* which invites on gentle flumbers. But when the wintry feafon of the tempeftuous air prepares rains and fnows, he either pufhes the fierce boars, with dogs on every fide, into the intercepting toils; or fpreads his thin nets with the fmooth pole, as a fnare for the voracious thrushes; or catches in his gin the timorous hare, or that stranger the crane, pleafing rewards for his labour. Amongst fuch joys as thefe, who does not forget thofe mifchievous anxities, which are the property of love? But if a chafte wife, affifting on her part in the management of the house, and beloved children (fuch as is the Sabine, or the fun-burnt spouse of the industrious Apulian) piles up the facred + hearth with old wood just at the approach of her weary husband; and, fhutting up the fruitful cattle in the woven hurdles, the milks dry their diftended udders; and, drawing this year's wine out of a well-feafoned cafk, prepares the unbought collation; not the Lucrine oifters could delight me more, or the turbot, or the fcar, fhould the tempeftuous winter drive any from the eastern floods to this fea: not the turkey, nor the Afiatic wild fowl, can come into my ftomach more agreeable than the olive gathered from the richest branches of the trees, or Thundering Jupiter: but as thunder is the least frequent in winter, and Jupiter, it has above been observed, frequently fignifies the air, the expression may perhaps be beft understood of the loud hurricanes and the general troubled ftate of the atmosphere in the winter feafon. The Roman hearths were double facred, first, to their houshold gods, and fecondly to Vefta, Aut herba lapathi prata amantis, et gravi Vel agna feftis caefa Terminalibus, Vel hoedus ereptus lupo. Has inter epulas, ut juvat paftas ovės Videre properantes domum! Videre feffos vomerem inverfum boves Pofitofque vernas, ditis examen domus, Haec ubi locutus foenerator Alphius, Omnem [a] relegit Idibus pecuniam ; CARMEN III. AD MECENATE M. PARENTIS olim fi quis impia manu Edit cicutis allium nocentius. O dura mefforum ilia! Quid [b] hoc veneni faevit in praecordiis ? Num viperinus his cruor Incocus herbis me fefellit? an malas Canidia tractavit dapes ? Ut Argonautas praeter omnes candidum Medea mirata eft ducem, Ignota tauris illigaturum juga, Perunxit hoc Jafonem: [a] Redegit Idibus pecuniam. the forrel, that loves the meadows, or mallows, fa lubrious for a fickly body, or a lamb flain at the feaft of the god Terminus,* or a kid juft rescued from the wolf. Amidst thefe dainties, how it pleafes one to fee the well-fed sheep hastening home! too see the weary oxen, with drooping neck, dragging the inverted plough-fhare; and numerous flaves, the teft of a rich family, ranged about the fmiling houfhold gods! when Alphius the ufurer, now on the point of turning countryman, had faid all this, he collected in all his money on the Ides ;†-and endeavours to put it out again at the Calends. ODE III. To MECENAS. He expreffes his averfion to garlick. IF any perfon at any time with an impious hand has broke his aged father's neck, let him by way of punishment, eat garlick, more baneful than hemlock. Oh the hardy bowels of the mowers! What poifon is this that rages in my entrails? Has viper's blood, infused in these herbs, deceived me? or has Canidia meddled with this vile food? When Medea, beyond all the other Argonauts, admired their handsome leader, the anointed Jafon with this as he was going to tie the unexperienced yoke on the fiery bulls and having revenged herfelf on Jafon's mistress by making her prefents befmear *The tutelar god of their boundaries. Crcufa. ed Hoc delibutis ulta donis pellicem, Serpente fugit alite. Vec tantus unquam fiderum infedit vapor Nec munus humeris efficacis Herculis Inarfit aeftuofius. At, fi quid unquam tale concupiveris, Manum puella fuavio opponat tuo, CARMEN IV. 15 20 In quemdam, qui e fervo tribunus militum effectus, triumviralis claffis parti erat praeficiendus. LUPIS et agnis quanta fortito obtigit, Tecum mihi difcordia eft, Ibericis perufte funibus latus, Fortuna non mutat genus. Sectus flagellis hic triumviralibus Arat Falerni mille fundi jugera, Sedilibufque magnus in primis eques, 5 เอ 15 Quid [a] Cum bis trium ulnarum. BENTL. [b] Othone contento. i ed with this, fhe flew away on her winged dragon. Never did the streaming influence of any conftellation fo raging as this reft upon the thirsty Apulia; nor did the gift of Dejanira burn hotter upon the fhoulders of the laborious Hercules. But if ever, facetious Maecenas, fhould have a defire for any fuch stuff again, I with that your girl may oppofe her hand to your kifs, and lie at the furtheft part of the bed. O DE VI. On a certain perfon, who, from a flave, being made a military tribune, was to have the command of one part of the fleet of the Triumviri. S great an enmity as is allotted by nature to wolves and lambs, fo great a one have: I to thee, thou that art galled at thy fide with Spanish cords, and on thy legs with the pinching fetter. though purfe-proud with your riches, you strut along, yet fortune does not alter your low birth. Do you not obferve, while you are measuring the facred* way with a robe twice three ells long, how a most open indignation diftorts the faces of those that pass and repafs? Mind this fellow (fay they cut with the triumvirs' whips even till the beadle was fick of his office, he cultivates a thoufand acres of Falernian land, and wears out the Appian road with his prancing nags; and, in defpite of Otho, fits in the first rows of the Circus as a knight * Via facra, the grand street that led to the Capitol. + Rofcius Otho made a law by which the feats of the Roman knights in the Circus were regulated. |
