O thou ne'er ftain'd by parents mean,
And clear of the fepulchral fcene;
A prudent woman, that will spare
The nine-days-buried afhes there;
You have an hospitable heart,

Pure hands—can do a mother's part;
And tho' you shou'd be brought to bed,
Preferve your strength, your white and red.

EPODE

E PODE

XVI.

CANIDIÆ

RESPONSIO,.

Quá oftendit, fe nullis precibus exorari poffe, quoniam fua veneficia divulgaverat Poeta.

QUID obferatis auribus fundis preces ?

Non faxa nudis furdiora navitis

Neptunus alto tundit Hybernus falo,
Inultus ut tu riferis Cotyttia

Vulgata, facrum liberi Cupidinis?
Et Efquilini Pontifex veneficî

Impune ut urbem nomine impleris meo?
Quid proderit ditaffe Pelignas anus,
Velociufve mifcuiffe toxicum,

Si tardiora fata te votis manent?
Ingrata mifero vita ducenda eft, in hoc,
Novis ut ufque fuppetas doloribus.

PROSE INTERPRETATION.

Why do you pour out your prayers to ears that are blocked up against them? Neptune, at the season of winter, in a high fea, does not beat rocks more deaf to the naked failors. What fhall you with impunity laugh at the Cotyttian ceremonies divulged by you, tho' facred to promifcuous love; and as pontiff of our Efquilian inchantments, fill the city with my name? What will it profit me to have enriched the Pelignian

old

E PODE XVI.

CANIDIA'S

ANSWER,

In which she fhews that he cannot be pacified by any intreaties, because the poet has made her magical proceedings public.

WHY fue your pray'rs to her that mocks,

With liftlefs ears not beaten rocks;
Where waves the wint'ry Neptune throws,
More deaf attend the failor's woes.
What, unreveng'd, Cotyttian rites,
Which, facred to luxurious nights,
Do all free intercourfe indulge,
Shall you deride and you divulge;
And with my name the city fill,
As priest of our Esquilian STILL?
What profit, that Pelignian dames
Are richer from my chymic flames;
And that quick poison I contrive,
If thou'rt against my wish alive?

PROSE INTERPRETATION.

old witches, and to have compounded a poifon of quicker effect, if a destiny too tedious for my withes await you? A digufting

Q3

Optat quietem Pelopis in fidys pater,
Egens benigna Tantalus femper dapis:
Optat Prometheus obligatus aliti:
Optat fupremo collocare Sifiphus

In monte faxum: fed vetant leges Jovis,
Voles modo altis defilire turribus,

Modo enfe pectus Norrico recludere,
Fruftraque vincla gutturi innectes tuo,
Faftidiofâ triftis ægrimoniâ,

Vectabor humeris tunc ego inimicis eques:
Meæque terra cedet infolentiæ.

An, quæ movere cereas imagines,

Ut ipfe nofti, curiofus, & polo
Deripere Lunam vocibus poffum meis :
Poffum crematos excitare mortuos,

PROSE INTERPRETATION.

digufting life fhall be prolonged by you in a ftate of wretchednefs, to the end that you may always be equal to the new pains. Tantalus, the father of the falfe Pelops, always indigent of the fumptuous banquet that is before him, wishes for refpite: Prometheus, bound to the vultur, wifhes for the fame: Sifyphus wifes to fix the ftone upon the top of the mountain; but the penal laws of Jupiter forbid. Thou shalt be inclined at one time to leap down from lofty towers, at another to lay open your breaft with the Noric blade; and melancholy, with your capricious ailment, in vain fhall tye ropes to your neck. Then I will be carried, riding upon

your

An irkfome life thou fhall retain,

For fresh and for perpetual pain.

Still pining at the dainty meats,
For eafe falfe Tantalus intreats;
Prometheus, whom the vultur gnaws,
Wou'd also have his torments pause;
His tone too Sifyphus wou'd prize,
Up the high hill; but Jove denies;
To leap from tow'rs on earth beneath,
Or in your breaft the fword to fheathe.
Now will you wish, and now will try
The
your neck to tye ;-
All this thou fhalt attempt in vain,
Thro' tedious grief and four difdain;-
Mean time I'll on your shoulder ride,
'Till earth shall scarce fupport my pride:
Shall I (as you who pry'd can prove)
Who make the waxen ftatues move;

about rope

The moon can draw from out her course,
By words of fympathetic force;

PROSE INTERPRETATION.

your hoftile fhoulders, and the earth fhall give way to my infolence. What fhall I, that can actuate waxen figures (as you yourself, by means of your curiofity, know) and hurry

Q4

the