An hunc laborem mente laturi, decet Vel occidentis usque ad ultimum finum Roges, tuum labore quid juvem meo, Comes minore [a] fum futurus in metu, Ut aflidens implumibus pullis avis Magis relictis; non, ut adfit, auxili Non ut juvencis [b] illigata pluribus 25 Pecufve Calabris ante fidus fervidum Aratra [c] nitantur meis; Lucana mutet pafcuis : Nec ut [d] fuperni villa candens Tufculi Circaea tangat moenia Satis fuperque me benignitas tua Ditavit: haud paravero, Quod aut, avarus ut Chremes, terra premam ; Difcin&tus aut perdam ut nepos. [a] Sim futurus in metu. HEINS. [b] Juvenĉis alligata pluribus. [c] Aratra nectantur meis. [d] Nec ut fupini. BENTL 30 CARMEN or fhall I endure the toil with fuch a courage as becomes uneffeminate men to bear-I will bear it; and with an intrepid foul will I follow you, either through the fummits of the Alps, and the inhofpita'ble Caucafus, or to the furtheft western bay. You may ask, perhaps, how I, unwarlike and infirm, can affift your labours by mine? While I am your companion I fhall be in lefs anxiety, which takes poffeffion of the abfent in a greater meafure. As the bird that has unfledged young, is in greater dread of ferpents approaches, when they are left;— Not that if fhe fhould be prefent when they came, fhe could be of any more fervice. Not only this, but every other war, fhall be chearfully embraced by me for the hopes of your favour: and this not that my ploughs fhould labour yoked to a greater number of teams of mine own oxen; or that my cattle before the fcorching dog-ftar fhould change the Calabrian for the Lucanian pasture: neither that my white country box fhould reach (approach in magnificence) the Circaean* walls of lofty Tufculum. Your generofity has already enriched me enough, and more than enough: I shall never wish to amafs, what either, like the mifer Chremes in the play, I may bury in the earth, or luxuriously fquander like a prodigal rake. ODE Circaean, becaufe Tufculum was built by Telegonus the fon of Circe---Telegoni juga parricida. CARMEN II. VITAE RUSTICAE LAUDES. Alphius feenerator, velut artis fuae pertaefus, laudat vitam rufticam; fed mox, avaritia victus, ad inge nium priftinum, vivendi rationem redit. BEATUS ille, qui procul negotiis, Ut prifca gens mortalium, Paterna rura bobus exercet fuis, Nec excitatur claffico miles truci, Nec horret iratum mare; Ergo aut adulta vitium propagine Aut in reducta valle mugientium Feliciores inferit: Aut preffa puris mella condit amphoris; Vel, cum decorum mitibus pomis caput. Ut gaudet infitiva decerpens pyra, Qua muneretur te, Priape, et te, pater Libet jacere modo fub antiqua ilice, Labuntur altis interim [a] rivis aquae; [a] Altis interim ripis. 5 10 15 20. 25 Que 3 ODE II. The PRAISES of a COUNTRY LIFE. Alphius the ufurer, weary as it were with his craft, praifes a country life; but shortly overcome with avarice, he returns to his natural bent, and his old way of living. HAPPY the man, who remote from business, after the manner of the ancient race of mortals, cultivates his paternal lands with his own oxen, difengaged from every kind of ufury; he is neither alarmed with the horrible trumpet, as a foldier, nor dreads he the angry fea; he fhuns both the bar, and the proud portals of the men in power. Wherefore he either weds the lofty poplars to the mature branches of the vine; or lopping off the ufelefs boughs with his pruning-knife, he ingrafts more fruitful ones; or takes a profpect of the herds of his lowing cattle wandering about in a lonely vale; or ftores his honey, preffed from the combs, in clean veffels; or fhears his tender fheep. Or, when autumn has lifted up in the fields his head adorned with mellow fruits, how glad is he while he gathers the pears grafted by himfelf, and the grape that vies with the purple, with which he may recompenfe thee, Oh Priapus, and thee, father Sylvanus, the guardian of his boundaries! fometimes he delights to lie under an aged holm-tree, fometimes on the matted grafs : mean while the waters glide down from fteep clefts; the birds warble in the woods; and the fountains murmur with their purling ftreams, which Queruntur in filvis aves; Frontefque lymphis obftrepunt manantibus, At cum tonantis annus hibernus Jovis Imbres nivefque. comparat; Aut trudit acres hinc et hinc multa cane Apros in obftantes plagas : Aut amite levi rara tendit retia, Turdis edacibus dolos; 30 Pavidumque leporem, et advenam laqueo gruem 35 Jucunda captat praemia. Quis non malarum, quas amor curas habet, Haec inter oblivifcitur? Quod fi pudica mulier in partem juvet Domum atque dulces liberos, 40 (Sabina qualis, aut perufta folibus Pernicis uxor Appuli) Sacrum vetuftis extruat lignis focum, Laffi fub adventum viri; Claudenfque textis cratibus laetum pecus, 45 Diftent ficcet ubera; Et horna dulci vina promens dolio, Dapes inemtas apparet ; Non me Lucrina juverint conchylia, 50. Si quois Eois intonata fluctibus |