Te Cantaber non ante domabilis,

Medusque et Indus, te profugus Scythes

Miratur, o tutela præsens

Italiæ dominæque Romæ !

Te fontium qui celat origines
Nilusque, et Ister, te rapidus Tigris,
Te belluosus qui remotis

Obstrepit Oceanus Britannis ;

Te non paventis funera Galliæ
Duræque tellus audit Iberia :

Te cæde gaudentes Sicambri
Compositis venerantur armis.

OBSERVATIONS (continued).

celebrated indicate no want certainly of personal courage in that leader; and his conquests in Rhætia, Vindelicia, Pannonia, and Illyria, prove him to have been a vigorous and successful commander. But he was hated by the army, and ill-treated by Augustus; and when he succeeded to the purple nothing of moral strength or virtue seems to have. remained in his character. He has been gibbeted by Tacitus and Suetonius, and is now only remembered as the gloomy tyrant of Rome and the abandoned recluse of Capreæ.

As this Ode celebrates the warlike exploits of the Emperor's two lieutenants, Drusus and Tiberius, so the following Ode is devoted solely to the blessings of peace and prosperity, and thus worthily concludes the Fourth Book of these immortal compositions.

Oct. 29, 1856.

ODE XV.

THE PRAISES OF AUGUSTUS.

WHEN late I wished to sing the fame
Of wars and sieges, Phoebus came
And tapped me with his lyre,
Bade me renounce the Epic strain,
Nor launch my cock-boat on the main
Impelled by rash desire.

Yet, Cæsar, of thine age I'll sing
While Plenty showers the gifts of Spring,
And fields are green with corn,
When, closing Janus' gate, thy sword
Our Eagles hath to Jove restored
From Parthian temples torn.

By just and equal laws th' excess
Of uncontrolled licentiousness

Is curbed with prudent hand;
And Infamy gives place to Shame,
And ancient arts revived proclaim
Thy glory through the land. ·

ODE XV.

AUGUSTI LAUDES.

PHOEBUS volentem prælia me loqui
Victas et urbes increpuit lyra,

Ne parva Tyrrhenum per æquor
Vela darem. Tua, Cæsar, ætas

Fruges et agris rettulit uberes,
Et signa nostro restituit Jovi
Derepta Parthorum superbis
Postibus, et vacuum duellis

Janum Quirini clausit, et ordinem
Rectum evaganti fræna licentiæ

Injecit, emovitque culpas,

Et veteres revocavit artes;

By which the Empire's power hath
And universal Rome's renown

Throughout the globe is spread;
Her fame and majesty increased
To the far realms of glowing East
From Hesper's evening bed.

While Cæsar rules the Roman state,
Nor civil feud nor factious hate

Shall interrupt our peace;

grown,

And deadly Rage which aims the knife
At kindred hearts, and stirs up strife
In friendly towns, shall cease.

Not Geta's hosts, nor far Cathay,

Nor those who drink the Danube, may

The Julian edicts brave;

Not faithless Persia's chivalry,

Nor the wild tribes that wander free

By Tanais' frozen wave.

While we on every holiday

With cups of wine and tipsy play

The festival prolong;

And after holy worship due

With wives and sons, a merry crew,

We swell the city's throng:

Per quas Latinum nomen et Italæ
Crevere vires, famaque et imperî
Porrecta majestas ad ortum
Solis ab Hesperio cubili.

Custode rerum Cæsare, non furor

Civilis aut vis eximet otium ;

Non ira quæ procudit enses,

Et miseras inimicat urbes.

Non qui profundum Danubium bibunt Edicta rumpent Julia, non Getæ,

Non Seres, infidive Persæ,

Non Tanaim prope

flumen orti.

Nosque et profestis lucibus et sacris,

Inter jocosi munera Liberi,

Cum prole matronisque nostris,

Rite deos prius adprecati,