Divitias alius fulvo sibi congerat auro,
Et teneat culti jugera multa soli;
Quem labor assiduus vicino terreat hoste;
Martia cui somnos classica pulsa fugent:
Me mea paupertas vitae traducat inerti,
Dum vetus exiguo luceat igne focus.
Non ego divitias patrum fructusque requiro,
Quos tulit antiquo condita messis avo.
Parva seges satis est; satis est requiescere lecto,
Si licet, et solito membra levare toro.
Quàm cito purpureos deperdit terra colores!
Quàm cito formosas populus alta comas!
Quàm jacet, infirmae venere ubi fata senectae,
Qui prior Elaeo est carcere1 missus equus!
Vidi jam juvenem, premeret cum serior aetas,
Maerentem stultos praeteriisse dies.
Crudeles Divi! serpens novus exuit annos:
Formae non ullam fata dedere moram.
Solis aeterna est Phoebo Bacchoque juventa:
Nam decet intonsus crinis utrumque Deum.
1 Elaeo est carcere. The starting-place for the chariot races at Olympia, in Elis. Pisa lay to the east of the Olympian plain, but is identified with Olympia. Hence Juvenal speaks of "Esuriens Pisaeae ramus
olivae" (xiii. 99). Below,
pens," etc., means that the snake
cast off its old skin and starts
afresh with renovated beauty
("By the shifting skin of the
faithless snake").
We avoid that which has hurt us.
Terretur minimo pennae stridore columba,
Unguibus, accipiter, saucia facta tuis :
Nec procul a stabulis audet secedere, si qua
Excussa est avidi dentibus agna lupi:
Vitaret caelum Phaëthon,1 si viveret ; et quos
Optâret stulte, tangere nollet equos.
Me quoque, quae sensi, fateor Jovis arma timere:
Me reor infesto, cum tonat, igne peti.
Quicunque Argolicâ de classe Capharea2 fugit,
Semper ab Euboïcis vela retorquet aquis :
Et mea cymba, semel vastâ percussa procellâ,
Illum, quo laesa est, horret adire locum.
Misfortune hopes for protection.
Confugit interdum templi violatur ad aram,
Nec petere offensi numinis horret opem.
Qui rapitur spumante salo, sua bracchia cauti
Porrigit, et spinas duraque saxa capit.
Accipitrem metuens pennis trepidantibus ales
Audet ad humanos fessa venire sinus.
south-eastern extremity, where
the Greeks on their return from
Troy were wrecked. "Euboicae
cautes ultorque Caphareus
(Verg. xi. 260). Nauplius, the
king of the island, allured the
Greeks to their destruction by
showing false lights, to avenge
the death of his son Palamedes
by Ulysses.
Nec se vicino dubitat committere tecto,
Quae fugit infestos territa cerva canes.
Da, precor, accessum lacrimis, mitissime, nostris ;
Nec rigidam timidis vocibus obde forem.
Scilicet ingeniis 1 aliqua est concordia junctis,
Et servat studii foedera quisque sui.
Rusticus agricolam, miles fera bella gerentem,
Rectorem dubiae navita puppis amat.
Tu quoque Pieridum studio, studiose, teneris;
Ingenioque faves, ingeniose, meo.
Distat opus nostrum, sed fontibus exit ab isdem:
Artis et ingenuae cultor uterque sumus.
Utque meis numeris tua dat facundia nervos
Sic venit a nobis in tua verba nitor.
Jure igitur studio confinia carmina vestro,
Et commilitii sacra tuenda putas.
Juppiter oranti surdas si praebeat aures,
Victima pro templo cur cadat icta Jovis?
Si pacem nullam pontus mihi praestet eunti,
Irrita Neptuno cur ego thura feram ?
1 Ingeniis. There is a natural agreement, when persons of like taste unite together. A person loves to associate with others of the same craft with himself. "Pieridum," below, is "of the
Muses." Pieria was a district in the north of Thessaly, supposed to be the home of the Muses. Cf. Hor. Carm. iii. 4, 39: "Finire quaerentem labores Pierio recreatis antro.”
Vana laborantis si fallat vota coloni,
Accipiat gravidae cur suis exta Ceres?
Nec dabit intonso jugulum caper hostia Baccho,
Musta sub adducto si pede nulla fluant.
Caesar ut imperii moderetur fraena, precamur;
Tam bene quòd patriae consulit ille suae.
Utilitas igitur magnos hominesque Deosque
Efficit, auxiliis quoque favente suis.
Messis erant primis virides mortalibus herbae
Quas tellus nullo sollicitante dabat.
Et modo carpebant vivaci cespite gramen,
Nunc epulae tenerâ fronde cacumen erant.
Postmodo glans nata est; bene erat 2 jam glande
repertâ ;
Duraque magnificas quercus habebat opes.
Prima Ceres homini ad meliora alimenta vocato
Mutavit glandes utiliore cibo.
1 Auxiliis. "Each person offers worship to that particular god (or man) who can render the exact help he requires." Translate, "Each person showing regard for the help which suits his own wants." One who is about to cross the seas, naturally pays worship to Neptune, the god of the ocean.
2 Bene erat. "People were well off:" acorns formed quite a sumptuous feast. So Horace (Sat. ii. 2, 120): "Bene erat non piscibus urbe petitis Sed pullo atque haedo:" "We had a sumptuous feast."
3 Mutavit. "Exchanged acorns for a more useful food." The ablative "cibo utiliore" is used because it was the instrument of barter, that by which the change was effected: Ceres made a change with reference to the acorns by (giving in exchange for them) a more useful article of food. This is a usual construction. Cf. Hor. Carm. iii. 1, 47: "Cur Valle permutem Sabina Divitias operosiores?" and i. 17: "Velox amoenum saepe Lucretilem Mutat Lycaeo Faunus," where "valle" and " Lycaeo "express
Illa jugo tauros collum praebere coëgit:
Tum primum soles eruta vidit humus.
Aes erat in pretio ; 1 Chalybëia massa latebat :
Heu! quàm perpetuo debuit illa tegi!
Felices Animae! quibus haec cognoscere primis,
Inque domos superas scandere cura fuit.
Credibile est, illos pariter vitiisque locisque
Altius humanis exseruisse caput.
Non Venus et vinum sublimia pectora fregit,
Officiumve Fori, Militiaeve labor.
Nec levis ambitio perfusaque gloria fuco,
Magnarumque fames sollicitavit opum.
Admovere oculis distantia sidera nostris,
Aetheraque ingenio supposuere suo.
Sic petitur caelum: non, ut ferat Ossan Olympus,2
Summaque Peliacus sidera tangat apex.
of the Euxine Sea, possessed of large iron mines; whence Chalybeia massa" is iron. It would have been well for mankind if iron had never been discovered for use in war.
2 Ossan Olympus. "The astronomer climbed to heaven, but not, as the giants of old, by piling Ossa, Olympus and Pelion together." Cf. Verg. Georg. i. 281: "Ter sunt conati imponere Pelio Ossan Scilicet atque Ossae frondosum involvere Olympum."
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