Quintus Horatius Flaccus, Epodes 16.49-66

In this final passage of the sixteenth epode, Horace describes the paradise awaiting the righteous emigrants in full: goats come willingly to be milked, no bears or serpents threaten the flocks, and the weather is perfectly balanced. Crucially, this land has never been touched by the corrupting forces of myth and history — no Argo, no Medea, no Sidonian sailors, no crew of Ulixes. Jupiter reserved these shores for the pious when he ended the Golden Age, replacing it first with the age of bronze, then the age of iron. For the righteous, Horace declares, escape to this blessed land is still possible — with him as their prophet.

Tier 1

Illic caprae, nullis imperantibus, veniunt ad mulctra et grex amicus refert tanta ubera, nec ursus gemuit circum gregem ovium nocte, nec alta terra est plena viperarum;

Et laeti nos mirabimur, ut neque aquosus Eurus terat campos multis imbribus, nec semina ardentur siccis solis, rege temperante et imbrem et solem.

Navis lignea non contendit huc Argoo remige neque Colchis inpudica femina ambulavit, Sidonii nautae non navigaverunt huc, nec laboriosi viri Ulixei.

Nulla contagia nocent gregi, nec grex ardet callida violente ullius astri.

Iuppiter tenuit illa litora piae genti, ut fecit tempus aureum obscurum aere, aere, deinde fecit saecula dura ferro, quorum dulcis fuga datur piis me vate.

Written by Robert Amstutz