'Tis fit the o'er effem'nate mind
In rougher schools to train;
Unskilled to ride, our youth refined,
The manly chase disdain.

More apt with Grecian hoop to toy,
Or throw forbidden dice;
While to enrich his worthless boy,
The father's base device,

His partner or his guest defrauds— Still grows th' ill-gotten store; Deemed ever incomplete, the hoards Lack yet a something more.

LIBER I.-CARMEN XV.

NEREI VATICINIUM DE EXCIDIO TROJE.

PASTOR Cum traheret per freta navibus
Idæis Helenen perfidus hospitam,
Ingrato celeres obruit otio

Ventos, ut caneret fera

Nereus fata: Mala ducis avi domum,
Quam multo repetet Græcia milite,
Conjurata tuas rumpere nuptias
Et regnum Priami vetus.

Heu! heu! Quantus equis, quantus adest viris

Sudor! Quanta moves funera Dardanæ

Genti! Jam galeam Pallas et ægida

Currusque et rabiem parat.

BOOK I.-ODE XV.

THE PROPHECY OF NEREUS.

As o'er the main the faithless Shepherd bore
The lovely Helen from the Grecian shore,
(His ships by Ida's sacred mount supplied),
Hushed were the winds, and calmed the briny tide
By Nereus' power, prophetic as he told

The cruel fates:

"Ill omened dost thou hold

Thy course with her, whom Greece shall soon reclaim,

With thousands burning to avenge her shame;
Bound by united oaths to sweep away

Thy nuptial ties, and Priam's length'n'd sway.

"Alas! through thee what toils the steeds distress,
And what the men! what ruin doth oppress
The Dardan race! e'en now. her Ægis dire,
Her shield and car, and all resistless ire

Nequicquam, Veneris præsidio ferox, Pectes cæsariem, grataque feminis Imbelli cithara carmina divides;

Nequicquam thalamo graves

Hastas et calami spicula Gnosii Vitabis, strepitumque et celerem sequi Ajacem. Tamen heu! serus adulteros Crines pulvere collines.

Non Laërtiaden, exitium tuæ Gentis, non Pylium Nestora respicis? Urgent impavidi te Salaminius Teucer, te Stheneleus sciens

Pugnæ, sive opus est imperitare equis, Non auriga piger. Merionen quoque Nosces. Ecce furit te reperire atrox Tydides melior patre,

Quem tu, cervus uti vallis in altera Visum parte lupum graminis immemor, Sublimi fugies mollis anhelitu,

Non hoc pollicitus tuæ.

Pallas prepares. In vain on Venus' care Relying, proud you'll dress your flowing hair, And with the lyre's soft notes, to women sweet, Alternate strains in silken dalliance mete;

"In vain you'll shun the Gnossian arrows' flight,
And spears obnoxious to thy soft delight,
The din of arms, and Ajax' swift pursuit ;
But ah! those glossy tresses pleading mute,
Adult'rous lures! at length the dust shall soil;
Dost not behold Laertes' son, whose toil
Brings Trojan ruin? nor the Pylian sage?
Salminian Teucer, eager to engage,
Brave Stheneleus, well versed in arts of war,
Or swift to guide at need the rolling car,

Pursue thee close! Bold Merion too thou 'lt know.

With fury raging, bent to lay thee low,

His sire surpassing in his deeds of old,

Swift through the field, fierce Diomede behold!

"Whom as a stag, in some fair valley wide, Espies a wolf, far on its distant side,

And pasture leaves; so shalt thou, coward, fly With breath deep panting, and the vaunts belie Made to thy bride;—Impending fates shall loom Awhile o'er Ilion;-and her matrons' doom