The Odes and Carmen Saeculare/Book 4/Part 15

by Quintus Horatius Flaccus

XV.

Phœbus volentem.

OF battles fought I fain had told,
And conquer'd towns, when Phœbus smote
His harp-string: "Sooth, 'twere over-bold
To tempt wide seas in that frail boat."
Thy age, great Cæsar, has restored
To squalid fields the plenteous grain.
Given back to Rome's almighty Lord
Our standards, torn from Parthian fane,
Has closed Quirinian Janus' gate,
Wild passion's erring walk controll'd,
Heal'd the foul plague-spot of the state,
And brought again the life of old,
Life, by whose healthful power increased
The glorious name of Latium spread
To where the sun illumes the east
From where he seeks his western bed.
While Caesar rules, no civil strife
Shall break our rest, nor violence rude,
Nor rage, that whets the slaughtering knife
And plunges wretched towns in feud.
The sons of Danube shall not scorn
The Julian edicts; no, nor they
By Tanais' distant river born,
Nor Persia, Scythia, or Cathay.

And we on feast and working-tide,
While Bacchus’ bounties freely flow,
Our wives and children at our side,
First paying Heaven the prayers we owe,
Shall sing of chiefs whose deeds are done,
As wont our sires, to flute or shell,
And Troy, Anchises, and the son
Of Venus on our tongues shall dwell.