Library

Odes

Horace

Christopher Smart's literal prose translation (1756).

Horace's Odes (Carmina, published 23–13 BCE) are four books of Latin lyric poems that adapt the meters and manner of the Greek lyricists—Alcaeus, Sappho, and Pindar—to Roman life under Augustus. Ranging over love, wine, friendship, mortality, and the renewal of the Roman state, they became the enduring model for the lyric tradition in European poetry. This edition presents Christopher Smart's literal prose rendering (1756), with the Carmen Saeculare, the hymn Horace composed for the Secular Games of 17 BCE, appended.

Start readingYour notebookShow in graph

Contents

  1. Book I
    1. Ode I. To Maecenas
    2. Ode II. To Augustus Caesar
    3. Ode III
    4. Ode IV. To Sextius
    5. Ode V. To Pyrrha
    6. Ode VI. To Agrippa
    7. Ode VII. To Munatius Plancus
    8. Ode VIII. To Lydia
    9. Ode IX. To Thaliarchus
    10. Ode X. To Mercury
    11. Ode XI. To Leuconoe
    12. Ode XII. To Augustus
    13. Ode XIII. To Lydia
    14. Ode XIV. To the Roman State
    15. Ode XV. To Paris
    16. Ode XVI. To a Young Lady Horace Had Offended
    17. Ode XVII. To Tyndaris
    18. Ode XVIII. To Varus
    19. Ode XIX. To Glycera
    20. Ode XX. To Maecenas
    21. Ode XXI. On Diana and Apollo
    22. Ode XXII. To Aristius Fuscus
    23. Ode XXIII. To Chloe
    24. Ode XXIV. To Virgil
    25. Ode XXV. To Lydia
    26. Ode XXVI. To Aelius Lamia
    27. Ode XXVII. To His Companions
    28. Ode XXVIII. Archytas
    29. Ode XXIX. To Iccius
    30. Ode XXX. To Venus
    31. Ode XXXI. To Apollo
    32. Ode XXXII. To His Lyre
    33. Ode XXXIII. To Albius Tibullus
    34. Ode XXXIV. Against the Epicurians
    35. Ode XXXV. To Fortune
    36. Ode XXXVI
    37. Ode XXXVII. To His Companions
    38. Ode XXXVIII. To His Servant
  2. Book II
    1. Ode I. To Asinius Pollio
    2. Ode II. To Crispus Sallustius
    3. Ode III. To Quintus Dellius
    4. Ode IV. To Xanthias Phoceus
    5. Ode V
    6. Ode VI. To Septimus
    7. Ode VII. To Pompeius Varus
    8. Ode VIII. To Barine
    9. Ode IX. To Titus Valgius
    10. Ode X. To Licinius Murena
    11. Ode XI. To Quintius Hirpinus
    12. Ode XII. To Maecenas
    13. Ode XIII. To a Tree
    14. Ode XIV. To Postumus
    15. Ode XV. Against the Luxury of the Romans
    16. Ode XVI. To Grosphus
    17. Ode XVII. To Maecenas
    18. Ode XVIII. Against Avarice and Luxury
    19. Ode XIX. On Bacchus
    20. Ode XX. To Maecenas
  3. Book III
    1. Ode I. On Contentment
    2. Ode II. Against the Degeneracy of the Roman Youth
    3. Ode III. On Steadiness and Integrity
    4. Ode IV. To Calliope
    5. Ode V. On the Recovery of the Standards From Phraates
    6. Ode VI. To the Romans
    7. Ode VII. To Asterie
    8. Ode VIII. To Maecenas
    9. Ode IX. To Lydia
    10. Ode X. To Lyce
    11. Ode XI. To Mercury
    12. Ode XII. To Neobule
    13. Ode XIII. To the Bandusian Fountain
    14. Ode XIV. To the Romans
    15. Ode XV. To Chloris
    16. Ode XVI. To Maecenas
    17. Ode XVII. To Aelius Lamia
    18. Ode XVIII. To Faunus
    19. Ode XIX. To Telephus
    20. Ode XX. To Pyrrhus
    21. Ode XXI. To His Jar
    22. Ode XXII. To Diana
    23. Ode XXIII. To Phidyle
    24. Ode XXIV. To the Covetous
    25. Ode XXV. To Bacchus
    26. Ode XXVI. To Venus
    27. Ode XXVII. To Galatea, Upon Her Going to Sea
    28. Ode XXVIII. To Lyde
    29. Ode XXIX. To Maecenas
    30. Ode XXX. On His Own Works
  4. Book IV
    1. Ode I. To Venus
    2. Ode II. To Antonius Iulus
    3. Ode III. To Melpomene
    4. Ode IV. The Praise of Drusus
    5. Ode V. To Augustus
    6. Ode VI. Hymn to Apollo
    7. Ode VII. To Torquatus
    8. Ode VIII. To Marcius Censorinus
    9. Ode IX. To Marcus Lollius
    10. Ode X. To Ligurinus
    11. Ode XI. To Phyllis
    12. Ode XII. To Virgil
    13. Ode XIII. To Lyce
    14. Ode XIV. To Augustus
    15. Ode XV. To Augustus, on the Restoration of Peace
  5. Carmen Saeculare