Carm. 1.9.1Vidēs ut altā stet nive candidum
Sōracte nec iam sustineant onus
silvae labōrantēs gelūque
flūmina cōnstiterint acūtō?Do you see how Soracte stands white with deep snow, and the labouring woods can no longer hold up their burden, and the rivers have come to a halt with sharp frost?Note. Metre: Alcaic stanza. Mount Soracte, about forty kilometres north of Rome, is visible from the city. Vidēs ut ...: ut is 'how', introducing indirect questions (stet, sustineant, cōnstiterint are subjunctive). candidum ... Sōracte, 'Soracte white'. gelū acūtō, 'with sharp frost'. Carm. 1.9.5Dissolve frīgus ligna super focō
lārgē repōnēns atque benignius
dēprōme quadrīmum Sabīnā,
ō Thaliarche, merum diōtā.Melt the cold, piling logs generously on the hearth, and more freely, Thaliarchus, bring out the four-year-old unmixed wine from the Sabine jar.Note. Dissolve frīgus, 'melt the cold'. ligna super focō large repōnēns, 'piling logs generously on the hearth'. benignius, 'more generously'. quadrīmum merum, 'four-year-old unmixed wine'; Sabīnā diōtā, 'from a Sabine two-handled jar'. Thaliarchus means 'master of the feast'. Carm. 1.9.9Permitte dīvīs cētera, quī simul
10strāvēre ventōs aequore fervidō
dēproeliantīs, nec cupressī
nec veterēs agitantur ornī.Leave the rest to the gods; as soon as they have calmed the winds battling it out on the seething sea, neither the cypresses nor the old ash trees are shaken.Note. Permitte dīvīs cētera, 'leave the rest to the gods'. quī simul strāvēre ventōs, 'as soon as they have laid the winds to rest' (strāvēre = strāvērunt). aequore fervidō, 'on the seething sea'; dēproeliantīs (= -ēs) goes with ventōs, 'battling it out'. Carm. 1.9.13Quid sit futūrum crās, fuge quaerere et
quem Fors diērum cumque dabit, lucrō
15adpōne nec dulcīs amōrēs
sperne puer neque tū chorēās,
dōnec virentī cānitiēs abest
mōrōsa.Avoid asking what will happen tomorrow, and whatever days Chance will give you, count them as profit; and do not, while you are a boy, spurn sweet loves or dances, so long as peevish grey hair is far from you in your green youth.Note. Quid sit futūrum crās, indirect question, object of quaerere; fuge quaerere, 'avoid asking', an elegant negative command. quem Fors diērum cumque dabit: quem ... cumque is quemcumque split by tmesis, 'whatever (of the) days Chance will give'. lucrō appōne, 'put down to profit'. puer, 'while (you are) a boy'. dōnec virentī cānitiēs abest mōrōsa, 'as long as peevish grey hair is far from you in your green youth' (virentī is dative of separation).
Carm. 1.9.18Nunc et campus et āreae
lēnēsque sub noctem susurrī
20conpositā repetantur hōrā,
nunc et latentis prōditor intumō
grātus puellae rīsus ab angulō
pignusque dēreptum lacertīs
aut digitō male pertinācī.Now let the Campus and the squares and soft whispers at nightfall be sought again at the appointed hour; now too the delightful laughter from a secret corner that betrays the girl hiding there, and a keepsake snatched from her arm or from a finger that only pretends to resist.Note. Nunc ... repetantur, jussive subjunctive, 'now let ... be sought again'. campus is the Campus Martius, where the young exercised; āreae, the city squares. The last stanza is one long object phrase: the laugh (rīsus) that betrays (prōditor) the girl hiding in a corner (latentis puellae ... intimō ab angulō), and the token (pignus) snatched from her arm or finger, which 'badly resists' (male pertināci), i.e. hardly resists at all.