Ode 2.10

The Golden Mean

by Horace

Life is like a sea-voyage, says Horace, and he uses the conceit to deploy a range of philosophical aphorisms in which neither Epicureans, Stoics or Peripatetics would find much to disagree with. The appearance of Apollo at the end as an example of the changeability of things is neat: he is the patron of music and the arts, but as an archer he is also the bringer of illness and death. This is the aspect in which he appears at the opening of Homer’s Iliad, inflicting a pestilence on the Greek army when Agamemnon refuses to give back the captive daughter of one of his priests.

The metre is Sapphics.

See the illustrated blog post here.

To listen, press play:

To scroll the original and English translation of the poem at the same time - tap inside one box to select it and then scroll.

Rectius vives, Licini, neque altum
semper urgendo neque, dum procellas
cautus horrescis, nimium premendo
litus iniquum.

auream quisquis mediocritatem
diligit, tutus caret obsoleti
sordibus tecti, caret invidenda
sobrius aula.

saepius ventis agitatur ingens
pinus et celsae graviore casu
decidunt turres feriuntque summos
fulgura montis.

sperat infestis, metuit secundis
alteram sortem bene praeparatum
pectus. informis hiemes reducit
Iuppiter, idem

summovet. non, si male nunc, et olim
sic erit: quondam cithara tacentem
suscitat Musam neque semper arcum
tendit Apollo.

rebus angustis animosus atque
fortis appare: sapienter idem
contrahes vento nimium secundo
turgida vela.

You will live a more upright life, Licinius, if you neither always keep to deep waters, nor, when uneasy and shuddering at the thought of squalls, stick too close to the dangerous coast. A man who chooses the golden mean will live in safety, free from the squalor of a dingy shack; and in moderation, free from the envy that a grand mansion draws. It’s the tallest pine that is most often shaken by the winds, the higher the towers, the more ruinous their fall, and it’s the highest peaks that the lightning strikes. The well-prepared heart will hope for better fortunes when things are bad, and be alert for worse ones when things are good. Jupiter brings round the ugly winter, but takes it away again, and if times are evil now, one day they may not be: sometimes Apollo awakes the silent muse with his lyre, and is not always bending his bow. In straitened circumstances, show that you are strong and undaunted: by the same token, you will be wise to shorten your sails if they are swollen by too favourable a wind.

`

More Poems by Horace

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

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.