Liber IV.-Carmen VII.-Ad Torquatum.
Diffugere nives: redeunt jam gramina campis,
Arboribusque comæ :
Mutat terra vices; et decrescentia ripas
Flumina prætereunt:
Gratia cum Nymphis geminisque sororibus audet
Ducere nuda choros.
Immortalia ne speres, monet annus, et almum
Quæ rapit hora diem.
Frigora mitescunt Zephyris; ver proterit æstas,
Interitura simul
Pomifer autumnus fruges effuderit: et mox
Damna tamen celeres reparant cœlestia lunæ :
Nos ubi decidimus
Quo pius Eneas, quo Tullus, dives et Ancus,
Pulvis et umbra sumus.
Quis scit an adjiciant hodiernæ crastina sumæ
Tempora di superi?
Cuncta manus avidas fugient heredis, amico
Quæ dederis animo.
Cum semel occideris, et de te splendida Minos
Fecerit arbitria;
Non, Torquate, genus, non te facundia, non te Restituet pietas.
Infernis neque enim tenebris Diana pudicum
Liberat Hippolytum:
Nec Lethaa valet Theseus abrumpere caro
Vincula Pirithoo.
Book 4.-Ode 7.-To Lucius Manlius Torquatus.
Now snows are quite dissolv'd, fresh grass we see
To fields returned, and leaves to every tree.
Earth changeth hue; the swelling waters sink,
And with soft current glide within their brink.
Aglaia naked, dares upon the ground
With nymphs and her two sisters dance around.
Hope not in mortal things!-so years do say,
So warn the hours, which circumvolve the day.
Soft western winds on winter, mildness bring,
Soon with'ring summer weareth out the spring,
Then mellow autumn pours his fruit amain,
And instantly dull winter 'turns again.
Yet speedy moons these heavenly charms restore;
But when we hence depart, where gone before
Rich Tullus, good Æneas, Ancus stay,
We are but dust and shadows pass'd away !*
Who knoweth whether the celestial powers
Will add to this day's sum, to morrow's hours.
Your greedy heir in nothing shall have part
Of what your living gave with bounteous heart,
But when you once are dead, and powers divine,
To you an equal sentence shall assign;
Nor blood, Torquatus then, nor fluent vein,
Nor piety, can life restore again!
For neither chaste Hippolitus, was free
By Dian sent, from hell's obscurity;
Nor for his dear Pyrithous, the pains
Of Theseus could dissolve Lethean chains.
* The moon renews her orb with growing light,
But when we sink into the depths of night,
Where all the good, the rich, the brave are laid,
Our best remains are ashes and a shade. (FRANCIS.)
To convey the beauty of the original is impossible, but Francis departs entirely from the literal meaning.
Liber IV.-Carmen XII.-Ad Virgilium.
Jam veris comites, quæ mare temperant,
Impellunt animæ lintea Thraciæ:
Jam nec prata rigent, nec fluvii strepunt
Hiberna nive turgidi:
Nidum ponit, Ityn flebilitur gemens,
Infelix avis, et Cecropiæ domus
Eternum opprobrium; quod male barbaras
Regum est ulta libidines:
Dicunt in tenero gramine pinguium
Custodes ovium carmina fistula ;
Delectantque Deum, cui pecus et nigri
Colles Arcadia placent.
Adduxere sitim tempora, Virgili :
Sed pressum Calibus ducere Liberum
Si gestis, juvenum nobilium cliens,
Nardo vina merebere:
Nardi parvus onyx eliciet cadum,
Qui nunc Sulpitiis accubat horreis,
Spes donare novas largus, amaraque
Curarum eluere efficax.
Ad quæ si properas gaudia, cum tua
Velox merce veni: non ego te meis
Immunem meditor tingere poculis,
Plena dives ut in domo.
Verum pone moras et studium lucri ;
Nigrorumque memor, dum licet, ignium,
Misce stultitiam consiliis brevem:
·Dulce est desipere in loco.
Book 4.-Ode 12.-To Virgilius.
South winds the spring attending still,
Now becalm and sails do fill:
Now frosts make not the meadows hoar,
Nor winter's snow-swoln rivers roar.
The luckless bird her nest doth frame,
Bewailing Itys, and the shame
Of Cecrop's house, and that so ill,
On king's rude lust she wrought her will.
The shepherds of rich flocks rehearse,
And to their pipes chaunt rural verse :
Seeking his god-head to appease,
Whom flocks and hills Arcadian please.
These times do thirsty seasons send ;
But if thou Virgil, Cæsar's friend,
Calenian wines desir'st to try,
To me with fragrant unguents hie,
And purchase with a little box,
Wine which Sulpitius safely locks,
New hopes most powerful to create,
And bitter cares to dissipate :
To which content if thou agree,
Stay not, but quickly come to me :
I'll not free cost my cups carouse,
As rich men in a plenteous house.
Then leave delays and gain's desire,
And mindful of black funeral fire,
Short folly mix with councils best,
'Tis sweet sometimes to be in jest.
"Sir John Suckling, SIR JOHN MENNES, and Prior, are all of one school."
(POPE, as reported by Spence.)
SANDWICH in Kent, one of the most distinguished of the five ancient maritime towns, has been in all ages a nursery of those brave men, who, by their enterprize, have extended the bounds of knowledge, and increased the sum of national wealth;-by their skill, united with undaunted courage, have conquered and preserved to their country the absolute dominion of the ocean, and elevated her to the highest rank in the scale of nations; and, what is of far greater importance to their fellow citizens, have by repelling hostile invasion, preserved them from war and its horrors which have in succession visited every other community of people on the surface of the globe. If for ages the sound of cannon in the hands of foreign enemies has not been heard within the vallies of Britain, the sole and efficient cause has been the conduct of her seamen ;-and if there be any one class of men superior to all others, to which the meed of British praise and the debt of British gratitude, are pre-eminently due, it is that of her naval heroes.
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