Book I: Ode XXII: Integer Vitae
No need of Moorish archer's craftTo guard the pure and stainless liver;He wants not, Fuscus, poison'd shaftTo store his quiver,Whether he traverse Libyan shoals,Or Caucasus, forlorn and horrent,Or lands where far Hydaspes rollsHis fabled torrent.A wolf, while roaming trouble-freeIn Sabine wood, as fancy led me,Unarm'd I sang my Lalage,Beheld, and fled me.Dire monster! in her broad oak woodsFierce Daunia fosters none such other,Nor Juba's land, of lion broodsThe thirsty mother.Place me where on the ice-bound plainNo tree is cheer'd by summer breezes,Where Jove descends in sleety rainOr sullen freezes;Place me where none can live for heat,'Neath Phoebus' very chariot plant me,That smile so sweet, that voice so sweet,Shall still enchant me.
Words in this poem
- craft n.
- Strength; might; secret power. [AS. cr strength, skill, art, cunning; akin to OS., G., Sw., & Dan. kraft strength, D. kracht, Icel. kraptr; perh. originally, a drawing together, stretching, fr]
- stainless a.
- Free from stain; immaculate.
- libyan a.
- Of or pertaining to Libya, the ancient name of that part of Africa between Egypt and the Atlantic Ocean, or of Africa as a whole.
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- horrent a.
- Standing erect, as bristles; covered with bristling points; bristled; bristling. [L. horrens, p.pr. of horrere to bristle. See Horror.]
- sabine a.
- Of or pertaining to the ancient Sabines, a people of Italy. [L. Sabinus.]
- dire a.
- Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens. [L. dirus; of uncertain origin.]
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
- sleety a.
- Of or pertaining to sleet; characterized by sleet; as, a sleety storm; sleety weather.
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- 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,]
- enchant v. t.
- To charm by sorcery; to act on by enchantment; to get control of by magical words and rites. [F. enchanter, L. incantare to chant or utter a magic formula over or against one, to bewitch; in in, against + cantare to sing. See Chant, and cf. Incantation.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book I: Ode XXII: Integer Vitae 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 XXII: Integer Vitae, in The Odes and Carmen Saeculare (1863), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5432, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/horace-odes/book-i-ode-xxii-integer-vitae.html, id L13918.
Form and metre
Book I: Ode XXII: Integer Vitae is 24 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.4 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABABCDCDEE-E-F-FGHGHIEIE craftA · liverB · shaftA · quiverB · shoalsC · horrentD · rollsC · torrentD · freeE · meE · lalage · meE · woods · otherF · broods · motherF · plainG · breezesH · rainG · freezesH · heatI · meE · sweetI · meE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| No need of Moorish archer's craft | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| To guard the pure and stainless liver; | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| He wants not, Fuscus, poison'd shaft | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To store his quiver, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Whether he traverse Libyan shoals, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Or Caucasus, forlorn and horrent, | 9 | ·/˘˘˘/·/˘ |
| Or lands where far Hydaspes rolls | 7 | ······· |
| His fabled torrent. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| A wolf, while roaming trouble-free | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| In Sabine wood, as fancy led me, | 9 | ·˘/··/˘·· |
| Unarm'd I sang my Lalage, | 7 | ˘/····· |
| Beheld, and fled me. | 5 | ˘/··· |
| Dire monster! in her broad oak woods | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Fierce Daunia fosters none such other, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Nor Juba's land, of lion broods | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The thirsty mother. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Place me where on the ice-bound plain | 8 | ········ |
| No tree is cheer'd by summer breezes, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Where Jove descends in sleety rain | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Or sullen freezes; | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Place me where none can live for heat, | 8 | ········ |
| 'Neath Phoebus' very chariot plant me, | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘·· |
| That smile so sweet, that voice so sweet, | 8 | ········ |
| Shall still enchant me. | 5 | ··˘/· |
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.