Horace, Epistle 1.19.23-31

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How to quote this translation

                        Parios ego primus iambos
Ostendi Latio, numerous animosque secutus
25 Archilochi, non res et agentia uerba Lycamben.
Ac ne me foliis ideo breuioribus ornes
Quod timui mutare modos et carminis artem,
Temperat Archilochi Musam pede mascula Sappho,
Temperat Alcaeus, sed rebus et ordine dispar,
30 Nec socerum quaerit, quem uersibus oblinat atris,
Nec sponsae laqueum famoso carmine nectit.

I was the first to show Parian iambics to Latium, and first to follow both the metre and spirit of Archilochus, although not the content or the words that pursued Lycambes. And so you do not crown me with leaves all the shorter because I was afraid to change the metre and the form of the song, masculine Sappho balances the Muse of Archilochus with her metre. Alcaeus balances, but disparately in subject matter and in arrangement; Alcaeus does not pursue his father-in-law to smear him with verses black, nor does he bind a noose for his bride with his infamous song.



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