Horace C. 1.7

Of course you will hear some praise Rhodes—

  How clear it is!—or Mytilene.

And others still will praise Ephesus,

  Or the walls of Corinth between two seas,

Or Thebes with their Bacchus, or Apollo who haunts

  Splendid Delphi, or Thessalonian Tempe.

For others still, there is one aim:

  To praise the city of untouchable Athena

In perpetual song, anon and on,

  And place upon their handsome brows

An olive branch from here or there.

Still more will say it’s right to praise

  (in honor of divine Juno)

Argos with its lovely horses,

  Or Mycenae with many riches.

But as for me, no so steadfast

  Lacedaemon, no fertile field

Of Larissa can stir the soul

  Quite like Albuna roaring and

The rushing Anio I call home,

  And oh, the steady Tiber, oh,

The orchards whetted by these rivers.

Just as Notus will often wipe

  Away the sky obscured by clouds,

And just as rains that never end

  Eventually do just that—end,

So too should you, wise friend, recall

  To put an end to sadness and,

With soft wine, Plancus, pause your troubles,

  Whether the shimmering army camps

May hold you, or the coolest shade

  Your Tiber gives. Remember when

Teucer of Salamis fled home?

  It’s said he still adorned his head

With poplar crowns, and lulled his woes

  With Bacchus, saying to his friends:

Wherever fortune kinder than

  My father takes us, there we’ll go!

Comrades and friends, never despair,

  With Teucer as leader, Teucer as guide.

Unfailing Apollo has promised

Some future that’s unsure to us,

  Some new home we still can’t quite see.

Oh, my brave friends, with me have you

  Not suffered greater things than this?

Today, keep back your grief with wine.

  Tomorrow we’ll cross the deepest blue.

Latine

Laudabunt alii claram Rhodon aut Mytilenen

     aut Ephesum bimarisve Corinthi

moenia vel Baccho Thebas vel Apolline Delphos

     insignis aut Thessala Tempe;

sunt quibus unum opus est intactae Palladis urbem               5

     carmine perpetuo celebrare et

undique decerptam fronti praeponere olivam;

     plurimus in Iunonis honorem

aptum dicet equis Argos ditesque Mycenas:

     me nec tam patiens Lacedaemon               10

nec tam Larisae percussit campus opimae

     quam domus Albuneae resonantis

et praeceps Anio ac Tiburni lucus et uda

     mobilibus pomaria riuis.

Albus ut obscuro deterget nubila caelo               15

     saepe Notus neque parturit imbris

perpetuo, sic tu sapiens finire memento

     tristitiam vitaeque labores

molli, Plance, mero, seu te fulgentia signis

     castra tenent seu densa tenebit               20

Tiburis umbra tui. Teucer Salamina patremque

     cum fugeret, tamen uda Lyaeo

tempora populea fertur uinxisse corona,

     sic tristis affatus amicos:

'Quo nos cumque feret melior fortuna parente,               25

     ibimus, o socii comitesque.

Nil desperandum Teucro duce et auspice Teucro:

     certus enim promisit Apollo

ambiguam tellure nova Salamina futuram.

     O fortes peioraque passi

mecum saepe viri, nunc vino pellite curas;               30

     cras ingens iterabimus aequor.'