Another variation on Horace’s favourite theme of carpe diem – seize the day, though the verb has more subtle meanings – harvest it like a crop, for example, or pluck it like a flower. Wine in the shade is better than fretting about what is happening on Rome’s frontiers, which are a very long way away. The Greek drinker in the illustration is on an Attic red-figure wine cup, courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum in New York. They have a fine collection and excellent online access to it, so pay them a visit.
Hear Horace’s Latin and follow in English here.