Horace III. 13
O fountain of Bandusia,Whence crystal waters flow,With garlands gay and wine I'll payThe sacrifice I owe;A sportive kid with budding hornsI have, whose crimson bloodAnon shall dye and sanctifyThy cool and babbling flood.
O fountain of Bandusia,The dog-star's hateful spellNo evil brings unto the springsThat from thy bosom well;Here oxen, wearied by the plough,The roving cattle here,Hasten in quest of certain restAnd quaff thy gracious cheer.
O fountain of Bandusia,Ennobled shalt thou be,For I shall sing the joys that springBeneath yon ilex-tree;Yes, fountain of Bandusia,Posterity shall knowThe cooling brooks that from thy nooksSinging and dancing go!
Words in this poem
- anon adv.
- Straightway; at once. [OE. anoon, anon, anan, lit., in one (moment), fr. AS. on in + an one. See On and One.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- sanctify v. t.
- To make sacred or holy; to set apart to a holy or religious use; to consecrate by appropriate rites; to hallow. [F. sanctifier, L. sanctificare; sanctus holy + - ficare (in comp.) to make. See Saint, and -fy.]
- hateful a.
- Manifesting hate or hatred; malignant; malevolent.
- quaff v. t.
- To drink with relish; to drink copiously of; to swallow in large draughts. [For quach, fr. Gael. & Ir. cuach a drinking cup; cf. L. caucus a drinking vessel. Cf. Quaigh.]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- cooling a.
- Adapted to cool and refresh; allaying heat.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Horace III. 13 is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Little Book of Western Verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #9606; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Eugene Field, Horace III. 13, in A Little Book of Western Verse (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9606, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/field-western-verse/horace-iii-13.html, id L24637.
Form and metre
Horace III. 13 is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-A-B-B bandusia · flowA · pay · oweA · horns · bloodB · sanctify · floodB
- 2 -A-A-B-B bandusia · spellA · springs · wellA · plough · hereB · rest · cheerB
- 3 AB-BAC-C bandusiaA · beB · spring · treeB · bandusiaA · knowC · nooks · goC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O fountain of Bandusia, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Whence crystal waters flow, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| With garlands gay and wine I'll pay | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The sacrifice I owe; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| A sportive kid with budding horns | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| I have, whose crimson blood | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Anon shall dye and sanctify | 7 | ˘/···/˘ |
| Thy cool and babbling flood. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| O fountain of Bandusia, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| The dog-star's hateful spell | 6 | ···/˘· |
| No evil brings unto the springs | 7 | ·/····· |
| That from thy bosom well; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Here oxen, wearied by the plough, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The roving cattle here, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Hasten in quest of certain rest | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| And quaff thy gracious cheer. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| O fountain of Bandusia, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Ennobled shalt thou be, | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| For I shall sing the joys that spring | 8 | ········ |
| Beneath yon ilex-tree; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Yes, fountain of Bandusia, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Posterity shall know | 6 | ˘/˘˘·· |
| The cooling brooks that from thy nooks | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Singing and dancing go! | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.