Odes, 1.31

A Prayer to the poetry-God

by Horace

The setting is the new temple dedicated to Apollo in Rome on 9October 28 BCE. Horace passes up the opportunity to make his poem one of praise to Augustus, who according to ancient sources vowed the temple during the civil wars, in favour of a very personal reflection on the things that matter to him, and a prayer for them to Apollo as the patron God of the arts. He prays for a long life, provided that it can be a healthy one, with his faculties unimpaired and, most importantly, retaining the ability to write his poetry.

Metre: Alcaic.

See the illustrated blog post here.

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Quid dedicatum poscit Apollinem
vates? quid orat de patera novum
fundens liquorem? non opimae
Sardiniae segetes feracis,

non aestuosae grata Calabriae
armenta, non aurum aut ebur Indicum,
non rura, quae Liris quieta
mordet aqua taciturnus amnis.

premant Calenam falce quibus dedit
fortuna vitem, dives ut aureis
mercator exsiccet culillis
vina Syra reparata merce,

dis carus ipsis, quippe ter et quater
anno revisens aequor Atlanticum
inpune. me pascunt olivae,
me cichorea levesque malvae.

frui paratis et valido mihi,
Latoe, dones et precor integra
cum mente nec turpem senectam
degere nec cithara carentem.

What does the poet ask of Apollo on the dedication of his temple? What does he pray for as he pours the new wine from the libation cup? Not the fruitful cornfields of fertile Sardinia, not the fine herds of sultry Calabria, not gold or Indian ivory, not the fields that the quiet river Liris nibbles at with its gentle waters. Let those to whom fortune has given vines prune them with the Calabrian hook, and let the rich trader drain from golden goblets his wine paid for by his Syrian merchandise; why, he must be dear to the Gods themselves, revisiting the Atlantic Ocean three and even four times a year with impunity! Me? My nourishment is olives, endive and digestible salads of mallow. Apollo, Latona’s son, may you grant me to enjoy what I have to hand in bodily health and, I pray, in soundness of mind, and to pass an old age which is honourable – and does not lack for the lyre.

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More Poems by Horace

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