worthy of such distinguished and exalted Patronage, yet it is possible that by means of them your Royal Highness may be induced to direct a closer attention to the Works of a Poet, inferior to none of those great names which illustrate the literature of the Augustan Era,-Works which may be studied with delight and instruction by all classes, from whose pages Prince and Subject, Rich and Poor, may derive lessons of cheerfulness and contentment, of patriotism and of virtue.

The higher and graver lessons of Morality, as understood by a Christian community, are not, indeed, inculcated by our Author. He was a follower of the doctrines of Epicurus, both in principles and in practice; but that which the French term "La petite morale de la vie," is nowhere more agreeably taught, and many transcendent. passages in the Works of Horace and his

contemporaries might be cited, which seem almost irradiated by the light of Inspiration.

That your Royal Highness may long live in the hearts of a generous Nation, which hails with joy and thankfulness your dawning virtues, is, Sir, the sincere prayer of

Your Royal Highness's

Faithful and Loyal Servant,

RAVENSWORTH.

PREFACE.

THE translation of Horace's Odes into any modern language is a task of acknowledged difficulty and of very doubtful success. By many the attempt has been considered hopeless. The famous phrase of Petronius Arbiter, "Horatii curiosa felicitas," is in every critic's mouth; and the more we study that elaborate and unrivalled felicity, the less capable we feel of reproducing it in another language. Nor is this the only or the least difficulty which presents itself to the translator of Horace's Odes. Abrupt transitions, concentrated sententiousness, obscure and remote allusions, are scattered broadcast through the pages. By a diligent and anxious translator

the abruptness must often be softened, the sententiousness often diluted, the obscurities made intelligible; here and there indelicacies must be veiled. These difficulties have probably been sufficient to deter from the attempt many more competent to execute it than the Author of the present work, yet these difficulties are not all insuperable. The peculiar felicity of expression is indeed inimitable and untranslateable, and a multitude of passages will necessarily lose much of their terseness and vigour by translation. Who can translate into verse the following stanzas without some degree of expansion and circumlocution:

Summovet: non si male nunc, et olim
Sic erit: quondam cithara tacentem
Suscitat Musam, neque semper arcum
Tendit Apollo."

In this, and in many similar passages, allowance must be made for the peculiarities