Oft before Agamemnon brave men warred;
But all unwept they lie in endless night,
Lacking, to deck their deeds with light,
Song of a heaven-taught bard.

[Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona
multi; sed omnes illacrimabiles
urgentur ignotique longa
nocte, carent quia vate sacro.]

Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]

Odes [Carmina], Book 4, # 9, l. 25ff (4.9.25-28) (23 BC) [tr. Marshall (1908)]
    (Source)

"To Lollius." See also Gray.

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

Men slasht ere Diomed was made:
But all are in oblivion drown'd,
And put unmourn'd into the ground,
For lack of Sacred Poets aid.
[tr. Fanshawe; ed. Brome (1666)]

Before that Age a thousand liv'd,
And sent surprising Glories forth,
But none the silent Grave surviv'd;
In Night their Splendor's gone,
They fell, unmourn'd, unknown;
Because no Verse embalms their Worth.
[tr. Creech (1684)]

Before Atrides men were brave:
But ah! oblivion, dark and long,
Has lock'd them in a tearless grave,
For lack of consecrating song.
[tr. Conington (1872)]

Many brave men lived before Agamemnon: but all of them, unlamented and unknown, are overwhelmed with endless obscurity, because they were destitute of a sacred bard.
[tr. Smart/Buckley (1853)]

Many, many have lived, who were valiant in fight,
Before Agamemnon; but all have gone down,
Unwept and unknown, in the darkness of night,
For lack of a poet to hymn their renown.
[tr. Martin (1864)]

Many brave men have lived long before Agamemnon,
But o’er them darkly presses the slumber eternal;
All unwept and unknown, wanting Him --
Everlastingly sacred -- the Bard!
[tr. Bulwer-Lytton (1870)]

Many brave men lived before Agamemnon, but all like crushed under eternal obvlivion, unknown to us and unwept by us, because no bard hath immortalized them.
[tr. Elgood (1893)]

Ere Agamemnon saw the light
There lived brave men: but tearless all,
Enfolded in eternal night,
For lack of sacred minstrels, fall.
[tr. Gladstone (1894)]

Brave men before the great Agamemnon's time
Liv'd many, but in tearless oblivion
And night, unknown and unlamented
Lie they, for want of a sacred poet
[tr. Phelps (1897)]

Prior to Agamemnon lived many who were brave,
But all unwept, unknown.
In endless night are plunged because
They lack a bard divine.v [tr. Garnsey (1907)]

Many heroes lived before Agamemnon ; but all are overwhelmed in unending night, unwept, unknown, because they lack a sacred bard.
[tr. Bennett (Loeb) (1912)]

Before the age of Agamemnon wight
Lived many a hero, but unwept, unknown,
Because no sacred bard hymned their renown,
They, one and all, lie whelmed in endless night.
[tr. Mills (1924)]

Many brave men lived before Agamemnon,
But all went down unmourned, unhouured, into the smothering darkness
For lack of a minstrel to be their glory-giver.
[tr. Michie (1963)]

There were heroes before Agamemnon
Was born -- but who knows them? Unmourned,
They lie buried in eternal darkness,
Sung by no sacred song.
[tr. Raffel (1983)]

Heroes have lived before Agamemnon lived,
But all of them are lost somewhere in the night,
Unwept, unkonwn, unless they had a poet
To tell what was their story.
[tr. Ferry (1997)]

Many brave men
Llived before Agamemnon.
But all of them, unwept and unknown,
are shrouded in eternal night
for lack of a sacred bard.
[tr. Alexander (1999)]

Many brave men lived before Agamemnon:
but all are imprisoned in unending night,
all of them are unwept and unknown,
because of the lack of a sacred bard.
[tr. Kline (2015)]