CARMEN III. AD NAVEM, QUA VIRGILIUS ATHENAS Virgilio faustam navigationem precatur Horatius, et impiam hominum audaciam insectatur. SIC te Diva potens Cypri, Sic fratres Helena, lucida sidera, Ventorumque regat pater, Obstrictis aliis, præter Iapyga, Navis, quæ tibi creditum Debes Virgilium; finibus Atticis Reddas incolumem, precor, Et serves animæ dimidium meæ. Illi robur et æs triplex Circa pectus erat, qui fragilem truci Commisit pelago ratem Primus, nec timuit præcipitem Africum Decertantem Aquilonibus, Nec tristes Hyadas, nec rabiem Noti, Quo non arbiter Adriæ Major, tollere seu ponere vult freta. Quem mortis timuit gradum, Qui siccis* oculis monstră natantia, Qui vidit mare turgidum, et. Infames scopulos Acroceraunia? Nequicquam Deus abscidit. Prudens Oceano dissociabili Terras; si tamen impiæ Non tangenda rates transiliunt vada. Rectis. Bent. Fixis. Sanad. 10 15 20 ODE III. TO THE SHIP, IN WHICH VIRGIL WAS ABOUT TO SAIL TO ATHENS. Horace wishes Virgil a good voyage, and inveighs against the impious boldness of mankind. may the powerful Cyprian Goddess; so may the bright stars, the * brothers of Helen; and so may the father of the winds, confining all except Iapyx,† direct thee, O Ship, who art intrusted with Virgil: my prayer is, that thou may land him safe on the Athenian shore, and preserve the half of my soul. Sure oak and threefold brass surrounded his heart, who first trusted a frail vessel to the merciless ocean, nor was afraid of the impetuous African wind contending with the Northern storms, nor of the mournful Hyades, nor of the rage of the South-west wind, than which there is not a more absolute controller of the Adriatic, to either raise or assuage its waves at pleasure. What form of death could terrify him, who beheld unmoved the rolling monsters of the deep; who beheld unmoved the tempestuous swelling of the sea, and the Acroceraunians-infamous rocks? In vain hath God in his wisdom divided the countries of the earth by the separating ocean, if, notwithstanding, profane ships bound over waters which ought not to be violated. The Castor and Pollux. † A westerly wind. Audax omnia perpeti Ignem fraude malâ gentibus intulit:. Post ignem æthereâ domo Terris incubuit cohors; Subductum, macies, et nova febrium 30 Semotique prius tarda necessitas SOLVITUR acris hiems gratâ vice Veris et Favonî : Trahuntque siccas machinæ carinas : Ac neque jam stabulis gaudet pecus, aut arator igni ; Nec prata canis albicant pruinis. Jam Cytherea choros ducit Venus, imminente Lunâ : * Vetitum et nefas. Cod. ant. † Ardui. Bentl. et MSS. race of man, presumptuous enough to support every thing, rushes on through forbidden wickedness.* The presumptuous son of Iapetus † by an impious fraud brought down fire into the world: After fire was thus stolen from the celestial mansions, consumption, and a new train of fevers, settled upon the earth; and the slow approaching necessity of death, which till now was remote, accelerated its pace. Dædalus essayed the empty air with wings not designed for men: The labour of Hercules broke through Acheron. There is nothing too arduous for mortals to attempt. We aim at Heaven itself through folly :§ neither do we suffer by our wickedness Jupiter to lay aside his revengeful thunderbolts. ODE IV. TO SESTIUS. He exhorts him to pleasure, on the considerations of the approach of spring, and the brevity of life. SEVERE winter is relaxed by the agreeable vicissitude of the spring and the western breeze; and engines haul from shore the dry ships: And neither does the cattle any longer delight in the stalls, or the ploughman in the fire-side; nor are the meadows whitened by hoary frosts. Now Cytherean Venus leads up the dance by moon-light; Or if, with Hemelius and Sanad. we read, upon the anthority of an ancient MS. vetitum ét nefas-breaks through all human and divine laws. † Prometheus. # Or, unhappy. Alluding to the fable of the giants. Junctæque Nymphis Gratiæ decentes Alterno terram quatiunt pede; dum graves Cyclopum Vulcanus ardens urit * officinas. Nunc decet aut vividi nitidum caput impedire myrto, Aut flore, terræ quem ferunt solutæ. 10 Nunc et in umbrosis Fauno decet immolare lucis, Vitæ summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam: Jam te premet nox, fabulæque Manes, Et domus exilis Plutonia: quò simul meâris, 15 Miseros esse qui illius amore teneantur: se ex eo, tanquam è naufragio, enatâsse. QUIS multâ gracilis te puer in rosâ Grato, Pyrrha, sub antro? Cui flavam religas comam, # Urget. Scaliger. † Agnâ-hado |