Odes 1.12

Augustus, master of the world

by Horace

One of Horace’s poems extolling the virtues and achievements of the Emperor Augustus. Horace is consciously referencing the over-the-top tone that Pindar, a Greek model that he greatly respected, struck in his poetry celebrating victors in athletic games. Still, the praise and deference must have felt no less extreme to a Roman at the end of the Republican period than they do to us.

The poem begins by invoking the Muse, and praising Greek Gods and mythical figures. Switching to models from Roman history, Horace emphasises their austerity, echoing Augustus’s doomed attempt to restore traditional Roman virtues and values. The mention of Cato, a recent figure among the historical ones, is interesting, given his ferocious commitment to the defence of the republic which Augustus ended. In the climax, Jupiter rules the heavens, while Augustus has no mortal match.

Metre: Sapphics

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Quem virum aut heroa lyra vel acri
tibia sumis celebrare, Clio?
quem deum? cuius recinet iocosa
nomen imago

aut in umbrosis Heliconis oris
aut super Pindo gelidove in Haemo?
unde vocalem temere insecutae
Orphea silvae,

arte materna rapidos morantem
fluminum lapsus celeresque ventos,
blandum et auritas fidibus canoris
ducere quercus.

quid prius dicam solitis parentis
laudibus, qui res hominum ac deorum,
qui mare ac terras variisque mundum
temperat horis?

unde nil maius generatur ipso
nec viget quidquam simile aut secundum.
proximos illi tamen occupavit
Pallas honores

proeliis audax. neque te silebo,
Liber et saevis inimica virgo
beluis, nec te, metuende certa
Phoebe sagitta.

dicam et Alciden puerosque Ledae,
hunc equis, illum superare pugnis
nobilem; quorum simul alba nautis
stella refulsit,

defluit saxis agitatus umor,
concidunt venti fugiuntque nubes
et minax, quia sic voluere, ponto
unda recumbit.

Romulum post hos prius an quietum
Pompili regnum memorem, an superbos
Tarquini fascis, dubito, an Catonis
nobile letum:

Regulum et Scauros animaeque magnae
prodigum Paulum superante Poeno
gratus insigni referam camena
Fabriciumque.

hunc et incomptis Curium capillis
utilem bello tulit et Camillum
saeva paupertas et avitus apto
cum lare fundus.

crescit occulto velut arbor aevo
fama Marcellis; micat inter omnis
Iulium sidus velut inter ignis
luna minores.

gentis humanae pater atque custos,
orte Saturno, tibi cura magni
Caesaris fatis data: tu secundo
Caesare regnes.

ille seu Parthos Latio imminentis
egerit iusto domitos triumpho
sive subiectos Orientis orae
Seras et Indos,

te minor latum reget aequus orbem:
tu gravi curru quaties Olympum,
tu parum castis inimica mittes
fulmina lucis.

What man or hero are you taking up, Clio, to celebrate with the lyre or the shrill pipe? What god? Whose name will the playful echo sing back, either upon Pindus or in frosty Haemus, where the woods gladly followed Orpheus as he sang, by his mother’s art stopping the fall of the rivers and the swift winds, giving the oak-trees ears and leading them along coaxed by the tuneful strains of his song? What should I sing first but due praises for the Father, who holds sway over the affairs of men and gods, and over the sea and land and the sky with its changing seasons? From him there springs nothing greater than himself, and there exists nothing that resembles him, or comes close to it. The next honours after his belong to Pallas, daring in battle; nor, certainly, shall I overlook you, Liber, and virgin Diana, the bane of wild beasts, nor you, Phoebe, dreaded for your unerring arrow. I shall chant too of Hercules ,and Leda’s sons, one excelling with horses, the other with his fists: no sooner does their bright star shine out on sailors than turbulent waters flow back from the rocks, winds drop, the clouds clear, and the threatening waves, because the twins have wished it, subside on the ocean. After these should I turn first, I wonder, to Romulus, or the peaceful reign of Pompilius, or the proud fasces of Tarquinius, or the noble death of Cato? I will tell of Regulus and the Scauri in my ennobling song, and Paulus, so prodigal of his mighty soul as the Carthaginian won the day, and Fabricius. It was harsh poverty, and an ancient farm with a dwelling to match, that bore him, and that handy warrior Curius with his shaggy hair, and Camillus. Imperceptibly, like a tree, the fame of the Marcelli grows greater with time; and there shines out in the midst of all these the Julian star like the moon among lesser lights. Father and guardian of the human race, born of Saturn, to you has the safekeeping of great Caesar been given by the fates: you shall reign, with Caesar as your support. Whether it is the Parthians, menacing Latium, or the Indians and Chinese that he has vanquished and leads in well-deserved triumph, he, under you, shall rule the wide world in justice: while you shall smite Olympus with your tremendous chariot; and to sacred groves, if they have not kept chaste, you shall direct your destroying thunderbolts.

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More Poems by Horace

  1. Glycera
  2. Housman and Horace
  3. Love a slave-girl? Oh, Xanthias!
  4. Postumus, the years slip by
  5. Give me comfort, not riches
  6. A prayer to Venus
  7. Relief from care
  8. Luxury versus the simple life
  9. Horace’s reverence to Bacchus
  10. Poscimur
  11. Horace’s wine
  12. Diffugere nives
  13. Curse you, tree!
  14. Horace the peacemaker
  15. A prayer to Mercury
  16. The Golden Mean
  17. Rome: disaster and salvation
  18. Numida’s back
  19. Horace’s first Ode
  20. Courage and decadence: the Regulus ode
  21. The pleasures and dangers of wine
  22. Horace the swan
  23. Gathering rosebuds: carpe diem
  24. Valgius and Mystes
  25. Horace returns to lyric poetry
  26. Don’t worry, be happy
  27. Soracte
  28. Carpe diem, Sestius
  29. Pindar and Augustus
  30. What Roman youth should be
  31. Lovely mother, lovelier daughter
  32. Horace, the wolf and the upright life
  33. The consolations of wine
  34. The country is best
  35. Last love
  36. An invitation to Maecenas
  37. Horace’s Cleopatra ode
  38. Lydia’s tragedy
  39. Awe for the Gods
  40. Celebrating Neptune’s feast day
  41. Lalage is too young
  42. Licymnia
  43. A plea for burial
  44. The tug-of-war for Nearchus
  45. Horace rests from his labours
  46. Fortuna
  47. Jealousy
  48. Mourning for a good man
  49. Don’t trust Barine
  50. An oath to Maecenas
  51. Unrequited love
  52. Horace’s monument
  53. Some advice for Dellius
  54. The fleeting years slip by
  55. Stormy seas
  56. Pyrrha
  57. Pollio’s histories of civil war
  58. Diana and Apollo: a hymn
  59. Wealth should be used, not hoarded
  60. The final ode
  61. O Fons Bandusiae
  62. A Farewell to arms
  63. Horace’s prayer to a wine-jar
  64. Here’s to Murena!
  65. Horace welcomes his army comrade
  66. A garland from the Muses
  67. Horace’s Chloe
  68. Roman values for the new age
  69. Tibur or Tarentum: a poet’s dilemma?
  70. A change of mind
  71. A Prayer to the poetry-God
  72. Horace’s limitations
  73. Nereus prophesies the Trojan War
  74. Iccius goes soldiering
    75. View Latin Poems