Book III: Ode XXI: O Nate Mecum
O born in Manlius' year with me,Whate'er you bring us, plaint or jest,Or passion and wild revelry,Or, like a gentle wine-jar, rest;Howe'er men call your Massic juice,Its broaching claims a festal day;Come then; Corvinus bids produceA mellower wine, and I obey.Though steep'd in all Socratic loreHe will not slight you; do not fear.They say old Cato o'er and o'erWith wine his honest heart would cheer.Tough wits to your mild torture yieldTheir treasures; you unlock the soulOf wisdom and its stores conceal'd,Arm'd with Lyaeus' kind control.'Tis yours the drooping heart to heal;Your strength uplifts the poor man's horn;Inspired by you, the soldier's steel,The monarch's crown, he laughs to scorn.Liber and Venus, wills she so,And sister Graces, ne'er unknit,And living lamps shall see you flowTill stars before the sunrise flit.
Words in this poem
- plaint n.
- Audible expression of sorrow; lamentation; complaint; hence, a mournful song; a lament. Chaucer."The Psalmist's mournful plaint." [OE. plainte, pleynte, F. plainte, fr. L. plangere, planctum (plancta, fem. p.p.), to beat, beat the breast, lament. Cf. Complain, Plague, Plangent.]
- jest n.
- A deed; an action; a gest. [OE. jeste, geste, deed, action, story, tale, OF. geste, LL. gesta, orig., exploits, neut. pl. from L. gestus, p. p. of gerere to bear, carry, accomplish, perfor]
- festal a.
- Of or pertaining to a holiday or a feast; joyous; festive. [L. festum holiday, feast. See feast.]
- socratic a.
- Of or pertaining to Socrates, the Grecian sage and teacher. (b.
- unlock v. t.
- To unfasten, as what is locked; as, to unlock a door or a chest. [Cf. AS. unl. See 1st Un-, and Lock, v. t.]
- unknit v. t.
- To undo or unravel what is knitted together. [1st un- + knit.]
- 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,]
- flit a.
- Nimble; quick; swift. See Fleet.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book III: Ode XXI: O Nate Mecum 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 XXI: O Nate Mecum, in The Odes and Carmen Saeculare (1863), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5432, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/horace-odes/book-iii-ode-xxi-o-nate-mecum.html, id L13972.
Form and metre
Book III: Ode XXI: O Nate Mecum is 24 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 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 -A-ABCBC-D-DEFEFGHGHI-I- me · jestA · revelry · restA · juiceB · dayC · produceB · obeyC · lore · fearD · o'er · cheerD · yieldE · soulF · conceal'dE · controlF · healG · hornH · steelG · scornH · soI · unknit · flowI · flit
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 born in Manlius' year with me, | 8 | ········ |
| Whate'er you bring us, plaint or jest, | 9 | ˘˘/······ |
| Or passion and wild revelry, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Or, like a gentle wine-jar, rest; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Howe'er men call your Massic juice, | 8 | ········ |
| Its broaching claims a festal day; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Come then; Corvinus bids produce | 8 | ······˘/ |
| A mellower wine, and I obey. | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| Though steep'd in all Socratic lore | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| He will not slight you; do not fear. | 8 | ········ |
| They say old Cato o'er and o'er | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With wine his honest heart would cheer. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Tough wits to your mild torture yield | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Their treasures; you unlock the soul | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Of wisdom and its stores conceal'd, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Arm'd with Lyaeus' kind control. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| 'Tis yours the drooping heart to heal; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Your strength uplifts the poor man's horn; | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Inspired by you, the soldier's steel, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| The monarch's crown, he laughs to scorn. | 8 | ·/······ |
| Liber and Venus, wills she so, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| And sister Graces, ne'er unknit, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And living lamps shall see you flow | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Till stars before the sunrise flit. | 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.