Page images
PDF
EPUB

Importuna tamen pauperies abeft:
Nec, fi plura velim, tu dare deneges.
Contracto melius parva cupidine
Veftigalia porrigam,

Quam fi Mygdoniis regnum Halyattici
Campis continuem. Multa petentibus,
Defunt multa. Bene eft, cui deus obtulit
Parcâ, quod fatis eft, manu,

PROSE INTERPRETATION.

the adminiftration of fertile Africa. Though neither Calabrian bees make honey, nor wine ripens to age for me in a Formian jar, nor rich fleeces grow in Gallic pastures; yet importunate poverty is far away; nor, if I chofe more, would you deny to give it. I fhall better enlarge my fmall finances by contracting my defires, than if I could annex the realm

of

Yet want's remote, that wretched fate,
That makes a man importunate

If more I should require,

I should not be refus'd by you-
But I must raise my revenue
By curbing my defire.

And better fo, than should I add
The Lydian realm to what I had,
And all the Phrygian land;

They that crave moft, poffefs the least —
'Tis well where'er enough's the feast;

Heav'n gives with frugal hand.

PROSE INTERPRETATION.

of Halyatticus to the Phrygian plains. To those that seek after much, much is wanting. It is well with him to whom Providence has given what is fufficient with a frugal hand.

ODE

[blocks in formation]

AD ELIUM LA MIA M.

Lamia nobilitatem laudat, deinde admonet ut diem craftinum bilariter exigat.

ÆLI, vetufto nobilis ab Lamo

(Quando & priores hinc Lamias ferunt

Denominatos, & nepotum

Per memores genus omne faftos)
Auctore ab illo ducis originem,
Qui Formiarum monia dicitur
Princeps, & innantem Maricæ
Littoribus tenuiffe Lirin,
Late tyrannus. Cras foliis nemus
Multis & algâ littus inutili
Demiffa tempeftas ab Euro

Sternet: aquæ nifi fallit augur
Annofa cornix, Dum potes, aridum
Compone lignum: cras genium mero
Curabis, & porco bimestri,

Cum famulis operum folutis.

PROSE INTERPRETATION.

O Ælius! noble from ancient Lamus, (fince they report that both the first of the Lamian family had their title from hence, and all the fucceffion of defcendants through the faithful rolls) you draw your original from that founder, who is faid to have held, as fovereign, the Formian bulwarks, and Liris flowing into the fhores of Marica, an abfolute monarch far and wide.-To-morrow a ftorm, let down from the east, fhall ftrew the ground with a multitude of leaves, and the fhore with vile fea-weed, unless that old foreboder of showers,

the

[blocks in formation]

TOELIUS LAMIA.

He extols the nobility of Lamia-He then advifes him to Spend the morrow with merriment.

O SPRUNG from Lamus! fam'd of old,

Since by our fathers we were told,
That you from him your family derive,
And diaries that feast each rifing year revive.
From him, your fountain-head, you spring,
Who was a moft extenfive king,

And firft the Formian walls was faid to found
On Liris for Marica in his current bound.

To-morrow's eastern blast shall speed
To ftrew with leaves and useless weed

The groves, unless th' old raven's voice be vain,
That witch of rifing winds, and of defcending rain.
On your glad hearth dry billets raife,
And while 'tis lawful) let 'em blaze;
Indulge to morrow on fat pig and wine,

And fervants call'd from work, with their gay lord to

dine.

The Elian family was very illuftrious in Rome, and very numerous it comprehended likewife the boufe of Lamia, which did to it diftinguished honour on account of

its antiquity, infomuch that, if a man was better born than ordinary, he was proverbially called a La

mia.

PPOSE INTERPRETATION.

་ ་

the raven, impofes upon me. Heap up the dry wood, while it is in your power: to-morrow you fhall indulge your genius with net wine, and a pig of two months old, together with your fervants, freed from their day's work.

[blocks in formation]

Deum filveftrem, precatur, ut per fuos tranfiens agros fibi fuifque fit propitius.

FAUNE, Nympharum fugientum amator

Per meos fines & aprica rura
Lenis incedas, abeafque parvis
Equus alumnis ;

Si tener pleno cadit hoedus anno,
Larga nec defunt Veneris fodali
Vina crateræ, vetus ara multo
Fumat odore,

Ludit herbofo pecus omne campo,
Quum tibi nonæ redeunt Decembres,

Feftus in pratis vacat otiofo,

Cum bove pagus,

Inter audaces lupus errat agnos,
Spargit agreftes tibi filva frondes,
Gaudet invifam pepuliffe foffor
Ter pede terram.

PROSE INTERPRETATION.

O Faunus the lover of the nymphs, that fly thee, in a mild mood take your walks through my borders, and funny farms, and depart propitious to my little younglings. If, at the completion of the year, a tender kid falls a facrifice to you, nor a profufion of wines are wanting to the goblet, the concomitant of Venus, and the ancient altar fteams with much fweet odours. All the cattle gambol upon the tufted green, when the nones of December return for your holiday. The feftal village is at leifure in the meadows, with the oxen,

that

« PreviousContinue »