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severity for good nature, provided you will become my friend, after my having recanted my ill language, and restore me your affections.

ODE XVII.

TO TYNDARIS.

Horace invites Tyndaris to a safe retreat from the audaciousness of Cyrus in his Sabine villa.

THE nimble Faunus often exchanges the Lycæan mountain for the pleasant Lucretilis, and always defends my she-goats from the scorching summer, and the rainy winds. The wandering wives* of the unsavoury husband seek the hidden strawberry trees and thyme with security through the dangerless grove: nor do the kids dread the green lizards, or the martial wolves; whenever, my Tyndaris, the vales and the smooth rocks of the sloping Ustica, have resounded with his melodious pipe. The Gods are my protectors. My piety and my muse are agreeable to the Gods. Here plenty, rich with rural honours, shall flow to you, with her generous horn filled to the brim. Here, in a sequestered vale, shall you avoid the heat of the dogstar; and on your Anacreontic harp shall you sing of Penelope and the frail Circe, striving for one lover here shall you quaff, under a shade, cups

* She-goats.

Hic innocentis pocula Lesbii
Duces sub umbra: nec Semeleïus
Cum Marte confundet Thyoneus

Prælia: nec metues protervum
Suspecta Cyrum, nec malè dispari
Incontinentes injiciat manus,

Et scindat hærentem coronam
Crinibus, immeritamque vestem.

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CARMEN XVIII.

AD VARUM.

Miseram esse abstemiorum vitam, ebriosorum mi

seriorem.

NULLAM, Vare, sacrâ vite priùs severis arborem
Circa mite solum Tiburis, et mœnia Catili :
Siccis omnia nam dura Deus proposuit: neque
Mordaces aliter diffugiunt solicitudines.

Quis post vina gravem militiam, aut pauperiem crepat ?*

5

Quis non te potiùs, Bacche pater, teque, decens Venus ?

10

At, ne quis modici transiliat munera Liberi,
Centaurea monet cum Lapithis rixa super mero
Debellata; monet Sithoniis non levis Evius,
Cùm fas atque nefas exiguo fine libidinum
Discernunt avidi. Non ego te, candite Bassareu,
Invitum quatiam ; nec variis obsita frondibus
Sub divum rapiam. Sæva tene cum Berecynthio

* Increpat.

of unintoxicating Lesbian. Nor shall the raging son of Semele enter the combat with Mars; and unsuspected you shall not fear the insolent Cyrus, lest he should lay his intemperate hands on you, who are by no means a match for him; and should cut the chaplet that is plaited in your hair, and your inoffensive garment.

ODE XVIII.

TO VARUS.

That miserable is the life of milk-sops, but more so that of drunkards.

O VARUS, you can plant no tree preferably to the vine, about the mellow soil of Tibur, and the walls of Catilus. For God hath rendered every thing cross to the sober: nor do biting cares disperse any otherwise, than by the use of wine. Who, after drinking, ever complains of the hardships of war or poverty? Who does not rather celebrate thee, father Bacchus, and thee, O lovely Venus? Nevertheless, the battle of the Centaurs with the Lapithæ, which was fought in their cups, admonishes us not to exceed a moderate use of the gifts of Bacchus. And Bacchus himself admonishes us in his severity to the Thracians, when, greedy to satisfy their lusts, they make little distinction between right and wrong. O candid Bacchus, I will not rouse thee against thy will, nor will I bring abroad thy mysteries which are covered with various leaves. Cease your direful cym

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Cornu tympana, quæ subsequitur cæcus amor sui, Et tollens vacuum plus nimio gloria verticem, 15 Arcanique fides prodiga, perlucidior vitro.

CARMEN XIX.

DE GLYCERA.

Se illius amore uri.

MATER sæva Cupidinum,

Thebanæque jubet me Semeles puer, Et lasciva licentia

Finitis animum reddere amoribus.

Urit me Glyceræ nitor,

Splendentis Pario marmore puriùs :

Urit grata protervitas,

Et vultus nimium lubricus aspici.

In me tota ruens Venus

5

Cyprum deseruit; nec patitur Scythas,:

10

Et versis animosum equis

Parthum dicere, nec quæ nihil attinent.

Hic vivum mihi cespitem, hîc

Verbenas, pueri, ponite, thuraque

Bimi cum paterâ meri:

Mactatâ veniet lenior hostiâ.

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bals, together with your Phrygian horn, whose followers, are blind self-love, and arrogance, holding up too high her empty head, and that sort of faith which is communicative of secrets, and is more transparent than glass.

ODE XIX.

OF GLYCERA.

That he was inflamed with the love of her.

THE cruel mother of the Cupids, and the son of the Theban Semele, and my own lascivious ease, command me to give back my mind to its deserted loves. The splendour of Glycera, shining brighter than the Parian marble, inflames me : her agreeable petulancy, and her countenance, too unsteady to be beheld, inflame me. Venus, attacking me with her whole force, has quitted Cyprus; nor suffers me to sing of the Scythians, and the Parthian, furious when his horse is turned for flight, nor any subject which is not to my present purpose. Here, slaves, place me a live turf; here, place me the vervains and frankincense, with a flagon of two year old wine. Glycera will approach more propitious, after I have sacrificed

a victim.

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