Quintus Horatius Flaccus, Epodes 7.1-20

In this epode, Horace confronts his fellow Romans with a desperate question: why are they rushing to yet another civil war? He argues that Roman blood has already been spilled more than enough — not in noble wars against Carthage or Britain, but in self-destruction that seems to fulfill the prayers of Rome's enemies. The Romans can offer no answer. Horace concludes grimly that this mad drive toward fratricide is the inherited curse of Remus, whose innocent blood, shed by his brother at Rome's very founding, has polluted all generations since.

Tier 1

O improbi viri, quo curritis? Et cur vos gladios manibus dextris habetis?

Nonne satis sanguinis Latini fusum est super campis et mari? Sanguis non fusus est ut Romanus ureret superbam urbem invidae Karthaginis,

neque ut Britannus in vinculis descenderet sacra via, sed ut haec urbs, Roma, sua dextra manu mortua sit sicut Parthi oraverunt?

Neque lupi inter se pugnant neque leones umquam inter se pugnant. Lupi leonesque tantum alia animalia pugnant. Furorne caecus vos rapit? an vis acrior vos rapit? an culpa vos rapit? Respondete!

Viri tacent et albus pallor facies pingit. Concusae mentes eorum stupent. Sic est:

Mala fata et crimen necis fraternae Romanos agunt, ut sanguis Remi, qui sine culpa erat, fluxit in terram sacer nepotibus.

Written by Robert Amstutz