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Horace · Epodes §10.1-10.24

Curses and Shipwreck Wished on Maevius's Voyage

Passage 10 of 17 · Latin

Summary

The poet curses the departure of the detested poet Maevius, invoking various winds to unleash a violent storm and shipwreck his vessel, and promising sacrifices to the Tempests if Maevius drowns and becomes prey for sea birds.

§10.1Mala soluta navis exit alite §10.2ferens olentem Mevium.
Setting sail under an evil omen, the ship goes forth, carrying the smelly Maevius.
§10.3ut horridis utrumque verberes latus, §10.4Auster, memento fluctibus;
Mind you to lash both its sides with rough waves, Auster, remember!
§10.5niger rudentis Eurus inverso mari §10.6fractosque remos differat;
May the dark Eurus, having upturned the sea, scatter the rigging and the broken oars.
§10.7insurgat Aquilo, quantus altis montibus §10.8frangit trementis ilics;
May Aquilo rise up, as mighty as when on high mountains he breaks the trembling holm-oaks.
§10.9nec sidus atra nocte amicum adpareat, §10.10qua tristis Orion cadit;
Let no friendly star appear in the dark night, in which sad Orion sets.
§10.11quietiore nec feratur aequore §10.12quam Graia victorum manus, §10.13cum Pallas usto vertit iram ab Ilio §10.14in inpiam Aiacis ratem.
Nor let him be carried on a calmer sea than was the Greek band of victors, when Pallas turned her wrath from burnt Ilium upon the impious ship of Ajax.
§10.15o quantus instat navitis sudor tuis §10.16tibique pallor luteus §10.17et illa non virilis heiulatio §10.18preces et aversum ad Iovem, §10.19Ionius udo cum remugiens sinus §10.20Noto carinam ruperit
Oh, how much sweat threatens your sailors, and what a yellowish paleness awaits you, and that unmanly wailing, and prayers to an averted Jupiter, when the Ionian gulf, bellowing back with the wet South Wind, shall have shattered your keel!
§10.21opima quodsi praeda curvo litore §10.22porrecta mergos iuverit, §10.23libidinosus immolabitur caper §10.24et agna Tempestatibus.
But if, stretched out on the curved shore as a rich prey, you shall have delighted the gulls, a lusty goat shall be sacrificed, and a female lamb to the Tempests.

Notes

  1. §10.1mala ... alite — alite is the ablative of ales (bird, by extension omen), modified by mala to form an ablative of attendant circumstance ('under an evil omen'), typical of poetic style.
  2. §10.3ut ... verberes ... memento — A noun clause serving as the object of the future imperative memento ('remember [to do]'). The structure ut + subjunctive present verberes stands for 'remember to lash.' While memento more commonly takes an infinitive, the subjunctive clause is used here.
  3. §10.5rudentis — The direct object of the present subjunctive differat ('may it scatter'), coordinated with fractosque remos ('and broken oars'). The ending -is is a poetic variant of the third-declension accusative plural -es (for rudentes 'rigging, ropes').
  4. §10.11quietiore ... aequore — A jussive/optative subjunctive feratur ('may he be carried') negated by nec ('nor let him be carried'). The comparative quietiore... aequore is followed by quam comparing his journey to the disastrous return of the Greek fleet (wrecked by Athena's wrath on Ajax), wishing an even worse fate upon Maevius.

Cite this passage

Horace, Epodes §10.1-10.24. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0893.phi003.humanitext-lat2:10.1-10.24

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