Poem of the week – A Prayer to Apollo by Horace

Horace lived and wrote in the time of Augustus – an age of unprecedented change. Throughout his prolific life, the poet witnessed Rome’s transition from a republic to an empire and observed the establishment of a dynasty that was to rule Rome until the reign of Nero.

An ingenious lyricist, he used many episodes and instances from his private life as subject matter for his extraordinary poems. His themes included politics, philosophy, love, friendship, as well as the fundamental purpose of art itself. In addition to his many poetic accomplishments, he is also considered the first to coin the popular phrase ‘carpe diem’.

In this week’s poem, written for the consecration of an Apollonian temple, Horace shows his characteristic gratitude for simple pleasures sustained in good company. We hope you enjoy this week’s poem as much as we did.

A Prayer to Apollo by Horace

What is the poet’s request to Apollo?

What does he pray for as he pours out the wine

from the bowl? Not for the rich harvests

of fertile Sardinia, nor the herds,

(they are delightful), of sunlit Calabria,

not for India’s gold or its ivory,

nor fields our silent Liris’s stream

carries away in the calm of its flow.

Let those that Fortune allows prune the vines,

with a Calenian knife, so rich merchants

can drink their wine from a golden cup,

wine they’ve purchased with Syrian goods,

who, dear to the gods, three or four times yearly,

revisit the briny Atlantic, unscathed.

I browse on olives, and chicory

and simple mallow. Apollo, the son

of Latona, let me enjoy what I have,

and, healthy in body and mind, as I ask,

live an old age not without honour,

and one not lacking the art of the lyre.