Diffugere nives | Diffugere nives, redeunt iam gramina campis

by Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65 BCE - 8 BCE)

Diffugere nives, redeunt iam gramina...

Language: Latin

Our translations: ENG

Diffugere nives, redeunt iam gramina campis
  Arboribusque comae;
Mutat terra vices, et decrescentia ripas
  Flumina praetereunt.

Gratia cum Nymphis geminisque sororibus audet
  Ducere nuda choros.
Immortalia ne speres, monet annus et almum
  Quae rapit hora diem.

Frigora mitescunt Zephyris, ver proterit aestas
  Interitura, simul
Pomifer Autumnus fruges effuderit, et mox
  Bruma recurrit iners.

Damna tamen celeres reparant caelestia lunae:
   Nos, ubi decidimus,
Quo pius Aeneas, quo [dives Tullus]¹ et Ancus,
   Pulvis et umbra sumus.

Quis scit, an adiciant hodiernae crastina summae
   Tempora di superi?
Cuncta manus avidas fugient heredis, amico
   Quae dederis animo.

Cum semel occideris et de te splendida Minos
   Fecerit arbitria,
Non, Torquate, genus, non te facundia, non te
   Restituet pietas;

Infernis neque enim tenebris Diana pudicum
   Liberat Hippolytum
Nec Lethaea valet Theseus abrumpere caro
   Vincula Perithoo.

Available sung texts: ← What is this?

• J. Novák

J. Novák sets stanzas 1-4

About the headline (FAQ)

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Confirmed with Io. Gaspar Orellius, ed., Q. Horatius Flaccus, Vol. I: Odae, Carmen Saeculare, Epodi, Berlin: S. Calvary & Co., 1886, pages 548-553.

¹ Novák: "Tullus dives"

Text Authorship:

by Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65 BCE - 8 BCE), no title, appears in Carmina (Odes), in 4. Liber IV (Book IV), no. 7 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Jan Novák (1921 - 1984), "Diffugere nives", stanzas 1-4, from Cantica latina, no. 10 [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

FRE French (Français) (Charles-Marie-René Leconte de Lisle) , "À Torquatus"

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Grant Hicks [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 28
Word count: 130