Book I: Ode VI: Scriberis Vario
Not I, but Varius:--he, of Homer's broodA tuneful swan, shall bear you on his wing,Your tale of trophies, won by field or flood,Mighty alike to sing.Not mine such themes, Agrippa; no, nor mineTo chant the wrath that fill'd Pelides' breast,Nor dark Ulysses' wanderings o'er the brine,Nor Pelops' house unblest.Vast were the task, I feeble; inborn shame,And she, who makes the peaceful lyre submit,Forbid me to impair great Caesar's fameAnd yours by my weak wit.But who may fitly sing of Mars array'dIn adamant mail, or Merion, black with dustOf Troy, or Tydeus' son by Pallas' aidStrong against gods to thrust?Feasts are my theme, my warriors maidens fair,Who with pared nails encounter youths in fight;Be Fancy free or caught in Cupid's snare,Her temper still is light.
Words in this poem
- tuneful a.
- Harmonious; melodious; musical; as, tuneful notes.
- 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,]
- unblest a.
- Not blest; excluded from benediction; hence, accursed; wretched. [Pref. un- not + blessed, blest.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book I: Ode VI: Scriberis Vario is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Odes and Carmen Saeculare, Project Gutenberg ebook #5432, the John Conington translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Horace, Book I: Ode VI: Scriberis Vario, in The Odes and Carmen Saeculare (1863), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5432, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/horace-odes/book-i-ode-vi-scriberis-vario.html, id L13902.
Form and metre
Book I: Ode VI: Scriberis Vario is 20 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.9 syllables. 30% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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-ABCBCDEDEFGFGHIHI brood · wingA · flood · singA · mineB · breastC · brineB · unblestC · shameD · submitE · fameD · witE · array'dF · dustG · aidF · thrustG · fairH · fightI · snareH · lightI
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Not I, but Varius:--he, of Homer's brood | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| A tuneful swan, shall bear you on his wing, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Your tale of trophies, won by field or flood, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Mighty alike to sing. | 6 | /˘˘/·· |
| Not mine such themes, Agrippa; no, nor mine | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| To chant the wrath that fill'd Pelides' breast, | 9 | ········· |
| Nor dark Ulysses' wanderings o'er the brine, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Nor Pelops' house unblest. | 6 | ······ |
| Vast were the task, I feeble; inborn shame, | 10 | ·····/˘/·· |
| And she, who makes the peaceful lyre submit, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Forbid me to impair great Caesar's fame | 10 | ˘/··˘/·/˘· |
| And yours by my weak wit. | 6 | ······ |
| But who may fitly sing of Mars array'd | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| In adamant mail, or Merion, black with dust | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Of Troy, or Tydeus' son by Pallas' aid | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Strong against gods to thrust? | 6 | ······ |
| Feasts are my theme, my warriors maidens fair, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Who with pared nails encounter youths in fight; | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Be Fancy free or caught in Cupid's snare, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Her temper still is light. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
Notes from the edition 1
John Conington's own notes to his translation of the Odes and Carmen Saeculare of Horace (3rd ed.; Project Gutenberg #5432).
- Line 18 Who with pared nails encounter youths in fight. I like Ritter's interpretation of sectis, cut sharp, better than the common one, which supposes the paring of the nails to denote that the attack is not really formidable. Sectis will then be virtually equivalent to Bentley's strictis. Perhaps my translation is not explicit enough.
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