CARMEN III. AD NAVEM, qua Virgilius Athenas proficifcens vehebatur. Virgilio fauftam navigationem precatur Horatius, & impiam hominum audaciam infectatur. SIC te divi potens Cypri, Sic fratres Helena, lucida fidera, Ventorumque regat pater, Obftrictis aliis, præter Iapyga, Navis, quæ tibi creditum Debes Virgilium; finibus Atticis Reddas incolumem, precor, Et ferves animæ dimidium mex. Illi robur & æs triplex * Circa pectus erat, qui fragilem truci Commifit pelago ratem Primus, nec timuit præcipitem Africum Decertantem Aquilonibus, Nec triftes Hyadas, nec rabiem Noti; uo non arbiter Adrie Major, tollere feu ponere vult freta. nem mortis timuit gradum, Qui ficcis * oculis monftra natantia, i vidit mare turgidum, & Infames fcopulos Acroceraunia? 5 Nequicquam *Rectis. BENTL. Fixis. SANAD, nity to make incurfions, you, O Cæfar, being our general. ODE III. 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 intrufted 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 ftorms, 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 monsters of the deep? who beheld unmoved the tempeftuous fwelling of the fea, and the Acroceraunians-infamous rocks! In * Caftor and Pollux. A wefterly wind. 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 Ignem fraude mala gentibus intulit: Subductum, macies, & nova febrium 1. 25 Poft ignem ætheria domo Terris incubuit cohors; 30 Semotique prius tarda neceffitas Lethi corripuit gradum. Expertus vacuum Dedalus aera 35 Perrupit Acheronta Herculeus labor. Pennis non homini datis : Nil mortalibus arduum + eft Cœlum ipfum petimus ftultitia: neque Per noftrum patimur fcelus Iracunda Jovem ponere fulmina. CARMEN IV. AD S ES TI U M. 4Q In vain hath God in his, wisdom 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 every thing, rushes on through forbidden wickednefs. The prefumptuous fon of Iapetus,+ 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 itself through folly;$ neither do me fuffer by our wickedness, Jupiter to lay afide his revengeful thunderbolts. 4 He exhorts him to pleasure, 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 fhore 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. Or unhappy. + Prometheus. Ac neque jam ftabulic gaudet pecus, aut arator igni; Nec prata canis albicant pruinis. Jam Cytherea choros ducit Venus, imminente luna: Junctæque Nymphis Gratiæ decentes 5 Alterno terram quatiunt pede; dum graves Cyclopum Vulcanus ardens urit* officinas. Nunc decet aut viridi nitidum caput impediremyrto, Aut flore, terræ quem ferunt folutæ 10 Nunc & in ambrofis Fauno decet immolare lucis, Seu pofcat agnam, five malit hoedum. (a) Pallida mors æquo pulfat pede pauperum tabernas, Regumque turres. O beate Sefti, Vitæ fumma brevis fpem nos vetat inchoare lon 4 gam. Jam te prèmet nox, fabulæque Manes, Et domus exilis Plutonia: quo fimul mearis, Nec tenerum Lycidam mirabere, quo calet juventus Miferos effe qui illius amore teneantur fe ex eo, tanquam e naufragio, enataffe. UIS multa gracilis te puer in rofa Urget, Scaliger. (a) Agna-hado. Grato, |