Odes 2.3 (Gladstone): Aequam, Memento

An even mind in days of care,
And in thy days of joy to bear
A chastened mood, remember: why?
'Tis, Dellius, that thou hast to die.

Alike, if all thy life be sad,
Or festal season find thee glad,
On the lone turf at ease recline,
And quaff thy best Falernian wine.

Why do tall pine and poplar white
To weave their friendly shade delight?
This flitting stream, why hath it sped
So headlong down its wandering bed?

Bring wine, bring perfumes, bring fresh flowers
Of roses, all too brief their hours!
While purse, and age, and Sisters Three
Permit, though dark their threads may be.

This home, these glades, no longer thine,
Which auburn Tiber laps, resign;
Resign the towering heaps of gold,
Which one thine heir, not thou, shall hold.

Be hoary Inachus thy sire,
Or be thou risen from the mire;
Be rich, or poor, it boots thee not:
Unpitying Orcus casts thy lot.

All, all, we drive to doom. The urn
Discharges every Life in turn:
For every Life, or soon or late,
The boat, and endless exile, wait.