Which Latin phrase opens Horace's Ode 1.37 on Cleopatra's defeat?

Horace’s Ode 1.37 opens with “Nunc est bibendum,” a Latin phrase meaning “Now is the time to drink.” The poem celebrates Octavian’s victory at Actium and the fall of Cleopatra in 31 BC.

The opening summons Horace’s companions to celebrate with wine and dancing after the danger posed by Cleopatra has passed. In the poem’s Roman political framing, Cleopatra is first portrayed as a threatening foreign queen allied with Mark Antony. The ode then becomes more complex: Horace also praises her courage and resolve in facing death rather than being led through a humiliating Roman triumph.

The poem is often called the “Cleopatra Ode.” Its first line is among Horace’s best-known Latin phrases and has been reused as a toast or literary motto. The wording also echoes the tradition of Greek lyric poetry, especially drinking poetry associated with earlier poets such as Alcaeus.

A frequent mix-up is “Carpe diem,” another famous Horatian phrase. That appears in Ode 1.11, not Ode 1.37. “Aurea mediocritas” is associated with Ode 2.10, while “Dulce et decorum est” comes from Horace’s Odes 3.2.