Odes 1.11 (Carpe Diem)
Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from the original source for fidelity, modern clarity, beauty, symbolism, and structure. Latin source edition on la.wikisource.org
Latin
Tu ne quaesieris, scire nefas, quem mihi, quem tibifinem di dederint, Leuconoe, nec Babyloniostemptaris numeros. Ut melius quidquid erit pati,seu pluris hiemes seu tribuit Iuppiter ultimam,quae nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mareTyrrhenum: sapias, vina liques, et spatio brevispem longam reseces. Dum loquimur, fugerit invidaaetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.
English · Musean translation · Mouseia
Do not ask—it is forbidden to know—what end the gods have given me, what end to you,Leuconoe, nor put the Babylonian numbers to the test.How much better to bear whatever comes,whether Jupiter grants us more winters or this is the last,which now wears down the Tyrrhenian sea upon the opposing pumice cliffs.Be wise: strain the wine, and within our brief spanprune back long hope. Even as we speak, envious time will have fled:pluck the day, trusting as little as possible in tomorrow.