Book III: Ode II: Angustam Amice
To suffer hardness with good cheer,In sternest school of warfare bred,Our youth should learn; let steed and spearMake him one day the Parthian's dread;Cold skies, keen perils, brace his life.Methinks I see from rampired townSome battling tyrant's matron wife,Some maiden, look in terror down,--"Ah, my dear lord, untrain'd in war!O tempt not the infuriate moodOf that fell lion! see! from farHe plunges through a tide of blood!"What joy, for fatherland to die!Death's darts e'en flying feet o'ertake,Nor spare a recreant chivalry,A back that cowers, or loins that quake.True Virtue never knows defeat:HER robes she keeps unsullied still,Nor takes, nor quits, HER curule seatTo please a people's veering will.True Virtue opens heaven to worth:She makes the way she does not find:The vulgar crowd, the humid earth,Her soaring pinion leaves behind.Seal'd lips have blessings sure to come:Who drags Eleusis' rite to day,That man shall never share my home,Or join my voyage: roofs give wayAnd boats are wreck'd: true men and thievesNeglected Justice oft confounds:Though Vengeance halt, she seldom leavesThe wretch whose flying steps she hounds.
Words in this poem
- steed n.
- A horse, especially a spirited horse for state of war; -- used chiefly in poetry or stately prose. [OE. stede, AS. steda a stud-horse, war horse, fr. stod a stud of breeding steeds; akin to G. stute a mare, Icel. stedda, sto, a stud. *163. See Stud of horses.]
- methinks v.
- It seems to me; I think. See Me. [AS. þyncan to seem, me þynceedh, me þuhte, OE. me thinketh, me thoughte; akin to G. dünken to seem, denken to think, and E. think. See Me, and Think.]
- infuriate a.
- Enraged; rading; furiously angry; infuriated. [It. infuriato, p. p. of infuriare. See Infuriate, v. t.]
- fatherland n.
- One's native land; the native land of one's fathers or ancestors. [Imitated fr. D. vaderland. See Father, and Land.]
- defeat v. t.
- To undo; to disfigure; to destroy. [From F. défait, OF. desfait, p. p. ofe défaire, OF. desfaire, to undo; L. dis- + facere to do. See Feat, Fact, and cf. Disfashion.]
- curule a.
- Of or pertaining to a charoit. [L. curulis, fr. currus a charoit: cf. F. curule.]
- pinion n.
- A moth of the genus Lithophane, as L. antennata, whose larva bores large holes in young peaches and apples.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book III: Ode II: Angustam Amice 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 III: Ode II: Angustam Amice, in The Odes and Carmen Saeculare (1863), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5432, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/horace-odes/book-iii-ode-ii-angustam-amice.html, id L13954.
Form and metre
Book III: Ode II: Angustam Amice is 32 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% 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 ABABCDCD-----E-EFGFGHIHIJKJKLMLM cheerA · bredB · spearA · dreadB · lifeC · townD · wifeC · downD · war · mood · far · blood · die · o'ertakeE · chivalry · quakeE · defeatF · stillG · seatF · willG · worthH · findI · earthH · behindI · comeJ · dayK · homeJ · wayK · thievesL · confoundsM · leavesL · houndsM
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 |
|---|---|---|
| To suffer hardness with good cheer, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| In sternest school of warfare bred, | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| Our youth should learn; let steed and spear | 8 | /······· |
| Make him one day the Parthian's dread; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Cold skies, keen perils, brace his life. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Methinks I see from rampired town | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Some battling tyrant's matron wife, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Some maiden, look in terror down,-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| "Ah, my dear lord, untrain'd in war! | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| O tempt not the infuriate mood | 9 | ····˘/˘·· |
| Of that fell lion! see! from far | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| He plunges through a tide of blood!" | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| What joy, for fatherland to die! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Death's darts e'en flying feet o'ertake, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Nor spare a recreant chivalry, | 9 | ···/˘˘/˘˘ |
| A back that cowers, or loins that quake. | 8 | ···/···· |
| True Virtue never knows defeat: | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| HER robes she keeps unsullied still, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Nor takes, nor quits, HER curule seat | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To please a people's veering will. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| True Virtue opens heaven to worth: | 8 | ·/˘/˘/·· |
| She makes the way she does not find: | 8 | ········ |
| The vulgar crowd, the humid earth, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Her soaring pinion leaves behind. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Seal'd lips have blessings sure to come: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Who drags Eleusis' rite to day, | 8 | ········ |
| That man shall never share my home, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Or join my voyage: roofs give way | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And boats are wreck'd: true men and thieves | 8 | ········ |
| Neglected Justice oft confounds: | 8 | ˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Though Vengeance halt, she seldom leaves | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The wretch whose flying steps she hounds. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
Notes from the edition 2
John Conington's own notes to his translation of the Odes and Carmen Saeculare of Horace (3rd ed.; Project Gutenberg #5432).
- Line 18 Her robes she keeps unsullied still. The meaning is not that worth is not disgraced by defeat in contests for worldly honours, but that the honours which belong to worth are such as the worthy never fail to attain, such as bring no disgrace along with them, and such as the popular breath can neither confer nor resume.
- Line 30 True men and thieves Neglected Justice oft confounds. "The thieves have bound the true men." SHAKESPEARE, Henry IV, Act ii. Scene 2; where see Steevens' note.
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.