Audax omnia perpeti

Gens humana ruit per vetitum nefas.

Audax Iapeti genus

Ignem fraude malâ gentibus intulit.

Post ignem æthereâ domo Subductum, macies, et nova febrium

Terris incubuit cohors; Semotique priùs tarda necessitas

Lethi corripuit gradum. Expertus vacuum Dædalus aëra

Pennis non homini datis.

Perrupit Acheronta Herculeus labor.

Nil mortalibus arduum est. Cœlum ipsum petimus stultitiâ; neque

Per nostrum patimur scelus Iracunda Jovem ponere fulmina

Man who to venture all things dares aspire,
Forbidden crimes, audacious, rushes on.
By wicked fraud, amongst the nations, fire
Brought down Iapetus' audacious son.

Scarce filch'd had fire been from th' Ethereal floor,
When leanness and a troop of fevers new,
The Earth invested straight and brooded o'er ;
And Death, erewhile remote from human view,
Though sure yet slow, advanced with quicken'd stride.
The vacuous air dared Dædalus essay,

With wings denied to man; and through the tide
Of Acheron forced Hercules his way.

By mortals naught is arduous deem'd to be:

E'en Heav'n we seek, in madness of our pride;
Nor suffer Jove, so steep'd in crime are we,
His angry thunder-bolts to lay aside.

ODE IV.

AD SEXTIUM.

OLVITUR acris hyems gratâ vice veris et Favonî;
Trahuntque siccas machinæ carinas :

Ac neque jam stabulis gaudet pecus, aut arator igni ;
Nec prata canis albicant pruinis.

Jam Cytherea choros ducit Venus, imminente Lunâ: Junctæque Nymphis Gratiæ decentes

Alterno terram quatiunt pede, dum graves Cyclopum Vulcanus ardens urit officinas.

Nunc decet aut viridi nitidum caput impedire myrto,
Aut flore, terræ quem ferunt solutæ ;

Nunc et in umbrosis Fauno decet immolare lucis,
Seu poscat agnam, sive malit hædum.

Pallida mors æquo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas,
Regumque turres. O beate Sexti,

Vitæ summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam.
Jam te premet nox, fabulæque manes,

Et domus exilis Plutonia: quò simul meâris,

Nec regna vini sortiere talis ;

Nec tenerum Lycidam mirabere, quo calet juventus
Nunc omnis, et mox virgines tepebunt.

ODE IV.

TO SEXTIUS.

TH

HE pleasant change of Spring and Zephyrus unbind Sharp Winter; down are haul'd dry keels once more; No longer wants his stall the ox, his fire the hind;

Nor with white frost are now the pastures hoar. Now Cytherea leads the dance, the moon o'erhead, And with alternate foot the Graces fair And Nymphs the meadows strike, while Vulcan, glowing

Lights up and makes the Cyclops' forges flare.

The shining head it now with myrtle green behoves
To wreathe, or flow'rs the loosen'd soil o'erspread;
In Faunus' honour, now, amidst the shady groves,
A lamb to kill, or kid if wish'd instead.

[red,

Pale death with equal foot knocks at the poor man's cot And kingly tow'r. O! happy Sextius,

Our life's short span long hope t' indulge allows us not. Soon night and fabled shades shall press on us,

So too shall Pluto's ghostly house, and when once there,
No dice will make you ruler of the wine,

No tender Lycidas you'll find, to youths now dear,
And for whom soon our maids with love will pine.

Q

ODE V.

AD PYRRHAM.

UIS multâ gracilis te puer in rosâ
Perfusus liquidis urget odoribus

Grato, Pyrrha, sub antro?

Cui flavam religas comam,

Simplex munditiis? Heu, quoties fidem, Mutatosque Deos flebit, et aspera

Nigris æquora ventis

Emirabitur insolens,

Qui nunc te fruitur credulus aureâ,
Qui semper vacuam, semper amabilem
Sperat, nescius auræ

Fallacis! Miseri quibus

Intentata nites. Me tabulâ sacer

Votivâ paries indicat uvida

Suspendisse potenti

Vestimenta maris Deo.