Quotes from The Odes of Horace

Quotations follow the David Ferry translation (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997) — our recommended edition.

1. 2

   Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. (It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country.)

2. 3

   I have built a monument more lasting than bronze.

3. 4

   Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero. Reap the harvest of to-day, putting as little trust as may be in the morrow!

4. 5

   Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. 'Tis sweet and glorious to die for fatherland.

5. 6

   Exegi monumentum aere perennius. I have finished a monument more lasting than bronze.

6. 7

   Non omnis moriar, multaque pars mei vitabit Libitinam. I shall not wholly die, and a large part of me will escape the goddess of death.

7. 8

   Auream quisquis mediocritatem diligit. Whoso cherishes the golden mean, safely avoids the foulness of an ill-kept house.

8. 9

   Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero pulsanda tellus. Now is the time to drain the flowing bowl, now with unfettered foot to beat the ground.

9. 10

   Eheu fugaces, Postume, Postume, labuntur anni. Alas, O Postumus, the years glide swiftly by.

10. 11

    Pallida Mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas regumque turres. Pale Death with impartial foot knocks at the doors of poor men's hovels and kings' palaces.

11. 12

    Pulvis et umbra sumus. We are but dust and shadow.

12. 13

    Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam. Life's short span forbids us to enter on far-reaching hopes.

13. 14

    Aequam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem. Remember, when life's path is steep, to keep an even mind.

14. 15

    Vis consili expers mole ruit sua. Brute force bereft of wisdom falls to ruin by its own weight.

15. 16

    Permitte divis cetera. Leave to the gods all else.

16. 17

    Nil mortalibus ardui est. No height is too arduous for mortal men.