Horace, Ode 3.16
by Michael Gilleland
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Horace, Ode 3.16by Michael Gilleland |
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Synopsis (by C.H. Moore): "Danae's lot, the ruin of Amphiraus' house, the overthrow of cities and defeat of rival princes by the Macedonian's bribes, all show the power of gold to harm (1-16). And gains when made but feed the greed for more. I have done well, Maecenas, to follow thy example, and to shun a high estate. The more each man denies himself, the more the gods bestow. My small farm with its clear stream, its little wood, and faithful crop, make me more fortunate than the lord of fertile Africa, though he know it not (17-32). I have no luxuries, that is quite true; yet I escape the pangs of poverty. And thou wouldst give me more if I should wish. No, no; increase of income I shall best attain by lessening my desires. Happy is that man on whom God has bestowed little and enough (33-44)."
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Inclusam Danaen turris aenea robustaeque fores et uigilum canum tristes excubiae munierant satis nocturnis ab adulteris, |
The bronze tower, the oaken doors, and the grim guard of watch dogs would have protected imprisoned Danae well enough from adulterers at night |
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5 |
si non Acrisium uirginis abditae custodem pauidum Iuppiter et Venus risissent: fore enim tutum iter et patens conuerso in pretium deo. |
if Jupiter and Venus had not laughed to scorn Acrisius, the fearful guardian of the concealed maiden: for [they knew that] the way would be safe and open once Jupiter had turned himself into money. |
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Aurum per medios ire satellites et perrumpere amat saxa potentius ictu fulmineo; concidit auguris Argiui domus ob lucrum |
Gold loves to go through the midst of bodyguards and to break through stones more powerfully than a thunderbolt; because of money the house of the Argive seer fell, |
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15 |
demersa exitio; diffidit urbium portas uir Macedo et subruit aemulos reges muneribus; munera nauium saeuos illaqueant duces. |
overwhelmed by destruction; the man from Macedon cleaved asunder the gates of cities and overthrew rival kings by means of bribes. Bribes ensnare the stern leaders of ships. |
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Crescentem sequitur cura pecuniam maiorumque fames. Iure perhorrui late conspicuum tollere uerticem, Maecenas, equitum decus. |
Worry and hunger for greater things accompany money as it grows. Rightly, o Maecenas glory of knights, have I feared to elevate my profile so that it can be seen far and wide. |
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Quanto quisque sibi plura negauerit, ab dis plura feret; nil cupientium nudus castra peto et transfuga diuitum partis linquere gestio, |
The more each person denies himself, the more he will get from the gods. Unencumbered, I seek the camps of those who desire nothing and, a deserter, I wish to leave the side of wealthy men. |
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25 |
contemptae dominus splendidior rei, quam si quidquid arat impiger Apulus occultare meis dicerer horreis, magnas inter opes inops. |
I am a more magnificent lord of a mean estate than I would be if (poor amidst plenty) I were said to hide in my granary whatever the hard-working Apulian produces with his plow. |
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Purae riuus aquae siluaque iugerum paucorum et segetis certa fides meae fulgentem imperio fertilis Africae fallit sorte beatior. |
A stream of clear water, a forest of a few acres, and the sure hope of my harvest - this is a happier lot than [that of] the flashy ruler of fruitful Africa, although he doesn't know it. |
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Quamquam nec Calabrae mella ferunt apes nec Laestrygonia Bacchus in amphora languescit mihi nec pinguia Gallicis crescunt uellera pascuis, |
Although Calabrian bees don't bear me honey, my wine doesn't mellow in a Laestrygonian vat, and fine wool doesn't grow for me in pastures in Gaul, |
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importuna tamen pauperies abest nec, si plura uelim, tu dare deneges. Contracto melius parua cupidine uectigalia porrigam |
nevertheless troublesome poverty is far from me. If I wanted more, you would not refuse to give it. I would expand my meager revenues better by shrinking my desires |
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quam si Mygdoniis regnum Alyattei campis continuem. Multa petentibus desunt multa: bene est, cui deus obtulit parca quod satis est manu. |
than if I joined the kingdom of Alyattes to the plains of Mygdonia. Much is lacking to those who seek much; it goes well for the man to whom god has offered, with a stingy hand, what is sufficient. |
| Apparatus: 41 Alyattei Faber | ||
1 An oracle warned Acrisius that his grandson would kill him, so he imprisoned his daughter Danae, to keep her childless. But Jupiter, with Venus' aid, entered Danae's chamber in the form of a shower of gold, which some authors (Horace included) allegorically interpreted as a bribe offered either to her jailers or to Danae herself.
Christian apologists were quick to seize on this episode, e.g. Tertullian, Apology 21.7: "Christ [was not born] of the incest of a sister, or the pollution of a daughter or another's wife, he did not endure a divine father covered with scales, or horns, or feathers, [or] Danae's lover turned to gold" (non de sororis incesto nec de stupro filiae aut coniugis alienae deum patrem passus est squamatum aut cornutum aut plumatum, amatorem in auro conuersum Danaidis).
Thomas H. Carpenter, Art and Myth in Ancient Greece (London: Thames and Hudson, 1991), has some good plates (144-145) of Danae. In the first (a Boeotian red-figure calyx-krater of c. 410 B.C.), Danae bares her breasts to welcome the shower of gold, and in the second (a silver ring of the same date), Danae holds out her dress to catch the gold, with Jupiter (in the form of an eagle) above her head. One look at Titian's 1554 painting of Danae, and you can see why Jupiter was tempted.
The offspring of Jupiter and Danae was Perseus, who eventually did kill his grandfather by accident (Apollodorus 2.4.4).
11 The "Argive seer" is Amphiaraus, who was reluctant to join the ill-fated expedition of the Seven against Thebes, since he foresaw its failure and his own destruction. But his wife Eriphyle, bribed by Polynices with jewelry (the necklace of Harmonia), persuaded Amphiaraus to go.
Plate 266 in Carpenter (op. cit.) is a Corinthian column-krater from Cevetri (about 560 B.C.) showing the departure of Amphiaraus (in the middle), with Eriphyle at the left holding the necklace. This krater, now in Berlin (Staatliche Museen, 1655), is also reproduced on p. 301 of John Boardman et al., The Oxford History of the Classical World (Oxford: Oxford UP, 1986). The scene on the krater closely resembles one on a cedar-wood chest from the temple of Hera in Elis described by Pausanias 5.17.7-8.
14 The "man from Macedon" (Demosthenes, Philippics 1.10) is Philip, father of Alexander the Great.
15-16 Some see here a reference to the turncoat admiral Menas (or Menodorus) who betrayed Pompey in 38 B.C. and switched sides several more times. Dio Cassius (48.45.5-7) mentions gold rings given to Menas by Octavian.
17 The desire for wealth cannot be satisfied.
18 Avarice is sometimes described as an insatiable hunger (fames).
20 Other odes addressed to Horace's patron Maecenas (a member of the equestrian class) are 1.1, 1.20, 2.12, 2.17, and 3.29.
25 That man is rich who is content with little.
26-27 Horace, Odes 1.1.9-10: "That one [is happy] if he has stored in his own granary / whatever is swept from Libyan threshing floors" (illum, si proprio condidit horreo / quidquid de Libycis uerritur areis).
28 Seneca, Hercules Furens 166-168: "This one piles up riches without end, gaping over his treasures, poor amidst heaped-up gold" (hic nullo fine beatas componit opes, gazis inhians et congesto pauper in auro).
33 In Horace's day, Calabria was the heel of Italy, not the toe as today, and the city of Tarentum was located there.
34-35 Laestrygonia ... amphora (Laestrygonian vat): a recondite allusion. The Laestrygonians were cannibals, whose king was Lamus (Homer, Odyssey 10.82). The Lamiae family from Formiae claimed descent from Lamus (Horace, Odes 3.17.1-9; Cicero, Letters to Atticus 2.13). Hence Laestrygonian here means "from Formiae". The wine from Formiae was especially prized: in Ode 1.20, when Horace invites Maecenas to visit him, he warns him to expect simple fare, not wine from the hills of Formiae (1.20.11-12).
35-36 Pliny, Natural History 8.190, praises wool from the region around the Po River, which runs through Cisalpine Gaul.
39 Seneca, Letters to Lucilius 21.7, quoting Epicurus (fragment 135 Usener): "If you wish to make Pythocles rich, you must not add to his money but subtract from his desires" ('si uis' inquit 'Pythoclea diuitem facere, non pecuniae adiciendum sed cupiditati detrahendum est.')
40 uectigalia (revenues) Cf. Cicero, Paradoxes of the Stoics 6.49: "Men don't understand what a great source of revenue frugality is" (non intelligunt homines quam magnum uectigal sit parsimonia).
41-42 Isaiah 5.8: "Woe to them that join house to house, field to field."
Mygdonia is a synonym for Phrygia, after the hero Mygdon who came from there (Homer, Iliad 3.186). Alyattes, king of Lydia (c. 610-560 B.C.), was the father of Croesus, who was proverbial for his wealth. There is a slender connection between Alyattes and Amphiaraus (mentioned above): Alyattes' son Croesus sent gifts (golden shield and sword) to the shrine of Amphiaraus, according to Herodotus 1.52.
43 A modest sufficiency is a blessing.
Danae in Brazen Tower immur'd, From night-adulterers, doors barr'd, And of fierce dogs a constant ward Would have sufficiently secur'd, If Jove and Venus had not fool'd, The Gaoler of the cloyster'd Maid, (Though of his own shadow afraid) Turning his Godship into Gold. Gold loves to break though armed Guards, And Castles that are Thunder-proof, The Grecian Augur's sacred roof Was undermined by rewards. Gifts were the Macedons Petar, With which he blew up City-gates, Subverted Rival Kings and States, And laid aboard their Men of War. With growing riches cares augment, And thirst of greater. I did well To shrink my head into my shell, Maecenas Kight-hoods ornament. The more a man t' himself denies, The more indulgent Heaven bestowes. Let them that will side with the I's: I'me with the Party of the No's. A greater Lord of a small store, Then if the fruitful Crops of all Appulia I mine own did call: In midst of so much plenty poor. My little wood, and my pure stream, And corn that never fails, makes me A man more truly blest, then he That wears rich Africks Diadem. Though neither Crossick Bees produce Honey to me, nor cloathing fine Segovian flocks: nor Massick wine Mellow in barrels for my use: Yet pinching Poverty's away, Nor, wisht I more, wouldst thou deny 't, Whom, with contracted appetite May easier my tribute pay, Then if deputed Egypts King. Large issues follow large supplies. He, to whom Heaven nothing denies, Owes an account of every thing.
A tower of brass, one would have said,
And locks, and bolts, and iron bars,
And guards as strict as in the heat of wars
Might have preserved one innocent maidenhood.
The jealous father thought he well might spare
All further jealous care;
And as he walked, to himself alone he smiled
To think how Venus' arts he had beguiled;
And when he slept his rest was deep,
But Venus laughed to see and hear him sleep.
She taught the amorous Jove
A magical receipt in love,
Which armed him stronger and which helped him more
Than all his thunder did and his almightyship before.
She taught him love's elixir, by which art
His godhead into gold he did convert;
No guards did then his passage stay,
He passed with ease, gold was the word;
Subtle as lightning, bright, and quick, and fierce,
Gold through doors and walls did pierce;
And as that works sometimes upon the sword,
Melted the maiden dread away,
Even in the secret scabbard where it lay.
The prudent Macedonian king,
To blow up towns, a golden mine did spring;
He broke through gates with this petar,
'Tis the great art of peace, the engine 'tis of war,
And fleets and armies follow it afar;
The ensign 'tis at land, and 'tis the seaman's scar.
Let all the world slave to this tyrant be,
Creature to this disguised deity,
Yet it shall never conquer me.
A guard of virtues will not let it pass,
And wisdom is a tower of stronger brass.
The muses' laurel, round my temples spread,
Does from this lightning's force secure my head,
Nor will I lift it up so high,
As in the violent meteor's way to lie.
Wealth for its power do we honour and adore?
The things we hate, ill fate, and death, have more.
From towns and courts, camps of the rich and great,
The vast Xerxean army, I retreat,
And to the small Laconic forces fly
Which hold the straits of poverty.
Cellars and granaries in vain we fill
With all the bounteous summer's store:
If the mind thirst and hunger still,
The poor rich man's emphatically poor.
Slaves to the things we too much prize,
We masters grow of all that we despise.
A field of corn, a fountain, and a wood,
Is all the wealth by nature understood.
The monarch on whom fertile Nile bestows
All which that grateful earth can bear,
Deceives himself, if he suppose
That more than this falls to his share.
Whatever an estate does beyond this afford,
Is not a rent paid to the Lord;
But is a tax illegal and unjust,
Exacted from it by the tyrant lust.
Much will always wanting be,
To him who much desires. Thrice happy he
To whom the wise indulgency of Heaven,
With sparing hand but just enough has given.
The brazen tower, the solid doors, the vigil
Of dismal watch-dogs sentried night and day,
Might have sufficed to guard
From midnight loves imprisoned Danae;
But Jove and Venus laughed to scorn Acrisius,
The timorous jailer of the hidden maid,
Opening at once sure way,
The god transformed himself into--a Bribe.
More subtle than the flash of forked lightning,
Gold glides amidst the armed satellites;
More potent than Jove's bolt,
Gold through the walls of granite bursts its way:
So fell the Argive Augur with his kindred,
Gain, tempting one, whelmed in destruction all;
The man of Macedon
By gifts cleft gates, by gifts sapped rival thrones--
Gifts have ensnared a Navy's fiercest chiefs,
Care grows with wealth, with wealth the greed for more.
O my Maecenas! gem
Of Roman knighthood, ever have I feared
To lift a crest above the crowd conspicuous--
Rightly; the more man shall deny himself,
The more shall gods bestow.
I do not side with wealth, but, lightly armed,
Bound o'er the lines, deserting to Contentment;
Owner more grand in means the rich despise,
Than were I said to hide,
In mine own granaries, all Apulia yields
Her toiling sons, want-pinched amidst heaped plenty:--
A brooklet pure, some roods of woodland cool,
Faith in crops, sure if small--
Are a lot happier, though he knows it not,
Than his who glitters in the spoils of Afric.
Though not for me toil the Calabrian bees,
Nor wines in Formian jars
Languish their fire in length of years away,
Nor fleecy wools gain weight in Gallic pastures,
Yet Penury keeps aloof; nor, lacked I more,
More wouldst thou me deny:
Widening my means by narrowing my desires,
I shall have ampler margin for true riches
Than if to Lydia adding Phrygian realms.
Who covets much, much wants;
God gives most kindly giving just enough.
A tower of brass held Danae immured;-- Strong oaken doors, and watch-dogs' midnight bay 'Gainst love too bold the royal maid secured; But Jove and Venus smiled Mocking her Sire, for gold will work its way Through guarded gates and sentinels beguiled. Gold cleaves the fortress and the rock With force more potent than tthe thunder's shock. The Argive augur, sold By his false wife, Eriphyle, for gold, Died with his sons. The man of Macedon Subdued with bribes proud kings in arms arrayed; And Menas, won By Roman gold, a Roman fleet betrayed. Maecenas! knighthood's boast! thou knowest how Like thee I shrank from lifting of my brow Above my peers. To him whose modest thrift Denies itself, Heaven sends its ampler gift. Naked I fly the standard of the great, And seek the ranks of those who nought desire, More honoured thus despising vulgar state Than if I should my bursting garners fill With rich Apulia's grain heaped daily higher, Sitting 'mid worthless wealth, a beggar still. Enough for me my little wood, my spring Where Zephyr's cooling wing Fans the crisp stream; my garden plot Whose promised crop deceiveth not:-- The Afric despot knows no happier lot. What though Calabrian bees for me No honey filch from flower or tree-- What though no Gallic flocks increase For me their wealth of snowy fleece-- What though no Formian vine Ripens not in my bin its mellowing wine-- Content I live; not rich; yet free From harsh unfortunate penury: If more I claimed thou would'st not more refuse. True riches mean not revenues: Care clings to wealth: the thirst for more Grows as out fortunes grow. I stretch my store By narrowing my wants; far wealthier thus Than if the treasures of Alatteus And Phrygia's plains were mine. We are not poor While nought we seek. Happiest to whom high Heaven Enough -- no more -- with sparing hand has given.
The brazen tower, strong gates well barred, And wakeful dogs, had sure availed, Imprisoned Danae to guard, And prowling ravishers had failed. But Jove and Venus saw, and mocked Acrisius jailor of the maid; They knew the way could not be blocked, If Jove in gold would make the raid. Gold, mightier than the lightning stroke, The guard can pierce, the rock can burst. So the Greek augur's fortune broke, By force of bribe with ruin cursed. King Philip clave by tools like these All city-gates, and sapped the throne Of rivals. They that plough the seas, Though fierce, this fascination own. But care with growing treasures grows, And thirst for more. With right I dread, Maecenas, pride of knightly rows, Above the ranks to lift my head. Deny thyself; the gods will give More freely. Bare, I march to find The camp of them that sparely live, The camp of wealth I leave behind. I shine more bright with modest means Than if within my barns I store All that the Apulian tiller gleans, And, choked with treasures, were but poor. A crop in sure possession held, A silver stream, a wood, if small; Such happy share had far excelled All Afric's corn-lands held in thrall. No honey from Calabrian bees, No Laestrygonian jars of wine Grown ripe, no wools on Gaulish leas Rich-pastured; none of these are mine. I suffer not the pinch of need, And thou would'st not deny what lacks; Better to curb unruly greed That so thy purse may rounder wax, Than rule o'er wide Mygdonia's plains. Much they shall want, who much demand, 'T is best, when Heaven for man ordains Enough, but with a thrifty hand.
Full well had Danae been secured, in truth,
By oaken portals, and a brazen tower,
And savage watch-dogs, from the roving youth
That prowl at midnight's hour:
But Jove and Venus mock'd with gay disdain
The jealous warder of that close stronghold:
The way, they knew, must soon be smooth and plain
When gods could change to gold.
Gold, gold can pass the tyrant's sentinel,
Can shiver rocks with more resistless blow
Than is the thunder's. Argos' prophet fell,
He and his house laid low,
And all for gain. The man of Macedon
Cleft gates of cities, rival kings o'erthrew
By force of gifts: their cunning snares have won
Rude captains and their crew.
As riches grow, care follows: men repine
And thirst for more. No lofty crest I raise:
Wisdom that thought forbids, Maecenas mine,
The knightly order's praise.
He that denies himself shall gain the more
From bounteous Heaven. I strip me of my pride,
Desert the rich man's standard, and pass o'er
To bare Contentment's side,
More proud as lord of what the great despise
Than if the wheat thresh'd on Apulia's floor
I hoarded all in my huge granaries,
'Mid vast possessions poor.
A clear fresh stream, a little field o'ergrown
With shady trees, a crop that ne'er deceives,
Pass, though men know it not, their wealth, that own
All Afric's golden sheaves.
Though no Calabrian bees their honey yield
For me, nor mellowing sleeps the god of wine
In Formian jar, nor in Gaul's pasture-field
The wool grows long and fine,
Yet Poverty ne'er comes to break my peace;
If more I craved, you would not more refuse.
Desiring less, I better shall increase
My tiny revenues,
Than if to Alyattes' wide domains
I join'd the realms of Mygdon. Great desires
Sort with great wants. 'Tis best, when prayer obtains
No more than life requires.