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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.
J. Novák sets stanzas 1-4
About the headline (FAQ)
View text without footnotesConfirmed 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
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. Who knows whether the gods above may add tomorrow's hours to today's total? All of them will escape an heir's greedy hands, that to a loving Mind you have dedicated. When once you have perished and Minos has rendered His magnificent judgment of you, No pedigree, Torquatus, no eloquence, no piety Will bring you back; For neither does Diana free Hippolytus From the infernal darkness Nor does Theseus have the power to tear away the bonds of Lethe From his dear Perithous.
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Translations of titles:
"Diffugere nives" = "The snows have fled"
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.
Note for stanza 6: Minos, mythical king of Crete, became after his death one of the three judges of the dead, along with Rhadamanthus and Aeacus.
Note for stanza 7: Hippolytus, the son of the Greek mythical hero Theseus, devoted himself to the goddess Artemis (identified by the Romans with their Diana) to the exclusion of Aphrodite. Aphrodite's resulting jealousy led ultimately to his death. Perithous was a friend of Theseus who was trapped in the underworld for his attempt to abduct Persephone, the wife of Hades. Lethe, Greek for "oblivion," was one of the five rivers of the underworld.
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
This text was added to the website: 2026-10-02
Line count: 28
Word count: 193