Odes by Horace

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THE ODES AND CARMEN SAECULARE OF HORACE

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ET THURE, ET FIDIBUS.


Bid the lyre and cittern play;

Enkindle incense, shed the victim's gore;

Heaven has watch'd o'er Numida,

And
brings him safe from far Hispania's shore. Now, returning, he bestows

On each, dear comrade all the love he can;

But to Lamia most he owes,

By whose sweet side he grew from boy to man.

Note we in our calendar

This festal day with whitest mark from Crete:

Let it flow, the old wine-jar,

And
ply to Salian time your restless feet. Damalis tosses off her wine,
But
Bassus sure must prove her match to-night. Give us roses all to twine,
And
parsley green, and lilies deathly white. Every melting eye will rest

On Damalis' lovely face; but none may part

Damalis from our new-found guest;

She clings, and clings, like ivy, round his heart.





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