Words and Verse
Horace 3.30 (Translation-Latin)
This monument I've wrought will outlast bronze
It looms higher than all thrones and pyramids
Unscathed by thrashing winds or savage rains
Or by the ceaseless series and ranks of cruel
Impending years or by the march of time.
I won't all die. A large piece of me shall
Escape Queen Death, as I live on, still vivid
Within posterity's praises. For as long
As priests and virgins scale the holy altar,
Where raucous Aufidus hurls his wave and roars
And where poor Daunus of the waters ruled
The simplest shepherds, there they'll say of me
“Yes it was Horace, prince of humble blood,
Who brought Greek verse to Latin words.” Raise high
My pride that genius won, Melpomene
And crown my glory with the Delphic wreath.
ORIGINAL
Exegi monumentum aere perennius
regalique situ pyramidum altius
quod non imber edax, non Aquilo impotens
possit diruere aut innumerabilis
annorum series et fuga temporum.
non omnis moriar multaque pars mei
vitabit Libitinam. usque ego postera
crescam laude recens, dum Capitolium
scandet cùm tacita virgine pontifex.
dicar, qua violens obstrepit Aufidus
et qua pauper aquae Daunus agrestium
regnavit populorum, ex humili potens
princeps Aeolium carmen ad Italos
deduxisse modos. sume superbiam
quaestiam meritis et mihi Delphica
lauro cinge volens, Melpomene, comam.
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Horace 3.30 (Translation-Latin)
Horace 3.30 (Translation-Latin)
