Ode to a fallen enemy
Well... Sort of.
Came across this in my morning reading:
[...] for, slighted, often God confuses
The innocent with the evil-doer's fate.
Yet Vengeance, with one lame foot, seldom looses
Track of the outlaw, though she sets off late.
[...]
And courage cracked, and the strong men who frowned
Fiercest were felled, chins to the mirky ground.
But I, half-dead with fear,
Was wafted, airborn, clear
Of the enemy lines, wrappped in a misty blur
By Mercury, not sucked back, as you were
From safety and the shore
By the blind tide of war
Pay Jove his feast, then. In my laurel's shade
Stretch out the bones that long campaigns have made
Weary. Your wine's been waiting
For years: no hesitating!
Fill up the polished goblets to the top
With memory-drowning Massic! Slave, unstop
The deep-mouthed shells that store
Sweet-smelling oil and pour!
Horace
The Odes
65 - 8 BC
|
