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.

The metre is Alcaics.

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