Odes 1.12

Augustus, master of the world

by Horace

One of Horace’s poems extolling the virtues and achievements of the Emperor Augustus. Horace is consciously referencing the over-the-top tone that Pindar, a Greek model that he greatly respected, struck in his poetry celebrating victors in athletic games. Still, the praise and deference must have felt no less extreme to a Roman at the end of the Republican period than they do to us.

The poem begins by invoking the Muse, and praising Greek Gods and mythical figures. Switching to models from Roman history, Horace emphasises their austerity, echoing Augustus’s doomed attempt to restore traditional Roman virtues and values. The mention of Cato, a recent figure among the historical ones, is interesting, given his ferocious commitment to the defence of the republic which Augustus ended. In the climax, Jupiter rules the heavens, while Augustus has no mortal match.

Metre: Sapphics

See the illustrated blog post here.

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Quem virum aut heroa lyra vel acri
tibia sumis celebrare, Clio?
quem deum? cuius recinet iocosa
nomen imago

aut in umbrosis Heliconis oris
aut super Pindo gelidove in Haemo?
unde vocalem temere insecutae
Orphea silvae,

arte materna rapidos morantem
fluminum lapsus celeresque ventos,
blandum et auritas fidibus canoris
ducere quercus.

quid prius dicam solitis parentis
laudibus, qui res hominum ac deorum,
qui mare ac terras variisque mundum
temperat horis?

unde nil maius generatur ipso
nec viget quidquam simile aut secundum.
proximos illi tamen occupavit
Pallas honores

proeliis audax. neque te silebo,
Liber et saevis inimica virgo
beluis, nec te, metuende certa
Phoebe sagitta.

dicam et Alciden puerosque Ledae,
hunc equis, illum superare pugnis
nobilem; quorum simul alba nautis
stella refulsit,

defluit saxis agitatus umor,
concidunt venti fugiuntque nubes
et minax, quia sic voluere, ponto
unda recumbit.

Romulum post hos prius an quietum
Pompili regnum memorem, an superbos
Tarquini fascis, dubito, an Catonis
nobile letum:

Regulum et Scauros animaeque magnae
prodigum Paulum superante Poeno
gratus insigni referam camena
Fabriciumque.

hunc et incomptis Curium capillis
utilem bello tulit et Camillum
saeva paupertas et avitus apto
cum lare fundus.

crescit occulto velut arbor aevo
fama Marcellis; micat inter omnis
Iulium sidus velut inter ignis
luna minores.

gentis humanae pater atque custos,
orte Saturno, tibi cura magni
Caesaris fatis data: tu secundo
Caesare regnes.

ille seu Parthos Latio imminentis
egerit iusto domitos triumpho
sive subiectos Orientis orae
Seras et Indos,

te minor latum reget aequus orbem:
tu gravi curru quaties Olympum,
tu parum castis inimica mittes
fulmina lucis.

What man or hero are you taking up, Clio, to celebrate with the lyre or the shrill pipe? What god? Whose name will the playful echo sing back, either upon Pindus or in frosty Haemus, where the woods gladly followed Orpheus as he sang, by his mother’s art stopping the fall of the rivers and the swift winds, giving the oak-trees ears and leading them along coaxed by the tuneful strains of his song? What should I sing first but due praises for the Father, who holds sway over the affairs of men and gods, and over the sea and land and the sky with its changing seasons? From him there springs nothing greater than himself, and there exists nothing that resembles him, or comes close to it. The next honours after his belong to Pallas, daring in battle; nor, certainly, shall I overlook you, Liber, and virgin Diana, the bane of wild beasts, nor you, Phoebe, dreaded for your unerring arrow. I shall chant too of Hercules ,and Leda’s sons, one excelling with horses, the other with his fists: no sooner does their bright star shine out on sailors than turbulent waters flow back from the rocks, winds drop, the clouds clear, and the threatening waves, because the twins have wished it, subside on the ocean. After these should I turn first, I wonder, to Romulus, or the peaceful reign of Pompilius, or the proud fasces of Tarquinius, or the noble death of Cato? I will tell of Regulus and the Scauri in my ennobling song, and Paulus, so prodigal of his mighty soul as the Carthaginian won the day, and Fabricius. It was harsh poverty, and an ancient farm with a dwelling to match, that bore him, and that handy warrior Curius with his shaggy hair, and Camillus. Imperceptibly, like a tree, the fame of the Marcelli grows greater with time; and there shines out in the midst of all these the Julian star like the moon among lesser lights. Father and guardian of the human race, born of Saturn, to you has the safekeeping of great Caesar been given by the fates: you shall reign, with Caesar as your support. Whether it is the Parthians, menacing Latium, or the Indians and Chinese that he has vanquished and leads in well-deserved triumph, he, under you, shall rule the wide world in justice: while you shall smite Olympus with your tremendous chariot; and to sacred groves, if they have not kept chaste, you shall direct your destroying thunderbolts.

`

More Poems by Horace

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