A Palinode. I-16 (From The Odes Of Horace)

Oh, daughter, lovelier than your lovely mother,             Whatever punishment you may desire             Give my offending verses; in the fire         Throw them, please you, or in the Adriatic.         Not Dindymene, no, nor even Apollo             So shakes the minds of priests within the shrine;             Nor so disturbing is the God of wine,         Nor Corybantes doubling their shrill cymbals,         As direful fits of anger that are frightened             Neither by Noric sword nor savage flame,             Nor by ship-wrecking seas, nor them can tame         Great Jupiter himself, with all his thunders.         To our original clay, they say Prometheus             Was forced to add a portion he had made             Of bits from every creature, and he laid         In human hearts rage from the furious lion.         With crushing ruin rage destroyed Thyestes;             And as a final cause rage may be known             Why mighty cities fell, quite overthrown,         And why upon their walls a sneering army         Its plowshare drags along. But keep your temper!             Me, too in my sweet youth a frenzied heart             Has tempted sorely, and its maddening dart         Has driven me to write impetuous verses         To change sad things for brighter I am seeking,             And since my offending verses I retract,             I beg of you in turn a friendly act,         That you again to me your heart give over.