Bring Vergil back (Horace, Odes 1.3)

Horace Odes 1.3 Horace’s sending-off poem (or propempticon) for Vergil is written in a meter usually called the “Forth Asclepiad,” (though the terminology varies depending on which modern authority you check). It consists of a Glyconic line followed by an Asclepiad line. In this installment I discuss the poem briefly and describe its meter, give my own translation, and then read it slowly in Latin. Hopefully you will be able to hear the regular sequence of long and short syllables, hear how that interacts with natural sense pauses, and perhaps even be able to understand it as you listen the Latin. Enjoy, and feel free to leave a comment if you have any suggestions. The text is Klingner’s, taken from PHI. Sic te diva potens Cypri, sic fratres Helenae, lucida sidera, ventorumque regat pater obstrictis aliis praeter Iapyga, navis, quae tibi creditum 5 debes Vergilium: finibus Atticis reddas incolumem precor et serves animae dimidium meae. illi robur et aes triplex circa pectus erat, qui fragilem truci 10 conmisit pelago ratem primus, nec timuit praecipitem Africum decertantem Aquilonibus nec tristis Hyadas nec rabiem Noti, quo non arbiter Hadriae 15 maior, tollere seu ponere volt freta. quem mortis timuit gradum qui siccis oculis monstra natantia, qui vidit mare turbidum et infamis scopulos Acroceraunia? 20 nequiquam deus abscidit prudens oceano dissociabili terras, si tamen inpiae non tangenda rates transiliunt vada. audax omnia perpeti 25 gens humana ruit per vetitum nefas, audax Iapeti genus ignem fraude mala gentibus intulit. post ignem aetheria domo subductum macies et nova febrium 30 terris incubuit cohors semotique prius tarda necessitas leti corripuit gradum. expertus vacuum Daedalus aera pinnis non homini datis; 35 perrupit Acheronta Herculeus labor. nil mortalibus ardui est: caelum ipsum petimus stultitia neque per nostrum patimur scelus iracunda Iovem ponere fulmina. 40