Ō mihi tum longae maneat pars ultima vītae,
spīritus et quantum sat erit tua dīcere facta:
nōn mē carminibus vincat nec Thrācius Orpheus 55
nec Linus, huic māter quamvīs atque huic pater adsit,
Orphei Calliopēa, Linō fōrmōsus Apollō.
Pān etiam, Arcadiā mēcum sī iūdice certet,
Pān etiam Arcadiā dīcat sē iūdice victum.
notes
53–59 May I live to celebrate the boy’s future deeds in verse.
53 Ō ... maneat: optative subjunctive (AG 441). Ō is used in expressing a fervent wish, rather than direct address. OLD o 3.
54 spīritus et quantum sat erit tua dīcere facta: "and (as much) breath as shall be sufficient to tell of your deeds." tantus has to be supplied, and quantum agrees with sat, the complement of erit, rather than with spiritus (Gould).
54 spīritus: both "breath," with reference to the preceding line, and "inspiration," with reference to what follows (Coleman).
55 carminibus: ablative of means with vincat. A singing contest is envisioned. See below, certet (58).
55 vincat: potential subjunctive. Other texts print vincet, future indicative, which also has good manuscript authority. The subjunctive makes the tone less arrogant, and accords with subjunctives elsewhere in the context, as Coleman points out.
55 Thrācius Orpheus: Orpheus is the archetypal poet. He was from Thrace. The name normally scans as two long syllables, -eus being a diphthong (AG 8).
56 huic māter quamvīs atque huic pater adsit: quamvīs should be taken first as it introduces the concessive clause huic māter … atque huic pater adsit; quamvīs also takes the subjunctive (AG 527a). huic … huic are dative after adsit, "be present in support of." LS adsum II.E.
57 Orphei Calliopēa, Linō fōrmōsus Apollō: this elegant five-word verse identifies each huic and preserves the same structure: mater (the Muse Calliope) referring to Orpheus’s mother, pater (Apollo) referring to Linus’s father. Orphei (Greek dative) is again disyllabic, -ei being a diphthong.
58–59 sī ... certet, / ... dīcat: future less vivid condition (AG 516.b).
58 Arcadiā ... iūdice: ablative absolute, "with Arcadia as judge," i.e. the personified landscape, or the semi-deities who inhabit Arcadia's mountains, Pan, nymphs, and satyrs. Compare the musical contest of Pan and Apollo in Ovid's Metamorphoses, where the local mountain Tmolus acts as judge (11.146–171).
59 victum: supply esse, indirect statement introduced by dīcat.
vocabulary
ō: O (indicating a fervent wish)
Thrāciusx –a –um: Thracian
Orpheus –eī m.: Orpheus, the archetypal poet
Linus (–os) –ī m.: Linus, a mythical poet
Calliopēa –ae f.: Calliope, a muse
fōrmōsus –a –um: beautiful, handsome, fine
Apollō –inis m.: Apollo
Pān –Pānos (acc. Pāna) m.: Pan, the god of fields and shepherds
Arcadia –ae f.: Arcadia, a mountainous region in central Greece