Odes 1.5

Odes 1.5, also known as Ad Pyrrham ('To Pyrrha'), or by its incipit, Quis multa gracilis te puer in rosa, is one of the Odes of Horace. The poem is written in the fourth Asclepiadean metre and is of uncertain date; not after 23 BC.[1]

Summary

To a coquette or flirt: What slender innocent youth enjoys your smiles to-day, and courts you, Pyrrha? (1–5) Alas, he does not yet suspect that you are fickle as the sea; your smile lures on his love to shipwreck (5–13). Thank Heaven I escaped betimes: in Neptune's temple I hang my dripping clothes as votive gift (13–16).[2][1]

Translations

Milton's version is well known. Imitation by Cowley, and by La Fontaine.[3] According to Clifford Herschel Moore, "The perfected simplicity of this ode can best be tested by an attempt to alter or transpose a word, or by translation. Even Milton's well-known version is inadequate."[2]

References
  1. Bennett 1901, p. 8.
  2. Moore 1902, p. 71.
  3. Shorey; Laing 1911, p. 160.

Sources

Attribution: Public Domain This article incorporates text from these sources, which are in the public domain.

  • Bennett, Charles E. (1901). Horace: Odes and Epodes. Norwood, MA: Allyn and Bacon. p. 8.
  • Moore, Clifford Herschel (1902). Horace: The Odes and Epodes and Carmen Saeculare. United States: American Book Company. pp. 71–3.
  • Shorey, Paul; Laing, Gordon J. (1911). Horace: Odes and Epodes (Rev. ed.). Boston, MA: Benj. H. Sanborn & Co. pp. 160–1.

Further reading
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