ODE XXXVI.

TO POMPONIUS NUMIDA.

He congratulates Pomponius Numida upon his happy return from Spain.

THIS is a joyful occasion to sacrifice with incense and music, and the votive blood of a heifer, to the gods, the guardians of Numida; who, now returning in safety from the extremest part of Spain, imparts many embraces to his beloved companions, but to none more than his dear Lamia, mindful of his childhood spent under one and the same governor, and of the* gown, which they changed at the same time. Let not this joyful day be without at Cretan mark of distinction; let us not spare the jar at hand; nor,‡ Salian-like, let there be any cessation of feet; nor let the toping Damalis conquer Bassus in the Thracian § Amystis; nor let there be roses wanting to the banquet, nor the ever-green parsley, nor short-lived lily. All the company will fix their dissolving eyes on Damalis: but she, more luxuriant than the wanton ivy, will not be separated from her new lover.

*At the beginning of the seventeenth year, the Roman youth changed the prætexta, or boy's gown, for the toga virilis, or man's gown.

The Cretans marked their lucky days with white, and the reverse with black.

Salii: Priests of Mars, who made dancing a principal part of their religious worship.

Amystis, a large Thracian cup, which to exhaust at a breath was esteemed a piece of drunken bravery.

ODE XXXVII.

TO HIS COMPANIONS.

That they ought to make a rejoicing on account of Cleopatra's death.

Now, my companions, is the time to carouse, now to beat the ground with a light foot; now is the time that was to deck the couch of the Gods with sumptuous Salian dainties. Before this, it was impious to produce the old Cæcuban stored up by our ancestors; while the queen, with a contaminated gang of creatures, noisome through distemper, was preparing giddy destruction for the capitol, and the subversion of the empire, being weak enough to hope for any thing and intoxicated with the favours of fortune. But scarcely a single ship preserved from the flames abated her fury; and Cæsar reduced her mind, inflamed with Egyptian wine, to real fears, close pursuing her, in her flight from Italy, with his galleys, (as the hawk pursues the tender doves, or the nimble hunter the hare in the plains of snowy Emon,) that he might throw into chains this destructive monster of a woman, who, seeking a more generous death, neither had an effeminate dread of the sword, nor repaired with her swift ship to hidden shores. She was able also to look upon her palace lying in ruins with a countenance unmoved, and courageous enough to handle exasperated asps,* that she might imbibe into her body the deadly poison, being more resolved by having premeditated her death: for she was a woman of

Plutarch says it was that kind of serpent called an asp.

such greatness of soul, as to scorn to be carried off in haughty triumph, like a private person, by rough Liburnian tars.

ODE XXXVIII.

TO HIS SERVANT.

He forewarns him against any extravagant doings at his entertainment.

Boy, I detest the pomp of the Persians: chaplets, which are woven with the philyra* displease me: by no means hunt for the place where the latter rose abides. It is my particular desire that you make no laborious addition to the plain myrtle; for myrtle is neither unbecoming you a servant, nor me, while I quaff under this mantling vine.

* Philyra: a thin membrane between the bark and the wood of the Tilia, or linden-tree, which they made use of by way of riband in their chaplets, &c.

THE

SECOND BOOK

OF THE

ODES OF HORACE.

ODE I.

TO ASINIUS POLLIO.

He entreats him to quit tragedy for the present, that he may apply himself wholly to the history of the civil

wars.

You are treating of the civil commotion which began in the consulship of Metellus, and the causes of the war, and the crimes that were committed, and the measures that were taken, and the sport of fortune, and the pernicious confederacy* of the chiefs, and arms stained with blood not yet expiated,- -a work full of hazardous consequence and you are treading upon fires hid under deceitful ashes. Let therefore the muse that presides over severe tragedy be for a while absent from the theatres: shortly, when you shall have regulated the public affairs, you shall resume your great work in the tragic style, O Pollio, you excellent succour to melancholy defendants and a

* The triumvirate of Octavius, Lepidus, and Antony.

consulting senate; Pollio, to whom the laurel produced immortal honours in the Dalmatian triumph. Even now you stun our ears with the threatening murmur of horns: now the clarions sound; now the glitter of arms affrights the flying steeds, and dazzles the sight of the riders. Now I seem to see great commanders besmeared with glorious dust, and the whole earth subdued except the stubborn soul of Cato. Juno, and every other god propitious to the Africans, impotently went off, leaving that land unrevenged; but soon offered the descendants of the conquerors as sacrifices to the manes of Jugurtha. What plain, enriched by Latin blood, bears not record, by its numerous sepulchres, of our impious battles, and of the sound of the downfall of Italy, heard even by the Medes? What pool, what rivers, are unconscious of our deplorable war? What sea have not the Daunian slaughters discoloured? What shore is not stained by our blood? But do not, rash Muse, neglecting your jocose strains, resume the task of Cæan plaintive song, but rather seek with me for measures of a lighter style, beneath some lovesequestered grotto.