Ode 2.10

The Golden Mean

by Horace

Life is like a sea-voyage, says Horace, and he uses the conceit to deploy a range of philosophical aphorisms in which neither Epicureans, Stoics or Peripatetics would find much to disagree with. The appearance of Apollo at the end as an example of the changeability of things is neat: he is the patron of music and the arts, but as an archer he is also the bringer of illness and death. This is the aspect in which he appears at the opening of Homer’s Iliad, inflicting a pestilence on the Greek army when Agamemnon refuses to give back the captive daughter of one of his priests.

The metre is Sapphics.

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.

Rectius vives, Licini, neque altum
semper urgendo neque, dum procellas
cautus horrescis, nimium premendo
litus iniquum.

auream quisquis mediocritatem
diligit, tutus caret obsoleti
sordibus tecti, caret invidenda
sobrius aula.

saepius ventis agitatur ingens
pinus et celsae graviore casu
decidunt turres feriuntque summos
fulgura montis.

sperat infestis, metuit secundis
alteram sortem bene praeparatum
pectus. informis hiemes reducit
Iuppiter, idem

summovet. non, si male nunc, et olim
sic erit: quondam cithara tacentem
suscitat Musam neque semper arcum
tendit Apollo.

rebus angustis animosus atque
fortis appare: sapienter idem
contrahes vento nimium secundo
turgida vela.

You will live a more upright life, Licinius, if you neither always keep to deep waters, nor, when uneasy and shuddering at the thought of squalls, stick too close to the dangerous coast. A man who chooses the golden mean will live in safety, free from the squalor of a dingy shack; and in moderation, free from the envy that a grand mansion draws. It’s the tallest pine that is most often shaken by the winds, the higher the towers, the more ruinous their fall, and it’s the highest peaks that the lightning strikes. The well-prepared heart will hope for better fortunes when things are bad, and be alert for worse ones when things are good. Jupiter brings round the ugly winter, but takes it away again, and if times are evil now, one day they may not be: sometimes Apollo awakes the silent muse with his lyre, and is not always bending his bow. In straitened circumstances, show that you are strong and undaunted: by the same token, you will be wise to shorten your sails if they are swollen by too favourable a wind.

`

More Poems by Horace

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