Odes 1.24

Mourning for a good man

by Horace

This ode, in a sombre asclepiadic metre, is a notably effective piece on a stock theme: loss, acceptance and consolation. Scholars speculate about just who Quintilius was, but that he was respected by Horace and a friend of Virgil seems good enough reason in itself for him to be remembered. At the end of the poem, Mercury is shown as the guide of the souls of the dead to the underworld. His most famous appearance in this aspect is in the last book of the Odyssey, when he performs this function for Penelope’s suitors after Odysseus has killed them.

See the illustrated blog post here.

To listen, press play:

To scroll the original and English translation of the poem at the same time - tap inside one box to select it and then scroll.

Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus
tam cari capitis? praecipe lugubris
cantus, Melpomene, cui liquidam pater
vocem cum cithara dedit.

ergo Quintilium perpetuus sopor
urget? cui Pudor et Iustitiae soror
incorrupta Fides nudaque Veritas
quando ullum inveniet parem?

multis ille bonis flebilis occidit,
nulli flebilior quam tibi, Vergili.
tu, frustra pius, heu non ita creditum
poscis Quintilium deos.

quid si Threicio blandius Orpheo
auditam moderere arboribus fidem,
num vanae redeat sanguis imagini,
quam virga semel horrida

non lenis precibus fata recludere
nigro conpulerit Mercurius gregi?
durum: sed levius fit patientia
quidquid corrigere est nefas.

What shame or restraint should there be in our sense of loss for so dear a life? Teach us sad songs, Melpomene, to whom father Jupiter gave your clear voice to go with your lyre. So eternal sleep lies heavy on Quintilius? When will decency, and justice’s sister, perfect fidelity, and naked truth, ever find his like? He died bringing sorrow to many good men, and to none more than to you, Vergil. In vain in your piety, alas, do you ask the Gods for your Quintilius, whom you did not entrust to them on these terms. Even if you were to serenade the trees more persuasively even than Thracian Orpheus, surely the lifeblood may not return to an empty shade which Mercury, not gentle enough to reopen its fate in response to our prayers, has once herded with his dreaded crook into the dark flock? It is hard: but through endurance ills that it is forbidden to correct become easier to bear.

`

More Poems by Horace

  1. Poetry, the giver of immortality
  2. Horace’s prayer to a wine-jar
  3. The victories of Drusus and Tiberius
  4. A call for a moral renaissance
  5. Numida’s back
  6. Caesar’s safe return
  7. A day off for rain
  8. Horace rests from his labours
  9. Love a slave-girl? Oh, Xanthias!
  10. An invocation to the lyre
  11. The pleasures and dangers of wine
  12. A divine inspiration
  13. Roman values for the new age
  14. The tug-of-war for Nearchus
  15. Horace the peacemaker
  16. Soracte
  17. A change of mind
  18. Horace’s reverence to Bacchus
  19. The consolations of wine
  20. Horace’s first Ode
  21. Licymnia
  22. Poscimur
  23. Last love
  24. Pollio’s histories of civil war
  25. Postumus, the years slip by
  26. Lydia’s tragedy
  27. Tibur or Tarentum: a poet’s dilemma?
  28. A prayer to Mercury
  29. Europa’s lament
  30. Neobule
  31. The final ode
  32. Be your age, Chloris!
  33. Curse you, tree!
  34. Jupiter’s authority, and Caesar’s
  35. Diana and Apollo: a hymn
  36. Love lost and found
  37. The Golden Mean
  38. Horace returns to lyric poetry
  39. The lust for money versus the simple life
  40. An invitation to Maecenas
  41. Horace’s Chloe
  42. Nereus prophesies the Trojan War
  43. The fleeting years slip by
  44. Give me comfort, not riches
  45. Late stirrings
  46. Lovely mother, lovelier daughter
  47. Horace welcomes his army comrade
  48. New temples, new morals
  49. A garland from the Muses
  50. Horace’s fame and Apollo’s gift
  51. Horace’s Cleopatra ode
  52. Housman and Horace
  53. Jealousy
  54. Horace, the wolf and the upright life
  55. Fortuna
  56. Courage and decadence: the Regulus ode
  57. Gyges’s constancy
  58. The country is best
  59. Leave the cares of state, Maecenas
  60. Romulus becomes a God
  61. Don’t trust Barine
  62. Horace’s monument
  63. Wealth should be used, not hoarded
  64. Pyrrha
  65. Stormy seas
  66. Glycera
  67. A Prayer to the poetry-God
  68. A prayer to Venus
  69. A Farewell to arms
  70. Unrequited love
  71. What Roman youth should be
  72. Horace the swan
  73. Relief from care
  74. Lyce grows old
  75. Here’s to Murena!
  76. Horace, accepted bard of Rome
  77. Rome: disaster and salvation
  78. A plea for burial
  79. Lalage is too young
  80. Locked out
  81. Awe for the Gods
  82. Pindar and Augustus
  83. Diffugere nives
  84. Iccius goes soldiering
  85. Horace’s wine
  86. Romulus in Heaven
  87. Some advice for Dellius
  88. Luxury versus the simple life
  89. Gathering rosebuds: carpe diem
  90. Don’t worry, be happy
  91. Augustus, master of the world
  92. A prayer to Faunus
  93. Horace’s limitations
  94. O Fons Bandusiae
  95. Celebrating Neptune’s feast day
  96. A country sacrifice
  97. Augustus returns
  98. A dedication to Diana
  99. An oath to Maecenas
  100. Valgius and Mystes
  101. A tactful compliment
  102. Carpe diem, Sestius
    103. View Latin Poems
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance (opens in a new tab)

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.