The snows have fled, now grass returns to the fields

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

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

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Diffugere nives

(Sung text for setting by J. Novák)

See original

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 Tullus dives et Ancus,
   Pulvis et umbra sumus.

 ...

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-4 of the original text.

Composition:

Jan Novák

Cantica latina

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

Go to the general single-text view

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
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

The snows have fled

(Sung text translation for setting by J. Novák)

See original

Language: English after the Latin

The snows have fled, now grass returns to the fields
  And foliage to the trees;
The earth changes its conditions, and the decreasing rivers 
  Flow within their banks.

A Grace with the Nymphs and her twin sisters ventures 
  To lead the dancers naked.
Do not trust in immortal things, warns the year and the hour
  That steals away the nurturing day.

Cold weather is tamed by the Zephyrs, Summer treads Spring underfoot,
  Only to perish once
Fruitful Autumn brings forth its crops, and soon
  Sluggish Winter returns.

Yet moons swiftly recover their heavenly losses;
  We, when we have fallen,
With dutiful Aeneas, with wealthy Tullus and Ancus,
  Are dust and shadow.

 ...

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-4 of the original text.

Note for stanza 2: The three Graces were minor deities who mostly served as attendants to the other gods and goddesses, and were associated with feasting and dancing. In Roman iconography they often appeared nude.
Note for stanza 4: Aeneas, a Trojan, was regarded as the ancestor of the Roman people. The epithet pius used here is also applied to him in Vergil's Aeneid. Tullus (Hostilius) and Ancus (Marcius) were the legendary third and fourth kings of Rome, ruling in the seventh century BCE.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Latin to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in Latin by Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65 BCE - 8 BCE), no title, appears in Carmina (Odes), in 4. Liber IV (Book IV), no. 7
- Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view

This text was added to the website: 2026-10-02
Line count: 28
Word count: 193