Q. HORATII FLACCI CARMINUM LIBER III. CARMEN I Felicitatem in honoribus ac divitiis pofitam non effe. DI profanum vulgus, et arceo. ODI : Favete linguis carmina non prius Audita Mufarum facerdos Virginibus puerifque canto. Regum timendorum in proprios greges, Reges in ipfos imperium eft Jovis, 5 Cuncta 231 I I That happiness confifts not in honour and rich Abominate the uninitiated vulgar, and them off. Give a religious attention : prieft of the mufes, fing to virgins and boys v not heard before. The dominion of dread f reigns is only over their own fubjects,* that of piter, glorious for his conqueft over the giants, whe fhakes H 3 * Literally FLOCKS. Homer is fond of terming kings fhepherds of the people. Thus the true God entitles himself the fhepherd of his people, and them the sheep of his pasture: the expreffion therefore is not too low for the pomp of the ftrophe, agreeably to the charge of a late ingenious editor of our author, Cun&ta fupercilio moventis. Omne capax movet urna nomen. 10 15 20 25 fævus Arcturi cadentis mpetus, aut orientis Hoedi; verberatæ grandine vineæ, dufquæ mendax; arbore nunc aquas 30 Culpante, nunc torrentia agros Sidera, nunc hiemes iniquas. Contracta pifces æquora fentiunt, Jactis in altum molibus: huc frequens Cum famulis, dominufque terrae 35 Faftidiofus: fed timor et minae Scandunt eodem quo dominus; neque Decedit [a] Efto ut viro. BENTL. fhakes all nature with his nod, is over fovereigns themfelves. It happens that one man plants trees, in regular rows, to a greater extent than another: this man comes down into the Campus Martius as a candidate of a better family, while another vies with him for morals and a better reputation; a third has a fuperior number of dependants; but death, by the impartial law of nature, is allotted both to the confpicuous and obfcure: the capacious urn keeps every name in motion. Sicilian dainties will not force a delicious relifh* to that man, over whofe impious neck the naked fword impends: the fongs of birds or the lyre will not restore his fleep. Sleep difdains not the humble cottages and fhady bank of peasants, he disdains not Tempe, fanned by zephyrs. Him, who defires but a competency, neither the tempeftuous fea renders anxious, nor the malign violence of Arcturus fetting, or of the rifing kid; not his vineyards beaten down with hail, and a deceitful farm, his plantations at one feafon blaming the rains, at another, the influence of the conftellations parching the grounds, at another, fevere winters difturb him. The fishes perceive the feas contracted, by the vast foundations that have been laid into the deep: hither numerous undertakers, with their men, and lords difdainful of the land, fend down mortar: but anxiety and the threats of confcience, afcend by the fame way as the poffeffor, nor does gloomy care depart from the brazen-beaked galley, and Alluding to the ftory of Damocles. fhe Decedit ærata triemi, et Poft equitem fedet atra cura. Quod fi dolentem nec Phrygius lapis, Nec purpurarum fidere clarior Delenit ufus, nec Falerna Vitis, Achæmeniumque coftum; Cur invidendis poftibus, et novo CARMEN II. 40 45 Bellicam fortitudinem, probitatem, et arcani fidem commendat. ANGUSTAM, amici, pauperiem pati Robuftus acri militia puer Sufpiret, Eheu! Ne rudis agminum [a] Divitias onerofiores. BaNTL. 5 10 Mors |