Horace sermones 1.9 Flashcards
Ibam forte Via Sacra, sicut meus est mos,
nescio quid meditans nugarum, totus in illis:
accurrit quidam notus mihi nomine tantum
arreptaque manu ‘quid agis, dulcissime rerum?’
‘Suaviter, ut nunc est,’ inquam ‘et cupio omnia quae vis.’
I was going by chance along the Sacred way, as is my habit, i do not know what i was trifles i was musing about, and totally set on these things:
a certain man known to me only by name runs up to me and seized my hand ‘how are you, my dearest fellow?’
i said ‘pretty fine, as it is now and i wish you everything which you want.’
Cum adsectaretur, ‘numquid vis?’ occupo. At ille
‘noris nos’ inquit; ‘docti sumus.’ Hic ego ‘pluris
hoc’ inquam ‘mihi eris.’ Misere discedere quaerens
ire modo ocius, interdum consistere, in aurem
dicere nescio quid puero, cum sudor ad imos
manaret talos.
since he kept following me, i broke in with ‘don’t you wish anything?’
but he said ‘you know me, we are men of knowledge.’ to this I said ‘due to this you will be more to me.’ miserably seeking to get away,
to go with a swifter pace, sometimes stopping, i do not know what i said in my slave’s ear, while sweat flowed to my lowerst ankles.
O te, Bolane, cerebri
felicem’ aiebam tacitus, cum quidlibet ille
garriret, vicos, urbem laudaret. Ut illi
nil respondebam, ‘misere cupis’ inquit ‘abire:
iamdudum video; sed nil agis: usque tenebo;
persequar hinc quo nunc iter est tibi.
‘O Bolanus, i am glad for your temper’ I was saying silently, while that man chattered about anything, praising the streets, the city. When i was made no response to him he said ‘you wish terribly to leave: I saw it long ago, but you drive/do nothing: i shall hold you all the way; I will follow from here, where is your journey now.’
‘Nil opus est te
circumagi: quendam volo visere non tibi notum;
trans Tiberim longe cubat is prope Caesaris hortos.’
There is no need for you to be dragged around: i want to visit a certain man not known to you; he lies far away across the Tiber near the gardens of Caesar.’
‘Nil habeo quod agam et non sum piger: usque sequar te.’
Demitto auriculas, ut iniquae mentis asellus,
cum gravius dorso subiit onus.
‘I have nothing which i must do and i am not unwilling: I shall follow you all the way.’
I lower my ears like a little ass with an unfavourable mind, when he goes under a heavier load with his back.
Incipit ille:
‘Si bene me novi, non Viscum pluris amicum,
non Varium facies; nam quis me scribere pluris
aut citius possit versus? Quis membra movere
mollius? Invideat quod et Hermogenes, ego canto.’
he began:
if i am well acquainted with myself, you will not esteem Viscus or Varius as a more of a friend; for who can write more or quicker verses ? who can move there limbs more delicately? even Hermogenes might even me when i sing.’
Interpellandi locus hic erat ‘est tibi mater,
cognati, quis te salvo est opus?’ ‘Haud mihi quisquam.
omnis conposui.’ ‘Felices. Nunc ego resto.
This was my place to interrupt ‘do you have a mother, or a kinsman, who has want for your safety?” ‘i have nobody. I have laid them all to rest.’ ‘Lucky them. Now i stand firm.
Confice; namque instat fatum mihi triste, Sabella
quod puero cecinit divina mota anus urna:
“ Hunc neque dira venena nec hosticus auferet ensis
nec laterum dolor aut tussis nec tarda podagra:
garrulus hunc quando consumet cumque: loquaces,
si sapiat, vitet, simul atque adoleverit aetas.
Finish me; for my sad fate approaches, which a an old Sabine woman, shaking her prophetic urn sang for me as a boy:
‘no dreadful drug nor hostile sword nor affliction of side or cough nor sluggish gout shall carry off this child: a chatter shall one day destroy him:
if he is wise, let him avoid talkative people as soon as he has advanced in age.
Ventum erat ad Vestae, quarta iam parte diei
praeterita, et casu tum respondere vadato
debebat, quod ni fecisset, perdere litem.
a fourth of a day had now passed, we arrived to the temple of Vesta, and by chance he was then obliged to answer to a plantiff, because if he had not, he would have lost the case.
Si me amas,’ inquit, ‘paulum hic ades.’ ‘Inteream, si aut valeo stare aut novi civilia iura;
et propero quo scis.’
‘if you love me,’ he said, ‘help a little here.’
‘may i die, if i either have strength to stand or know the ;aws of the land; and i am hurrying, you know where.’
Dubius sum, quid faciam’, inquit,
‘tene relinquam an rem.’ ‘Me, sodes.’ ‘Non faciam’ ille,
et praecedere coepit; ego, ut contendere durum
cum victore, sequor.
‘i am doubt aboutb what i should do’, he said,
‘whether i should desert you or my cause.’ ‘me, if you don’t mind.’
‘I will not do it’ and he began to take the lead; i, as it is difficult to contend with one’s conqueror, follow.
Maecenas quomodo tecum?’
hinc repetit. ‘Paucorum hominum et mentis bene sanae.
Nemo dexterius fortuna est usus.
‘how are things with Maecenus and you?”
from he renewed his chattering. ‘ a man of few friends and a fine and sane mind.
no one has ever used luck more skilfully.
Haberes magnum adiutorem, posset qui ferre secundas,
hunc hominem velles si tradere: dispeream, ni
summosses omnis.’
you have a great assistant, who could be your understudy, if you wish to introduce this man: let me perish, if you don’t displace everyone else.’
‘Non isto vivimus illic,
quo tu rere, modo; domus hac nec purior ulla est
nec magis his aliena malis; nil mi officit, inquam,
ditior hic aut est quia doctior; est locus uni
cuique suus.’
We do not live there in the manner which you think; there is no house more clean than this one or no greater a stranger to these vices; it never hurts me, i say, that this one is richer or more learned than i; each has his own place.’
Magnum narras, vix credibile.’ ‘Atqui
sic habet.’ ‘Accendis quare cupiam magis illi
proximus esse.’ ‘Velis tantummodo: quae tua virtus,
expugnabis: et est qui vinci possit eoque
difficilis aditus primos habet.’
‘you tell me a great thing, scacrely believable’ ‘and yet it is so.’ ‘you add fire to my desire to be near him’ ‘you only need to wish it: such is your valour, you will carry the fort: and he is a man who is able to be defeated and that is why he makes the first approaches so difficult.’
Haud mihi deero:
muneribus servos corrumpam; non, hodie si
exclusus fuero, desistam; tempora quaeram,
occurram in triviis, deducam. Nil sine magno
vita labore dedit mortalibus.’ Haec dum agit, ecce
I will not fail myself: i will bribe his slaves with presents; if i am shut out todasy, i will not give up; i will seek times, i will meet him at the crossroads, i will escort him. life grants nothing to mortals without great labour.’ while he was going on like this, look!
