Quo Me, Bacche? by Horace ( Quintus Horatius Flaccus ), Ode 3.25 – Translated into English by Cecilia Elise Wallin
Oh Bacchus, where are
you leading me, overflowing
with your power?
Which forests, which valleys am I
pushed into, with strange courage?
What caves will listen
when I try Caesar’s majesty
amid the stars to set?
I want to tell about incredible, awesome,
things which no one has mentioned before.
As a young woman, walking in the night,
stops in the mountain snow and astonished
looks at Hebrus’ waters, and Rhodope,
the wilderness
– so strange seem to me
the waters of the rivers,
the solitary forest …
* * *
Quō mē, Bacche, rapis tuī
plēnum? quae nemora aut quōs agor in specūs
vēlox mente novā? quibus
antrīs ēgregiī Caesaris audiar
aeternum meditāns decus
stellīs inserere et consiliō Iovis?
dīcam insigne, recēns, adhuc
indictum ōre aliō. nōn secus in iugīs
exsomnis stupet Euhiās,
Hēbrum prōspiciēns et nive candidam
Thrācen ac pede barbarō
lustrātam Rhodopēn, ut mihi dēviō
rīpās et vacuum nemus
mīrārī libet. ō Nāiadum potēns
Bacchārumque valentium
prōcērās manibus vertere fraxinōs,
nīl parvum aut humilī modō,
nīl mortāle loquar. Dulce perīculum est,
ō Lēnæe, sequī deum
cingentem viridī tempora pampinō.
