Horace Today
English Traslation
What I, a bachelor, am doing on the Kalends of March,
what the flowers intend, and the box of incense,
full, you wonder, and the embers laid out on
the fresh cut turf,
you, an expert in prose in either language?
…………
Drink, Maecenas, the wine, of your friend
unharmed, a whole gallon, and the lamps awake,
flickering at dawn, quench: keep far away, O all
noise and anger.
Leave the cares of state behind in the city:
…………
Disregarding what the people toil for,
refrain as a private citizen from taking too much care, and
gladly seize the gifts of the present hour,
forget dark things.
Original Latin
Martiis caelebs quid agam kalendis,
quid velint flores et acerra turis
plena miraris positusque carbo in
caespite vivo,
docte sermones utriusque linguae?
…………[1]
sume, Maecenas, cyathos amici
sospitis centum et vigiles lucernas
perfer in lucem: procul omnis esto
clamor et ira.
mitte civilis super urbe curas:
…………
neglegens, ne qua populus laboret,
parce privatus nimium cavere et
dona praesentis cape laetus horae,
linque severa.
Hor. Od. 3.8, 23 B.C.
Horace reads before Maecenas by Fyodor Bronnikov (1827-1902)
Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Following the defeat of the republican army at the Battle of Philippi in 42 B.C., a 22-year-old Horace moved to Rome. Foregoing his rank as an officer, Horace sought amnesty and made this move to Rome in search of recognition through writing. There, he met the poets Varius and Vergil, who soon introduced him to Maecenas, an advisor to Augustus. Appreciating Horace’s Satires, which he published in 35 B.C., Maecenas graciously donated the rising poet a farm in the Sabine country to provide him a steady income and leisure time to write.
Published in 23 B.C., Horace’s three books of Odes address his favorite topics, from love to moderation. In his very first poem of Book I, Horace provides a dedication to his patron, Maecenas. Even though Maecenas was exalted in Roman society as a right-hand man to Eperor Augustus himself, Horace, devoted to following a simpler life, seems to cherish Maecenas as an honorable guest even with the simplistic arrangements at his humble abode. First, in the twentieth poem of Book I, Horace expresses this humility by conceding that his stored wine from local vineyards (Sabine wine as opposed to the ricer brands of Falernian or Formian wine) might not be up to the standards of Maecenas. Yet Horace still makes a slight overture to emphasize their friendship by commiserating with Maecenas over their shared equestrian status in Roman society. In Satires 1.9, Horace also vehemently disavows the claims by the “boor”[2] that he’s only using Maecenas as means to receiving acclaim for his poetry. Horace truly values the integrity of the genuine friendship he has with Maecenas and breaks the normal patron-poet paradigm to pursue this closer bond. Vergil may have dedicated portions of The Georgics to Maecenas, but he never openly centered his poems around his friendship with Maecenas like Horace did in Satires and in multiple sections of the Odes. Now, in the eighth poem of Book III, Horace again invites Maecenas to a party, this time on the Kalends of March. As the day of the party coincided with the day of the Matronalia, a festival honoring women, Horace realized that it could have seemed like he was celebrating on that day for a supposed wife. Noting that he is unwed, Horace is instead honoring the anniversary of his escape from death by a falling tree. Horace also especially distances himself from the more specific urban constructs in Roman society (ln. 17, mitte civilis super urbe curas). Instead of focusing on these relatively ephemeral pieces of his friendship, he chooses to emphasize more abstract yet long-lasting ideals such as total enjoyment of the moment. This particular example of an invitation sounds much more comparable to a modern-day invitation due to this very relatable notion of living to the fullest with your friends. Here is a modern adaptation of Horace’s invitation:
Original Latin
Maio semotus quid agam die XIII,[3]
quid velint flores et ordo cereorum,
plena fulviā miraris positique saxi in
quadrangulo vivo,
docte sermones ulliusque Historiae?
…………
Ede, Iohannes, pittas amici
incolumis decem et vigiles lucernas
perfer in lucem: procul omnis esto
clamor et ira.
mitte scholasticas super scolā curas:
…………
neglegens, ne qua populus laboret,
parce alienus nimium cavere et
dona praesentis cape laetus horae,
linque severe.
Jacob Zimmerman, 2018 A.D.
English Translation
What I, a boarding student, am doing on the 13th of May,
what the flowers intend, and the row of fake candles,
full of yellow, you wonder, and the stones laid out on
the green quad,
you, an expert in prose in any History?
…………
Eat, Jackson, the pizza of your friend
survived another year, ten pies, and the lamps awake,
quench, flickering at dawn: keep far away, O all
noise and anger.
Leave the cares of school behind in your room:
…………
Disregarding what the people suffer,
refrain as if a Smurf[4] from taking too much care,
and gladly seize the gifts of the present hour,
forget dark things.
Parallels to Odes 3.8
Line 1: While Horace notes that he is a bachelor to eplain that he is celebrating for himself, rather than for women, I note that I am celebrating Mother’s Day not for mothers, but because it is my birthday; I substitute Mother’s Day for the Matronalia as another celebration of women, especially for mothers.
Line 2: I translate the box full of incense, an item relevant in ancient Roman religion, into fake cadles--meaning those powered by batteries--glowing bright with full charge, items that you could perhaps find in Mother’s Day celebrations.
Line 4: I specify a school “quad” for the “turf ” Horace references.
Line 5: I translate the high intellect suggested by Horace in the achievement of a classical dual edcation in Greek and Latin into the proficiency of aalytical writing in a History class, common among students today.
Line 13: Horace invites his close friend Maecenas, and I invite my close friend Jackson. An approprate indulgence for teenagers comparable to an adult’s wine may be pizza.
Line 14: I translate Horace’s anniversary of escaing death into my own anniversary of being alive: my birthday. Ten pizzas also seem as hyperbolic as a Horace’s allusion to a hundred shots of alcohol. I also depict how many dorm rooms glow late in the night and some into dawn, just as, I imagine, Roman lanterns persisted through the night as Horace refeences.
Line 15-16: Just like Horace, I do not welcome noise and anger in a celebration.
Line 17: Just as Horace wishes that Maecenas may celebrate freely (free from politics), I wish that Jackson may celebrate freely (free from strenuous academics).
Line 26: Horace shows both respect and mock disdain towards private citizens, analogous to the light-hearted rivalry between Exonians and Smurfs. Just as a private citizen could naturally be free from Roman politics from Horace’s perspective, consitent with our rivalry, I consider that a student from Andover may be able to separate from the stress of high-intensity academics.
This present-day reflection of Horace’s poem relies siply on translating ancient details into modern equivlents in order to portray Horace’s strong friendship with Maecenas. In truth, Horace’s sentiment towards Maecnas can smoothly be interpreted as the universal objetive of any friendship. We wish for happiness and joy to fill the lives of our friends. We acknowledge that their lives may be filled with all the commotion and the iherent frustration we may find in day-to-day endeavors, whether they be in an academic setting or the workplace like in the Forum. Amidst all the stress, we can only wish that our friends make the most of the enjoyment they’re allotted. Horace commonly cites a dark connotation in the inevitability of death in his poems, yet he is also creited for the first-ever mention of “carpe diem.” Perhaps, as Horace certainly references in this poem, the perfect way to live life in the face of death may indeed be at the side of those whose friendship we value most. May this thread between modern and ancient customs demonstrate that Horace’s sense of friendship thrives today.
Horace, Vergil, and Varius at the house of Maecenas (1846)
Photo Courtesy of PBS Learning Media
Notes
[1] Note to the Reader: I have chosen to highlight the sections that present the main ideas and to omit the redundant details between them
[2] As Horace does not reveal the name of the person irritating him on the way to the Forum, scholars have collectively named the character as the “boor.”
[3] Quarto decimo
[4] Slang for a student of Phillips Academy Andover