Odes 3.3 (Martin): Justum Et Tenacem

He that is just, and firm of will
Doth not before the fury quake
Of mobs that instigate to ill,
Nor hath the tyrant's menace skill
His fixed resolve to shake;

Nor Auster, at whose wild command
The Adriatic billows dash,
Nor Jove's dread thunder-launching hand.
Yea, if the globe should fall, he'll stand
Serene amidst the crash.

By constancy like this sustain'd,
Pollux of yore, and Hercules
The starry eminences gain'd,
Where Caesar, with lips purple-stain'd,
Quaffs nectar, stretch'd at ease.

Thou, by this power. Sire Bacchus, led.
To bear the yoke thy pards didst school,
Through this same power Quirinus fled,
By Mars' own horses charioted,
The Acherontine pool.

What time the gods to council came,
And Juno spoke with gracious tone,
"That umpire lewd and doom'd to shame,
And his adulterous foreign dame
Troy, Troy have overthrown;

"Troy doom'd to perish in its pride
By chaste Minerva and by me,
Her people, and their guileful guide,
Since false Laomedon denied
The gods their promised fee.

"The Spartan wanton's shameless guest
No longer flaunts in brave array,
Nor screen'd by Hector's valiant breast,
Doth Priam's perjured house arrest
My Argives in the fray.

"Protracted by our feuds no more,
The war is quell'd. So I abate
Mine anger, and to Mars restore
Him, whom the Trojan priestess bore,
The grandchild of my hate.

"Him will I suffer to attain
These realms of light, these blest abodes,
The juice of nectar pure to drain,
And be enroll'd amid the train
Of the peace-breathing gods.

"As long as the broad rolling sea
Shall roar 'twixt Ilion and Rome,
Where'er these wandering exiles be.
There let them rule, be happy, free;
Whilst Priam's, Paris' tomb

"Is trodden o'er by roving kine,
And wild beasts there securely breed,
The Capitol afar may shine,
And Home, proud E,ome her laws assign
Unto the vanquish'd Mede.

"Yes, let her spread her name of fear.
To farthest shores; where central waves
Part Africa from Europe, where
Nile's swelling current half the year
The plains with plenty laves.

"Still let her scorn to search with pain
For gold, the earth hath wisely hid,
Nor strive to wrest with hands profane
To mortal use and mortal gain
What is to man forbid.

"Let earth's remotest regions still
Her conquering arms to glory call,
Where scorching suns the long day fill,
Where mists and snows and tempests chill
Hold reckless bacchanal.

"But let Quirinus' sons beware,
For they are doom'd to sure annoy,
Should they in foolish fondness e'er
Or vaunting pride the homes repair
Of their ancestral Troy.

"In evil hour should Troy once more
Arise, it shall be crush'd anew,
By hosts that o'er it stride in gore,
By me conducted, as of yore,
Jove's spouse and sister too.

"Thrice rear a brazen wall, and though
Apollo's self his aidance lent.
Tin-ice shall my Argives lay it low,
Thrice shall the captive wife in woe
Her lord and babes lament!"

But whither would'st thou, Muse? Unmeet
For jocund lyre are themes like these.
Shalt thou the talk of gods repeat,
Debasing by thy strains effete
Such lofty mysteries?