Carpe Diem

Giacomo Di Chirico - Quinto Orazio Flacco
1800
source: Gallery - Olio su tela: Omaggio a Giacommo Di Chiricco
no copyright infringement intended
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Quinto_Orazio_Flacco.jpg)

Ode 1.11 of Horace - here is what Hachette edition of the Odes says:

La superstition orientale, la croyance à l’astrologie, faisait à Rome des progrès, surtout parmi les femmes. Horace dissuade une d’elles d’interroger l’avenir dont la connaissance nous échappe, et lui conseille de goûter les biens de la vie, au jour le jour, sans trop compter sur le lendemain. Le nom de Leuconoé est probablement un nom supposé ; il n’y a d’ailleurs aucune importance à attacher à son sens étymologique λέυκόν νόυν (esprit candide, simple, faible) ; chez Pindare λέυκόιζ φράσϊ (Pyth. 4, 194) parait indiquer la malignité plutôt que la faiblesse d’esprit ; grand Asclépiade ; date probable 29 ou 26 AEC.

(The Eastern superstition, the belief in the astrology, made progress in Rome, especially among women. Horace dissuades one of them to question the future whose knowledge escapes to us, and advises her to taste the goods of the life, each day, without counting too much on what tomorrow would bring. The name of Leuconoe is probably a supposed one; there is of no good anyway to rely on its etymological sense; (spirit that is ingenuous, simple, weak); at Pindar (Pyth. 4,194) it appears to indicate the malignity rather than the weakness of spirit; asclepiad stanza; probable date 29 or 26 BCE)

Tu ne quaesieris, scire nefas, quem mihi, quem tibi
finem di dederint, Leuconoe, nec Babylonios
temptaris numeros. ut melius, quicquid erit, pati,
seu pluris hiemes seu tribuit Iuppiter ultimam,
quae nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare
Tyrrhenum: sapias, uina liques, et spatio breui
spem longam reseces. dum loquimur, fugerit inuida
aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.

(http://www.merriampark.com/horcarm111.htm)

I would conclude: scire nefas, quem finem di dederint - forbidden to know, what end the gods will give - and better, carpe diem - seize the day. That's, I think, what the Hachette edition says.

Well, Philosophy Blog has a different interpretation for this Ode: they view it as directed to a female love interest. And carpe diem should not be translated seize the day, rather be in the moment (in the Buddhist terms).


An English crib, by Michael Gilleland:

Don't ask (it's forbidden to know) what final fate the gods have
given to me and you, Leuconoe, and don't consult Babylonian
horoscopes. How much better it is to accept whatever shall be,
whether Jupiter has given many more winters or whether this is the
last one, which now breaks the force of the Tuscan sea against the
facing cliffs. Be wise, strain the wine, and trim distant hope within
short limits. While we're talking, grudging time will already
have fled: seize the day, trusting as little as possible in tomorrow.

(http://www.merriampark.com/horcarm111.htm)

Now, keeping to the interpretation suggested in Philosophy Blog I will come a little bit to a Taiwanese movie that I watched some time ago. I didn't find time yet to comment it; I mention it now just for its title, which maybe would go well with Ode 1.11: Eat Drink Man Woman. In this reading, the Ode becomes Eat, Drink, Be Merry, and above all, Don't Be Coy. Now, of course, coyness shouldn't be a crime in principle, but, as you never know what tomorrow brings (it's up to the gods), you see? It becomes a crime to be shy and not fully respond to love... I wouldn't go on, just I invite you the read the whole comment from Philosophy Blog.

Michael Gilleland offers on his page a bunch of translation of the Ode into English:

http://www.merriampark.com/horcarm111.htm

And a French rendering, by Dennis Eyssart:

Ne cherche pas à savoir, Leuconoé, quelle fin les dieux ont assignée à l'un ou à l'autre. Cette connaissance nous est interdite. N'interroge plus ces nombres magiques venus de Babylone.

Comme il est préférable d'accepter ce qui doit arriver, que Jupiter nous accorde encore bien d'autres hivers, ou que notre dernier soit celui-ci qui voit maintenant la mer Tyrrhénienne déferler sur les brisants du rivage.

Tu ferais bien mieux de remplir nos coupes de vin léger et de réduire tes lointaines espérances à la mesure de notre courte durée.

Pendant que nous parlons, le temps jaloux a fui. Cueille donc le jour présent, sans trop te fier au lendemain.

(http://www.espace-horace.org/chx/odes/I_11.htm)

(Horace)