To Virtue shame is all unknown;
She shines with honours of her own;
Nor, as the public smile or frown,
Takes office up, or lays it down.[Virtus, repulsae nescia sordidae,
intaminatis fulget honoribus
nec sumit aut ponit securis
arbitrio popularis aurae.]Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet and satirist [Quintus Horacius Flaccus]
Odes [Carmina], Book 3, # 2, l. 17ff (3.2.17-20) (23 BC) [tr. Gladstone (1894)]
(Source)
The bundle of rods, sometimes encircling an axe, is known as the fasces, and was the symbol of government power in Rome. The reference to the axe (securis) is from this symbol.
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:
Vertue, that ne're repulse admits,
In taintless honours, glorious sits,
Nor takes, or leaveth Dignities,
Rais'd with the noise of vulgar cries.
[tr. Sir T. H.; ed. Brome (1666)]
Vertue, unlearn'd to bear the base
And shameful baffle of disgrace,
Nor takes, nor quits the tottering Throne,
As fickle Crowds shall smile or frown;
Nor from their wavering Breath receives the place.
[tr. Creech (1684)]
True Virtue never knows defeat:
Her robes she keeps unsullied still,
Nor takes, nor quits, her curule seat
To please a people's veering will.
[tr. Conington (1872)]
Virtue, unknowing of base repulse, shines with immaculate honors; nor does she assume nor lay aside the ensigns of her dignity, at the veering of the popular air.
[tr. Smart/Buckley (1853)]
Worth, all-indifferent to the spurns
Of vulgar souls profane,
The honours wears, it proudly earns,
Unclouded by a stain:
Nor grasps, nor lays the fasces down,
As fickle mobs may smile or frown.
[tr. Martin (1864)]
Virtue ne'er knows of a defeat which brings with it disgrace;
The blazon of her honors ne’er the breath of men can stain;
Her fasces she nor takes nor quits
As veers the popular gale.
[tr. Bulwer-Lytton (1870)]
Virtue knows not base rejection, is radiant with the purest honour, and neither takes, nor resigns, the axes at the breath of the popular will.
[tr. Elgood (1893)]
Virtue, that knows not how to be overthrown,
Shines with unsullied honours impregnable.
Nor at the lawless people's bidding
Does she take up or lay down her honours.
[tr. Phelps (1897)]
Virtue that knows not base defeat
Shines with untarnished honours,
Nor takes nor lays aside the Consul's axe
Upon decision by the popular whim.
[tr. Garnsey (1907)]
True Worth knows not defeat, and still preserves
His robe unsullied by base Envy's stain;
He takes not nor quits power again,
As mob-mood sways and swerves.
[tr. Marshall (1908)]
True worth, that never knows ignoble defeat, shines with undimmed glory, nor takes up nor lays aside the axes at the fickle mob’s behest.
[tr. Bennett (Loeb) (1912)]
Virtue, secure from shameful rout,
With honours all-unstained shines out;
Nor takes, nor drops, authority
To suit the crowd's oft-changing cry.
[tr. Mills (1924)]
Unconscious of mere loss of votes and shining
With honours that the mob's breath cannot dim,
True worth is not found raising or resigning
The fasces at the wind of popular whim.
[tr. Michie (1963)]
Virtue has no concern with reputation,
Shines for its own sake, neither takes up
Arms nor lays them down
Because the mob tells it so.
[tr. Raffel (1983)]
Virtue, rejecting everything that's sordid,
Shines with unblemished honor, nor takes up office
Nor puts it down persuaded by any shift
Of the popular wind.
[tr. Ferry (1997)]
Virtue, unconscious of disgraceful defeat,
shines with unsullied honors
nor does she raise up or lay down the Fasces
at the mere murmuring of the mob.
[tr. Willett (1998)]
Virtue, that’s ignorant of sordid defeat,
shines out with its honour unstained, and never
takes up the axes or puts them down
at the request of a changeable mob.
[tr. Kline (2015)]
Courage, unaware of putrid defeat,
gleams with unblemished honours,
and neither takes nor places the axes
on the judgement of the common ear.
[tr. Wikisource (2021)]
