Devouring Envy, why do you reproach me with idle years
  And call my poetry the work of a feeble talent,
[Saying that] I do not follow the dusty rewards of campaigns
  With the custom of forefathers while vigorous age sustains me,
Nor learn by heart wordy laws or
  Prostitute my voice in the ungrateful Forum?
What you ask of me is mortal occupation; seeking everlasting fame for myself,
  So that always I may be celebrated in poetry in the whole world.
Maeonia’s son will live, while Tenedos and Ida stand,
  While Simois rolls its swift waters to the sea;
[The poet of] Ascraeus will live too, while the unfermented grapes swell,
  While the Corn cut back by the curved sickle falls;
The son of Battus always will be celebrated in poetry in the whole world:
  Though he is not worthy in talent, he is worthy in art;
No loss will come to the buskin of Sophocles;
  Aratus will forever be with the sun and moon;
While the deceitful slave, stern father, shameless brothel-keeper
  And alluring courtesan live, Menander will be;
Ennius lacking in art, and Accius of the ardent tongue
  Have a name that will never decay with time;
What age will not know Varro and the first raft
  And the golden fleece sought by the Aesonian chief?
The poems of exalted Lucretius will then perish,
  When one day will give the land to ruin;
Tityrus and the crops and the arms/weapons of Aeneas shall be read/gathered,
  While Rome will be the capital of the conquered world;
Until the torch and the bow are weapons of Cupid,
  Your poetry, elegant Tibullus, will be learnt;
Gallus, famous both in the West and the East,
  And with Gallus will his Lycoris be famed.
So although the boulders with the tooth of the patient plough
  Perish with time, poetry is absent from death:
Let kings and the triumphs of kings yield to poetry,
  Let the bountiful banks of gold-bearing Tagus yield.
Let the common people admire common things; to me may golden-haired Apollo
  Serve cups filled with Castalian water,
And may I wear myrtle on my hair that fears the frost
  And be much read by anxious lovers.
Envy feasts on the living; after death it is silent,
  When each man’s fame protects him as he deserves:
So, even when the final flame has consumed me,
  I shall live, and a considerable part of me will survive.

Quid mihi Livor edax, ignavos obicis annos
  ingeniique vocas carmen inertis opus,
non me more patrum, dum strenua sustinet aetas,
  praemia militiae pulverulenta sequi
nec me verbosas leges ediscere nec me
  ingrato vocem prostituisse foro?
mortale est, quod quaeris, opus. mihi fama perennis
  quaeritur, in toto semper ut orbe canar.
vivet Maeonides, Tenedos dum stabit et Ide,
  dum rapidas Simois in mare volvet aquas;
vivet et Ascraeus, dum mustis uva tumebit,
  dum cadet incurva falce resecta Ceres;
Battiades semper toto cantabitur orbe:
  quamvis ingenio non valet, arte valet;
nulla Sophocleo veniet iactura cothurno;
  cum sole et luna semper Aratus erit;
dum fallax servus, durus pater, inproba lena
  vivent et meretrix blanda, Menandros erit;
Ennius arte carens animosique Accius oris
  casurum nullo tempore nomen habent;
Varronem primamque ratem quae nesciet aetas
  aureaque Aesonio terga petita duci?
carmina sublimis tunc sunt peritura Lucreti,
  exitio terras cum dabit una dies;
Tityrus et segetes Aeneiaque arma legentur,
  Roma triumphati dum caput orbis erit;
donec erunt ignes arcusque Cupidinis arma,
  discentur numeri, culte Tibulle, tui;
Gallus et Hesperiis et Gallus notus Eois,
  et sua cum Gallo nota Lycoris erit.
ergo, cum silices, cum dens patientis aratri
  depereant aevo, carmina morte carent:
cedant carminibus reges regumque triumphi,
  cedat et auriferi ripa benigna Tagi.
vilia miretur vulgus; mihi flavus Apollo
  pocula Castalia plena ministret aqua,
sustineamque coma metuentem frigora myrtum
  atque a sollicito multus amante legar.
pascitur in vivis Livor; post fata quiescit,
  cum suus ex merito quemque tuetur honos:
ergo etiam cum me supremus adederit ignis,
  vivam, parsque mei multa superstes erit.

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