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