HORACE, The Pleasures of Country Living

Question 1

beatus ille qui procul negotiis,
ut prisca gens mortalium,
paterna rura bobus exercet suis
solutus omni faenore,

Answer 1

Blessed is the man who, far from business,
like the ancient race of mortals,
tills his ancestral land with his own oxen,
free from all debt;

Question 2

neque excitatur classico miles truci,
neque horret iratum mare,
forumque vitat et superba civium
potentiorum limina.

Answer 2

neither a soldier, roused by the fierce war-trumpet,
nor one who dreads the angry sea,
keeping clear of the forum and the haughty
doorsteps of more powerful citizens.

Question 3

libet iacere modo sub antiqua ilice,
modo in tenaci gramine.

Answer 3

It is pleasant to lie sometimes beneath an ancient holm-oak,
sometimes in the firm grass.

Question 4

labuntur altis interim ripis aquae,
queruntur in silvis aves,
fontesque lymphis obstrepunt manantibus,
somnos quod invitet leves.

Answer 4

Meanwhile streams glide between high banks,
birds chatter in the woods,
springs gurgle with trickling sprays of water,
to invite gentle sleep.