The Latin inscription does not seem to express the scope of this ode, which is rather to celebrate the popular deities and heroes of Rome than Augustus exclusively: though the design is so worked out as to draw the chief attention to him. The poet, though making Augustus the climax of his song, goes through the praise of Jove and his children, and that of twelve of Rome's principal worthies, before he comes to Augustus.' Marcellus, mentioned in the twelfth stanza, the nephew and son-in-law of Augustus, died in his twentieth year.

WHAT man or hero with the lyre, or shrilly
Pipe, wilt thou take to celebrate, O Clio?

Which of the gods? Whose name by sportive Echo
Shall be repeated,

Either on slopes of Helicon umbrageous,

Or upon Pindus, or on gelid Haemus,

Rashly from whence came down the woods, attending
Eloquent Orpheus;

Who, with maternal art, the nimbly gliding
Rivers, and winds in their swift flight arrested:
Who the oaks guided, list'ning to his sweetly
Resonant harp-strings?

What shall I sing before the wonted praises
Due to the god, of gods and men the parent,
Who, unto them, and earth and sky and ocean,
Tempers the seasons?

XII. DE AUGUSTO.

QUEM virum aut heroa, lyra, vel acri
Tibia sumis celebrare, Clio?

Quem deum? Cujus recinet jocosa
Nomen imago,

Aut in umbrosis Heliconis oris,

Aut super Pindo, gelidove in Haemo
Unde vocalem temere insecutae

Orphea silvae,

Arte materna rapidos morantem
Fluminum lapsus, celeresque ventos,
Blandum et auritas fidibus canoris
Ducere quercus?

Quid prius dicam solitis parentis
Laudibus, qui res hominum ac deorum,
Qui mare ac terras, variisque mundum

Temperat horis ?

Whence than himself is naught engendered greater,

Naught doth there flourish similar or second;
Albeit, nighest unto his, the honours

Held by Minerva.

Nor of thee, Bacchus, valorous in battle,
Nor of thee, Virgin, foe to beasts ferocious,
Nor of thee, Phoebus, feared for shaft unerring,
Will I be silent.

Hercules too I'll sing, and Leda's children;
This in the race, with caestus that, excelling:
White is their star, nor sooner doth its fulgence
Gleam on the sailor,

Than from the rocks flows off the heaving water,
And the winds straightway fall, and vapours vanish,.
And for 'tis so they will-the threat'ning billows

Lie down on Ocean.

Next after these, of whom to speak I waver:
Romulus, say, or Numa's calm dominion?
Either of Tarquin's fasces proud, or Cato's
Noble self-slaughter?

Unto the Scauri, Regulus, and Paulus

Lavish of life sublime when Carthage triumphed,
Shall I with signal strain pay grateful homage,
And to Fabricius.

Him, and unkempt Curius for campaigning
Poverty tutored: tutored too Camillus-
Poverty stern and patrimony scanty

Matching the homestead.

Unde nil majus generatur ipso,

Nec viget quidquam simile, aut secundum; Proximos illi tamen occupavit

Pallas honores.

Proeliis audax, neque te silebo,
Liber; et saevis inimica virgo
Beluis; nec te metuende certa
Phoebe sagitta..

Dicam et Alciden; puerosque Ledae,
Hunc equis, illum superare pugnis
Nobilem quorum simul alba nautis
Stella refulsit,

Defluit saxis agitatus humor;
Concidunt venti, fugiuntque nubes,
Et minax (quod sic voluere). ponto
Unda recumbit.

Romulum post hos prius, an quietum
Pompilî regnum memorem, an superbos
Tarquinî fasces, dubito, an Catonis
Nobile letum.

Regulum, et Scauros, animaeque magnae
Prodigum Paullum, superante Poeno,
Gratus insigni referam Camena,

Fabriciumque.

Hunc, et incomptis Curium capillis,
Utilem bello tulit, et Camillum

Saeva paupertas, et avitus apto

Cum lare fundus.

D

Growing like tree in secret, of Marcellus

Groweth the glory. But thy star outshineth,
Julius, all, as, lesser lights excelling,

Shines the moon's splendour.

Offspring of Saturn! thou of human creatures
Father and guardian! Fate to thee hath given
Wardship of Caesar. Thou supreme, and next thee
Caesar vicegerent.

Whether he subject, righteously triumphant,
Parthians daring Latium to menace;

Whether the lieges of the eastern seaboard,
Seric and Indic;

Under thee, he wide earth shall justly govern :
Thou with thine awful car shalt shake Olympus :
Thou upon groves unchaste shalt hurl the hostile
Bolts of thy levin.

In respect to the Lydia of this and other odes, and to the rest of the fair, and presumably frail, ones celebrated by Horace, it may here be remarked once for all, that to attempt to identify them with real personages would be as hopeless an undertaking as to seek originals for Mr. Thomas Little's Fanny of Timmol, and for the Rosa, Kitty, Martha, Chloe and Susan who figured on the list of beauties loved and caressed by that fortunate young gentleman.

WHEN, Lydia, of Teleph's charms,
Of Teleph's rosy neck, and arms
Of wax, you sound the praises,