Contendat; illi turba clientium bit major; æqua lege Neceffitas Sortitur infignes et imos: Omne capax movet urna nomen. Diftri&tus enfis cui fuper impia Dulcem elaborabunt faporem ; Somnum reducent. Somnus agreftium Non Zephyris agitata Tempe. Cum famulis, dominufque terræ Poft equitem fedet atra Cura. Vitis, Achæmeniumque coftum; Cur invidendis poftibus, et novo Cur valle permutem Sabina Daerofiores. Bentl morals and a better reputation; a third has a fuperior number of dependents; but death, by the impartial law of nature, is allotted both to the confpicuous and the obfcure: the capacious urn keeps every name in motion. Sicilian dainties will not force a delicious relish to that man, over whofe impious neck the naked fword impends: the fongs of birds and the lyre will not restore his fleep. Sleep difdains not the humble cottages and fhady bank of peasants; he difduins not Tempe, fanned by zephyrs. Him, who defires but a competency,neither the tempestuous fea renders anxious, nor the malign violence of Arcturus fetting, or of the rifing Kid; not his vineyards beaten down with hail, and a deceitful farm; his pl. ntations at one feafon blaming the rains, at another, the influence of the conftellations parching the grounds, at another, fevere winters. The fifhes perceive the feas contracted, by the vaft foundations that have been laid in the deep: hither numerous undertakers with their men, and lords difdainful of the land, fend down mortar but anxiety, and the threats of confcience, afcend by the fame way as the poffeffor; nor does gloomy care depart from the brazen-beaked galley, and the mounts behind the horfeman. Since then neither the Phrygian marble, nor the use of purple more dazzling than the fun,t nor the Falernian vine, nor the Perfian perfume compofes a troubled mind, why should I fet about a lofty edifice with envy-exciting columns, and in the modern tafte? Why fhould I exchange my Sabine vale for wealth, which is attended with more trouble? Alluding to the ftory of Damocles. † It is prefumed that commentators upon this possage might bave fucceedea better, had they remembered Seneca's expreffion, clarum mundi fidus, fpeaking of the fun. That orb, in many languages, is frequently and emphatically termed the ftar. Clarior, bere rendered dazzling, refers not at all to the colour of purple, but only to the use of it as a badge of dignity and office. CARMEN II. AD AMICOS. Bellicam fortitudinem, probitatem, et arcani fidem commendat. Abus acri militia puer Condifcat; et Parthos feroces Vexet eques metuendus hafta; Sufpiret, Eheu! ne rudis agminum Dulce et decorum eft pro patria mori : Mors et fugacem perfequitur *virum ; Virtus repulfæ nefcia fordidæ, Catufque vulgares, et udam Spernit bumum fugiente penna. 15 20 Efficacem. Markl. Profequitur. Codd. B. Confes quitur. Bentl. In-contaminatis. Giphant ODE II. TO HIS FRIENDS. He praises military bravery, probity, and fidelity in the keeping of a fecret. L ET the robuft youth, my friends, learn to endure pinching want in the active exercife of arms; and as an expert horfeman, dreadful for his fpear, let him harafs the fierce Parthians; and let him lead a life expofed to the open air, and familiar with dang rs. Him, the confort and marriageable virgin-daughter of fome warring tyrant, viewing from the hoftile walls, may figh-alas! left the royal hufband, unacquainted with the state of the battle, fhould provoke by a touch this terrible lion, whom rage hurries through the midft of flaughter.* It is fweet and glorious to die for one's country; death even purfues the man, that flies from him; nor does he fpare the trembling knees of effeminate youth, nor the coward back. Virtue, unknowing of bafe repulfe,t fhines with immaculate honours; nor does the affume or lay afide the enfigns of her dignity, at the capricious veering of popular air. Virtue, throwing open heaven to thofe who deferve not to die, directs her progrefs through paths of difficulty, and fpurns with a rapid wing groveling crowds, and the flippery earth. There is likewife a fure reward * Which be fpreads wherever he goes. t Virtue, as independent of factions and parties, can fuffer no diminution of it's native bonours from popular caprice. Cato's virtues are bere fuppofed to be alluded to, and how did they Through the dark cloud of ills that cover'd him Break out, and burn with more triumphant brightness! L Eft et fideli tuta filentio Merces: vetabo, qui Cereris facrum Sit trabibus, fragilemque mecum CARMEN III. Auguftum, ne fedem imperii Trojam transferat, elam debortatur. JUSTUM, et tenacem propofiti virum, Non civium ardor prava jubentium, Mente quatit folida, neque Aufter Dux inquieti turbidus Adriæ, Nec fulminantis magna Jovis manus : Hac arte Pollux, et vagus Hercules Hac te merentem, Bacche pater, tuæ Collo trahentes; hac Quirinus Junone Divis: Ilion, Ilion Fatalis inceftufque judex Innifus. Enifus. Bentl. 25 30 10 15 20 |