Address to Augustus and Critique of Antiquarian Taste — Horace, Epistles Book 2 (2.1.1–2.1.67), Latin & English

Cum tot sustineas et tanta negotia solus,

Since you support so many and such great affairs alone,

res Italas armis tuteris, moribus ornes,

protect the Italian land with arms, adorn it with morals,

legibus emendes, in publica commoda peccem,

and correct it with laws, I should sin against the public interest,

si longo sermone morer¹ tua tempora, Caesar.

Caesar, if I should delay your time with a long discourse.

Romulus et Liber pater et cum Castore Pollux,

Romulus, and Father Liber, and Pollux with Castor,

post ingentia facta deorum in templa recepti,

received into the temples of the gods after huge achievements,

dum terras hominumque colunt genus, aspera bella

while they cultivated the lands and the race of men, settled bitter wars,

componunt, agros assignant, oppida condunt,

assigned fields, and founded towns,

ploravere suis non respondere favorem

lamented that the expected favor did not respond to their merits.

speratum meritis, diram qui contudit hydram²

He who crushed the dreadful hydra

notaque fatali portenta labore subegit,

and subdued the famous monsters with fated labor,

comperit invidiam supremo fine domari,

found that envy is tamed only by the final end.

urit enim fulgore suo, qui praegravat artis

For he burns with his own brilliance who oppresses the arts

infra se positas; exstinctus amabitur idem.

placed below him; yet when extinguished, the same man will be loved.

praesenti tibi maturos largimur honores,

To you, while present, we grant mature honors,

iurandasque tuum per numen ponimus aras,

and set up altars to swear by your divinity,

nil oriturum alias, nil ortum tale fatentes.

confessing that nothing like you will ever arise, nor has arisen.

Sed tuus hic populus sapiens et iustus in uno,

But this people of yours, wise and just in this one thing,

te nostris ducibus, te Grais anteferendo,

in preferring you to our leaders, and to the Greeks,

cetera nequaquam simili ratione modoque

estimates other things by no means with similar reason and measure,

aestimat et, nisi quae terris semota suisque

and, unless it sees things removed from the earth and

temporibus defuncta videt, fastidit et odit;

finished with their times, it loathes and hates them;

sic fautor veterum, ut tabulas peccare vetantis,

so much a supporter of the ancients that it would repeatedly assert that the laws forbidding sin,

quas bis quinque viri sanxerunt, foedera regum

which the decemvirs enacted, the treaties of the kings

vel Gabiis vel cum rigidis aequata Sabinis,

made equal either with Gabii or with the rigid Sabines,

pontificum libros, annosa volumina vatum

the books of the pontiffs, and the ancient volumes of the prophets,

dictitet Albano Musas in monte locutas.

were spoken by the Muses on the Alban mount.

Si, quia Graiorum sunt antiquissima quaeque

If, because the oldest writings of the Greeks

scripta vel optima, Romani pensantur eadem

are also the best, Roman writers are weighed on the same

scriptores trutina, non est quod multa loquamur:

balance, there is no reason for us to speak much:

nil intra est olea, nil extra est in nuce duri;³

there is nothing hard inside an olive, nothing hard outside in a nut;

venimus ad summum fortunae, pingimus atque

we have come to the summit of fortune, we paint and

psallimus et luctamur Achivis doctius unctis.

play the lyre and wrestle more skillfully than the anointed Greeks.

Si meliora dies, ut vina, poemata reddit,

If time makes poems better, like wines,

scire velim, chartis pretium quotus arroget annus.

I should like to know which year arrogates value to the papers.

scriptor abhinc annos centum qui decidit, inter

A writer who died a hundred years ago, should he be referred

perfectos veteresque referri debet an inter

among the perfect and ancient, or among the

vilis atque novos? excludat iurgia finis.

worthless and new? Let a limit exclude disputes.

est vetus atque probus, centum qui perficit annos.

”He is ancient and honest who completes a hundred years.”

quid, qui deperiit minor uno mense vel anno,

What about him who died less by one month or year,

inter quos referendus erit? veteresne poetas,

among whom shall he be referred? The ancient poets,

an quos et praesens et postera respuat aetas?

or those whom both the present and future age should reject?

“iste quidem veteres inter ponetur honeste,

”That man indeed will be placed honorably among the ancients,

qui vel mense brevi vel toto est iunior anno.”

who is younger by even a brief month or a whole year.”

utor permisso, caudaeque pilos ut equinae

I use the permission, and like the hairs of a horse’s tail

paulatim vello et demo unum, demo etiam unum,

I pluck them out little by little and take away one, and take away another,

dum cadat elusus ratione ruentis acervi,⁴

until he falls, deceived by the logic of the collapsing heap,

qui redit in fastos et virtutem aestimat annis

who recurs to the annals and estimates virtue by years

miraturque nihil nisi quod Libitina sacravit.

and admires nothing except what Libitina has consecrated.

Ennius et sapiens et fortis et alter Homerus,

Ennius, both wise and brave, and a second Homer,

ut critici dicunt, leviter curare videtur,

as critics say, seems to care lightly

quo promissa cadant et somnia Pythagorea.

whither his promises and Pythagorean dreams may fall.

Naevius in manibus non est⁵ et mentibus haeret

Is Naevius not in our hands, yet clings to our minds

paene recens? adeo sanctum est vetus omne poema,

almost as if fresh? So sacred is every old poem.

ambigitur quotiens, uter utro sit prior, aufert

As often as it is debated which is superior to which,

Pacuvius docti famam senis, Accius alti,

Pacuvius carries off the fame of a learned old man, Accius of a lofty one,

dicitur Afrani toga convenisse Menandro,

Afranius’s toga is said to have fitted Menander,

Plautus ad exemplar Siculi properare Epicharmi,

Plautus to hasten after the model of Sicilian Epicharmus,

vincere Caecilius gravitate, Terentius arte.

Caecilius to excel in gravity, Terence in art.

hos ediscit et hos arto stipata theatro

These powerful Rome learns by heart, and these in the crowded theater

spectat Roma potens; habet hos numeratque poetas

she watches; she holds and numbers these as poets

ad nostrum tempus Livi scriptoris ab aevo.

down to our time from the age of the writer Livius.

Interdum volgus rectum videt, est ubi peccat,

Sometimes the crowd sees what is right, sometimes it errs.

si veteres ita miratur laudatque poetas,

If it so admires and praises the ancient poets

ut nihil anteferat, nihil illis comparet, errat.

that it prefers nothing, compares nothing to them, it errs.

si quaedam nimis antique, si pleraque dure

If it believes that they said some things too antiquely, most things harshly,

dicere credit eos, ignave multa fatetur,

and confesses that many things are clumsily expressed,

Syntax notes5 items

2.1.3in publica commoda peccem, si longo sermone morer...
A conditional sentence in the present subjunctive (peccem in the apodosis, morer in the protasis), expressing a polite and cautious hypothetical situation in the present.
2.1.10diram qui contudit hydram
A relative clause with an omitted antecedent, referring in this context to the Greek hero Hercules, who accomplished the twelve labors.
2.1.31nil intra est olea, nil extra est in nuce duri
duri is a partitive genitive qualifying nil. A proverbial metaphor expressing absolute absurdity: 'there is nothing hard inside an olive, and nothing hard outside in a nut.'
2.1.47ruentis acervi
Refers to the sorites paradox ('the paradox of the heap'—if you remove grains one by one, when does it cease to be a heap?). Used to mock the arbitrary boundary of 'one hundred years' to define antiquity.
2.1.53Naevius in manibus non est
in manibus esse is an idiomatic expression meaning 'to be in hand / to be read.' This is contrasted with mentibus haeret ('clings to minds') to satirize the irony that Naevius is barely read today, yet blindly praised simply because of his antiquity.

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-22)urn:cts:latinLit:phi0893.phi005.humanitext-lat2:2.1.1-2.1.67