Book III: Ode VI: Delicta Majorum
Your fathers' guilt you still must pay,Till, Roman, you restore each shrine,Each temple, mouldering in decay,And smoke-grimed statue, scarce divine.Revering Heaven, you rule below;Be that your base, your coping still;'Tis Heaven neglected bids o'erflowThe measure of Italian ill.Now Pacorus and Monaeses twiceHave given our unblest arms the foil;Their necklaces, of mean device,Smiling they deck with Roman spoil.Our city, torn by faction's throes,Dacian and Ethiop well-nigh razed,These with their dreadful navy, thoseFor archer-prowess rather praised.An evil age erewhile debasedThe marriage-bed, the race, the home;Thence rose the flood whose waters wasteThe nation and the name of Rome.Not such their birth, who stain'd for usThe sea with Punic carnage red,Smote Pyrrhus, smote Antiochus,And Hannibal, the Roman's dread.Theirs was a hardy soldier-brood,Inured all day the land to tillWith Sabine spade, then shoulder woodHewn at a stern old mother's will,When sunset lengthen'd from each heightThe shadows, and unyoked the steer,Restoring in its westward flightThe hour to toilworn travail dear.What has not cankering Time made worse?Viler than grandsires, sires begetOurselves, yet baser, soon to curseThe world with offspring baser yet.
Words in this poem
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- coping n.
- The highest or covering course of masonry in a wall, often with sloping edges to carry off water; -- sometimes called capping. Gwill. [See Cope, n.]
- unblest a.
- Not blest; excluded from benediction; hence, accursed; wretched. [Pref. un- not + blessed, blest.]
- dacian a.
- Of or pertaining to Dacia or the Dacians.
- ethiop n.
- A native or inhabitant of Ethiopia; also, in a general sense, a negro or black man.
- razed a.
- Slashed or striped in patterns.
- dreadful a.
- Full of dread or terror; fearful.
- prowess n.
- Distinguished bravery; valor; especially, military bravery and skill; gallantry; intrepidity; fearlessness. Chaucer. Sir P. Sidney. [OF. proece, proesce, F. prouesse. See Prow, a.]
- erewhile adv.
- Some time ago; a little while before; heretofore.
- punic a.
- Of or pertaining to the ancient Carthaginians. [L. Punicus pertaining to Carthage, or its inhabitants, fr. Poeni the Carthaginians.]
- carnage n.
- Flesh of slain animals or men. [F. carnage, LL. carnaticum tribute of animals, flesh of animals, fr. L. caro, carnis, flesh. See Carnal.]
- sabine a.
- Of or pertaining to the ancient Sabines, a people of Italy. [L. Sabinus.]
- unyoked a.
- Not yet yoked; not having worn the yoke. [In sense 1 pref. un- not + yoked; in senses 2 and 3 properly p. p. of unyoke.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book III: Ode VI: Delicta Majorum 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 VI: Delicta Majorum, in The Odes and Carmen Saeculare (1863), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5432, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/horace-odes/book-iii-ode-vi-delicta-majorum.html, id L13958.
Form and metre
Book III: Ode VI: Delicta Majorum is 36 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 92% 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. 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 ABABCDCDEFEFGHGHIJIJKLKL-M-MNONOPQPQ payA · shrineB · decayA · divineB · belowC · stillD · o'erflowC · illD · twiceE · foilF · deviceE · spoilF · throesG · razedH · thoseG · praisedH · debasedI · homeJ · wasteI · romeJ · usK · redL · antiochusK · dreadL · brood · tillM · wood · willM · heightN · steerO · flightN · dearO · worseP · begetQ · curseP · yetQ
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Your fathers' guilt you still must pay, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Till, Roman, you restore each shrine, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Each temple, mouldering in decay, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And smoke-grimed statue, scarce divine. | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| Revering Heaven, you rule below; | 8 | ˘/˘/···· |
| Be that your base, your coping still; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| 'Tis Heaven neglected bids o'erflow | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The measure of Italian ill. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Now Pacorus and Monaeses twice | 9 | ········· |
| Have given our unblest arms the foil; | 8 | ·//····· |
| Their necklaces, of mean device, | 8 | ·/˘˘··˘/ |
| Smiling they deck with Roman spoil. | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Our city, torn by faction's throes, | 8 | //˘··/˘· |
| Dacian and Ethiop well-nigh razed, | 8 | /˘······ |
| These with their dreadful navy, those | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| For archer-prowess rather praised. | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| An evil age erewhile debased | 9 | ·/·····˘/ |
| The marriage-bed, the race, the home; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Thence rose the flood whose waters waste | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The nation and the name of Rome. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Not such their birth, who stain'd for us | 8 | ········ |
| The sea with Punic carnage red, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Smote Pyrrhus, smote Antiochus, | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| And Hannibal, the Roman's dread. | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| Theirs was a hardy soldier-brood, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Inured all day the land to till | 8 | ˘/······ |
| With Sabine spade, then shoulder wood | 8 | ·˘/··/˘· |
| Hewn at a stern old mother's will, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When sunset lengthen'd from each height | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| The shadows, and unyoked the steer, | 8 | ·/··˘/·· |
| Restoring in its westward flight | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| The hour to toilworn travail dear. | 8 | ·/···˘/· |
| What has not cankering Time made worse? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Viler than grandsires, sires beget | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Ourselves, yet baser, soon to curse | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| The world with offspring baser yet. | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
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.