Her sparkling wine from their own vintage press'd, From their own stores her grateful viand dress'd; Less welcome far the proud collation,

Cull'd with painful preparation,

When earth, and air, and seas, have been explor'd

For those expensive meats, that pile the Consul's board.

II.

Not the shell-fish, pampering food!
Of Lucrine's azure lake the boast;

Nor luscious product of the eastern flood,
Driven by the stormy winds upon our coast;
Nor costly birds, that hither rove

Natives of Ionian grove,

Can with more poignant zest his senses meet

Than the love-kneaded cates, of this unpurchas'd

treat.

I.

To his border's guardian power When he spreads the vernal feast, Then bleeds the kid, in lucky hour, From the hungry wolf releas'd;

1. 17. The feast of Terminus, one of the rural gods, was held on the first of February, at which time, in those warm cliHates, the spring is very forward.

1. 20. Hungry wolf releas'd-The Romans fancied that the

Then round the primal lamb's sweet flesh is seen
The crisp salubrious herbage of the green;
And, from loaded boughs descending,
Unctuous olives richly blending;

These form the dainties of his festal day,
When every heart expands, and every face is gay.

II.

Circled by a jocund train,

With joy the new-shorn flock he hears

Come bleating homeward o'er the russet plain;
While slow, with languid neck, the weary steers
The inverted ploughshare drag along,
Mindless of the shepherd's song;

Then, round his smiling Household-Gods, surveys
A numerous, menial group, the proof of prosperous
days.

I.

'Twas thus, amidst his ill-got wealth, The Roman usurer justly thought, Resolv❜d to purchase peace and health,

And live, at length, as Nature taught;

No more with subtle avarice to lend,
Oppressive foe beneath the name of friend!

struggle and terror of a kid on being seized by the wolf, made its flesh more tender.

Now grasping views, for once, rejected,
He on the Ides his sums collected,

But on the Calends, lo! with anxious pain,

On the same interest vast, he sends them forth again.

II.

Thus can lust of gold controul,

Tho' the heart urge a wiser choice,
By force of habit lord it o'er the soul,
And stifle e'en Conviction's powerful voice.
See, with sighs the miser yield

The promis'd joys of wood, and field;
Against experienc'd disappointment, try

With gold to purchase that, which gold can never buy!

1.2. Ides-The middle of a inonth.

1. 3. Calends-The beginning of the next month.

ΤΟ

NEAERA.

BOOK THE FIFTH, EPODE THE FIFTEENTH.

"Twas night-the moon, upon her sapphire throne, High o'er the waning stars serenely shone,

When thou, false Nymph, determin'd to prophane Them, and each power that rules the earth, and main, As thy soft, snowy arms about me twin'd

Close as round oaks the clasping ivies wind,

Swore, while the gaunt wolf shall infest the lea,
And red Orion vex the wintry sea,

While gales shall fan Apollo's floating locks,
That shed their golden light o'er hills and rocks,
So long thy breast should burn with purest fires,
With mutual hopes, and with unchang'd desires.

Perjur'd NEAERA! thou shalt one day prove The worth, the vengeance of my slighted love; For O! if manhood steels, if honour warms, Horace shall fly, shall scorn thy faithless charms ;

Seek some bright maid, whose soul for him shall glow, Nor art, nor pride, nor wandering wishes know.

Then should'st thou languish, sigh, and

more,

weep once

And with new vows his injur'd heart implore,
Nor sighs, nor vows, nor tears shall he regard,
Cold as the snow and as the marble hard.

And Thou, triumphant youth, so gay, so vain,
Proud of my fate, exulting in my pain,
Tho' on thy hills the plenteous herd should feed,
And rich Pactolus roll along thy mead;

For thee tho' Science ope the varied store,

And Beauty on thy form its graces pour,

Ere long shalt thou, while wrongs like these degrade, Droop with my woes, and with my rage upbraid; See on a rival's brow thy garlands worn,

And, with her falsehood, bear my jocund scorn.