Namque me silvâ lupus in Sabinâ, Dum meam canto Lalagen, et ultrà Terminum curis vagor expeditus, Fugit inermem.

Quale portentum neque militaris
Daunia in latis alit esculetis;
Nec Juba tellus generat, leonum
Arida nutrix.

Pone me pigris ubi nulla campis
Arbor æstivâ recreatur aurâ ;

Quod latus mundi nebulæ malusque
Jupiter urguet:

Pone sub curru nimiùm propinqui Solis, in terrâ domibus negatâ ; Dulcè ridentem Lalagen amabo, Dulcè loquentem.

For as I stray'd in careless mood,

Beyond my bounds, in Sabine wood,
Singing my Lalage, alarm'd

A wolf fled from me, though unarm❜d.

A monster, such as ne'er was bred
In warlike Daunia's woods outspread;
Nor e'er in Juba's land of thirst,
That arid lion-rearer, nurst.

Place me in barren deserts where
No tree is' fann'd by summer air;

On that side of the world, where pest
And noxious atmospheres infest:

Place me 'neath Sol's too neighbouring car, In regions where no dwellings are;

Still Lalage I'll love the while,

With her sweet voice, and her sweet smile.

CARMEN XXIII.

AD CHLOEN.

VITAS hinnuleo me similis, Chloe, Quærenti pavidam montibus aviis

Matrem, non sine vano

Aurarum et silüæ metu.

Nam seu mobilibus veris inhorruit

Adventus foliis, seu virides rubum

Dimovere lacertæ,

Et corde et genibus tremit.

Atqui non ego te, tigris ut aspera, Gætulusve leo, frangere persequor;

Tandem desine matrem

Tempestiva sequi viro.

ODE XXIII.

TO CHLOE.

You fly me, Chloe, as in haste
A fawn flies o'er the mountain waste
Its timid dam to find;

Not without a causeless fear

Of all around, each thicket near,

Each whisper of the wind.

For the trembling of her breast,

And her shaking knees attest

How great is her dismay;

Should lizards green but stir the brake, Or new-arriving spring awake

With leafy rush the spray.

But I do not thy steps pursue,
As a tigress wild would do,

In pieces thee to tear;

No Getulian lion I,

At length then from thy mother fly,

Of fitting age to pair.

CARMEN XXIV.

AD VIRGILIUM.

QUIS desiderio sit pudor aut modus Tam cari capitis? Præcipe lugubres Cantus, Melpomene, cui liquidam pater Vocem cum citharâ dedit.

Ergo Quinctilium perpetuus sopor Urguet? cui Pudor, et Justitiæ soror, Incorrupta Fides, nudaque Veritas,

Quando ullum inveniet parem?

Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit;
Nulli flebilior, quam tibi, Virgilî;

Tu frustrà pius, heu ! non ita creditum
Poscis Quinctilium Deos.