Horace
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus, known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus. The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his Odes as just about the only Latin lyrics worth reading: "He can be lofty sometimes, yet he is also full of charm and grace, versatile in his figures, and felicitously daring in his choice of words."...
NationalityRoman
ProfessionPoet
trying obscure concise
In trying to be concise I become obscure.
boys play mirth
In truth it is best to learn wisdom, and abandoning all nonsense, to leave it to boys to enjoy their season of play and mirth.
pears presses
In the same [hospitable] manner that a Calabrian would press you to eat his pears.
fire fields ferns
In neglected fields the fern grows, which must be cleared out by fire.
integrity wraps
In my integrity I'll wrap me up.
excited hours
His anger is easily excited and appeased, and he changes from hour to hour.
delight teach
To teach is to delight.
his-love wealth grows
He wears himself out by his labours, and grows old through his love of possessing wealth.
madness momentary
Anger is momentary madness.
mistake ridiculous same-mistakes
He makes himself ridiculous who is for ever repeating the same mistake.
fire hazards ashes
The work you are treating is one full of dangerous hazard, and you are treading over fires lurking beneath treacherous ashes.
enjoy present-day
Enjoy the present day, trust the least possible to the future.
desire want enough
He who has enough for his wants should desire nothing more.
succeed heirs wave
Heir follows heir, as wave succeeds to wave.