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