edit, 09/21/2025: this translation may be reworked in the future. Odes III.30 is one of my favorite poems and that led to me try to render it in a more literal sense without as much attention to meter as I wished I had; I was worried about changing it too much or imposing my own style onto Horace.
I feel as though I have grown since then as a translator. one day, if/when I retranslate this piece, I will leave the original up for transparency. translation work can be a tricky process, particularly when it comes to poetry, and I feel that this would allow those without translation experience some insight into the process.
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published
I have completed a monument more everlasting than bronze and nobler than the royal structure of the pyramids, which neither devouring rain nor wild Boreas, or the countless chain of years and the flight of time may be able to demolish. I shall not fully die and many parts of me evade Burial; I will always ascend with fresh future praise, as long as the pontiff will climb the Capitoline with a silent maiden. I shall be celebrated, where the violent Aufidus cries out and the meager watered Daunus of rustic people ruled— powerful by humble means— The first to have brought Aeolian song to Italian rhythm: accept deserved merit in having sought pride and with the Delphic laurel, Melpomene, willingly crown my hair. Exegi monumentum aere perennius regalique situ pyramidum altius, quod non imber edax, non aquilo impotens possit diruere aut innumerabilis annorum series et fuga temporum. non omnis moriar multaque pars mei vitabit Libitinam; usque ego postera crescam laude recens, dum Capitolium scandet cum tacita virgine pontifex. dicar, qua violens obstrepit Aufidus et qua pauper aquae Daunus agrestium regnavit populorum, ex humili potens, princeps Aeolium carmen ad Italos deduxisse modos. sume superbiam quaesitam meritis et mihi Delphica lauro cinge volens, Melpomene, comam.
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