u finas Medos equitare inultos. Te duce, Cæfar.

CARMEN III.

o NAVEM, qua Virgilius Athenas proficifcens vehebatur.

rgilio fauftam navigationem precatur Horatius, & impiam hominum audaciam infectatur.

IC te divi potens Cypri,

Sic fratres Helena, lucida fidera,

Entorumque regat pater,

Obftriétis aliis, præter Iapyga,

avis, quæ tibi creditum

Debes Virgilium; finibus Atticis eddas incolumem, precor,

Et ferves animæ dimidium meæ.

i robur & æs triplex

Circa pectus erat, qui fragilem truci mmifit pelago ratem

Primus, nec timuit præcipitem Africum ecertantem Aquilonibus,

Nec triftes Hyadas, nec rabiem Noti; 10 non arbiter Adriæ

Major, tollere feu ponere vult freta. em mortis timuit gradum,

Qui ficcis* oculis monftra natantia, i vidit mare turgidum, &

Infames fcopulos Acroceraunia?

5

10

15

20

Nequicquam

Rectis. BENTL. Fixis. Sanad,

nity to make incurfions, you, O Cæfar, being our

To the SHIP, in which VIRGIL was about to fail to ATHENS.

HORACE wishes VIRGIL a good Voyage, and inveighs against the impious boldness of mankind.

*

So may the powerful Cyprian goddess! fo may the bright stars, the brothers of Helen; and fo may the father of the winds, confining all except + Iapyx, direct thee, O fhip, who art intrusted with Virgil: my prayer is, that thou mayft land him fafe on the Athenian fhore, and preferve the half of my foul. Sure oak and threefold brass furrounded his heart, who first trusted a frail veffel to the merciless ocean, nor was afraid of the impetuous African wind contending with the northren storms, nor of the mournful Hyades, nor of the rage of the fouth-weft wind, than which there is not a more abfolute controller of the Adriatic, to either raise or to affuage its waves at pleasure. What form of death could terrify him, who beheld unmoved the rolling monfters of the deep? who beheld unmoved the tempeftuous fwelling of the fea, and the Acroceraunians-infamous rocks!

* Caftor and Pollux.

† A wefterly wind.

In

Nequicquam Deus abfcidit

Prudens Oceano diffociabili Terras, fi tamen impiæ

Non tangenda rates tranfiliunt vada.

Audax omnia perpeti

Gens humana ruit per vetitum* nefas.

Audax Japeti genus

25

Ignem fraude mala gentibus intulit:

Nil mortalibus arduum † est

Cœlum ipfum petimus ftultitia: neque

Per noftrum patimur fcelus

Iracunda Jovem ponere fulmina. '

CARMEN IV.

AD S ESTIU M.

48

**

In vain hath God in his wifdom divided the countries of the earth by the feparating ocean, if notwithstanding profane fhips bound over waters which ought not to be violated. The race of man, prefumptuous enough to fupport everything, rushes on through forbidden wickednefs. The prefumptuous fon of Iapetus,t by an impious fraud, brought down fire into the world: after fire was thus ftolen from the celeftial manfions, confumption and a new train of fevers, fettled upon the earth; and the flow approaching neceffity of death, which till now was remote, accelerated its pace. Dedalus effayed the empty air with wings not defigned for men: the labour of Hercules broke through Acheron. There is nothing too arduous for mortals to attempt. We aim at heaven itfelf through folly;$ neither do me fuffer by our wickednefs, Jupiter to lay afide his revengeful thunderbolts.

ODE IV.

To SESTIUS.

He exhorts him to pleafure, on the confiderations of the approach of fpring, and the brevity of life. SEVERE winter is relaxed by the agreeable viciffitude of the fpring, and the western breeze; and engines haul from hore the dry fhips and

neither

*Or, if with Memelius and Senadon, we read upon the authority of an antient MS. vetitum & nefas-breaks through all human and divine laws.

+ Prometheus.
* Or unhappy.
§ Alluding to the fable of the giants.

c neque jam ftabulic gaudet pecus, aut arator igni;

Nec prata canis albicant pruinis.

m Cytherea choros ducit Venus, imminente luna:

Junctæque Nymphis Gratia decentes

5

terno terram quatiunt pede; dum graves Cyclopum

Vulcanus ardens urit* officinas.

nc decet aut viridi nitidum caput impediremyrto, Aut flore, terræ quem ferunt folutæ

10

nc & in ambrofis Fauno decet immolare lucis, Seu pofcat agnam, five malit hoedum. (a) llida mors æquo pulfat pede pauperum tabernas, Regumque turres. O beate Sefti,

æ fumma brevis fpem nos vetat inchoare longam.

Jam te prèmet nox, fabulæque Manes,

domus exilis Plutonia: quo fimul mearis, Nec regna vini fortiere talis,

c tenerum Lycidam mirabere, quo calet juventus Nunc omnis, & mox virgines tepebunt.

CARMEN V.

AD PYRRHAM.

feros effe qui illius amore teneantur fe ex eo, tanquam e naufragio, enatale.

UIS multa gracilis te puer in rofa
Perfufus liquidis urget odoribus

Urget, Scaliger. (a) Agna-hado.

Grato,