C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Ad Amphoram
By Horace (65–8 B.C.)
O
Like mine, from Manlius’s consulate,
Whether complaints or jokes they be,
Wrangling, or love’s insanity,
Or quiet sleep that dwell with thee;
Beneath whatever brand ’tis thine
To bottle up choice Massic wine,
For happy day like this thou’rt fit:
Come down—Corvinus orders it—
And thy more mellow juice emit.
Though steeped in all Socratic learning,
From thee he will not, shocked, be turning.
The elder Cato oft, ’tis said,
His virtue’s fire with liquor fed.
With Bacchic mirth thou layest bare
Wise men’s deep counsel and their care.
Thou bring’st back hope to minds forlorn,
And vigor; and the poor man’s horn
Upliftest, so that after thee
No dread of angered majesty
Or of a soldier’s arms has he.
With thee shall Bacchus linger still,
And Venus (so she gladly will),
And Graces, slow to disunite,
And living lanterns, shining bright,
Till Phœbus put the stars to flight.