Living
Odes 1.8: Lydia, Dic Per Omnes
Translated by John Conington (3rd ed., before 1869) · From Odes, Book I
Lydia, by all above,
Why bear so hard on Sybaris, to ruin him with love?
What change has made him shun
The playing-ground, who once so well could bear the dust and sun?
Why does he never sit
On horseback in his company, nor with uneven bit
His Gallic courser tame?
Why dreads he yellow Tiber, as 'twould sully that fair frame?
Like poison loathes the oil,
His arms no longer black and blue with honourable toil,
He who erewhile was known
For quoit or javelin oft and oft beyond the limit thrown?
Why skulks he, as they say
Did Thetis' son before the dawn of Ilion's fatal day,
For fear the manly dress
Should fling him into danger's arms, amid the Lycian press?
Cite this poem
MLA
Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus). “Odes 1.8: Lydia, Dic Per Omnes.” Translated by John Conington. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/horace/7/.
Chicago
Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus). “Odes 1.8: Lydia, Dic Per Omnes.” Translated by John Conington. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/horace/7/.
Read this poem with the Codex →