Horace,

Carmina 4.7

Diffūgēre nivēs, redeunt iam grāmina campīs

arboribusque comae;

mūtat terra vicēs et dēcrescentia rīpās

flūmina praetereunt;

Grātia cum Nymphīs geminīsque sorōribus audet

dūcere nūda chorōs.

immortālia nē spērēs, monet annus et almum

quae rapit hōra diem.

frīgora mītescunt Zephyrīs, vēr prōterit aestās,

interitūra simul 

pōmifer autumnus frūgēs effūderit, et mox

brūma recurrit iners.

damna tamen celerēs reparant caelestia lūnae:

nōs ubi dēcidimus

quō pius Aenēas, quō dīves Tullus et Ancus,

pulvis et umbra sumus.

quis scit an adiciant hodiernae crastina summae

tempora dī superī?

cuncta manūs avidās fugient hērēdis, amīcō

quae dederīs animō. 

cum semel occiderīs et dē tē splendida Mīnōs

fēcerit arbitria,

nōn, Torquāte, genus, nōn tē fācundia, nōn tē

restituet pietās;

infernīs neque enim tenebrīs Dīāna pudīcum

līberat Hippolytum,

nec Lēthaea valet Thēseus abrumpere cārō

vincula Pīrithoō.

The snows are fled away, leaves on the shaws

And grasses in the mead renew their birth,

The river to the river-bed withdraws,

And altered is the fashion of the earth.

The Nymphs and Graces three put off their fear

And unapparelled in the woodland play.

The swift hour and the brief prime of the year

Say to the soul, Thou wast not born for aye.

Thaw follows frost; hard on the heel of spring

Treads summer sure to die, for hard on hers

Comes autumn with his apples scattering;

Then back to wintertide, when nothing stirs.

But oh, whate'er the sky-led seasons mar,

Moon upon moon rebuilds it with her beams;

Come we where Tullus and where Ancus are

And good Aeneas, we are dust and dreams.

Torquatus, if the gods in heaven shall add

The morrow to the day, what tongue has told?

Feast then thy heart, for what thy heart has had

The fingers of no heir will ever hold.

When thou descendest once the shades among,

The stern assize and equal judgment o'er,

Not thy long lineage nor thy golden tongue,

No, nor thy righteousness, shall friend thee more.

Night holds Hippolytus the pure of stain,

Diana steads him nothing, he must stay;

And Theseus leaves Pirithous in the chain

The love of comrades cannot take away.

Trans. A.E. Housman

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