Odes 1.11 (Carpe Diem)
Complete public-domain translation made directly from the original source text. 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 · Historical edition · Public domain
Ask not ('tis forbidden knowledge), what our destined term of years,Mine and yours; nor scan the tables of your Babylonish seers.Better far to bear the future, my Leuconoe, like the past,Whether Jove has many winters yet to give, or this our last;This, that makes the Tyrrhene billows spend their strength against the shore.Strain your wine and prove your wisdom; life is short; should hope be more?In the moment of our talking, envious time has ebb'd away.Seize the present; trust to-morrow e'en as little as you may.