CARMEN XXXVIII.

AD PUERUM.

Admonet ut cænam fine ambitiofo apparatu ftruat.

PERSICOS odi, puer, apparatus:
Difplicent nexæ philyra coronæ :

Mitte fectari, rofa quo locorum
Sera moretur.

Simplici myrto nihil allabores

Sedulus [a] curo: neque te ministrum
Dedecet myrtus, neque me fub arcta
Vitę bibentem.

5

Q. HORA

[a] Sedulus curæ. Sedulus cura. Bentl.

ODE XXXVIII.

To his SERVANT.

He forewarns him against any extravagant doings d his entertainment.

BOY,

OY, I deteft the pomp of the Perfians: chap lets, which are woven with the Philyra,* di please me: by no means hunt for the place wher the latter rose abides. It is my particular defin that you make no laborious addition to the plai myrtle; for myrtle is neither unbecoming you fervant, nor me while I quaff under this mantlin vine.

THI

* Philyra; a thin membrane between the bark ar the wood of the Tilia, or Linden-tree, which they mad ufe of by way of riband in their chaplets, &c.

Q. HORATII FLACCI

CARMINUM

LIBER II.

CARMEN I.

AD ASINIUM POLLIONEM.

oratur ut, intermiffis tragediis, det fe totum facribende bellorum civilium hiftoriæ.

[OTUM ex Metello confule civicum, Bellique caufas, & vitia, & modos, Ludumque Fortunæ, gravefque Principum amicitias, & arma ondum expiatis [a] uncta cruoribus, riculofæ plenum opus aleæ Tractas, & incedis per ignes

Suppofitos cineri dolofo.

[a] Tincta cruoribus,

5

Paulum

To ASINIUS POLLIO.

He entreats him to quit tragedy for the prefent, that he may apply himself wholly to the hiftory of the civil

wars.

ΤΟ

OU are treating of the civil commotion, which began in the confulfhip of Metellus, and the causes of the war, and the crimes that were committed, and the measures that were taken, and the fport of fortune, and the pernicious* confederacy of the chiefs, and arms ftained with blood not yet expiated-a work full of hazardous confequence: and you are treading upon fires hid under deceitful

The triumvirate of Octavius, Lepidus, and Antony.

Paulum feveræ Mufa tragedie
Defit theatris: mox, ubi publicas
Res ordinaris, grande munus
Cecropio repetes cothurno,
Infigne moeftis præfidium reis,
Et confulenti, Pollio, curiæ:
Cui laurus æternos honores

Dalmatico peperit triumpho.

Jam nunc minaci murmure cornuum
Perftringis aures: jam litui ftrepunt:
Jam fulgor armorum fugaces

Terret equos, equitumque vultus.
Audire [a] magnos jam videor duces
Non indecoro pulvere fordidos,

Et cuncta terrarum fubacta,

Præter atrocem animum Catonis. Juno, & Deorum quifquis amicior Afris, inulta cefferat impotens Tellure, victorum nepotes

Rettulit inferias Jugurtha.

Quis non Latino fanguine pinguior

Campus fepulcris impia proelia
Teftatur, auditumque Medis

Hefperiæ fonitum ruine?

Qui gurges, aut quæ flumina lugubris
Ignara belli? Quod mare Daunie

Non decoloravere cædes?

Quæ caret ora cruore nostro ? Sed ne relictis, Mufa procax, jocis, Ceæ retractes munera næniæ:

Mecum dionæo fub antro

Quære modos leviore plectro.
[a] Videre magnos.