ODE III.
TO QUINTUS DELLIUS.
O Dellius,[1] since thou art born to die, be mindful to preserve a temper of mind even in times of difficulty, as well an restrained from insolent exultation in prosperity: whether thou shalt lead a life of continual sadness, or through happy days regale thyself with Falernian wine of the oldest date,[2] at ease reclined in some grassy retreat, where the lofty pine and hoary poplar delight to interweave their boughs into a hospitable shade, and the clear current with trembling surface purls along the meandering rivulet. Hither order [your slaves] to bring the wine, and the perfumes, and the too short-lived flowers of the grateful rose, while fortune, and age; and the sable threads of the three sisters permit thee. You must depart from your numerous purchased groves;[3] from your house also, and that villa, which the yellow Tiber washes, you must depart: and an heir shall possess these high-piled riches. It is of no consequence whether you are the wealthy descendant of ancient Inachus, or whether, poor and of the most ignoble race, you live without a covering from the open air, since you are the victim of merciless Pluto. We are all driven toward the same quarter: the lot of all is shaken in the urn; destined sooner or later to come forth, and embark us in [Charon’s] boat for eternal exile.
- ↑ Dellius was a true picture of inconstancy. After Cæsar's death he changed his party four times in the space of twelve years, from when Messale used pleasantly to call him desultorem bellorum civilium, in allusion to a custom of the ancient cavalry, who had two horses, and vaulted from one to the other, as they were tired. The peace that succeeded the civil wars, gave him an opportunity of establishing his affairs, which naturally must have been greatly disordered by so many changes. At this time Horace wrote this ode, in which he instructs him in the purest maxims of Epicurean philosophy. San.
- ↑ "With the old Falernian," i.e. the choicest wine, which was placed in the furthest part of the vault or crypt, marked with its date and growth. Nota. Thus Catullus, lxviii. 28. "de meliore nota;" and Curius, ap. Cic. vii. 29, "Sulpicii successori, nos de meliore nota commenda." Some insert only a comma after Falerni, and thus join the succeeding strophe to this, "Sed propter meliorem totius periodi constructionem præstare videtur distinctio nostra." Orell. McCaul.
- ↑ "Bought up on all sides." Anthon.
