Friday, March 14, 2008

The Original Carpe Diem Poem

Ode 1.11

Tu ne quaesieris (scire nefas), quem mihi, quem tibi
finem di dederint, Leuconoe, nec Babylonios

temptaris numeros. Ut melius, quidquid erit, pati!
Seu pluris hiemes, seu tribuit Iuppiter ultimam,

quae nunc opposites debilitat pumicibus mare
Tyrrhenum: sabias, vina liques et spatio brevi

spem longam reseces. Dum loquimur, fugerit invida
aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.


~Horace

More or less:

Do not seek (it is a crime to know) what limit the gods have

given to me, to you, Leuconoe, and do not try the Babylonian

numbers. Whatever it will be, how much better to endure it!

Whether Juppiter has allotted you many winters or this is your last

one, which now weakens the Tyrrhenian sea with opposing pumice

stones: be wise, drink wine, and because of our brief space,

cut away your long hope. While we speak, the jealous age

will have fled: seize the day, trusting the next as little as possible.



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It was pretty cool to run across the very first one!

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