Horace: Epistles, Book 1, XI
Quid tibi uisa Chios, Bullati, notaque Lesbos,
quid concinna Samos, quid Croesi regia Sardis,
Zmyrna quid et Colophon? Maiora minoraue fama,
cunctane prae Campo et Tiberino flumine sordent?
An uenit in uotum Attalicis ex urbibus una? 5
An Lebedum laudas odio maris atque uiarum?
Scis Lebedus quid sit: Gabiis desertior atque
Fidenis uicus; tamen illic uiuere uellem,
oblitusque meorum, obliuiscendus et illis,
Neptunum procul e terra spectare furentem. 10
Sed neque qui Capua Romam petit, imbre lutoque
aspersus uolet in caupona uiuere; nec qui
frigus collegit, furnos et balnea laudat
ut fortunatam plene praestantia uitam;
nec si te ualidus iactauerit Auster in alto, 15
idcirco nauem trans Aegaeum mare uendas.
Incolumi Rhodos et Mytilene pulchra facit quod
paenula solstitio, campestre niualibus auris,
per brumam Tiberis, Sextili mense caminus.
Dum licet ac uoltum seruat Fortuna benignum, 20
Romae laudetur Samos et Chios et Rhodos absens.
Tu quamcumque deus tibi fortunauerit horam
grata sume manu neu dulcia differ in annum,
ut quocumque loco fueris uixisse libenter
te dicas; nam si ratio et prudentia curas, 25
non locus effusi late maris arbiter aufert,
caelum, non animum mutant, qui trans mare currunt.
Strenua non exercet inertia; nauibus atque
quadrigis petimus bene uiuere. Quod petis, hic est,
est Vlubris, animus si te non deficit aequus. 30
Or the famous Lesbos? What of beautiful Samos?
What of Croesus’ royal Sardis, Smyrnaand Colophon?
Better or worse than claimed, are they all worthless, beside
The Campus and Tiber’s stream? Or are you set on one
Of Attalus’ cities, or weary of roads and seas praise
Lebedus? You know Lebedus: even more empty
Than Gabiior Fidenae! Still I’d choose to live there,
Forgetting all my friends, and forgotten by them,
Gazing from the shore at distant Neptune’s fury!
Yet a man heading for Rome from Capua, soaked
With mud and rain, wouldn’t choose to live in an inn:
Nor does one who catches a chill praise stove and bath
As the total answer to living a happy life:
Nor will you, tossed by a southerly gale on the deep,
Across the Aegean, sell your ship because of it!
To a healthy man, Rhodes and beautiful Mytilene
Are a heavy cloak in summer, a loincloth worn in
A snowstorm, the wintry Tiber, or an August fire.
While Fate proves benign, and while you can, from Rome,
Praise the far-distant, Samos, and Chios, and Rhodes.
And whatever the hour heaven has blessed you with
Accept it gratefully, don't put off what’s sweet to some
Other year: then wherever you’ve lived, you can say
You were happy. It’s wisdom, it’s reason, not some place
Overlooking a breadth of water, that drives out care:
Those who rush to sea gain a change of sky not themselves.
Restless idleness occupies us: in yachts and chariots
We seek the good life. But what you’re seeking is here:
If your mind’s not lacking in calm, it’s at Ulubrae!
Original text: Latin Library: Q. HORATIVS FLACCVS
Translation: A.S. Kline, Poetry in Tranlation: Horace
