Horatius 1, 37

 

Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero

pulsanda tellus, nunc Saliaribus

       ornare pulvinar deorum

               tempus erat dapibus, sodales.

 

antehac nefas depromere Caecubum   5

cellis avitis, dum Capitolio

             regina dementis ruinas

                        funus et imperio parabat

 

contaminato cum grege turpium

morbo virorum, quidlibet inpotens      10

        sperare fortunaque dulci

               ebria. sed minuit furorem

 

vix una sospes navis ab ignibus

mentemque lymphatam Mareotio

            redegit in veros timores            15

                 Caesar ab Italia volantem

 

remis adurgens, accipiter velut

mollis columbas aut leporem citus

       venator in campis nivalis

              Haemoniae, daret ut catenis   20

 

fatale monstrum: quae generosius

perire quaerens nec muliebriter

            expavit ensem nec latentis

                        classe cita reparavit oras,

 

ausa et iacentem visere regiam           25

voltu sereno, fortis et asperas

             tractare serpentes, ut atrum

                 corpore conbiberet venenum,

 

deliberata morte ferocior:

saevis Liburnis scilicet invidens          30

           privata deduci superbo

              non humilis mulier triumpho.

 

Now is for drinking, now for earth beaten

with foot that is free;  now,

            my friends, would be time to bedeck 

                 couch of gods with Salarian banquets!

 

Before this it was irreligious to pour out

Caecuban from ancestral cellars, while  Queen

            prepared mad destruction for Capitolium

                         and  funeral even for imperium

 

with contaminated,  infected flock of loathsome 

males, raging and drunk enough in everyway

            to set her hopes on sweet

                        fortune. But scarcely  single

 

ship safe from  blaze diminished furor

and Caesar redirected her mind, frantic with Mareotic,

            to real fears as he surged with oars

                        after her flying from Italia

 

hawk like after  gentle

doves, or swift hunter

            after rabbit in fields of  snowy

                        Haemonia, to place in chains

 

fatal  monstrosity: she more nobly

seeking to perish did not in womanly way

            blanch  at sword, nor did she

                        repair to hidden shores in swift ship,

 

daring even to stare at collapsing kingdom

with calm face, and brave to handle

            savage serpents, in order

                        to drink black venom with her body,

 

more fierce in  deliberated death:

refusing with distain to be led in cruel Liburnians,

            ordinary woman in high

                triumph,  no lowly woman she.