Odes by Horace

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THE ODES AND CARMEN SAECULARE OF HORACE

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AEQUAM, MEMENTO.


An equal mind, when storms o'ercloud,

Maintain, nor 'neath a brighter sky

Let pleasure make your heart too proud,

O Dellius, Dellius! sure to die,

Whether in gloom you spend each year,

Or through long holydays at ease

In grassy nook your spirit cheer

With old Falernian vintages,

Where poplar pale, and pine-tree high

Their hospitable shadows spread

Entwined, and panting waters try

To hurry down their zigzag bed.

Bring wine and scents, and roses' bloom,

Too brief, alas! to that sweet place,

While life, and fortune, and the loom

Of the Three Sisters yield you grace.

Soon must you leave the woods you buy,

Your villa, wash'd by Tiber's flow,

Leave,--and your treasures, heap'd so high,

Your reckless heir will level low.

Whether from Argos' founder born

In wealth you lived beneath the sun,

Or nursed in beggary and scorn,

You fall to Death, who pities none.

One way all travel; the dark urn

Shakes each man's lot, that soon or late

Will force him, hopeless of return,

On board the exile-ship of Fate.





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