To Thaliarchus In Winter
By Horace
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
Click to hear me recite the original Latin
See how Soracte1 shines in the height of snowfall,
See how the toiling forests can hardly bear
their cold loads, how the streams stand frozen,
stilled with sharp ice in bewintering air.
Thaw off this cold. Throw logs on the hearth in warm
welcome, and be more generous with the pure
wine drawn from that old Sabine2 cask,
dear Thaliarchus, good host and sure
friend. Let the gods take care of the rest. Once they've
brought all the winds that brawl on the boiling sea
to heel, then nothing shakes the ancient
alder and beautiful cypress tree.
Ask not of what tomorrow will bring. Each day
fortune allows you, count as a blessed gain.
Young man, enjoy the sweet delights of
loving and dancing. Do not abstain
while your green youth is free of old peevish gray.
Now is the time for Campus3 and plaza too,
for nights of sighs and whispered nothings
when you and her keep a rendezvous,
Time for the lovely laugh from a secret corner
giving away the girl where she hides at last,
for the love-bracelet from a hand whose
fingers pretend to resist your grasp.
Notes:
1- Mount Soracte, a mountain north of Rome and visible from the city streets.
2 - Sabine wine, originating in an area near Horace's own farm. Not an especially expensive vintage.
3 - "Campus" i.e. the Campus Martius or Field of Mars.
Original:
Vidēs ut altā stet nive candidum
Sōracte, nec iam sustineant onus
silvae labōrantēs, gelūque
flūmina cōnstiterint acūtō.
Dissolve frīgus, ligna super focō
largē repōnēns atque benignius
dēprōme quadrīmum Sabīnā,
ō Thaliarche, merum diōtā:
permitte dīvīs cētera, quī simul
strāvēre ventōs aequore fervidō
dēproeliantīs, nec cupressī
nec veterēs agitantur ōrnī.
Quid sit futūrum crās fuge quaerere et
quem Fōrs diērum cumque dabit lucrō
appōne, nec dulcīs amōrēs
sperne puer neque tū chorēās,
dōnec virentī cānitiēs abest
mōrōsa. Nunc et campus et āreae
lēnēsque sub noctem susurrī
compositā repetantur hōrā,
nunc et latentis prōditor intumō
grātus puellae rīsus ab angulō
pignusque dēreptum lacertīs
aut digitō male pertinācī.
By Horace
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
Click to hear me recite the original Latin
See how Soracte1 shines in the height of snowfall,
See how the toiling forests can hardly bear
their cold loads, how the streams stand frozen,
stilled with sharp ice in bewintering air.
Thaw off this cold. Throw logs on the hearth in warm
welcome, and be more generous with the pure
wine drawn from that old Sabine2 cask,
dear Thaliarchus, good host and sure
friend. Let the gods take care of the rest. Once they've
brought all the winds that brawl on the boiling sea
to heel, then nothing shakes the ancient
alder and beautiful cypress tree.
Ask not of what tomorrow will bring. Each day
fortune allows you, count as a blessed gain.
Young man, enjoy the sweet delights of
loving and dancing. Do not abstain
while your green youth is free of old peevish gray.
Now is the time for Campus3 and plaza too,
for nights of sighs and whispered nothings
when you and her keep a rendezvous,
Time for the lovely laugh from a secret corner
giving away the girl where she hides at last,
for the love-bracelet from a hand whose
fingers pretend to resist your grasp.
Notes:
1- Mount Soracte, a mountain north of Rome and visible from the city streets.
2 - Sabine wine, originating in an area near Horace's own farm. Not an especially expensive vintage.
3 - "Campus" i.e. the Campus Martius or Field of Mars.
Original:
Vidēs ut altā stet nive candidum
Sōracte, nec iam sustineant onus
silvae labōrantēs, gelūque
flūmina cōnstiterint acūtō.
Dissolve frīgus, ligna super focō
largē repōnēns atque benignius
dēprōme quadrīmum Sabīnā,
ō Thaliarche, merum diōtā:
permitte dīvīs cētera, quī simul
strāvēre ventōs aequore fervidō
dēproeliantīs, nec cupressī
nec veterēs agitantur ōrnī.
Quid sit futūrum crās fuge quaerere et
quem Fōrs diērum cumque dabit lucrō
appōne, nec dulcīs amōrēs
sperne puer neque tū chorēās,
dōnec virentī cānitiēs abest
mōrōsa. Nunc et campus et āreae
lēnēsque sub noctem susurrī
compositā repetantur hōrā,
nunc et latentis prōditor intumō
grātus puellae rīsus ab angulō
pignusque dēreptum lacertīs
aut digitō male pertinācī.
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