THE TWENTY-NINTH ODE OF THE FIRST BOOK OF HORACE; PARAPHRASED IN PINDARIC VERSE, AND INSCRIBED TO THE RIGHT HON. LAURENCE EARL OF ROCHESTER. DESCENDED of an ancient line, That long the Tuscan sceptre sway'd, Make haste to meet the generous wine, Whose piercing is for thee delay'd: The rosy wreath is ready made; And artful hands prepare The fragrant Syrian oil, that shall perfume thy hair. When the wine sparkles from afar, 5 And the well-natur'd friend cries, Come away; Leave for a while thy costly country seat; The nauseous pleasures of the great : Come, and forsake thy cloying store; Thy turret that surveys, from high, The smoke, and wealth, and noise of Rome; And all the busy pageantry That wise men scorn, and fools adore: Come, give thy soul a loose, and taste the plea sures of the poor. 15 20 Sometimes 'tis grateful to the rich to try The sun is in the Lion mounted high; Barks from afar, And with his sultry breath infects the sky; And seeks refreshing rivulets nigh: [fry. Those very shades and streams new shades and streams require, 35 [fire. And want a cooling breeze of wind to fan the raging Thou, what befits the new Lord Mayor, And what the Gallic arms will do, But God has, wisely, hid from human sight And sown their seeds in depth of night; He laughs at all the giddy turns of state; 40 45 When mortals search too soon, and fear too late. Enjoy the present smiling hour; And put it out of fortune's power: The tide of business, like the running stream, Is sometimes high, and sometimes low, A quiet ebb, or a tempestuous flow, And always in extreme. Now with a noiseless gentle course And bears down all before it with impetuous force ; And trunks of trees come rolling down, 60 Sheep and their folds together drown: Both house and homestead into seas are borne ; And rocks are from their old foundations torn, And woods, made thin with winds, their scatter'd honours mourn. Happy the man, and happy he alone, He who, secure within, can say, 65 To-morrow do thy worst, for I have liv'd to-day. Be fair, or foul, or rain, or shine, [mine. The joys I have possess'd, in spite of fate, are Not heaven itself upon the past has power; But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour. Fortune, that with malicious joy Does man her slave oppress, Is seldom pleas'd to bless : 75 Still various, and unconstant still, I can enjoy her while she's kind; And shakes the wings, and will not stay, I puff the prostitute away: 80 The little or the much she gave is quietly resign'd: Content with poverty, my soul I arm; And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm. What is't to me, Who never sail in her unfaithful sea, If storms arise, and clouds grow black; If the mast split, and threaten wreck? Then let the greedy merchant fear For his ill-gotten gain; And pray to gods that will not hear, While the debating winds and billows bear His wealth into the main. For me, secure from Fortune's blows, And running with a merry gale,' And see the storm ashore. THE SECOND EPODE OF HORACE. How happy in his low degree, Who plough'd, with oxen of their own, Their small paternal field of corn. Nor trumpets summon him to war, Nor drums disturb his morning sleep, Nor knows he merchants' gainful care, Nor fears the dangers of the deep. The clamours of contentious law, And court and state, he wisely shuns, Nor brib'd with hopes, nor dar'd with awe, To servile salutations runs ; But either to the clasping vine Does the supporting poplar wed, Or with his pruning-hook disjoin |