Odes 4.15 (Gladstone): Phoebus Volentem

Of conquering wars 't was my desire
To sing; but Phoebus with his lyre
Rebuked me, lest my little bark should be
Too slight for that Tyrrhenian sea.

Thine era, Caesar, hath restored
Crops to our fields: to Jove our Lord
Flags, from proud Parthian pillars which we tore;
And, wars extinct, hath shut the door

Of Roman Janus; and a yoke
For licence, that its bands had broke,
In measured order found; and crime subdued;
And arts of famous eld renewed.

Italian might, and Latium's name
By these to an imperial fame
And majesty upgrew: far forth they run
From eastern to the western sun.

No force, till Caesar's rule shall cease,
Nor civil rage shall banish Peace:
Nor passion, swift at forging swords for war,
Shall set our sister towns to jar.

The Julian edict shall be law
For those who from deep Danube draw;
For Getae, Seres, Persian knaves, and those
Reared where the mighty Tanais flows.

We, wives and children all around,
With gifts of joyous Liber crowned,
Will first invoke the gods with prayer and praise,
On common and on festal days,

Then sing to Lydian pipes anew
Deeds of old chiefs, as Romans do,
And tell of sire Anchises, and the boy
Whom kindly Venus bare, and Troy.