Living

Odes 3.28: Festo Quid Potius

by Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) 65–8 BC

Translated by John Conington (3rd ed., before 1869) · From Odes, Book III

Living

Neptune's feast-day! what should man
Think first of doing? Lyde mine, be bold,
Broach the treasured Caecuban,
And batter Wisdom in her own stronghold.
Now the noon has pass'd the full,
Yet sure you deem swift Time has made a halt,
Tardy as you are to pull
Old Bibulus' wine-jar from its sleepy vault.
I will take my turn and sing
Neptune and Nereus' train with locks of green;
You shall warble to the string
Latona and her Cynthia's arrowy sheen.
Hers our latest song, who sways
Cnidos and Cyclads, and to Paphos goes
With her swans, on holydays;
Night too shall claim the homage music owes.

MLA

Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus). “Odes 3.28: Festo Quid Potius.” Translated by John Conington. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/horace/82/.

Chicago

Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus). “Odes 3.28: Festo Quid Potius.” Translated by John Conington. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/horace/82/.

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