Exemplar Fragmentorum

Horace, Odes, Book II: Ode 15: “Iam Pauca Aratro”

Now regal villas will leave few acres

for ploughing; on all sides ornamental ponds

will appear as extensive

as Lake Lucrinus; bachelor plane-trees

usurp the realm; beds of violets

and myrtles and all olfactory crops

scatter their scents in olive-groves

which previous owners farmed;

dense laurels exclude the burning strokes

of the sun.  This is not the norm

our ancestors divined, that Romulus

and rough-bearded Cato prescribed.

For them private wealth was small,

the commonwealth great: no private

north-facing shady porches

were laid out with ten-foot rules:

the law forbade abuse of the common turf

and enjoined the adornment at public expense

of towns and temples

with fresh-hewn marble.