Od. iv. 7.

DIFFUGERE nives; redeunt jam gramina campis,

Arboribusque comæ :

Mutat terra vices, et decrescentia ripas

Flumina prætereunt:

Gratia cum Nymphis geminisque sororibus audet

Ducere nuda choros.

Immortalia ne speres monet annus, et almum

Quæ rapit hora diem.

Frigora mitescunt Zephyris: ver proterit æstas

Interitura, simul

Pomifer auctumnus fruges effuderit; et mox

Bruma recurrit iners.

Damna tamen celeres reparant cœlestia lunæ :
Nos, ubi decidimus

Quo pius Æneas, quo dives Tullus et Ancus,

Pulvis et umbra sumus.

Quis scit, an adjiciant hodiernæ crastina summæ

Tempora Dî superi?

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15

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Od. iv. 7.

THE snows are gone, the fields resume their verdant hue; The trees their leaves renew:

The earth is freshly clad; the late swoll'n streams, now low, Within their limits flow:

The sister Graces three, and Nymphs unzon'd advance, 5 And lead the festive dance.

The seasons' change, the hours that steal our days, explain Immortal hopes how vain!

Springs banish Winter's frosts-Summers succeed to Springs, Then fruitful Autumn brings

Her ripen'd treasures forth; and soon the earth again

Is bound in wint'ry chain.

But Nature's losses soon the circling months repair;

We, when we journey, where

Æneas, Tullus, Ancus, all have gone before,

That Heav'n to this day's sum will add another day,
Who shall presume to say?

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Cuncta manus avidas fugient hæredis, amico

Quæ dederis animo.

Cum semel occideris, et de te splendida Minos
Fecerit arbitria;

Non, Torquate, genus, non te facundia, non te
Restituet pietas.

Infernis neque enim tenebris Diana pudicum
Liberat Hippolytum;

Nec Lethæa valet Theseus abrumpere caro
Vincula Pirithoo.

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25

Whate'er with lib'ral hand thy gen'rous bounty shares,

Shall 'scape thy greedy heirs;

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When thou shalt once have died, and Minos shall on thee

Have pass'd his stern decree,

Torquatus, not thy blood, thine eloquence, thy worth,
Can bring thee back to earth.

To win Hippolytus from out that dark domain

Chaste Dian strove in vain;

Nor Theseus could from bonds of Lethe's slumb'rous wave His lov'd Pirithöus save.

CATULLUS.

Car. xxxi.

AD SIRMIONEM PENINSULAM.

PENINSULARUM, SIRMIO, insularumque
Ocelle, quascunque in liquentibus stagnis,
Marique vasto fert uterque Neptunus :
Quam te libenter, quamque lætus inviso!

Vix mî ipse credens Thyniam, atque Bithynos

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Liquisse campos, et videre te in tuto.

O quid solutis est beatius curis?

Cum mens onus reponit, ac peregrino

Labore fessi venimus larem ad nostrum,

Desideratoque acquiescimus lecto.

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