Book III.28 of The Odes and Carmen Saeculare of Horace

XXVIII.

Neptune's feast-day! what should man
Think first of doing? Lyde mine, be bold,
Broach the treasured Caecuban,
And batter Wisdom in her own stronghold.
Now the noon has pass'd the full,
Yet sure you deem swift Time has made a halt,
Tardy as you are to pull
Old Bibulus' wine-jar from its sleepy vault.
I will take my turn and sing
Neptune and Nereus' train with locks of green;
You shall warble to the string
Latona and her Cynthia's arrowy sheen.
Hers our latest song, who sways
Cnidos and Cyclads, and to Paphos goes
With her swans, on holydays;
Night too shall claim the homage music owes.

Festo Quid Potius.

Festo quid potius die
Neptuni faciam? Prome reconditum,
Lyde, strenua Caecubum
munitaeque adhibe uim sapientiae.
Inclinare meridiem 5
sentis ac, ueluti stet uolucris dies,
parcis deripere horreo
cessantem Bibuli consulis amphoram?
Nos cantabimus inuicem
Neptunum et uiridis Nereidum comas, 10
tu curua recines lyra
Latonam et celeris spicula Cynthiae;
summo carmine, quae Cnidon
fulgentisque tenet Cycladas et Paphum
iunctis uisit oloribus;
dicetur merita Nox quoque nenia. 15

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