OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume VIII/The Letters/Letter 61

Letter LXI.
To Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria.
I have read the letter of your holiness, in which you have expressed your distress at the unhappy governor of Libya. I am grieved that my own country should have given birth to and nurtured such vices. I am grieved too that Libya, a neighbouring country, should suffer from our evils, and should have been delivered to the inhumanity of a man whose life is marked at once by cruelty and crime. This however is only in accordance with the wisdom of the Preacher, “Woe to thee O land when thy King is a child;” (a still further touch of trouble) and whose “Princes” do not “eat” after night but revel at mid-day, raging after other men’s wives with less understanding than brute beasts. This man must surely look for the scourges of the righteous Judge, repaid him in exact requital for those which he himself has previously inflicted on the saints. Notice has been given to my Church in accordance with the letter of your reverence, and he shall be held by all as abominable, cut off from fire, water and shelter, if indeed in the case of men so possessed there is any use in general and unanimous condemnation. Notoriety is enough for him, and your own letter, which has been read in all directions, for I shall not fail to show it to all his friends and relatives. Assuredly, even if retribution does not reach him at once, as it did Pharaoh, certainly it will bring on him hereafter a heavy and hard requital.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Placed in 370 or 371.
* ↑ This, the first of Basil’s six extant letters to Athanasius, is placed by the Ben. Ed. in 371. It has no certain indication of date. Athanasius, in the few years of comparative calm which preceded his death in May, 373, had excommunicated a vicious governor in Libya, a native of Cappadocia, and announced his act to Basil. The intercourse opened by this official communication led to a more important correspondence.
* ↑ Eccles. x. 16.
# Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume VIII/The Letters/Letter 56

Letter LVI.
To Pergamius.
I naturally forget very easily, and I have had lately many things to do, and so my natural infirmity is increased. I have no doubt, therefore, that you have written to me, although I have no recollection of having received any letter from your excellency; for I am sure you would not state what is not the case. But for there having been no reply, it is not I that am in fault; the guilt lies with him who did not ask for one. Now, however, you have this letter, containing my defence for the past and affording ground for a second greeting. So, when you write to me, do not suppose that you are taking the initiative in another correspondence. You are only discharging your proper obligation in this. For really, although this letter of mine is a return for a previous one of yours, as it is more than twice as bulky, it will fulfil a double purpose. You see to what sophisms my idleness drives me. But, my dear Sir, do not in a few words bring serious charges, indeed the most serious of all. Forgetfulness of one’s friends, and neglect of them arising from high place, are faults which involve every kind of wrong. Do we fail to love according to the commandment of the Lord? Then we lose the distinctive mark imprinted on us. Are we puffed to repletion with empty pride and arrogance? Then we fall into the inevitable condemnation of the devil. If, then, you use these words because you held such sentiments about me, pray that I may flee from the wickedness which you have found in my ways; if, however, your tongue shaped itself to these words, in a kind of inconsiderate conventionality, I shall console myself, and ask you to be good enough to adduce some tangible proof of your allegations. Be well assured of this, that my present anxiety is an occasion to me of humility. I shall begin to forget you, when I cease to know myself. Never, then, think that because a man is a very busy man he is a man of faulty character.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Placed at the beginning of the Episcopate.
* ↑ A layman, of whom nothing more is known.
# Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume VIII/The Letters/Letter 57

Letter LVII.
To Meletius, Bishop of Antioch.
If your holiness only knew the greatness of the happiness you cause me whenever you write to me, I know that you would never have let slip any opportunity of sending me a letter; nay, you would have written me many letters on each occasion, knowing the reward that is kept in store by our loving Lord for the consolation of the afflicted. Everything here is still in a very painful condition, and the thought of your holiness is the only thing that recalls me from my own troubles; a thought made more distinct to me by my communication with you through that letter of yours which is so full of wisdom and grace. When, therefore, I take your letter into my hand, first of all, I look at its size, and I love it all the more for being so big; then, as I read it, I rejoice over every word I find in it; as I draw near the end I begin to feel sad; so good is every word that I read, in what you write. The overflowing of a good heart is good. Should I, however, be permitted, in answer to your prayers, while I live on this earth, to meet you face to face, and to enjoy the profitable instruction of your living voice, or any aids to help me in the life that now is, or that which is to come, I should count this indeed the best of blessings, a prelude to the mercy of God. I should, ere now, have adhered to this intention, had I not been prevented by true and loving brothers. I have told my brother Theophrastus to make a detailed report to you of matters, as to which I do not commit my intentions to writing.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Placed in the year 371.
* ↑ This letter, the first of six to Meletius of Antioch, is supposed to be assigned to this date, because of Basil’s statement that the state of the Church of Cæsarea was still full of pain to him. Basil had not yet overcome the opposition of his suffragans, or won the position secured to him after his famous intercourse with Valens in 372. Meletius had now been for seven years exiled from Antioch, and was suffering for the sake of orthodoxy, while not in full communion with the Catholics, because of the unhappy Eustathian schism.
* ↑ This Theophrastus may be identified with the deacon Theophrastus who died shortly after Easter a.d. 372. (cf. Letter xcv.) The secret instructions given him “seem to refer to Basil’s design for giving peace to the Church, which Basil did not attempt to carry out before his tranquilization of Cappadocia, but may have had in mind long before.” Maran, Vit. Bas. chap. xvi.
# Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume VIII/The Letters/Letter 62

Letter LXII.
To the Church of Parnassus.
Following an ancient custom, which has obtained for many years, and at the same time shewing you love in God, which is the fruit of the Spirit, I now, my pious friends, address this letter to you. I feel with you at once in your grief at the event which has befallen you, and in your anxiety at the matter which you have in hand. Concerning all these troubles I can only say, that an occasion is given us to look to the injunctions of the Apostle, and not to sorrow “even as others which have no hope.” I do not mean that we should be insensible to the loss we have suffered, but that we should not succumb to our sorrow, while we count the Pastor happy in his end. He has died in a ripe old age, and has found his rest in the great honour given him by his Lord.
As to the future I have this recommendation to give you. You must now lay aside all mourning; you must come to yourselves; you must rise to the necessary management of the Church; to the end that the holy God may give heed to His own little flock, and may grant you a shepherd in accordance with His own will, who may wisely feed you.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Placed about 371.
* ↑ A town in Northern Cappadocia, on the right bank of the Halys, on or near a hill whence it was named, on the road between Ancyra and Archelais. The letter appears to Maran (Vita S. Bas. xvi.) to have been written before the encouragement given to the Arians by the visit of Valens in 372. The result of Basil’s appeal to the Parnassenes was the election of an orthodox bishop, expelled by the Arians in 375, and named Hypsis or Hypsinus. cf. Letter ccxxxvii., where Ecdicius is said to have succeeded Hypsis; and ccxxxviii., where Ecdicius is called Παρνασσηνός.
* ↑ 1 Thess. iv. 13.
# Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume VIII/The Letters/Letter 60

Letter LX.
To Gregory his uncle.
Formerly I was glad to see my brother. Why not, since he is my brother and such a brother? Now I have received him on his coming to visit me with the same feelings, and have lost none of my affection. God forbid that I should ever so feel as to forget the ties of nature and be at war with those who are near and dear to me. I have found his presence a comfort in my bodily sickness and the other troubles of my soul, and I have been especially delighted at the letter which he has brought me from your excellency. For a long time I have been hoping that it would come, for this only reason, that I need not add to my life any doleful episode of quarrel between kith and kin, sure to give pleasure to foes and sorrow to friends, and to be displeasing to God, Who has laid down perfect love as the distinctive characteristic of His disciples. So I reply, as I am indeed bound, with an earnest request for your prayers for me, and your care for me in all things, as your relative. Since I, from want of information, cannot clearly understand the meaning of what is going on, I have judged it right to accept the truth of the account which you are so good as to give me. It is for you of your wisdom to settle the rest, our meeting with one another, the fitting time and a convenient place. If your reverence really does not disdain to come down to my lowliness and to have speech with me, whether you wish the interview to take place in the presence of others or in private, I shall make no objection, for I have once for all made up my mind to submit to you in love, and to carry out, without exception, what your reverence enjoins on me for the glory of God.
I have not laid my reverend brother under the necessity of reporting anything to you by word of mouth, because on the former occasion what he said was not borne out by facts.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Of the same time as the preceding.
# Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume VIII/The Letters/Letter 63

Letter LXIII.
To the Governor of Neocæsarea.
The wise man, even if he dwells far away, even if I never set eyes on him, I count a friend. So says the tragedian Euripides. And so, if, though I have never had the pleasure of meeting your excellency in person, I speak of myself as a familiar friend, pray do not set this down to mere empty compliment. Common report, which loudly proclaims your universal benevolence, is, in this instance, the promoter of friendship. Indeed since I met the highly respectable Elpidius, I have known you as well, and I have been as completely captured by you, as though I had long lived with you and had practical experience of your excellent qualities. For he did not cease telling me about you, mentioning one by one your magnanimity, your exalted sentiments, your mild manners, your skill in business, intelligence, dignity tempered by cheerfulness, and eloquence. All the other points that he enumerated in his long conversation with me it is impossible for me to write to you, without extending my letter beyond all reasonable bounds. How can I fail to love such a man? How could I put such restraint upon myself as not loudly to proclaim what I feel? Accept then, most excellent Sir, the greeting which I send you, for it is inspired by true and unfeigned friendship. I abhor all servile compliment. Pray keep me enrolled in the list of your friends, and, by frequently writing to me, bring yourself before me and comfort me in your absence.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Of about the same date as the preceding.
* ↑ Another reading is Helladius. cf. Letters lxiv., lxxvii., and lxxviii. The identification of these Elpidii is conjectural. The name was common.
# Odes of Horace, Book 5/Ode 6

VI
THE overfaithful sword returns the user
His heart's desire at price of his heart's blood.
The clamour of the arrogant accuser
Wastes that one hour we needed to make good.
This was foretold of old at our outgoing;
This we accepted who have squandered, knowing,
The strength and glory of our reputations,
At the day's need, as it were dross, to guard
The tender and new-dedicate foundations
Against the sea we fear—not man's award.
They that dig foundations deep,
Fit for realms to rise upon,
Little honour do they reap
Of their generation,
Any more than mountains gain
Stature till we reach the plain.
With no veil before their face
Such as shroud or sceptre lend—
Daily in the market-place,
Of one height to foe and friend—
They must cheapen self to find
Ends uncheapened for mankind.
Through the night when hirelings rest,
Sleepless they arise, alone,
The unsleeping arch to test
And the o'er-trusted corner-stone,
'Gainst the need, they know, that lies
Hid behind the centuries.
Not by lust of praise or show
Not by Peace herself betrayed—
Peace herself must they forego
Till that peace be fitly made;
And in single strength uphold
Wearier hands and hearts acold.
On the stage their act hath framed
For thy sports, O Liberty!
Doubted are they and defamed
By the tongues their act set free,
While they quicken, tend, and raise
Power that must their power displace.
Lesser men feign greater goals,
Failing whereof they may sit
Scholarly to judge the souls
That go down into the pit, And, despite its certain clay,
Heave a new world towards the day.
These at labour make no sign,
More than planets, tides or years
Which discover God's design,
Not our hopes and not our fears;
Nor in aught they gain or lose
Seek a triumph or excuse.
For, so the Ark be borne to Zion, who
Heeds how they perished or were paid that bore it?
For, so the Shrine abide, what shame—what pride—
If we, the priests, were bound or crowned before it?
R. Kipling.
# Odes of Horace, Book 5/Ode 8

VIII
LEUCONOE, I warned you, in tranquil days of yore, To curb your impious craving for Babylonian lore. And now when earth is rocking, and war at fever heat, More urgently than ever my warning I repeat.
Not that I seek to blame you, or others sore bested, For longing to hold converse with your belovèd dead, Or gain authentic tidings of how the heroes fare Who never shall revisit the kindly upper air.
But whether in Plutonian abodes their spirits dwell, Or haunt the happy meadows of radiant asphodel, No messages, believe me, can truly heal or bless Delivered by a hireling Thessalian sorceress.
If quick with dead may commune, if soul may speak to soul, They need no base-born stranger to guide them to their goal, No salaried enchantments, no workers of the wheel That prompts the magic stylus to answer your appeal.
Pray, if it gives you comfort, that death may reunite; Or hope that, re-embodied, your soul may take fresh flight; But shun the necromancer who poisons with his breath The calmness of the living, the dignity of death.
C. L. Graves.
# Odes of Pindar

* Search for titles containing or beginning with: "Odes of Pindar."
* sister projects: Wikidata item.
This is a disambiguation page. It lists works that share the same title. If an article link referred you here, please consider editing it to point directly to the intended page.
* The Odes of Pindar, with several other pieces translated (1749) by Gilbert West (external scans (multiple parts): 1, 2)
* The Odes of Pindar, anthology of odes by Pindar, translated by Dawson W. Turner (1852)
* The Odes of Pindar, another anthology of odes by Pindar, translated by F. A. Paley (1868)

## See also

* Author:Pindar
* Portal:Odes of Pindar, organized list of all extant odes.
# Odes of Horace, Book 5/Ode 5

V
OLD winter the churl is at last on the wing; The heavens grow soft and serene, And the trees, at the magical summons of Spring, Are robed in fresh mantles of green.
The Zephyrs have banished the blasts of the north; The bosom of earth is unsealed; And our new Sabine women go cheerily forth To labour all day in the field.
Their masculine garb and the length of their stride Would surely make Romulus stare; But their fathers already are feeling a pride In their strength and their resolute air.
For gay Cytherea has wholly forsworn The dances she formerly led, And her playmates, the Nymphs and the Graces, forlorn Of their Queen follow Ceres instead.
Producers of food must abandon the Muse— I have done so for several weeks— For I'm either engaged in discussing the news Or in sowing my endive and leeks.
C. L. Graves.
# Odes of Horace, Book 5/Ode 7

VII
WITH lengthening days we revert to the plan
Of stealing an hour from the night,
And all but the lamp-makers honour the man
Who taught us to husband our light.
There's a stir in the streets, and the feminine flocks
Grow denser the closer they near
The marts where the merchants exhibit their stocks
Of the newest and gayest of gear.
Bright purples of Cos and of Sidon unrolled
Work havoc in many a brain;
For whenever extravagance urges "Be bold !"
Economy whispers "Refrain!"
Collectors of taxes, impartial as Death,
Stalk forth on their pitiless rounds;
And the lark, inexhaustively lavish of breath,
In lyrical rapture abounds.
Old vernal disorders unsettle the health Of those who have time to be ill, And in those who have not, the conscription of wealth Strikes home with a glacial chill.
The rivers no longer are swollen in flood; The ploughshare cuts crisp through the loam; And our Legions, released from the merciless mud, Less wistfully long to be home.
C. L. Graves.
# Odes of Pindar (Myers)

* related portals: Odes of Pindar.
* sister projects: Commons category, Wikidata item.
Myers' prose translation of Pindar's Victory Odes, with translations of a few fragments from his lost works.
THE EXTANT
ODES OF PINDAR
TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH
WITH
AN INTRODUCTION AND SHORT NOTES
BY
ERNEST MYERS,M. A.
Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford,
And of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law
London:
MACMILLAN AND CO.
1874
OXFORD:
E. PICKARD HALL AND J. H. STACY,
PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY.
SON OF THE LIGHTNING, FAIR AND FIERY STAR, STRONG-WINGED IMPERIAL PINDAR, VOICE DIVINE, LET THESE DEEP DRAUGHTS OF THY ENCHANTED WINE LIFT ME WITH THEE IN SOARINGS HIGH AND FAR PROUDER THAN PEGASEÄN, OR THE CAR WHEREIN APOLLO RAPT THE HUNTRESS MAID. SO LET ME RANGE MINE HOUR, TOO SOON TO FADE INTO DULL PRESENCE OF THE THINGS THAT ARE. YET KNOW THAT EVEN AMID THIS JARRING NOISE OF HATES, LOVES, CREEDS, TOGETHER HEAPED AND HURLED, SOME ECHO FAINT OF GRACE AND GRANDEUR STIRS FROM THY SWEET HELLAS, HOME OF NOBLE JOYS. FIRST FRUIT AND BEST OF ALL OUR WESTERN WORLD; WHATE'ER WE HOLD OF BEAUTY, HALF IS HERS.
* Introduction
* Prefatory Note
* Olympian Odes
** Ol. I.
** Ol. II.
** Ol. III.
** Ol. IV.
** Ol. V.
** Ol. VI.
** Ol. VII.
** Ol. VIII.
** Ol. IX.
** Ol. X.
** Ol. XI.
** Ol. XII.
** Ol. XIII.
** Ol. XIV.
* The Pythian Odes
** Pyth. I.
** Pyth. II.
** Pyth. III.
** Pyth. IV.
** Pyth. V.
** Pyth. VI.
** Pyth. VII.
** Pyth. VIII.
** Pyth. IX.
** Pyth. X.
** Pyth. XI.
** Pyth. XII.
* The Nemean Odes
** Nem. I.
** Nem. II.
** Nem. III.
** Nem. IV.
** Nem. V.
** Nem. VI.
** Nem. VII.
** Nem. VIII.
** Nem. IX.
** Nem. X.
** Nem. XI.
* The Isthmian Odes
** Isth. I.
** Isth. II.
** Isth. III.
** Isth. IV.
** Isth. V.
** Isth. VI.
** Isth. VII.
* Fragments
* Errata
ERRATA.
In the Introduction:
page 13, line 28, for ἀρέτη read ἀρετή p. 20, last line on the page, for Vale read vale
In the Prefatory Note:
p. 22, l. 17, after Isthm. 2 insert 7
In the Translation:
p. 14, l. 11, for hastest read hasteth p. 33, l. 11, for Phoebus read Phoibos p. 43, l. 4, after Ergoteles, insert and at Pytho twice, p. 46, l. 19, after king insert ? p. 61, note $^{10}$, for κέρδως read κερδώ p. 68, l. 8 of the Introduction to Ode IV, for Iolchian read Iolkian p. 124, l. 2, for guest read quest p. 142, l. 13, for court read count
This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content.
# Odes of Horace, Book 5/Ode 9

IX
YEARS agone, though not so many, I was prompted to complain Of the City's deep encroachment on our arable domain, Watching with a grave misgiving fields that once were rich in wheat Overrun with royal mansions, busy mart or crowded street.
All around the mason's trowel or the carver's chisel rang, Palaces and baths and temples swiftly into being sprang; Dealers in imported marbles quite colossal fortunes made, And the builder and contractor drove a truly roaring trade.
But the rigorous enforcement of new sumptuary laws To this craze for bricks and mortar gave a salutary pause; Private enterprise in building long has been severely checked, And the doom of unemployment dogs the hapless architect.
Luxury is at a discount; even villa roofs are thatched; Senators appear in togas palpably and freely patched; Frugal fare is all the fashion; Iccius and his greedy wife, Once disciples of Lucullus, now affect the simple life.
Even Telephus the dandy, whose complexion was his pride,
Now adopts the "bearded Cato" as his model and his guide.
He has rented an allotment, where he hoes and sows and digs,
Shuns the company of ladies, and is busy raising pigs.
Nobler signs of public spirit I delightedly remark
In the fact that good Maecenas recently ploughed up his park,
And in patriotic answer to the Emperor's appeals
Turned his artificial waters into hatcheries for eels.
Flora bows to bustling Ceres; unobserved the violet blows;
And the satisfying parsnip triumphs o'er the blushing rose;
Fragrant and exotic blossoms now no longer scent the air,
For the humblest vegetables have usurped the gay parterre.   Once, O Varus, I besought you "first and foremost plant the vine";
Now my former predilection I reluctantly resign.
Rather cultivate your orchard; apples, raw or baked or stewed,
Are not merely rare refreshing fruit, but highly wholesome food.
Far too long relying largely on imported foodstuffs, Rome
Learns at last to stock her larder and her granaries from home,
Learns to push the propaganda of the multiplying sow,
Learns to ease her Navy's vigil by the speeding of the plough.
C. L. Graves.
# Pastoral Poems (Breton); Selected Poetry (Wither); Pastoral Poetry (Browne)/Sonnet: On A Stolen Kiss

Sonnet: On A Stolen Kiss
Now gentle sleep hath closèd up those eyes, Which waking kept my boldest thoughts in awe, And free access unto that sweet lip lies From whence I long the rosy breath to draw. Methinks no wrong it were if I should steal, From those two melting rubies, one poor kiss. None sees the theft that would the thief reveal, Nor rob I her of aught which she can miss. Nay, should I twenty kisses take away, There would be little sign I had done so. Why then should I this robbery delay? Oh, she may wake, and therewith angry grow. Well, if she do, I'll back restore that one, And twenty hundred thousand more for loan.
# Pastoral Poems (Breton); Selected Poetry (Wither); Pastoral Poetry (Browne)/On the Countess Dowager of Pembroke

On the Countess Dowager of Pembroke
Underneath this sable herse
Lies the subject of all verse:
Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother:
Death, ere thou hast slain another,
Fair and learn'd, and good as she,
Time shall throw a dart at thee.
Marble piles let no man raise
To her name: for after days
Some kind woman born as she,
Reading this, like Niobe
Shall turn marble, and become
Both her mourner and her tomb.