Book 1,-Ode 31.—To Apollo.
What doth thy poet ask, Phoebus divine,
What craves he when he pours thee bowls of wine? Not the rich corn of fat Sardinia,
Nor fruitful flocks of burnt Calabria,
Nor gold, nor Indian ivory; nor the grounds,
Which silent Liris with soft stream arrounds.
Let those whom fortune so much store assigns,
Prune with Calenian hook their fertile vines :
Let the rich merchant to the Gods so dear,-
For so I term him right who every year
Three or four times visits the Atlantic seas
From shipwreck free:-Let him his palate please,
And in gilt bowls drink wine of highest price,
Bought with the sale of Syrian merchandise.
Loose mallows, succory, and olive-plant
Serve me for food,-O great Apollo grant
To me in health, and free from life's annoy,
Things native and soon gotten to enjoy!
And with a mind composed old age attain,
Not loathsome, not depriv'd of lyric strain!
*This will afford us an instance of the correctness of our
translator, and the diffusiveness of another.
ebur Indicum,—is rendered by Francis
"Nor ivory of spotless shine,
Nor gold forth flaming from the mine."
Liber II.-Carmen III.—Ad Quintum Delium.
Equam memento rebus in arduis
Servare mentem, non secus (c) in bonis
Ab insolenti temperatam
Lætitia, moriture Deli;
Seu mæstus omni tempore vixeris,
Seu te in remoto gramine per dies
Festos reclinatum bearis
Interiore nota Falerni:
Qua pinus ingens albaque populus
Umbram hospitalem co nsociære amant
Ramis, et obliquo laborat
Lympha fugax trepidare rivo;
Huc vina, et unguenta, et nimium breves
Flores amoenæ ferre jube rosæ :
Dum res, et ætas, et sororum
Fila trium patiuntur atra.
Cedes coemtis saltibus, et domo,
Villaque, flavus quam Tiberis lavit,
Cedes; et exstructis in altum
Divitiis potietur heres.
Divesne prisco natus ab Inacho,
Nil interest, an pauper, et infuna
De gente, sub dio moreris,
Victima nil miserantis Orci.
Omnes eodem cogimur: omnium
Versatur urna serïus ocius
Sors exitura, et nos in æternum
Exilium impositura cymbæ,
Book 2,-Ode 3.-To Delius.
In adverse chance an equal mind retain,
As in best fortune tempered,-free from vein
Of mirth profuse: For Delius thou must die,
Though with sad thoughts opprest thou silent lie;
Or on feast days retir'd to grassy shade,
Thou with choice Falern wine art happy made:
Where the white poplar and the lofty pine,
In friendly shade their mutual branches twine;
And rivers swiftly gliding strive apace
'Bout crooked banks their trembling streams to chase. Bring hither wine and od❜rous unguents!—Bring The dainty rose, a fair but fading thing!
While fortune, age, and wealth, yield season fit,
And the three sisters' sable looms permit.
Thou from thy house must part and purchas'd woods
From village lav'd by yellow Tiber's floods;
And thy vast hoarded heaps of wealth's excess,
An heir, perhaps ungrateful, shall possess.
No matter 'tis whether thou rich art born
Of Argive kings, or low, expos'd to scorn,
Sprung from poor parents liv'st in open fields;
Thou art death's sacrifice, who never yields.
We all are thither brought; 'tis he that turns
And guids our mortal life's uncertain urns.
Sooner or later each man hath his lot,
And hence exil'd, embarks in Charon's boat.
Liber II.-Carmen X.--Ad Licinium.
Rectius vives, Licini, neque altum
Semper urgendo; neque, dum procellas
Cautus horrescis, nimium premendo
Litus iniquum.
Auream quisquis mediocritatem
Diligit, tutus caret obsoleti
Sordibus tecti, caret invidenda
Sobrius aula.
Sæpius ventis agitatur ingens
Pinus; et celsæ graviore casu
Decidunt turres; feriuntque summos
Fulmina montes.
Sperat infestis, metuit secundis
Alteram sortem bene præparatum
Pectus informes hiemes reducit
Jupiter; idem
Summovet: non, si male nunc, et olim
Sic erit: quondam cithara tacentem
Suscitat Musam, neque semper arcum
Tendit Apollo.
Rebus angustis animosus atque
Fortis appare: sapienter idem
Contrahes vento nimium secundo
Turgida vela.
Book 2.-Ode 10.-To Licinius.
Licinius know your safer way,
Is not still on the main to stray;
Nor whilst you wisely storms abhor,
Too much to seek the shelvy shore.
He who affects the golden mean,.
Lives safe from cottages unclean :
And sober, doth as much despise,
In envy-breeding courts to rise.*
The blustering winds more often far
'Gainst lofty pines do threaten war:
Brave towers with greater ruin fall,
And thunders highest hills enthrall.
Each fortune suits with minds prepar'd,
They fear in good, and hope in hard.
Jove brings in horrid winter's
And suddenly doth it assuage.
If with thee now it be but ill,
Resolve, it cannot be so still.
Sometimes Apollo's silent muse
Speaks in his harp, nor doth he use
Always to bend his angry bow:
In crosses, strength and courage shew:
And wisely strike sails when you find
Them filled with too prosperous wind.
*The man within the golden mean,
Who can his boldest wish contain ;
Securely views the ruin'd cell,
Where sordid want and sorrow dwell;
And in himself securely great,
Declines an envied room of state.-(FRANCIS.)
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