Below are seven verse extracts on the theme "On the worship of the gods and the life of men". Sabidius' English translations follow the Latin texts, which are taken from the "Cambridge Anthology", Cambridge University Press, 1996.
1. A country festival (Horace: Odes, Book III, carmen 18).
Faune, Nympharum fugientem amator,
per meos fines et aprica rura
lenis incedas abeasque parvis
aequus alumnis,
si tener pleno cadit haedus anno,
larga nec desunt veneris sodali
vina craterae, vetus ara multo
fumat odore.
ludit herboso pecus omne campo,
cum tibi Nonae redeunt Decembres;
festus in pratis vacat otioso
cum bove pagus;
inter audaces lupus errat agnos;
spargit agrestes tibi silva frondes;
gaudet invisam pepulisse fossor
ter pede terram.
Faunus, lover of the flying Nymphs, may you pass lightly over my boundaries and sunny fields and may you leave the small nurslings in a kindly manner. Since, the year having been fulfilled, a young kid falls (to you in sacrifice), and generous wines are not lacking to the mixing bowl, Venus' companion, the old altar smokes with much fragrance. The whole herd plays in the grassy field, when the Nones of December comes round again in your honour; the village on holiday relaxes with the ox unyoked; a wolf wanders among the fearless sheep; the wood scatters rustic leaves in your honour; the digger rejoices to stamp on the hateful earth three times with his foot.
2. Recipe for happiness (Martial: Epigrams 10, 47).
vitam quae faciunt beatiorem,
iuncundissime Martialis, haec sunt;
res non parta labore sed relicta;
non ingratus ager, focus perennis;
lis numquam, toga rara, mens quieta;
vires ingenuae, salubrae corpus,
prudens simplicitas, pares amici,
convictus facilis, sine arte mensa;
nox non ebria sed soluta curis,
non tristis torus et tamen pudicus,
somnus qui faciat breves tenebras;
quod sis esse velis nihilque malis;
summum nec metuas diem nec optes.
These, dearest Martial, are (the things) which make for a happier life; wealth not earned by labour but bequeathed; land not unproductive, an ever-burning hearth; a lawsuit never, a toga seldom seen, an untroubled mind; the vigour of a free-born man, a healthy body, sensible openness, like-minded friends, an easy social life, a table without artifice; a night not drunken but free from cares, a marriage-bed not gloomy and yet faithful, a sleep to make the darkness brief; may you wish to be what you are, and may you prefer nothing (else); may you neither fear your final day nor long for (it).
3. Spring and thoughts of mortality (Horace, Odes, Book IV, carmen 7).
diffugere nives, redeunt iam gramina campis
arboribusque comae;
mutat terra vices, et descrentia ripas
flumina praetereunt;
Gratia cum Nymphis geminisque sororibus audet
ducere nuda choros.
immortalia ne speres, monet annus et almum
quae rapit hora diem:
frigora mitescunt Zephyris, ver proterit aestas
interitura simul
pomifer autumnus fruges effuderit, et mox
bruma recurrit iners.
damna tamen celeres reparant caelestia lunae:
nos ubi decidimus
quo pater Aeneas, quo Tullus dives et Ancus,
pulvis et umbra sumus.
quis scit an adiciant hodiernae crastina summae
tempora di superi?
cuncta manus avidas fugient heredis, amico
quae dederis animo.
cum semel occideris et de te splendida Minos
fecerit arbitria,
non, Torquate, genus, non te faciunda, non te
restituet pietas;o
infernis neque enim tenebris Diana pudicum
liberat Hippolytum,
nec Lethaea valet Theseus abrumpere caro
vincula Pirithoo.
The snow has disappeared, now grass has returned to the fields and foliage to the trees; the earth has changed her seasons, and the subsiding rivers flow between their banks; a Grace, with Nymphs and her twin sisters, ventures to conduct naked dances. The year and the hour which hurries away the day warns (you) not to hope for immortality: the cold is lessened by the West Winds, summer tramples upon spring (and) will perish as soon as fruitful autumn has poured forth its produce, and soon lifeless winter returns. Yet the swiftly passing moons repair their losses in the sky: (but) we, when we go downwards (to the place) where father Aeneas, (and) where rich Tullus and Ancus (have gone down), are dust and shadow. Who knows whether the gods above are adding tomorrow's hours to today's total? Everything which you have bestowed on your own dear self will have escaped the greedy hands of your heir. When once and for all you will have died, and Minos will have made his stately verdict about you, no noble birth, no eloquence, no sense of duty, will bring you back, Torquatus; for Diana does not free chaste Hippolytus from infernal darkness, nor does Theseus have the power to break off the fetters of Lethe from his dear Pirithous.
4. Elysium (Virgil: Aeneid, Book VI, lines 638-644; 648-649; 652-655; 660-665).
devenere locos laetos et amoena virecta
fortunatorum nemorum sedesque beatas.
largior hic campos aether et lumine vestit
purpureo, solemque suum, sua sidera norunt.
pars in gramineis exercent membra palaestris,
contendunt ludo et fulva luctantur harena;
pars pedibus plaudunt choreas et carmina dicunt.
hic genus antiquum Teucri, pulcherrima proles,
magnanimi heroes, nati melioribus annis.
stant terra defixae hastae passimque soluti
per campum pascuntur equi. quae gratia currum
armorumque fuit vivis, quae cura nitentes
pascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos.
hic manus ob patriam pugnando vulnera passi,
quique sacerdotes casti, dum vita manebat,
quique pii vates et Phoebo digna locuti,
inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes,
quique sui memores aliquos fecere merendo:
omnibus his nivea cingitur tempora vitta.
They came down to the joyous places and the lovely lawns and the blessed homes of the fortunate groves. Here (there is) a more generous air and it clothes the plains in a dazzling light, and they get to know their own sun (and) their own stars. Some exercise their limbs in grassy exercise-grounds, contend in sport and wrestle on golden sand; others beat out the (rhythm of) dances with their feet and sing songs. Here (is) the ancient line of Teucer, the fairest breed, great-hearted heroes, born in better years. Fixed in the ground, their spears stand (on end), and the horses, let loose in all directions, graze over the plain. The pleasure in their chariots and weapons which was (theirs) while alive, the care which (was theirs while alive) to feed their glossy horses, the same care follows (them) now laid in the ground. Here (is) a band (of men) having suffered wounds in fighting for the fatherland, and (those) who (were) holy priests, while life remained, and (those) who (were) dutiful prophets and (who) spoke (words) worthy of Phoebus, or (those) who enriched life through the skills they had discovered, and those who made some mindful of them by their being of service: the temples of all these are garlanded with a snow-white head-band.
fortunatorum nemorum sedesque beatas.
largior hic campos aether et lumine vestit
purpureo, solemque suum, sua sidera norunt.
pars in gramineis exercent membra palaestris,
contendunt ludo et fulva luctantur harena;
pars pedibus plaudunt choreas et carmina dicunt.
hic genus antiquum Teucri, pulcherrima proles,
magnanimi heroes, nati melioribus annis.
stant terra defixae hastae passimque soluti
per campum pascuntur equi. quae gratia currum
armorumque fuit vivis, quae cura nitentes
pascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos.
hic manus ob patriam pugnando vulnera passi,
quique sacerdotes casti, dum vita manebat,
quique pii vates et Phoebo digna locuti,
inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes,
quique sui memores aliquos fecere merendo:
omnibus his nivea cingitur tempora vitta.
They came down to the joyous places and the lovely lawns and the blessed homes of the fortunate groves. Here (there is) a more generous air and it clothes the plains in a dazzling light, and they get to know their own sun (and) their own stars. Some exercise their limbs in grassy exercise-grounds, contend in sport and wrestle on golden sand; others beat out the (rhythm of) dances with their feet and sing songs. Here (is) the ancient line of Teucer, the fairest breed, great-hearted heroes, born in better years. Fixed in the ground, their spears stand (on end), and the horses, let loose in all directions, graze over the plain. The pleasure in their chariots and weapons which was (theirs) while alive, the care which (was theirs while alive) to feed their glossy horses, the same care follows (them) now laid in the ground. Here (is) a band (of men) having suffered wounds in fighting for the fatherland, and (those) who (were) holy priests, while life remained, and (those) who (were) dutiful prophets and (who) spoke (words) worthy of Phoebus, or (those) who enriched life through the skills they had discovered, and those who made some mindful of them by their being of service: the temples of all these are garlanded with a snow-white head-band.
5. Live now! (Martial: Epigrammata, Book I, 15, lines 11-12).
non est, crede mihi, sapientis dicere "vivam",
sera nimis vita est crastina: vive hodie!
It is not, believe me, the mark of a wise man to say "I shall live"; tomorrow's life is too late: live for today!
6. The only form of immortality (Seneca).
carmina sola carent fato mortemque repellunt.
carminibus vives semper, Homere, tuis.
Poetry alone escapes fate and repels death. Homer, may you live forever in your songs.
7. The poet's advice to mourners (Lucretius: De Rerum Natura, Book III, lines 894-903.
"iam iam non domus accipiet te laeta neque uxor
optima, nec dulces occurrent oscula nati
praeripere et tacita pectus dulcedine tangent.
non poteris factis florentibus esse tuisquelearly in their minds
praesidium. misero misere" aiunt "omnia ademit
una dies infesta tibi tot praemia vitae."
illud in his rebus non addunt "nec tibi earum
iam desiderium rerum super insidet una."
quod bene si videant animo dictisque sequantur,
dissolvant animi magno se angore metuque.
"No longer now will a joyful home or the best of wives receive you, nor will sweet children run up to snatch kisses and touch your heart with a sweetness beyond words. You will not be able to be a protection to your prospering affairs and to your family." They say, "One fatal day has unhappily taken away from your wretched self all the many rewards of life." But in these matters they do not add the following: "Yet now a longing for these things does not any more remain together with you." If they were to see this clearly in their minds and follow (it) with words, they would free themselves from great distress of mind and fear.
non est, crede mihi, sapientis dicere "vivam",
sera nimis vita est crastina: vive hodie!
It is not, believe me, the mark of a wise man to say "I shall live"; tomorrow's life is too late: live for today!
6. The only form of immortality (Seneca).
carmina sola carent fato mortemque repellunt.
carminibus vives semper, Homere, tuis.
Poetry alone escapes fate and repels death. Homer, may you live forever in your songs.
7. The poet's advice to mourners (Lucretius: De Rerum Natura, Book III, lines 894-903.
"iam iam non domus accipiet te laeta neque uxor
optima, nec dulces occurrent oscula nati
praeripere et tacita pectus dulcedine tangent.
non poteris factis florentibus esse tuisquelearly in their minds
praesidium. misero misere" aiunt "omnia ademit
una dies infesta tibi tot praemia vitae."
illud in his rebus non addunt "nec tibi earum
iam desiderium rerum super insidet una."
quod bene si videant animo dictisque sequantur,
dissolvant animi magno se angore metuque.
"No longer now will a joyful home or the best of wives receive you, nor will sweet children run up to snatch kisses and touch your heart with a sweetness beyond words. You will not be able to be a protection to your prospering affairs and to your family." They say, "One fatal day has unhappily taken away from your wretched self all the many rewards of life." But in these matters they do not add the following: "Yet now a longing for these things does not any more remain together with you." If they were to see this clearly in their minds and follow (it) with words, they would free themselves from great distress of mind and fear.
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