Si quos Eois intonata fluctibus Non Afra avis descendat in ventrem meum : Fucundior, quam lecta de pinguissimis Aut herba lapathi prata amantis, et gravi Vel agna festis cæsa terminalibus: Has inter epulas, ut juvat pastas oves Positosque vernas, ditis examen domus, Quærit calendis ponere. HORACE, ODE I. LIB. IV. AD VENEREM. NTERMISSA Venus diu, Rursus bella moves: parce precor, precor: Non sumqualis eram bona Sub regno Cynara: desine dulcium Mater sava Cupidinum, Circa lustra decem flectere mollibus Fam durum imperiis: abi Quò blandæ juvenum te revocant preces. Tempestivius in domo Pauli purpureis ales oloribus, If with bright floods, the winter troubled much, The Ionian godwit, nor the ginny-hen More sweet than olives, that new-gather'd be Or the herb sorrel, that loves meadows still, Or at the feast of bounds, the lamb then slain, Among these cates how glad the sight doth come To view the weary oxen draw, with bare The wealthy household swarm of bondmen met, These thoughts when usurer Alphius, now about ODE I. BOOK IV. TO VENUS. ENUS, again thou mov'st a war Long intermitted, pray thee, pray thee spare: I am not such, as in the reign Of the good Cynara I was: refrain Sour mother of sweet Loves, forbear To bend a man now at his fiftieth year Too stubborn for commands so slack: Go where youth's soft entreaties call thee back. More timely hie thee to the house, With thy bright swans, of Paulus Maximus : Comissabere Maximi, Si torrere jecur quæris idoneum. Namque et nobilis, et decens, Et pro solicitis non tacitus reis. Et centum puer artium, Latè signa feret militiæ tuæ. Et quandoque potentior Largi muneribus riserit æmuli, Albanos prope te lacus Ponet marmoream sub trabe cyprea. Illic plurima naribus Duces tura, lyræque, et Berecynthia Delectabere tibia Mistis carminibus non sine fistula.. Illic bis pueri die, Numen cum teneris virginibus tuum Laudantes, pede candido In morem Salium ter quatient humum. Me nec fœmina nec puer Fam, nec spes animi credula mutuı, Nec certare juvat mero: Nec vincire novis tempora floribus. Sed cur, heu! Ligurine, cur Manat rara meas lachryma per genas? Cur facunda parum decoro Inter verba cadit lingua silentio? Nocturnis te ego somniis Fam captum teneo, jam volucrem sequor: Te per gramina Martii Campi, te per aquas, dure, volubiles. There jest and feast, make him thine host, And for the troubled client files his tongue : Will he display the ensigns of thy war. And when he smiling finds his grace With thee 'bove all his rivals' gifts take place, He'll thee a marble statue make Beneath a sweet-wood roof near Alba lake, There shall thy dainty nostril take In many a gum, and for thy soft ears' sake Shall verse be set to harp and lute, And Phrygian hau'boy, not without the flute. There twice a day in sacred lays, The youths and tender maids shall sing thy praise : And in the Salian manner meet Thrice 'bout thy altar with their ivory feet. Me now, nor wench, nor wanton boy, Delights, nor credulous hope of mutual joy ; Nor care I now healths to propound, Or with fresh flowers, to girt my temple round. But why, oh why, my Ligurine, Flow my thin tears down these pale cheeks of mine? Or why my well-grac'd words among With an uncomely silence fails my tongue? Hard-hearted, I dream every night I hold thee fast! but fled hence, with the light, Whether in Mars his field thou be, Or Tyber's winding streams, I follow thee. Lyd. Hor. Lyd. Hor. Lyd. ODE IX. LIB. III. AD LYDIAM. DIALOGUS HORATII ET LYDIÆ. Horatii. ONEC gratus eram tibi,* Nec quisquam potior brachia candida Donec non alia magis Arsisti, neque erat Lydia post Chloën, Romana vigui clarior Ilia. Me nunc Thressa Chloë regit, Me torret face mutua Quid si prisca redit Venus, Rejectæque patet janua Lydia? Quamquam sidere pulchrior Iracundior Adria, Tecum vivere amem, tecum obeam libens. Donec gratus, &c.] This little piece has always been a favourite. Granger, whose knowledge of our old writers did not extend much beyond their portraits, tells us that the first English version of this Ode was made by Herrick. The Hesperides were |