now sunke i’th’ deepe, small Cottages i’th’ same?
Vast wealth I see swept downe with th’ tyde
Rich treasure in the Ocean floting glyde.
The active world t’each others harmes
Doth daily fight, and the pale Goddesse armes
The bloudy scene with slaughters, warrs,
With utter ruins, and with deadly jarrs;
Thus there’s no Exit of our woes,
Till the last day the Theater shall close,
Why stay I then, when goe I may—
To’a house enlightned by the Suns bright ray?
|
|
Humana mirer? tollite præpetem
Festina vatem, tollite nubila
Qua solis & Lunæ Labores
Cæruleo vehit æthra Campo.
Ludor? sequaces aut subeunt latus
Ferunt; venti? Jamque iterum mihi
Et regna decrevere, & immensæ
Ante oculos periêre gentes;
|
Shall I still dote on things humane?
Lift up your longing Priest, yee Clouds, oh deigne
Lift m’up where th’aire a splendour yeilds
Lights the sun’s chariot through the azure fields.
Am I deceived? or doe I see
The following winds on their wings mounting me,
And now againe Great kingdomes lye
Whole Nations perishing before mine eye?
|
|
Suóque semper terra minor Globo
Jam jamque cerni difficilis, suum
Vanescit in punctum? ô refusum
Numinis Oceanum! ô carentem
Mortalitatis portubus insulam!
O clausa nullis marginibus freta!
Haurite anhelantem, & perenni
Sarbivium glomerate fluctu.
|
The earth which alwayes lesse hath beene
Then’s Globe, and now, just now can scarce be seene,
Into it’s point doth vanish, see!
Oh the brim’d Ocean of the Deitie!
Oh Glorious Island richly free
From the cold Harbours of mortality!
Yee boundlesse Seas, with endlesse flouds of
rest
Girt round Sarbinius your panting Priest.
|
|
[
Ad Publium Memmium.]
Od. 7. Lib. 2.
|
To Publius Memmius.
Ode 7. Lib. 2.
|
|
E
sset humanis aliquod levamen
Cladibus, si res caderent eâdem
Quâ morâ surgunt; sed humant repentes
Alta ruinæ.
|
A
midst our losse it were some ease,
If things did fall, with the same stay, and leisure
They rise; but sudden ruines seize
On our most lofty things, and richest treasure.
|
|
Nil diu felix stetit; inquieta
Urbium currunt hominumque Fata:
Totque vix horis jacuêre, surgunt
Regna quot annis.
|
Nothing long time hath happy been.
The restlesse Fates of peopled-Cities, passe:
In a few hour’s destroy’d w’have seen,
In many yeares what never raised was.
|
|
Casibus longum dedit ille tempus,
Qui diem regnis satis eruendis
Dixit: elato populos habent mo-
menta sub ictu.
|
He gave to Chance long time, that said
One day’s enough, whole Kingdomes t’overthrow:
Each moment holds a people swayd
Under a fatall and exalted blow.
|
|
Parce crudeles, moriture Publi,
Impio divos onerare questu,
Densa vicinis nimiùm vagari
Funera tectis.
|
Being neere thy death, then, Publius,
spare
To load the Gods, with thy blasphemous plaints;
That Funeralls so frequent are,
Or death so much thy neighbours house haunts.
|
|
Quæ tibi primùm dedit hora nasci,
Hæc mori primùm dedit. Ille longùm
Vixit, æternum sibi qui merendo
Vindicat ævum.
|
The houre, that first to thee gave life,
That thou should’st likewise dye, gave first to thee.
He hath liv’d long, who well doth strive
Sure alwaies of eternall life to bee.
|
|
[
Ad Aſterium.]
Ode 8. lib 2.
|
To Aſterius.
Ode 8. l. 2
|
|
A
t nos inani pascit imagine
Fortuna rerum. Ludimur Asteri,
Umbris amicorum; & doloso
Verba simul placuêre fuco,
|
VV’
Are mock’d with ’baytes that fortune flings
And fed with th’empty husks of things:
Shadowes, not friends we entertaine;
W’are pleas’d with the deceitfull traine
|
|
Res esse stulti credimus. at simul
Sors infidelem corripuit rotam,
Gaudent recedenti Sodales
Non eadem dare verba Divæ.
|
Of words, and thinke them deeds. But when
Th’unconstant wheele shall turne agen
To th’ parting Goddesse, wee shall see
Those friends the selfe-same words deny.
|
|
Plerumque falsis nominibus placent
Humana. Rari pollicitis data
Aequamus: & minor loquaci
Relligio solet esse voto.
|
Things Humane under false names please.
Our gifts match not our promises;
Religion, lesse to be doth use,
Then the large language of our vowes.
|
|
[
Ex ſacro Salomonis Epithal.]
Ode 19. l. 2.
Similis est dilectus meus capreæ, hinnuloque
cervorum.
|
Out of Solomon’s ſacred Mariage Song.
Ode 19. Lib. 2.
|
|
V
itas sollicitæ me similis capræ,
Quam vel nimbisoni sibilus Africi,
Vel motum subitis murmur Etesiis
Vano corripit impetu.
|
T
hou shunnest me, like to a fearfull Roe,
Which, as the stormy North-winds blow,
Or the rough noise o’ th’ suddaine Easterne blast,
Is snatch’d away with forcelesse hast.
|
|
Nam seu prima metum bruma trementibus
Incussit foliis, sive Diespiter
Elisit resonis tela Cerauniis,
Incertâ trepidat fugâ.
|
For th’early frost the trembling leaves doth fright,
Or else the Father of the light
Hath hewne from th’ecchoing rocks his thundring darts,
Hee hastens with such doubtfull starts.
|
|
At qui non ego te quærere desinam,
Clamatura retrò, Christe, Revertere: &
Rursus, cùm rapido fugeris impetu,
Clamatura, Revertere.
|
But till I find thee, I’le not cease, nor rest,
But cry aloud, Returne, ô Christ:
And when with swifter speed thou fly’st away,
Returne againe, ô Christ, I’le say.
|
|
O seu te Libani terga virentia,
Seu formosa rubræ culta Bethuliæ,
Seu pinguis Solymæ, sive procul cavæ
Cingunt rura Capharniæ;
|
The tops of Lebanus, so green and gay,
The faire tilths of Bethulia,
Encompasse thee, old Salem’s fruitfull Land,
Or else Capharnia low doth stand.
|
|
Tandem sollicitæ pone modum fugæ.
Nam non effugies, Te mihi sedulis
Aether excubiis prodet, & aureis
Prodet Cynthia cornibus.
|
At length give o’re thy sad and carefull flight:
Thou shalt not scape me, th’evening bright
With its so watchfull Centry, thee’l betray,
And th’Moone with golden hornes doth stray.
|
|
Te neglecta gemunt littora, te procul
Suspirat tacitis aura Pavoniis,
Te noctis vigiles, te mihi vividis
Signant sidera nutibus.
|
By th’grones of the neglected shores I’le find
Thee; and by th’sighs o’th’ Westerne wind;
Thee the night’s watch, the starrs that walke about
With lively signes will point thee out.
|
|
[
Diræ in Herodem.]
Ode 24. l. 2.
|
Diræ in Herodem.
Ode 24. Lib. 2.
|
|
D
evota sacræ progenies domus!
Fatale monstrum! prodigialium
Monstrum parentum! seu Libyssa
Marmaricis leæ pavit antris,
|
T
hou Cursed off-spring of that sacred place!
Thou fatall monster of prodigious race!
A Libyan Lyonesse in some Affrick den
Gave nourishment to thee, thou shame of men.
|
|
Seu te maligno sidere degener
Pardus maritâ tigride prodidit,
Furoris hæredem paterni;
Sive gregis populator Afri
|
Or mungrill Libard with a shee-Tiger, hurl’d
Thee, with a mischiefe, into th’hatefull world,
Heyre to the fury of thy Syre, and damm;
Or some wild Wolfe left thee a naked shame:
|
|
Nudum sub alto destituit jugo;
Seu belluosis fluctibus exspuit
Irata tempestas nocentem
Alitibusque ferisque
prædam;
|
Under a huge hard rock: some angry storme,
From waves, with things so full of divers forme,
For birds and beasts, spew’d th’up a banefull prey;
|
|
Tuo severas pectore marmora
Duxêre venas, marmora rupibus
Decisa, quas Gætula cælebs
Deucalio super arva iecit:
|
The Marble quarry, ’mid’st the raging Sea,
It’s rigid veynes, from thy rough bosome drew;
Marble, from those rocks hewne, Deucalion threw
Over Gætulian fields: Megara first
|
|
Te sede primum livida regiâ
Megæra fixit: Tisiphone dedit
Sceptrum cruentandum feraque
Imposuit Diadema fronti; &
|
Fix’d th’in thy regall seat, on thee accurst
Then Tisiphon the Scepter did bestow,
And set the Diadem on thy savage brow:
|
|
Regale nuper cum premeres ebur
Adsedit altis fulta curulibus,
Et per Palæstinos Tyrannis
Explicuit sua signa campos.
|
And as thy princely Ivory, of late
Thou proudly lean’dst upon, close by thee sate
With stately columnes prop’d, fell tyrannie,
Her Ensignes, who through Palestine let fly:
|
|
Tremensque & atrum sanguine â manu
Telum coruscans secum Odia, & Minas,
Cædemque & insanos tumultus,
Funeraque & populorum iniquas
|
And her black sword with bloudy trembling hand
Did brandish round, when straight at her command
Hatreds, and strifes appear’d, murder and rage
The horrid ruine of the new-borne age,
|
|
Strages, & indignum excidium retrò
Lactantis ævi traxit, & inclyta
Regnorum, inexhaustasque longis
Cladibus evacuavit urbies.
|
Shee drew along; Tumultuous madness, all
The slaughter’d peoples unjust funerall:
Each famous kingdome, inexhausted towne
In a large streame of bloud by her, o’re-throwne.
|
|
Illam & parentum dira gementium
Lamenta, Questusque, & Gemitus retrò,
Luctusque vicatim secuti, &
Irriguis Lacrymæ catervis.
|
Next followed Her, the plaints, and direfull grones
Of sighing parents, rob’d of their little ones,
Whole tydes of teares, sobs, and lamentings great
And mourning in each corner of the street.
|
|
Quòd si caducis decidit amnibus
Præsagus imber, quid pluvias sequi
Cunctantur ultrices procellæ,
Et volucrum strepitu quadrigarum
|
But if this show’r, from this sad cause begun,
In too too narrow rivulets doth run;
Why doe revenging stormes so much delay
To back the rayne? what doth their fury stay?
Why doth the shaken sky with rustling noise
Of the Sun’s chariot, bridle in the voice
|
|
Incussus æther pigra tonitrua &
Immugientûm fulmina nubium
Compescit, indulgentque metæ
Aëriis vaga tela pennis?
|
Of the slow thunder? why the lightning stop
From breaking through the clouds with hideous clap?
Those ayrie feather’d arrowes in the darke
That stray, why do they spare their cursed marke?
|
|
At nil trisulcis Acroceraunia
Dejecta flammis, nil Rhodopes jugum,
Quassæve peccavêre Cautes
Aemathiæ, risi forté dirum
|
Acroceraunia with his three-fork’d flame.
And that huge Hill the Thracian Queen gave name,
Æmathia’s craggy trembling rocks may passe
Guiltlesse; they have not sin’d at all, alasse!
|
|
Inominatis marmora partubus
Fudêre monstrum: rumpite, rumpite
Monteisque, facundasque Regum
Fulmina præcipitate rupeis.
|
Unlesse their Marble, with a prodigious birth,
This direfull Monster teem’d, t’infest the earth:
Breake then the mountaines, break yee lightnings,
Throw headlong downe ye fruitfull rocks of Kings.
|
|
Exspiret auras; occidat, occidat
Funestus, execrabilis, efferus
Sector; crematuramque taxum
Ipse super cumulumque regni
|
May hee exspire! oh may the murth’rer fall!
Most execrable, cruell, tragicall!
Upon his kingdom’s pile, and flaming yew
|
|
Summum cadaver fumet, & aëra
Cælumque diro liberet halitu
Fatale monstrum, dissidentûm
Ludibrium Furiarum, & Orci.
|
Let his high carkasse blaze; the ayre anew
May th’ monster purge from his infectious breath,
The mocke of wrangling furyes, and of death.
|
|
Perrumpe tractus impenetrabileis
Ignava tellus, desuper arduâ
Volvente saxorum ruinâ:
Quam pelagus super, & refusis
|
Oh breake your entrayles, sluggish earth, and downe
Let the high ruins of the rocks be throwne;
’Gainst which the waves o’th’raging Sea may rore
|
|
Bis terque Nereus Syrtibus insonet.
Audimur. Ingens sidera verberat,
Spumamque, limumque, & rapaceis
Oceanus glomeravit undas:
|
And Nereus with his Quicksands Boyling o’re:
Wee’re heard. The climbing surges strike the stars
And the big Ocean all her strength prepares;
Her foame, and slimy mud sh’hath heap’d together
Devouring waves toss’d with the worst of weather:
|
|
Jam nutat æther, jam barathrum propé,
Vastisque campi dissidiis hiant:
Jam fractus illabetur orbis
Sacrilego capiti. i, profunda
|
The firmament doth shake, & Hell so neere
Through the earths large chinks, which gapeth doth appear:
The shatt’red world now falls on’s impious head,
|
|
Inexpiato pollue Tartara
Tyranni leto: solus & igneum
Insume Cocytum, & frementem
Sulphureis Acheronta ripis.
|
Goe, Tyrant with thy death unpardoned,
Even Hell it selfe pollute, possesse, alone,
Cocytus, and sulphureous Acheron.
|
|
[
Ex ſacro Salomonis Epithalamio.]
|
Out of Solomons ſacred Marriage Song,
Cant. 2.
|
| Fulcite me floribus, &c. | Stay me with flagons, &c. |
|
Adiuro vos, filiæ Jeruſalem, ne ſuſcitetis, &c.
Ecce iſte venit, ſaliens in montibus, tranſiliens colles, &c.
|
I charge O yee daughters of Jeruſalem, that yee ſtirre not
up, nor wake, &c.
Behold hee commeth leaping upon the Mountaines &c.
|
|
Ode 25. Lib. 2.
|
Ode 25. Lib. 2.
|
|
M
e stipate rosariis,
Me fulcite crocis, me violariis,
Me vallate Cydoniis,
Me canis, sociæ, spargite liliis:
Nam visi mora Numinis
Mî sacris animam torret in ignibus.
|
S
tay mee with saffron, underneath me set
Full banks of Roses, beds of violet;
Refresh mee with the choicest fruit, and spread
The whitest Lillies round about my head:
For the delay of the seene-pow’re divine
In sacred flames, consumes this breast of mine.
|
|
Vos ô, vos ego filiæ
Cælestis Solymæ; vos Galaditides,
Vos ô per capreas ego
Errantesque jugis hinnuleos precor,
Antiqui genus Isaci,
Quæ saltus Libani, quæ viridem vago
Carmelum pede visitis,
Nymphæ nobilium gloria montium:
|
Yee Daughters of that holy Citie, yee!
Yee Sisters! I, ’tis I, that humbly pray!
O, I, intreat you, by each Hind, and Roe,
That straying o’re the tops of Hills doe goe,
Yee stock of ancient Isaac, yee that move
With nimble foot through Lebanus sweet
grove,
O’re Carmels fragrant top! yee Nymphs so faire
The glory of the noble Hills that are,
|
|
Ne vexate tenacibus
Acclinem violis: neu strepitu pedum,
Neu plausæ sonitu manus
Pacem solliciti rumpite somnii:
Donec sponsa suo leves
Somnos ex oculis pollice terserit:
Donec Lucicer aureus
Rerum paciferum ruperit otium.
|
Molest not my beloved with your cryes,
Amongst the twining Violets that lyes:
Doe not with claps of hands, or noise of feet,
Awake her, from her carefull slumbers yet:
Untill my Spouse, of her owne selfe, shall rise
And wipe away the soft sleep, from her eyes;
Untill the golden day-starre shall release
All things from silent rest, and gentle peace.
|
|
Summis ecce venit jugis
Formosæ soboles matris, & unica
Formosi soboles patris:
Silvarumque super colla comantium,
Et intonsum Libani caput,
Magnorumque salit terga cacuminum, ac
Proceras nemorum domos
Prono transiliens præterit impetu:
|
Behold from tops of yonder hills doth come
The blessed off-spring of’s faire mothers womb,
The only issue of’s bright father too,
On the thick tops o’th’ groves doth leaping goe,
The unshorne head of Lebanus so hye
Hee leaps, and the great backs of
Mountaines by,
The stately dwellings of the woods hee skips,
And down again with nimble foot hee trips:
|
|
Veloci similis capræ
Qua visis humili in valle leonibus,
Per prærupta, per ardua
Sublimi volucris fertur anhelitu.
|
Like to a frighted, and swift running Roe.
Beholding Lions in a vale below,
With an amazed haste, and deep fetch’d breath
Through uncouth places runs t’escape his death.
|
|
[
Ad Cæſarem Pauſilipium.]
Regnum ſapientis.
Ode 3. Lib. 4.
|
To Cæſar Pauſilipius.
The kingdome of a wiſe man.
Ode 3. Lib. 4.
|
|---|
|
L
atè minaces horruimus Lethi
Regnare Thracas. Latius imperat,
Qui solus, exemptusque vulgo
Certa sui tenet arma voti.
|
T
he large-commanding Thracians wee
Have fear’d. More large command hath hee,
Who all alone himselfe retyres,
And keepes sure guard o’re his desires.
|
|
Imbelle pectus parce fidelibus
Munire parmis; neu latus aspero
Lorica cinctu, neu decorum
Arcus amet pharetraque collum.
|
Thy unwarlike breast, with shield of proofe
Forbeare to fortifie; throw off
From thy unpractic’d sides the shirt
Of Mayle, so hard about thee girt.
Let not the Quiver and the bow
Such homage to thy soft neck doe.
|
|
An Cimber, an te lectus ab ultimis
Pictus Britannis ambiat, an Geta,
Nil allabores; ipse miles,
Ipse tibi pugil, ipse Ductor.
|
Whether’t bee Dane, or Pict, ta’ne out
From farthest Brittaine, hems th’about
Or Goth, ne’re labour much to know
Thine owne Commander, Champion too.
|
|
Exile regnum, Pausilipi, sumus:
Sed se obsequentem qui sibi subdidit,
Hic grande fecit, si suasmet
Ipse roget peragatque leges.
|
Wee are—’tis true a kingdome small;
But, Pausilipius, hee that shall
His flatt’ring selfe, t’ himselfe subdue,
A businesse great doth undergoe;
If his owne lawes hee can perswade,
And doth performe them being made,
|
|
Armata Regem non faciet cohors,
Non tincta vulgi purpura sanguine,
Aut nobili stellatus auro
Frontis apex, teretique gemmâ.
|
An host, makes no Kings title good,
Nor Robes deepe dy’d in peoples blood.
A high brow set with starrs of gold,
Or Jems more glorious to behold.
|
|
Rex est, profanos qui domuit metus:
Qui cùm stat unus, castra sibi facit;
Casumque fortunamque pulchro
Provocat assiduus duello.
Non ille vultum fingit ad improbi
Decreta vulgi, non popularia
Theatra, non illum trophæa,
Non volucri movet aura plausu.
Beatus, à quo non humilem gravis
Fortuna vocem, non tumidam levis
Expressit umquam curiosis
Dum tacitus premit ora fatis.
|
Hee who hath tam’d all coward feares,
And his owne Guard himselfe prepares,
Who practic’d, in faire combate, first
Dares Chance and Fortune do their worst;
That man’s a King. Hee doth not faine
His lookes to th’ votes o’th’ vulgar straine,
The popular stage, and publike showes
Ne’re moves him, nor the ayre that blowes
With swift applause; Hee’s blest whose sprite,
Fall Fortune sad, or fall she light,
Hath ne’re exprest, to th’standers by,
A low complaint, or haughty cry;
But, lest the curious Fates displease—
Hee should, holds modestly his peace.
|
|
Ad prima si quis vulnera non gemit,
Solo peregit bella silentio:
Celare qui novit sinistros,
Ille potest benè ferre casus.
|
At’s first wounds, who nor grones, nor quakes,
A Conquest with his silence makes:
Hee that mischance knowes how to hide,
The worst of ills, can best abide.
|
|
Ille, & caducis se licet undique
Suspendat auris pontus, & in caput
Unius & flammas, & undam, &
Vertat agens maria omnia Auster,
|
Hee, though the Sea should every where
Hang up its waves i’th’ flitting ayre;
And the rough winds on him, should presse
Flames mix’d with billowes, nay whole Seas,
|
|
Rerum ruinas, mentis ab arduà
Sublimis aulà, non sine gaudio
Spectabit, & latè ruenti
Subjiciens sua collo cælo
|
From the high Court of’s lofty mind
I’th’ midst o’th’ ruine, sport can find;
Sets to his neck to th’ falling skye,
|
|
Mundum decoro vulnere fulciet;
Interque cæli fragmina, lugubre
Telluris insistet sepulchrum, ac
Incolumis morientis ævi
|
And props the world most valiantly:
To the now gasping Age safe heyre,
Leans on the Earth’s sad sepulchre,
Whence, ’midst the fragments of the skye,
|
|
Heres, ab alto prospiciet, magis
Hæc magnæ quam sint quæ pedibus premit,
Quàm quæ relinquet; jam tum Olympi
Non dubius moriturus hospes.
|
Hee sees most clearly from on hye,
How much more great those things appeare,
Hee treads on, then indeed they are,
Being then prepar’d, and ready drest
To dye Olympus certaine guest.
|
|
Quò cùm volentem fata reduxerint,
Nil interest, an morbus, an hosticus
Impellat ensis, quò supremum
Urget itur. Semel advehemur
|
Where, when by th’ Fates hee’s gladly brought,
Whether disease, it matter’s not,
Or enemies sword, doth thrust him on,
When his last journey he must run.
|
|
Quam navigamus semper in insulam
Seu lata magnis stravimus æquora
Regis carinis; seu Quirites,
Exiguâ vehimur phaselo.
|
To th’ Port wee are but once brought in
To which w’have alwayes sayling bin:
Whether, as mighty Princes, wee
In gallant ships have spread the Sea;
Or, as the common sort of men,
In smaller Barks, have carryed been.
|
|
Illo beatum margine me meus
Exponat asser. Cur ego sistere
Aeterno reformidens quietus
Littore, si peritura linquam?
|
May my poore bottome to that brinke
Mee happy bring; why should I shrinke—
Safe on th’Aeternall shore to stand,
If with such trash I can shake hand?
|
|
[
Ad Q. Delliam.]
Non tam populari exemplo, quâm potius rationis ductu vitam eſſe
inſtituendam.
|
To Q. Dellius.
That our life ought not to bee inſtituted ſo much by popular
example, as by the guiding of reaſon.
|
|
Ode 10. Lib. 4.
|
Ode 10. Lib. 4.
|
|
D
elli, si populo
duce
Vita degenerem carpimus orbitam,
Erramus, procul arduis
Virtus se nimium seposuit jugis.
Illuc quò via tritior,
Hoc est certa minùs. Longus inutili
Error nectitur ordine:
Et mores populum, non ratio trahit.
|
W
ee erre (my
Dellius) if wee take
That baser path of life, the people make;
In highest and remotest Hills
Vertue sequesters up her selfe, and dwells.
There where the way more beaten lyes,
Lesse certaine, and more slipp’ry alwayes ’tis.
From fruitlesse order, errours grow;
Custome, not reason, drawes the people now.
|
|
Casu vivitur, & viam
Non metam premimus, quà præeuntium
Per vestigia civium
Insanæ strepitus plebis, & improbæ
Voces invidiæ vocant.
Exemplis trahimur & trahimus retrò,
Soli nemo sibi est malus,
Nulli vita sua est: dum vaga postero
Tubam turba premit gradu,
Sunt primi exitio sæpè sequentibus.
|
Men live by Chance, our time we spend
I’th’ way, like Truants, and forget the end,
Where ’mid’st the throng of passers by,
The noyse of the mad rout, the hatefull cry
Of envy, calls, wee’re drawne amaine
B’example; others wee draw back againe;
No man is ill to himselfe alone,
Nor no mans life is onely call’d his owne.
Whil’st that the rambling rout treads o’re
With after steps, the heeles of them before,
They that goe formost are design’d
A mischiefe oft to those that come behind.
|
|
Me Parnassus & integer
Plebeiis Helicon cætibus eripit
Sublimem; undè vagantium
Errores animorum, & malè desidis
Vulgi damna patent. juvat
Ex alto intrepidum colle jacentià
Despectare pericula, &
Cantum non propriis vivere casibus.
|
Pernassus, and chaste Helicon
Sublimes and takes mee from the vulgar throng:
From whence, the false mistakes I view
And wandring mindes of the too slothfull crew;
And from on hye I fearelesse see,
With sport, the dangers that below me lye;
Thus warily with joy I live,
And by, other mens mischances I can thrive.
|
|
[
Ad Sigiſmundum Lætum.]
Gloriæ inanis deſpicientiam & ſilentium commendat.
Ode 11. l. 4.
|
To Sigiſmundus Lætus.
Hee Commends the deſpiſing of vaine-glory, and ſilence.
Od. 11. Lib. 4.
|
|
L
æte, quid cassis sequimur fugacem
Gloriam telis? fugit illa Mauri
More, vel Parthi, regeritque ab ipso
Vulnera tergo.
|
W
hy fleeting glory follow wee,
Lætus, with weapons all in vaine?
When like a Moore, or Parthian, shee
Flyes at her backe with wounded Trayne.
|
|
Hospes unius negat esse tecti
Garrulus vulgi favor: hîc inani
Aure rumores legit, inde veris
Falsa remiscet.
|
The Talking-peoples love, denyes
Under one roofe a guest to fix:
With’s empty care, one takes up lyes,
And them with truths, doth subt’ly mix,
|
|
Hîc velut nidum positurus hæsit,
Mox ubi vano vacuum tumultu
Pectus illusit, tacitis in altum
Subsilit alis,
|
Another sticks, and thinkes to build
His nest: but when he plainly sees
His empty breast with noise beguild,
Aloft with silent wings, hee flees.
|
|
Vera laus sciri fugit. ipse pulcher
Se suâ Titan prohibet videri
Luce: qui totus potuit latere,
Major habetur.
|
True praise would not be knowne; the Sun
Forbids from being seen below
By his own light: and hee that can
Ecclipse himselfe, doth brighter show.
|
|
Qui premit sacram taciturnitate
Pectoris gazam; benè non silenti
Tutus in vulgo benè suspicaci
Regnat in aulâ.
|
Hee that in silence, of his mind
The sacred Treasury containes;
Safety i’th’ vulgar noyse doth find:
In’s doubtfull Court, and wisely raignes.
|
|
Præterit mutas benè cymba ripas;
Quæ simul raucis strepuêre saxis,
In latus cautam sapiens memento
Avertere proram.
|
Still banks thy Pinnace well may passe.
But when with hoarse rocks they do roare,
Remember wisely to forecast
And turn’t aside with wary Oare.
|
|
[
Ad Ianum Libinium.]
Solitudinem ſuam excuſat.
Ode 12. Lib 4.
|
To Ianus Libinius.
Hee excuſes his retyredneſſe.
Ode 12. Lib. 4.
|
|
Q
uid me latentem sub tenui lare
Dudum moretur, cùm mihi civium
Amica certatim patescant
Atria, sæpe rogas Libini.
|
W
hat ’tis detaines me here, and why—
I hide my selfe from every eye.
How in so poore a house I spend
My houres, y’have often ask’d me, friend;
When the free Courts of free-borne men,
Fall out, which first shall let me in.
|
|
Me plenus, extra quid cupiam? meo
In memet ipsum clausus ab ostio,
In se recedentis reviso
Scenam animi vacuumque relustro
|
I enjoy my selfe, what need I more?
Of every sense I lock the dore;
And close shut up, a taske I find
In the retyring house o’th’ mind:
|
|
Vitæ theatrum, sollicitus mei
Spectator, an quæ fabula prodii
Matura procedam, & supremo
Numinis excipienda plausu.
|
The Theatre of my life I view
My owne spectator and iudge too—
Whether the tale I first begun
In well digested Acts I’ue spun;
In every scene, if every clause
Goes neatly off, with heav’ns applause:
|
|
Omnes recenset numen, & approbat
Vel culpat actus: quo mea judice
Si scena non levè peracta est,
Sim populo sine teste felix.
|
Each Action scan’d, is there set free
Or sentenc’d by authoritie—
If there, with well Done I escape,
I’me blest without the peoples clap.
|
|
Odi loquacis compita gloriæ
Plebeia: quam cùm fama faventibus
Evexit auris, sæpe misso
Invidiæ stimulata telo,
Aut invidentûm territa vocibus,
Parùm obstinatis & malè fortibus
Dimittit alis. Illa nudam
Plangit humum, lacerosque saxis
Affligit artus. Me meliùs tegat
Privata virtus, & popularia
Numquam volaturum per ora
Celet iners sine laude tectum.
|
I hate the common road of praise,
Or what the gaping vulgar raise,
Which with a pleasant gale a while
Fame hurries, but doth soone beguile:
Now Envie’s sting it feeles, ere long
Th’Artillery of some spightfull tongue:
Thus chac’d, with weak’ned wings it dyes;
Or torne, on the bare ground it lyes.
A private fame, a meane house, where
I live conceal’d from popular ayre,
Best fits my mind, and shelters me:
|
|
Semota laudem si meruit, vetat
Audire virtus. tutiùs invidi
Longinqua miramur: propinquis
Lævus amat comes ire Livor.
|
Vertue t’her owne praise deafe should be.
Our emulation, things a farre off command,
But Envy haunts things that are neere at hand.
|
|
[
Ad Cæſarem Pauſilippium.]
Adverſa conſtanti animo ferenda eſſe.
Ode 13. Lib. 4.
|
To Cæſar Pauſilippius.
That adverſity is to bee endured with a conſtant mind.
Ode 13. l. 4.
|
|
S
i quæ flent mala lugubres
Auferrent oculi, Sidoniisego
Mercarer benè lacrymas
Gemmis, aut teretum merce monilium,
At ceu rore seges viret,
Sic crescunt riguis tristia fletibus.
Urget lacryma lacrymam;
Fecundusque sui se numerat Dolor.
Quem fortuna semel virum
Udo degenerem lumine viderit,
Illum sæpè ferit; mala
Terrentur tacito fatæ silentio.
Ne te, ne tua fleveris
Quæ tu, care, vocas, Pausilipi, mala,
Quam pellunt lacrymæ, fovent
Sortem: dura negant cedere mollibus.
Siccas si videat genas,
Duræ cedet hebes sors patientiæ.
|
I
f mournfull eyes could but prevent
The evils they so much lament
Sidonian Pearles, or Gems more rare,
Would be too cheap for ev’ry teare.
But moyst’ned woes grow fresh, and new,
As Come besprinkled with the dew.
Teare followes teare, and fruitfull griefe
Hath from it selfe, its owne reliefe.
The man whom Fortune doth espy
With drooping spirit, and moyst’ned eye,
Shee, often strikes; ill Fate, amaine
Runs Scarr’d no notice being ta’ne.
Bewayle not then thy selfe, deare friend,
Or evills that on thee attend;
What they expell, teares cherish oft;
Hard things deny to yeild to soft.
Mischance is conquered, when she spies
A valiant patience with dry eyes.
|
|
[
Ad Criſpum Lævinium.]
Rogatus cur ſæpè per viam caneret, reſpondet.
Ode 44.[B]
Lib 4.
|
To Criſpus Lævinius.
Being aſked why hee ſung ſo often as hee travailed, hee
anſwers.
Ode 44.[B]
Lib. 4.
|
|
C
um meam nullis humeros onustus
Sarcinis tecum patriam reviso
Lætus, & parvo mihi cumque dives
Canto viator.
|
A
s cheerefully I walke with thee,
My shoulders from all burdens free.
Our native soyle again to see
Rich to my selfe I sing,
|
|
Tu siles mœstùm: tibi cura Musas
Demit, & multi grave pondus auri.
Quæque te quondam male fida rerum
Turba relinquet.
|
Whil’st care strikes thee, and thy Muse dumb,
The heavy weight of thy vast summe,
Or what estate in time to come
The faithlesse rout may bring.
|
|
Dives est qui nil habet; illa tantùm
Quæ potest certâ retinere dextrâ,
Seque fert secum vaga quò, migrare
Jussit egestas.
|
Hee’s rich that nothing hath; Hee that
In’s certaine hand holds his estate,
That makes himselfe his constant mate
Where need commands him go;
|
|
Quid mihi, qui nil cupiam, deesse
Possit? umbro si placet una Pindi
Vallis: ô sacrum nemus, ô jocosa
Rura Camœna!
|
What can I want, that nought desire?
Then Pindus vale, I reach no higher:
O sacred Grove! O pleasant quire
In those coole shades below!
|
|
Quæ meos poscet via cunque gressus,
Delphici mecum, mea regna, colles
Itis, & fessum comitante circum-
Sistitis umbrâ.
|
What paths soe’re my steps invite
Ye Delphian hills, my sole delight
Doe goe with mee; in weary plight,
And veyle me with good grace.
|
|
Me Gothus sævis religet catenis,
Me Scythes captum rapiat; solutâ
Mente, vobiscum potero tremendos
Visere Reges.
|
Let th’Goth his strongest chaines prepare,
The Scythian hence mee captive teare,
My mind being free with you, I’le stare
The Tyrants in the face.
|
|
[
Ad Munatium.]
Nihil in rebus humanis non tædio plenum eſſe.
Ode 15. Lib. 4.
|
To Munatius.
That nothing in humane affaires is not full of
tediouſneſſe.
Ode 15. l. 4.
|
|
N
il est, Munati, nil, iterùm canam,
Mortale, nil est, immedicabilis
Immune tædî. Clarus olim
Sol proavis atavisque nobis,
|
N
othing Munatius, nothing I sing’t
againe,
That’s mortall, nothing from th’ uncured paine
Of tediousnesse is free. The Sun
Which bright to our forefathers shone
|
|
Parùm salubris, nec maculâ reus
Damnatur unâ; quicquid in arduo
Immortale mortales Olympo
Vidimus, invidiæ caducâ
|
To us, but little healthfull, doth appeare,
And though not guilty of one spott, not cleare:
Whatsoe’re immortall thing we see
In high Olympus, silly wee
|
|
Fuscamus umbrâ. non placet incolis
Qui Sol avitis exoritur jugis;
Aut prisca quæ dudum paternam
Luna ferit radiis fenestram.
|
Doe over-cast with Envy’s shade; here one
From his owne native Hills the rising Sun.
Disclaimes; or th’ancient Moone, that strikes
Her beames through’s fathers glasse, dislikes.
|
|
Cælo quotannis, & patriis leves
Migramus arvis; hunc tepidæ vocant
Brumæ Batavorum, huic aprici
Ausoniæ placuêre soles.
|
Each yeare we change our ayre, and soyle, so light;
Him, Hollands warmer Climate doth invite:
Another differs, and doth cry
Ausonia’s clearer Suns please mee.
|
|
Frustrà; fideles si dominum retrò
Morbi sequuntur, nec tacitus Dolor
Absistit, aut Veiente curru,
Aut Venetâ comes ire cymbâ.
|
In vaine all this, if faithfull sicknesses
Wait close behind; if secret griefes ne’re cease,
All’s one, whether in Chariot
Thou goest, or in Venetian boat.
|
|
Tandemque nobis exulibus placent
Relicta; certam cui posuit domum
Virtus, huic nunquam paternæ
Fumus erit lacrymosus aulæ.
|
Poore exiles! then, things left doe please us most,
Who a sure building can from vertue boast,
To him the smoke of’s father’s Hall
Doth never hurt his eyes at all.
|
|
Virtus agresti dives in otio
Sese ipsa claudit finibus in suis
Plerumque, & insonti quietum
In paleâ solium reclinat.
|
Vertue oft-times, rich in a rustick ease
Confines her selfe to her owne private blisse;
And in the guiltlesse straw, her throne
With great delight can leane upon.
|
|
[
Ad Ieſum Opt. Max.]
Ex ſacro Salomonis Epithalamio.
|
Out of Solomon’s ſacred Marriage Song.
Chap. 1. 7.
|
|
Indica mihi quem diligit anima mea, ubi paſcas, ubi cubes in
meridie.
|
Tell mee (ô thou whom my ſoule loveth) where thou feedeſt, where
thou makeſt thy flocks to reſt at noone, &c.
παραφραστικῶς.
|
|
Ode 19. Lib. 4.
|
Od. 19. Lib. 4.
|
|
D
icebas abiens: Sponsa vale; simul
Vicisti liquidis nubila passibus.
Longam ducis, Jesu,
In desideriis moram.
|
T
hou said’st, farewell my Spouse, & went’st
away
More fleet then Clouds with liquid paces stray:
Oh what a longing, Jesu thus
With thy delay thou mak’st in us?
|
|
Ardet iam medio summa dies polo,
Jam parcit segeti messor, & algidas
Pastor cum grege valleis,
Et picta volucres petunt.
|
’Tis now high noone, the scorching Sun doth burne
I’th’ mid’st o’th’ pole, the mower spares the corne,
The Shepheard, with his flocks, is glad—
And painted birds, to seeke coole shade.
|
|
At te quæ tacitis destinet otiis
O Jesu regio? quis mihi te locus
Cæcis invidet umbris,
Aut spissâ nemorum coma?
|
But Jesu! where
art thou? what region’s blest
By holding thee so long in silent rest?
What darksome shade denyes my love?
Or with thick boughs what shady Grove?
|
|
Scirem quo jaceas cespite languidus,
Quis ventus gracili præflet anhelitu,
Quis rivus tibi grato
Somnum prætereat sono;
|
Knew I on what green Turfe thou dost repose
Thy fainting limbs; what wind with soft breath blowes’
What streame, with bubling, passing by
Disturbs thy sleep, or wakens thee;
|
|
Ah! nè te nimio murmure suscitent
Nostræ diluerent flumina lacrymæ,
Et suspiria crudis
Miscerentur Etesiis.
|
Oh! lest the too much noise should raise thee, I
Would let fall streams of teares should qualifie;
My warmer sighes thou mix’d should’st find
With the cold blasts o’th’ Easterne wind.
|
|
[
Ex ſacro Salomonis Epithalamio.]
|
Out of Salomon’s ſacred marriage ſong.
|
|
En dilectus meus loquitur mihi: Surge, propera
amica mea, columba mea, formoſa mea, & veni. Iam enim hiems
tranſiit, imber abiit & receſſit. &c.
|
My beloved ſpake and ſaid unto mee, riſe up my
love, my Dove, my faire one, and come away; for loe the winter is paſt,
the raine is over and gone: the flowers appeare on the earth, the time
of ſinging of birds is come, and the voice of the Turtle is heard in our
Land. The fig tree putteth forth, &c.
|
|
Ode 21. Lib. 4.
|
Ode 21. Lib. 4.
|
|
F
allor? an Elysii lævâ de parte Sereni
Me mea vita vocat!
Surge soror, pulchris innectito lora columbis;
Pulchrior ipsa super
Scande rotas, Libanique levem de vertice currum,
Has, age flecte domos.
Ad tua decidu fugiunt vestigia nimbi,
Turbidus imber abiît:
Ipsa sub innocuis mitescunt fulmina plantis,
Ipsa virescit hiems.
|
D
o I mistake? or from Elyzium cleare
My life’s call doe I heare?
Sister arise, and harnesse thy sweet paire
Of Doves, thy selfe more faire;
Mount and drive hither, here let thy Chariot stop,
From Libanus hye top;
At thy approach the falling showres doe fly,
Tempestuous stormes passe by,
The lightning’s quench’d under thy harmlesse feet,
Winter turnes Spring to see’t.
|
|
Interea sacris aperit se scena viretis
Sub pedibusque tibi
Altera floret humus, alterque vagantia lætus
Sidera pascit ager.
Hic etiam trepidi pendent è rupibus hædi,
Præcipitesque capræ;
Hinnuleique suis, passim dum flumina tranant,
Luxuriantur aquis.
|
While in the sacred Green, a bow’re we see
Doth spread it selfe for thee.
The Earth new Turff’s it selfe for thee to tread,
The straying starrs fresh fields make glad.
Here with their dams, of Kids th’amazed flocks
Hang on steep sides of Rocks;
Here as they swim, the wanton Hinds do play
In the coole streames all day.
|
|
It Leo cum Pardo viridis de colle Saniri
Mitis uterque regi,
Cumque suo passim ludunt in montibus agno
Exsuperantque juga.
Plurimus hos circum tacito pede labitur amnis,
Pumicibusque cavis
Per violas lapsæ per declives hyacinthos,
Exspatiantur aquæ.
Lenè fluunt rivi, muscosis lenè susurrus
Murmurat è scopulis.
In vitrio pisces saliunt hilares crystallo,
Dulcè queruntur aves.
|
The Lion with the Libard downe is l’ed
Tame and well governed;
Each with his Lamb about the Mountaines skip,
O’re Hills they lightly trip.
By these a spacious brooke doth slowly glide,
Which with a spreading tyde
Through bending Lilyes, banks of Violets
From th’hollow Pumice sweats.
The rivers gently flow, and a still sound
From mossie Rocks doth bound.
The sporting fish dance in the christall Mayne,
The Birds sweetly complaine,
|
|
Nec verò, si mœsta placent saletia cælo
Flebile murmur abest:
Nam sibi dum vestro regemunt ex orbe palumbes,
Huc sonus ille venit.
Sic dum se viduo solatur Carmine turtur,
Gaudia nostra placent.
|
The ayre, if dolefull comforts please, doth ring
With mournfull murmuring.
For when the Doves eccho each others cry
That sound doth hither fly.
As they with widowed notes themselves do please,
Just so, our joyes increase.
|
|
Cetera non desunt, pronis vindemia pendet
Officiosa botris,
Hîc etiam vulgò violas, albentia vulgó
Ungue ligustra leges:
Ipsa tibi, leti succos oblita priores,
Mitia poma cadent:
Ipsæ maturâ labentur ab arbore ficus,
Percutientque sinum.
|
No want appeares; th’officious Vine doth stand
With bending clusters to our hand.
Here, thou shalt pick sweet Violets, and there
Fresh Lillyes all the yeare:
The Apple ripe drops from its stalke to thee,
From tast of death made free.
The luscious fruit from the full Figtree shall
Into thy bosome fall.
|
|
Intereà falcem vindemia nescit, aratrum
Saucia nescit humus.
Ipsæ sponte virent segetes, innoxius ipse
Messibus albet ager.
Præbent Hospitium platani: præbet formosos
Graminis herba toros.
Cædua Pãchæos sudant opobalsama nimbos;
Et genialis odor
Aspirat quoties, nutantibus hinc atque illinc
Ingruit aura comit.
|
Meane while, the Vine no pruning knife doth know,
The wounded earth no plow.
The Corne growes green alone, and th’unhurt land
Doth white with harvest stand.
The grasse affords a stately bed, the Plane
Spreads thee to entertaine.
Arabian mists sweat from the gummy tree
Of Balme, and all for thee;
Which through the ayre, a rich perfume doe throw,
Fann’d with each neighb’ring bough.
|
|
Surge; quid indignos ducis per tædia soles?
Surge, age, cara soror.
Ecce tuis ipsæ iam circum fræna columbæ
Ingemuêre moris.
Huc age, formosas formosior ipsa columbas
Hospita flecte furor.
|
Arise my Sister deare, why dost thou stay,
And spend th’unwilling day?
Behold thy harness’d Doves, at thy delay
Doe sigh, come, drive away.
Put on, and hither drive thy beauteous paire
Of Doves, thy selfe more faire.
|
|
[
Ad Ianuſsium Skuminum.]
Cùm conjugi chariſſimæ juſta perſolveret.
παραφραστικῶς.
|
To Ianuſius Skuminus.
When hee performed the Funerall obſequies of his moſt deare
Wife.
παραφραστικῶς.
|
|
Ode 30. Lib. 4.
|
Ode 30. Lib. 4.
|
|
S
i tibi pollicitum numen, si fata fuissent
Æternos fere conjugis annos;
Jure per assiduos (procerum fortissime) fletus
Ereptam quererêre, Janussi.
Quem Pietas quem non moveat non tristibus unquam
Arx animi concussa procellis
Et pudor, & proni niveo de pectore sensus,
Et Regina modestia morum,
Aut bona sedulitas, aut non incauta futuri
Præsagæ solertia montis?
|
W
hat though the Gods have promis’d she shall
bee
Enfranchis’d to Eternity?
Yet (valiant Sir) so great a losse still cryes
For a just tribute from your eyes;
View but her pious mind, that tow’re of state
Not shaken by sad stownes of Fate,
Her humble innocent soule, her guiltlesse feare,
Her modesty chiefe Regent there;
The prudent thrift of her presaging mind
Her constant zeale, pure and refin’d;
And who can then forbeare t’embalme her Hearse
With the daily precious dew of teares?
|
|
Provida sed longam magnis virtutibus ævum
Non audent promittere fata:
Nec possunt, si quæ maturavére, profanis
Astra diu committere terris.
Nunc adeò parces longis onerare querelis
Depositum repetentia magnum,
Ingentes animi gazas, & robur, & aureo
Incoctum benè pectus honesto.
|
Tis not in Fate to promise length of dayes,
To things of such esteeme and praise;
Nor can the starrs suffer so ripe a birth
To be long sullied with dull earth.
Load not the Heavens then with unjust complaints,
For taking back one of their Saints.
The courage of her richly temp’red breast
Made her for them a fitter guest:
Such jewells of her mind sparkle about her
The starres themselves can’t shine without her.
|
|
Sic Tanaquil, sic quæ cunctantem Claudia rexit
Virgineâ cervice Cybellen,
Quæque maritali successit Thessala fato,
Et Latiis vaga Clœlia ripis;
Ante diem raptæ vivunt post funera, vatum
Perpetuos in carmine fastos.
|
Thus Tanaquil; thus Claudia’s virgin band
Steer’d the unwilling Barke to land.
Thus shee, that durst her Husbands fate abide,
And Cloelia over Tiber’s tyde;
Too early crop’d, survive in Poesie,
And keepe perpetuall jubilie.
|
|
Illa quidẽ non, si surdos ad carmina Manes
Orpheâ testudine vincam,
Eductas adamante fores, & ahenea rumpat
Elysiii pomœria muri,
Reddaturque tibi. Stat nulli janua voto,
Nullis exorata Poëtis.
|
’Tis not in Art to fetch her back againe,
Or charme the spirits with Orpheus
straine,
To breake the bars of Adamant or scale
The Rampiers of th’ Elysian wall,
No Orisons prevaile, sent from the breast
Of great Apollo’s choisest Priest.
|
|
Sunt tamen exiles insigni in limine rimæ
Quà possint arcana videri,
Hæc ego si nullos fallunt insomnia maneis,
Aut vidi, aut vidisse putavi
Errantem campo in magno, quem gemmea circum
Perspicuis stant mœnia portis:
|
Yet in the arched entrance chinks there bee,
Which may befriend the covetous eye;
Through these to th’hidden mysteries I peep,
And (if the spirits nor dream, nor sleep)
I saw, or else me thoughts, I there had seene
Her, wandring o’re a Spacious Greene,
With walls of Diamond, gates of purest glasse,
No Chrystall more transparent was:
Each blade of grasse was gold, each tree was there,
A golden Periwig did weare.
|
|
Auro prata virent; arbor crinitur in aurum;
Crispantur violaria gemmis,
Quæ nec Apellæus liquor, nec pulchra trigoni
Assimulent mendacia vitri.
|
The swelling banks of Violets did curle
Themselves with Gems, and Orient Pearle;
The glorious nothing, of the Trigon glasse—
And all Apelles Art, which passe.
|
|
Centum ibi formosis in vallibus Heroïnæ
Aeternum Pæana frequentant.
Stant virides campo stellæ, madidisque corusca
Connivent sibi sidera flammis.
|
Through the sweet vales a Quire of Damsels sing
Eternall Pæans to their King.
The stars with sparkling light stand round I see,
Twinkling to their shrill melodie.
|
|
Illa inter medias parvo comitata nepote
Et roseo vivacior ore,
Ibat ovans, grandemque sibi, grandemque nepoti
Nectebat de flore coronam.
|
Her and her tender darling, then I spy,
I’th’ mid’st of that blest company;
With looks more fresh and sweet, then are the Roses
Of which her Garlands shee composes—
Two flowry Chaplets, which with Gems set round
Her owne and Nephew’s temples crown’d.
|
|
Cetera me vetuit magni caligo sereni
Mortali percurrere visu.
Nectu plura velis; satis est, cui fata dederunt
Aeternis mutasse caduca.
|
But here a veyle was drawne, I must not prie
Nor search too farre with mortall eye,
Nor would you more. It may suffice that shee
Hath chang’d fraile flesh for blest Eternitie.
|
|
[
Ad Albertum Turſcium.]
De ſuis ſomniis & lyricis.
Ode 32. Lib. 4.
|
To Albertus Turſcius.
Of his Dreames, and Lyricks.
Ode 32. Lib. 4.
|
|
T
ursci, seu brevior mihi
Seu pernox oculos composuit sopor,
Pennas Somnia lævibus
Affigunt humeris; jamque virentia
Latus prata superuolo,
Quà se cumque novum mollè tumentibus
Campis explicuit nemus,
Herbosæque patet scena superbiæ:
|
VV
hether a shorter sleep, or whether
A long one (Turscius) joyns mine eyes
together
In my soft dreames, me thinks, I see
To my light shoulders wings set on, and I
With joy transported, upward soare,
The flowry Meddowes, and the pastures o’re;
Where the greene Grove its coole shade yeilds
To th’stately grasse plotts, and ripe swelling
fields:
|
|
Mox & nubibus altior,
Mistus flumineis ales oloribus;
Vivos despicio lacus,
Et dulci volucrem carmine mentior.
Jam tunc nubila, jam mihi
Blandis dissiliunt fulmina cantibus;
Et quæ plurima circuit
Collum, puniceâ vincior Iride.
|
Straight, ’mid’st the river Swans, up hyer
A winged fowle above the cloudes I’aspire;
The lively Lakes below, I sleight,
And with sweet straines a bird I counterfeit.
See, now me thinkes, the cloudes in throngs
The lightning leaps too, at my ravishing songs;
Iris about my neck hangs round,
And with her divers colour’d bow, I’me bound.
|
|
Idem jam vigil, & meus,
Non ingrata simul somnia dispuli,
Cùm ter mobilibus lyram
Percussi digitis, immemor & ducis
Nil sectator Horatii,
Sublimis liquidum nitor in aëra;
Et nunc littera, nunc vagas
Siccis trajiciens passibus insulas,
Nil mortale mei gero, &
Jam nil sollicito debeo ponderi.
|
Being now my selfe, and newly wak’d,
My not unwelcome dreames, just now off shak’d;
Thrice o’re my Lute, I scarce had run
With nible finger neat division;
Remembring Horace, Thee, my guide,
When my high Genius through th’ayre doth ride;
Now o’re the scatt’red Islands, then
O’re Seas, with dry feet passing back again;
Nothing that’s mortall of mee, now
I beare, and nought to my dull bulke I owe.
|
|
Tursci, sæpè tamen mones
Olim ne veteri clarior Icaro
Veris fabula casibus
Mutem Parrhasii nomina Balthiri.
Frustra; nam memor Icari,
Addo stultitiæ consilium brevi:
Nam, seu dormio, me torus;
Seu scribo, stabili sella tenet situ.
|
Yet Turscius thou hast often told,
And warn’d mee, lest then Icarus of old
By a true fall indeed, I make
A lowder tale, and change the name o’th’Lake.
In vaine: Remembring Him, I had
A care, and counsell, to my folly, add:
For when I sleep, in bed I lye,
And if I write, my secure chaire holds mee.
|
|
[
Ad Quintum Tiberinum.]
Ode 34. Lib. 4.
|
To Quintus Tiberinus.
Ode 34. Lib. 4.
|
|
D
ivitem numquam, Tiberine, dices,
Cuius Eois potiora glebis
Rura, fortunæ sine fæce pulcher
Rivus inaurat;
|
T
hou shalt not Tiberinus, call
Him rich, whose every Acre shall
Outvie the Easterne glebe, whose field
Faire Fortune’s clearest streame doth gild.
|
|
Quem per insigneis geniale ceras
Stemma claravit; vaga quem per urbes
Quem per & gentes radiante vexit
Gloria curru.
|
Nor him, whose birth, and pedigree
Is fam’d abroad by’s Heraldrie;
Hee who by fleeting glory’s hurld
In his rich Chariot through the world:
|
|
Pauper est, qui se caret; & superbè
Ipse se librans, sua rura latam
Addit in lancem, socioque fallens
Pondus in auro,
|
He’s poore that wants himselfe, yet weighs
Proudly himselfe; in this scale layes
His lands, in th’other broad one, by,
The false weight of his gold doth lye,
|
|
Ceteris parvus, sibi magnus uni,
Ipse se nescit, pretioque falsa
Plebis attollit, propriaque se mi-
ratur in umbrâ.
|
Great to himselfe, to others small,
That never knowes himselfe at all,
As the false people raise him higher,
Himselfe in’s shadow hee’l admire.
|
|
Splendidam verâ sine luce gazam,
Turgidum plenâ sine laude nomen
Mitte; te solo, Tiberine, disces
Esse beatus.
|
The fairest Gemme without true light,
Without true praise great titles, flight:
Blest Tiberinus, and most free
In thy selfe alone thoul’t learne to bee.
|
|
[
Ad Paulum Coſlovium.]
Ode 35. Lib. 4.
|
To Paulus Coſlovius.
Ode 35. Lib. 4.
|
|
I
am pridem tepido veris anhelitu
Afflarunt reduces arva Favonii;
Jam se florida vernis
Pingunt prata coloribus:
|
T
he Westerne winds, with the warm breath
o’th’Spring,
Returne, and o’re our fields their soft gales fling;
The flowry-garnish’d Meadowes by,
With freshest colours painted lye.
|
|
Stratus frugiferis Vilia[C]
puppibus
Grato præter abit rura silentio,
Quamvis proximus omni
Collis personet alite;
|
The River, which the gainfull ships so throng,
With welcome silence gently glides along,
Although the neighbouring Hill doth ring
With the shrill notes of birds that sing;
|
|
Quamvis & viridi pastor ab aggere
Dicat gramineâ carmina fistulâ.
Et qui navita debet
Plenis otia carbasis.
|
Although the Swaine, on the green bank that sits
Old Sonnets with his Oaten Pipe repeats,
Although the Seaman doth not faile
At length to strike his full blowne sayle.
|
|
Æquat Palladiis, Paulle, laboribus
Interpone vices. Cras simul aureo
Sol arriserit ore
Summorum juga montium,
|
To thy Palladian labours interpose
Such changes Paullus; when the Sun forth showes
And with his golden presence smiles
On the hye tops of highest Hills,
|
|
Scandemus viridis terga Luciscii,
Quà celsâ tegitur plurimus ilice,
Et se prætereuntûm
Audit murmura fontium.
|
Wee’l mount the back of green Luciscus, where
Hee’s thickest set with tallest Okes, and heare
The bubbling noise of streames that flow
From Fountaines that close by him goe.
|
|
Illinc è medio tota videbitur
Nobis Vilna[C] jugo; tota
videbitur
Quæ Vilnam sinuosis
Ambit Vilia flexibus.
|
Thence from the midst o’th’hill all Vilna[C] shall
Our prospect be; our eye shall lower fall—
On Vilia’s cooler streames, that wind,
And with embraces Vilna bind.
|
|
Illinc picta procul quæ radiantibus
Fulgent fana tholis, & geminam super
Despectabimus arcem,
Magni regna Palæmonis.
|
From thence, farre off, the Temples wee’l behold,
And radiant Scutcheons all adorn’d with gold;
Then wee’l looke o’re that double towre,
Th’extent of great Palæmon’s pow’re.
|
|
Ut longo faciles Pacis in otio
Se tollunt populi! nam tria tertio
Surrexêre sub anno
Priscis templa Quiritibus;
|
How in a settled peace, and kingdomes rest
The easie people raise themselves, so blest!
Three Temples in three yeares w’have seen
To th’Citizens have reared been;
|
|
Et quà conspicuis se Gediminia
Jactant saxa jugis, & Capitolium,
Et quæ tecta superbis
Intrant nubila turribus.
|
Where Gediminian Rocks themselves extoll
With their plaine tops, and then the Capitol,
Those buildings, whose proud turrets stretch
Themselves to th’Cloudes, and stars doe reach:
|
|
Auget magna, Quies: exiguus labor
In majus modico provenit otio.
Hinc & terga virentûm
Latè prospice collium.
|
Great things to greater growth doe thus increase,
And with least paines, improve themselves by peace.
Here, tops of Hills, themselves behold,
In all their flowry pride unfold.
|
|
Quæ nunc mobilibus nutat Etesiis,
Segni cana stetit sub nive populus:
Qui nunc defluit, altà
Hæsit sub glacie latex:
|
The Poplar now that shakes, when th’East winds blow
Stood cloth’d in gray, under the ling’ring snow:
The Springs that now so nimbly rise,
Were all of late lock’d up, in Ice:
|
|
Qui nunc purpureis floret ager rosis,
Immoto sterilis delituit gelu:
Verno quæ strepit ales,
Hiberno tacuit die.
|
The fields that now with blushing Roses spread,
Lay barren, and in hardest frost all hid:
The birds which chirping sit i’th’Spring;
When Winter comes, forget to sing.
|
|
Ergò rumpe moras, & solidum gravî
Curæ deme diem, quem tibi candidus
Spondet vesper, & albis
Cras Horæ revehent equis.
|
Breake off delayes then, and from grievous care
A constant day, set by; which th’ev’ning faire
Doth promise, and the next dayes Sun
With his white Steeds will freely run.
|
|
[
Ad Paulum Iordanum Vrſinum Bracciani Ducem.]
Bracciani agri amœnitatem commendat, ad quam per ferias Septembres
ſeceſſerat Româ.
|
To Paulus Iordanus Vrſinus, Duke of
Bracciano.
Hee commends the pleaſantneſſe of the Countrey, where in the
feaſts of September, he retyred from Rome.
|
|---|
|
Ode 1. Lib. Epod.
|
Ode 1. Lib. Epod.
|
|
H
uc ô quietis apta Musis otia,
Levesque Ludorum chori;
Huc feriantûm Phœbe Musarum pater,
Huc hospitales Gratiæ;
Huc delicatis ite permisti Jocis
Non inverecundi Sales:
Hîc otiosi mite Bracciani solum
Vago coronemus pede.
|
A
ppeare ye spritefull Quire with choicest
sports,
All pastime fit for Phœbus Courts;
And Thou great Master of the Revels, joyne
The Graces, to thy Daughters nine;
Witt pure and quaint, with rich conceits and free
From all obscæne scurrilitie:
Here free from care, nimbly let’s dance a round
Upon Bracciano’s softer ground.
|
|
Clemens supino clivus assurgit jugo,
Cælumque paulatim subit,
Et solida subter terga scopulorum arduo
Securus insessu premit:
Arcisque jactat inter alta turrium
Insigne propugnacula,
Timenda quondam Cæsarum turmis ducum,
Timenda magno Borgiæ,
Cùm per minantûm militum aratos globos
Metuenda jaceret fulmima,
Ageretque profugum Cæsarem, & quassum metu;
Adusque promissum Nihil.
|
A gentle Cliffe from a steep Hill doth rise
That even to Heaven, mounts by degrees,
And safe, with uncouth passage, leanes upon
The solid backs, of Rocks and stone:
Whence ’mid’st the Bulwark’d Forts, we may descry
A displayd Banner from on hye,
Which to th’ Imperiall force a terrour was,
A terrour to great Borgias,
When through the brasen troops of’s threatning foes,
His fearfull thunder-bolts he throwes,
Pursuing routed Cæsar, whom he brought
To that he promis’d him, to nought.
|
|
Hîc ille magnus frænat Etruscas opes
Ursinus Heroum decus,
Hæres avitæ laudis, & princeps caput
Magnæque laus Oenotriæ.
Circùm coruscis scena quercetis viret,
Cælumque verrit frondibus,
Suoque colles vestit, & patentibus
Sese theatris explicat.
|
Great Ursin here puts reynes toth’Tuscan pow’re
The grace of Heroes and the flow’re;
Heire to his father’s worth, chiefe guide and stay
And praise of great Oenotria.
A Bow’re growes green, set round with trembling Okes
Which fanns the Heavens with gentle strokes.
It clothes the Hills, and spreads it selfe all over
To th’open Theaters a cover.
|
|
Admota muris ponè Nympharum domus
Aprica præbet littora:
Ripamque Baccho jungit, & vallum propè.
Lentis flagellat fluctibus.
Majore nusquam stagna Neptuno sonant,
Aut æstuantis Larii,
Aut qui severo tangit Albanus lacu
Inenatabilem Styga:
Aut quæ procellis gaudet, & magno fremit
Superba ponto Julia:
Nec major usquam spumat, & rupes truci
Benacus assultat salo.
|
Close joyn’d to th’walls, the Nymphs coole Arbour stands,
Which to the Sunny shore commands;
By these a banke of Vines, which th’neighbour Trench
With milder waves doth daily drench.
Nowhere the Lakes with fuller Sea doth roare,
Either of Larius that boyles o’re,
Or rough Albanus whose troubled waves doe mix
With the unnavigable Styx:
Not stormy Julia, when her swelling pride
Most rageth in her highest tyde:
Benacus doth not raise more froth, when he
Assaults the rocks with fiercest Sea.
|
|
Intonsa curvo monte circumstant juga,
Mitesque despectant aquas.
Nivosus illinc terga Romanus movet,
Cæloque diducit minas:
Illinc caducis ilicem quassat comis
Sublime Cymini caput:
Crudumque Boream frangit impotentibus
Depræliaturum Notis,
Terrisque latè regnat, & cæli minis
Opponit hibernum latus.
|
With rugged tops the bending mountaines round
Upon the slow calme streames looke downe.
Romanus here his snowy back up-reares.
And drawes downe envy from the starres:
The lofty head of Cyminus here shakes
The Oke with trembling leaves which quakes,
And holds off Boreas, when his rawer blasts
’Gainst the weake Southerne winds he casts,
Commands the Country farre, and out he sets
His Winter sides against Heavens threats.
|
|
Amica sternit interim lacum quies,
Fluctusque fluctu nititur,
Et ipsa secum pigra luctatur Thetis,
Aquæque colludunt aquis:
Quas vel carinâ, vel citata turgido
Findit phaselus linteo:
Pinnâque latè vitreum cogens pecus
Velente lino truditur,
Setâque piscem ducit, & raris procul
Lacum coronat retibus.
|
Meane while a pleasant calme doth smooth the Lake,
The waves ’gainst one another breake,
Mild Thetis selfe, with her own selfe finds sport,
And waters doe the waters court:
Through which a ship doth cut, with pleasant gales,
Or nimble Barke with swelling sayles:
The large-fin’d Chrystall cattell as they goe
Are forced whether they will or no
With ready dragnet; then with lines of haire
They round the Lake, or Nets more rare.
|
|
Hinc alta lucet divitis Pollæ domus,
Hinc pinguis Anguilaria:
Trebonianas hinc amica vineas
Vadosa plangunt æquora:
Hinc delicati fundus Aurelî nitet,
Lymphæ salutarîs pater:
Undàque morbos arcet, & vivacibus
Lucem fluentis eluit.
|
Rich Polla’s stately house there shines, and here
Full stored Fish-ponds doe appeare:
The friendly Foords which toward the Sea doe lye
Water Trebonian Vineyards by;
Here neat Aurelius farme looks gay, chiefe Lord
And Master of that healthfull Foord,
Whose water cures diseases, whose quick springs
Doe purge out all infectious things.
|
|
At quà superbum fontibus nomen dedit
Suumque Flora marginem,
Vivis perennes decidunt saxis aquæ,
Camposque decursu lavant,
Patremque longè Tybrin, & regem sonant,
Romæque servitum fluunt.
|
Where Flora makes the banks, and gives the name
To Fountaines, proud of so much fame;
From lively stones perpetuall waters flow,
And wash the fields wheresoe’re they goe,
Their father Tyber, and their King they found
And flow to Rome, with homage bound.
|
|
Sincera circùm regna naturæ nitent;
Et artis immunes loci:
Adhucque virgo sulcus, & montes adhuc
Molleis inexperti manus,
Meramque Bacchus Tethyn, & Bacchum Thetis,
Et pinguis invitat Ceres.
|
Nature doth purely there advance each part,
Not any place is help’d by Art:
As yet the virgin furrow, th’Hills yet stand
Untouch’d, by any tender hand.
Chast Tethys, Bacchus courts, Thetis doth
woo
Bacchus againe, and Ceres too.
|
|
Hinc ille lætus surgit, & tenacibus
Inserpit ulmis Evius,
Udoque cornu turget, & fluentibus
Crinem racemis impedit.
Non Lesbos illi, non odorati magis
Vineta rident Massici,
Aut quæ Falernis educata solibus
Sublucet uvæ purpura.
|
Hence Evius cheerfull rises, and doth twine
With th’Elme, that closely clings toth’ Vine,
With’s plenteous horne he swells, his locks hang by—
With flowing Clusters tangled lye.
Not Lesbos him, nor the sweet smelling grace,
Of rich Campania’s fruitfull race
Delights; the purple Grape not so faire showes,
In the Falernian sun that growes.
|
|
Sed nec Falisci glaream malit soli,
Nec pinguis uber Rhætiæ;
Nec flava tantùm culta felicis Cypri,
Graiámve dilexit Rhodon:
Quantùm suis superbit, & sese suis
Miratur in canalibus.
Circùm beatis imperat campis Ceres.
Lateque rura possidet:
Et arva flavo messium fluctu tument,
Motuque culmorum natant.
|
Hee’l not preferre Faliscus sandy ground,
Nor Rhætia, that doth so abound;
The yellow Tilths of happy Cyprus, hee
Ne’re lov’d so much, nor Rhodos by:
As in his owne — in his owne channells hee
Hugging himselfe, doth proudly lye.
Sole Empresse Ceres of the fertile lands
Whose large possessions shee commands:
The fields with yellow waves doe ebbe and flow,
The ripe eares swim, when winds doe blow.
|
|
Innube rarus inquinat cælum vapor,
Aut tensa nimbis vellera:
Aut è Boreis bella ventorum plagis,
Raucusque silvarum fragor
Auditur usquam: non protervis insonant
Exercitati Syrtibus,
Euris & Austris contumaces Africi,
Et perduellibus Notis.
|
No vapour, here, Heavens cleared face doth staine,
No clowdy fleece stretch’d out with raine:
The Northerne blasts are still, and all at peace,
And the hoarse noise o’th’ woods doth cease:
The stubborne Africke winds that use to stray
About th’unruly sandy Sea,
Are all hush’d up, and no Alarum sound
To th’ other winds, entrenched round;
|
|
Tantùm serenus Vesper, & tenerrima
Etesiarum flamina.
Albique soles, & serena lucidis
Aspirat aura montibus:
Puramque cælo provehunt Horæ facem,
Et Phœbus Horarum pater
Peculiari luce colles irrigat,
Pronáque perfundit die.
|
Onely the Evening faire, a gentle gale
Of winds that each year never faile:
The bright Sun darting through th’enlightned Ayre
His beames, doth guild the Moutaines cleare,
The houres drive on heav’ns torch, that shine so bright,
And Phœbus father of the light—
With a peculiar influence bedewes
The Hills all o’re, when night ensues.
|
|
Ramis tepentes ingruunt Favonii
Jocantis auræ sibilo,
Et temperatis provocant suspiriis,
Lenique somnum murmure.
At non loquaces interim nidi tacent,
Matresque nidorum vagæ.
Sed aut maritis turtur in ramis gemit,
Et saxa rumpit questibus,
Aut læta latè cantibus mulcet loca
Famosa pellex Thraciæ.
|
The warme Favonian winds with whistling gale
Doe merrily the boughs assaile,
And with their temperate breath, and gentle noise,
Sweet pleasing slumbers softly raise.
The prateling Nests meane while no silence keep,
Their wandring guests ne’re sleep.
To’s mate, the Turtle ’mong’st the branches grones,
And with complaints breakes hardest stones,
The Nightingale, the pleasant Groves about
Refresheth, with her warbling note,
|
|
Silvisque coram plorat, & crudelibus
Accusat agris Terea:
Quæcumque mœsta vocibus dicunt aves,
Respondet argutum nemus,
Affatur alnum quercus, ornum populus,
Affatur ilex ilicem,
Et se vicissim collocuta redditis
Arbusta solantur sonis.
|
Bewayles her losse to th’woods, i’th’ cruell fields
’Gainst Tereus her cryes shee yeilds:
And what the mournfull birds doe so complaine,
The shrill woods answer back againe.
The Oke, the Alder tells; the Poplar tree
The Ash; and that, the Elme stands by.
The Groves rejoyce with th’Eccho they afford
And tell them backe—ev’n word for word.
|
|
Huc ô Quiritûm ductor, huc Oenotriæ
O magne regnator plagæ
Jordane, tandem plenus urbis & fori,
Rerumque magnarum satur,
Sepone curis temet, & domesticis
Furare pectus otiis.
|
Jordanus here, hither thy selfe command,
Great Ruler of th’Oenotrian land.
Withdraw thy selfe from cares, from all resort
So cloy’d with’ Citie, and with Court,
So full of great affaires, at length thy breast
Convey to thy domestick rest.
|
|
Hic vel tuarum lene tranabis vadum
Opacus umbris arborum,
Tuosque colleis inter, & tuas procul
Perambulabis ilices:
Vel cum Decembri campus, & prima nive
Vicina canescent juga;
|
Here thou may’st passe thy Foord, in gloomy shade,
On each side, by thine owne trees made,
And here between thy Mounts, with tall Okes set,
A large walke thou shalt get:
Or in December, when the fields looke white,
And th’Hills, with the earlyest snow doth light;
|
|
Nunc impeditas mollibus plagis feras,
Silvamque præcinges metu:
Nunc incitato capream rumpes equo,
Teloque deprendes aprum;
Jactoque cervos collocabis spiculo,
Furesque terrebis lupos.
|
Sometime th’entangled game, with twining nett
I’th’ wood, with feare thou shalt besett:
Sometimes with courser fleet, pursue full sore,
The Buck thou mayst, sometimes the Bore;
With thy thrown dart the red Deer thou shalt stick.
And th’frighted ravenous Wolves shalt strick,
|
|
Quid si Latinæ laus Alexander plagæ,
Sacræque sidus purpuræ,
Tecum paterno feriabitur solo,
Seseque curis eximet;
Tuique cives, hospitesque civium
Toto fruemur gaudio.
|
And if that Starre o’th’ sacred dignity
The glory of all Italy,
Will also from his cares, himselfe make free,
And keepe his Festivals with thee;
Each Citizen of thine, and every guest
With the compleatest joy is blest.
|
|
[
Ad fontem Sonam.]
In patrio fundo, dum Româ rediiſſet.
Ode 2. Lib. Epod.
|
To the Fountaine Sona,
When hee returned.
Ode 2. Lib. Epod.
|
|
F
ons innocenti lucidus magis vitro
Purâque purior nive,
Pagi voluptas, una Nympharum sitis,
Ocelle natalis soli.
Longis viarum languidus laboribus
Et mole curarum gravis
Thuscis ab usque gentibus redux, tibi
Accline prosterno latus:
Permitte siccus, quà potes, premi; cavâ
Permitte libari manu.
|
O
Fount more cleare then spotlesse glasse,
More pure, then purest snow e’re was,
The Nymphs desire, and Countries grace,
Thou joy of this my Native place.
Tyr’d with a tedious journey, I,
And press’d with cares that grievous lye,
From the farre Tuscan Land made free
Thus low I bow my selfe to thee:
Oh, if thou canst, vouchsafe to bee
Press’d, and with hollow palme drawne dry.
|
|
Sic te quietum nulla perturbet pecus,
Ramusvè lapsus arbore:
Sic dum loquaci prata garritu secas,
Et lætus audiri salis;
Assibilantes populetorum comæ
Ingrata ponant murmura
Tibi, lyræque Vatis: haud frustrà sacer
Nam si quid Urbanus probat,
Olim fluenti leuè Blandusiæ nihil
Aut Sirmioni debeas.
|
So let thy peace no wandring beast
Disturb, no broken bough, thy rest:
So when thou cutt’st with prattling noise
The Meads, and leap’st, men heare thy voice;
May th’whistling leaves of Poplar trees
With their unwelcome murmurs cease—
To thee, and thy Priests Lute: if nought
Urban approves, in vaine is thought
T’Blandusia thou canst nothing owe;
Nor to milde flowing Sirmio.
|
|
[
Palinodia]
Ad ſecundam libri Epodon Odam Q. Horatii
Flacci.
Laus otii Religioſi.
|
A Palinode
To the ſecond Ode of the booke of Epodes of Q. H.
Flaccus.
The praiſe of a Religious Recreation.
|
|
Ode 3. Lib. Epod.
|
Ode 3. Lib. Epod.
|
|
A
t ille, Flacce, nunc erit beatior
Qui mole curarum procul
Paterna liquit rura, litigantium
Solutus omni jurgio;
Nec solis æstum frugibus timet suis,
Nec sidus hiberni Jovis,
Rixasque vitat, & scelesta curiæ
Rapacioris limina.
|
B
ut, Flaccus, now more happy he
appeares,
Who, with the burthen of his cares,
Farre off hath left his father’s ground, set free
From the fierce wrangling Lawyer’s fee;
No scorching heat, nor blasts of Winter Jove,
Doth hurt his fruit, or him can move:
Hee shuns all strifes, and never doth resort
The sinfull gates o’th’ greedy Court.
|
|
Ergo aut profanis hactenus negotiis
Amissa plorat sidera;
Aut in reductâ sede dispersum gregem
Errantis animi colligit,
Postquam beatæ lucra conscientiæ
Quadrante libravit suo.
|
But either doth bewayle those dayes and nights,
Lost by him in prophane delights;
Or else retyr’d, strives to collect and find
The dispers’d flock of’s wandring mind;
Having first fairly pois’d the recompence
And gaines of a good conscience.
|
|
Idem, propinquâ nocte, stellatas vigil
Cùm vesper accendit faces,
Ut gaudet immortale mirari jubar,
Terrâque majores globos,
Et per cadenteis intueri lacrymas
Rimosa lucis atria,
Quæ Christe tecum, virgo quæ tecum colat
Perennis hæres sæculi!
|
At evening, when the harbinger of night
The torches of the sky doth light,
How he admires th’immortall rayes breake forth,
And their bright Orbes, more large then earth;
How through his trickling teares, he heips his fight,
Unto the open Courts of light,
Which with thy selfe, ô Christ, thy selfe in pray’r
He’ Adores, t’Eternall life an heire!
|
|
Volvuntur aureis interim stellaæ rotis,
Pigrumque linquunt exulem,
Per ora cujus uberes eunt aquæ,
Somnos quod avertat graveis.
At quando lotum Gangis aut Indi fretis
Jam Phœbus attollit caput,
Mentis profundus, & sui totus minor
Irata flectit numina:
|
The Starres with golden wheeles, are hurried by,
And let their prostrate exile lye,
Over whose face, the plenteous teares doe stray,
Which chase all drowsie sleepe away;
Assoone as Phœbus head begins t’appeare,
Lately in Indus streames made cleare,
From depth of soule, lesse then himselfe he lies,
And bends the angry pow’rs with cryes:
|
|
Vel cum sereno fulserit dies Jove,
Aprilibusque feriis,
Assueta cælo lumina, in terras vocat
Lateque prospectum jacit,
Camposque lustrat, & relucentem suâ
Miratur in scenâ Deum.
|
Or when the Sun shines cleare, the aire serene,
And Aprill Festivals begin,
His eyes, so us’d to Heaven, he downe doth throw,
On a large prospect here below:
He viewes the fields, and wondring stands to see
In’s shade the shining Deitie.
|
|
En omnis inquit, herba non morantibus
In astra luctatur comis:
Semota cælo lacrymantur, & piis
Liquuntur arva fletibus;
Ligustra canis, & rosæ rubentibus
Repunt in auras brachiis;
Astrisque panda nescio quid pallido
Loquuntur ore lilia,
Et serò blandis ingemunt suspiriis,
Et manè rorant lacrymis.
|
See how (saies he) each herb with restlesse leaves
To th’ starres doth strive and upward heaves:
Remov’d from heaven they weep, the field appeares
All o’re dissolv’d in pious teares:
The white-flowr’d Woodbine, and the blushing Rose
Branch into th’aire with twining boughs;
The pale-fac’d Lilly on the bending stalke,
To th’starres I know not what doth talke;
At night with fawning sighes they’expresse their fears
And in the morning drop downe teares.
|
|
Egóne solus, solus in terris piger
Tenace figor pondere?
Sic & propinquas allocutus arbores,
Et multa coram fontibus
Rivisque fatus, quærit Auctorem Deum
Formosa per vestigia.
|
Am I alone, wretch that I am, fast bound
And held with heavy weight, to th’ground?
Thus spake he to the neighbouring trees, thus he
To th’Fountaines talk’d, and streames
ran by,
And after, seekes the great Creator out
By these faire traces of his foot.
|
|
Quod si levandas mentis in curas vigil
Ruris suburbani domus,
Quales Lucisci, vel Nemecini Lares,
Udumvè Besdani nemus
Rudeis adornet rusticâ mensas dape
Siccos sub Augusti dies;
|
But if a lightsome Country house that’s free
From care, such as Luciscu’s bee,
Or Nemicini’s, if Besdan’s fruitfull field
Can Grace to his rude table yeild,
To his plaine board with country dainties set,
In August’s dry and parching heat;
|
|
Jam tunc sub ipsum limen, aut domesticâ
Lenis sub umbrâ populi,
Expectat omnis hospitem suum penses,
Et concha sinceri salis,
Pressique meta lactis, & purus calix,
Et hospitalis amphora,
Et fraga, raris verna quæ dumis legit,
Jucunda panis præmia.
|
Even at his dore, under a private shade
By a thick pleasant Poplar made,
Provision of all sorts, expect their guest,
A shell with salt, pure and the best,
New bread, for which, ’midst the thin bryars, the Mayd
Picks Strawberries, and’s gladly payd.
Cheese newly press’d, close by, the friendly Cann
With Cup cleane wash’d, doth ready stan’.
|
|
Non me scari tunc, non Lucrinorum gravis
Sagina mulorum juvet:
Sed cereus palumbus, aut turtur niger;
Aut anser amnis accola,
Et eruditam quæ fugit gulam faba,
Lætumque nec simplex olus,
Et quæ suprema colligitur, ac gravi
Patella nil debet foro.
|
With me the Lucrine dainties will not downe,
The Scare, nor Mullet that’s well growne;
But the Ring-dove plump, the Turtle dun doth looke,
Or Swan, the sojourner o’th’ brooke,
A messe of Beanes which shuns the curious pallet,
The cheerfull and not simple sallet;
Clusters of grapes last gathered, that misse
And nothing owe to th’weighty presse.
|
|
Post hæc vel inter læta quercetis juga,
Vel inter amneis juverit
Vitare tristeis post meridiem Notos
Sub æsculo vel ilice;
Nigrumvè littus, aut opaca lubricis
Tranare stagna lintribus,
Jactâque fruge ludibundum ducere
Tremente piscem lineâ.
|
Then after noone he takes a kind of pride
To th’Hills to walke, or River side,
And ’midst the pleasant Okes, a shade doth find,
T’avoyd the blasts o’th’ Southern wind;
To th’darksome shore, by the deep poole he goes,
And through, with nimble Boat he rowes;
Sometimes the sporting fish, his baite thrown in,
Hee plucks up with his trembling line.
|
|
Remugit ingens interim tauris nemus,
Umbrosa balant flumina;
Et aut in antris garriunt acanthides,
Aut in rubis luscinia.
Hinc per rubeta pastor errantes capras
Vocante cogit fistulâ:
Illinc herili messor è campo redux
Alterna plaudit carmina;
Et pressa sectos plaustra per sulcos gemunnt
Ruptura ruris horrea.
|
Meane while th’ spacious woods with ecchoing note
Doe answer to the Bulls wide throat,
The shady rivers bleat; the Nightingale
I’th’ bushes chirps her dolefull tale.
With’s hastning pipe the sheapheard drives away
His flocke, which through the thickets stray:
To which as from the field they passe along,
Each mower sings by course, his song;
O’re yeilding furrowes, carts full press’d with corne
Groane, and are like to breake the barne.
|
|
At nec tacemus ponè considentium
Dulcis manus sodalium;
Nec infacetâ sermo differtur morâ,
Sed innocentibus jocis,
Multoque tinctus, sed verecundo sale,
Innoxium trahit dîem.
Hæc si videret fænerator Alphius,
Olim futurus rusticus,
Quam collocarat Idibus pecuniam,
Nollet Kalendis ponere.
|
Our worke once done, we doe not silent sit,
When knots of our good fellowes meet;
Nor is our talke prolong’d with rude delay;
In harmlesse jests we spend the day;
Jests dip’d in so much salt, which rubbing shall
Onely make fresh our cheeks, not gall.
If that rich churle, this had but seen, when hee
A Country man began to be,
The money which i’th’ Ides hee scraped in
Next month hee’d not put out agen.
|