Dragaera

Off topic question for Dr Whom--Horace, Odes, I.22.

Talpianna at aol.com Talpianna at aol.com
Sat Mar 13 00:07:46 PST 2004

Synopsis (by C.H. Moore): "The upright man is safe, no matter where he roams. 
I know that this is true, friend Fuscus, for once in Sabine wood as I sang of 
Lalage, a monster wolf fled from me, though I was unarmed. Put me in chill 
northern gloom or beneath the torrid sun, still will I ever sing of my Lalage." 
  Text Crib 
  Integer uitae scelerisque purus
non eget Mauris iaculis neque arcu
nec uenenatis grauida sagittis,
  Fusce, pharetra, The man who is upright in life and free of sin
has no need of Moorish spears or a bow
or a quiver heavy with poisoned
arrows, Fuscus, 
5
 
 
  siue per Syrtis iter aestuosas
siue facturus per inhospitalem
Caucasum uel quae loca fabulosus
  lambit Hydaspes. whether he's about to embark on a journey
through the hot Syrtes or the barren
Caucasus or the places which the Hydaspes
(famous in story) washes. 
 
10
 
  Namque me silua lupus in Sabina,
dum meam canto Lalagen et ultra
terminum curis uagor expeditis,
  fugit inermem, For in the Sabine forest, as I'm singing
of Lalage and wandering beyond my boundary
marker (without a care in the world), a wolf
runs away from me[, although I'm] unarmed, 
 
 
15
  quale portentum neque militaris
Daunias latis alit aesculetis
nec Iubae tellus generat, leonum
  arida nutrix. such a monster as warlike Apulia
doesn't produce in its broad oak forests
and Juba's land (dry nurse of lions)
doesn't spawn. 
 
 
 
20 Pone me pigris ubi nulla campis
arbor aestiua recreatur aura,
quod latus mundi nebulae malusque
  Iuppiter urget; Put me in barren fields where no tree
is refreshed by a summer breeze,
a corner of the world which clouds and
bad weather oppresses; 
 
 
 
  pone sub curru nimium propinqui
solis, in terra domibus negata;
dulce ridentem Lalagen amabo,
  dulce loquentem. put me beneath the chariot of the
too-close sun, in a land bereft of houses;
I'll [still] love Lalage, who laughs sweetly
and speaks sweetly.