This is where Horace first coins or recalls the phrase “carpe diem” for the idea, already expressed in odes 1.4 and 1.8, that time and life pass quickly, so it’s best to make the most of them. It’s usually translated as “seize the day”, but it’s a lot more than that: “carpe” could also mean “harvest” the day, or “tease it out” like wool, or “press on” with it like a journey, or “pluck” it like a flower, and contemporaries would have had that richness of meaning in their minds.
The metre (fifth Asclepiad) is unusual: the general effect is that the poem keeps getting checked and then moving on regardless, which seems apt.
See the illustrated blog post here.
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