We all must see Cocytus flow With sullen current, black and slow; And Danäus' hateful brood; And Sisyphus, condemn'd by fate By labours still renew'd. Thy land, thy house, thy pleasing wife, The cypress, tree of gloom, Alone, of all thou lov'st to tend,, And wave above thy tomb. Thy cellars, guarded with such care Shall ransack of their hoard; And wine thy marble floors shall drown Od. iii. 9. HOR. DONEC gratus eram tibi, Nec quisquam potior brachia candida Cervici juvenis dabat; Persarum vigui rege beatior. LYD. Donec non alia magis Arsisti, neque erat Lydia post Chloën ; Multi Lydia nominis Romana vigui clarior Ilia. 5 HOR. Od. iii. 9. WHILE I was dear to thee, While with encircling arms No youth, preferr❜d to me, Dar'd to profane thy bosom's snowy charms; I envied not, by thee ador'd, The wealth, the bliss of Persia's lord. While all thy bosom glow'd LYD. With love for me alone, And Lydia there abode, Where Chloe now has fix'd her hateful throne; HOR. 'Tis true, my captive heart The fair-hair'd Chloe sways, Skill'd with transcendent art To touch the lyre, and breathe harmonious lays ; For her my life were gladly paid, So Heav'n would spare my Cretan maid. 5 10 15 Quid? si prisca redit Venus. Diductosque jugo cogit aheneo? Si flava excutitur Chloë, Rejectæque patet janua Lydia? LYD. Quamquam sidere pulchrior Ille est, tu levior cortice, et improbo Iracundior Adria; Tecum vivere amem, tecum obeam libens. 15 20 LYD. My breast with fond desire. For youthful Calaïs burns ; Touch'd with a mutual fire The son of Ornithus my love returns; HOR. So Heav'n would spare my Thurian boy. What if the former chain, That we too rashly broke, We yet should weave again, And bow once more beneath th' accustom❜d yoke? If Chloe's sway no more I own, And Lydia fill the vacant throne? Though bright as Morning Star LYD. My Calaïs' beaming brow; Though more inconstant far, And easier chaf'd than Adria's billows thou, With thee my life I'd gladly spend, Content with thee that life to end. 30 35 [This Ode has already appeared in print, my friend, Lord Ravensworth, having paid me the compliment of adopting it in his able and classical translation of the whole of the Odes of Horace.-D.] |