HORATIAN LYRICS.
Reading edition
I.
Odes I, 11.
What end the gods may have ordained for me, And what for thee, Seek not to learn, Leuconoe; we may not know; Chaldean tables cannot bring us rest— 'Tis for the best To bear in patience what may come, or weal or woe.
If for more winters our poor lot is cast, Or this the last, Which on the crumbling rocks has dashed Etruscan seas; Strain clear the wine—this life is short, at best; Take hope with zest, And, trusting not To-Morrow, snatch To-Day for ease!
II.
Odes I, 23.
Why do you shun me, Chloe, like the fawn, That, fearful of the breezes and the wood, Has sought her timorous mother since the dawn And on the pathless mountain tops has stood?
Her trembling heart a thousand fears invites— Her sinking knees with nameless terrors shake; Whether the rustling leaf of spring affrights, Or the green lizards stir the slumbering brake.
I do not follow with a tigerish thought Or with the fierce Gaetulian lion's quest; So, quickly leave your mother, as you ought, Full ripe to nestle on a husband's breast.