CARMEN XXXIV. Fictâ Palinodiâ Deorum providentiam prorsus evertit. PARCUS Deorum cultor et infrequens, Insanientis dum sapientiæ Consultus erro; nunc retrorsum Vela dare, atque iterare cursus Cogor relictos. Namque Diespiter, Igni corusco nubila dividens Plerumque, per purum tonantes Egit equos volucremque currum; Concutitur. Valet ima summis Sustulit; hîc posuisse gaudet. 5 10 15 Cogor relectos. Heins. Insignia attenuat. ODE XXXIV. In a pretended recantation, he absolutely overthrows the arguments in favour of the providence of the Gods. I WAS an unfrequent and remiss worshipper of the gods, while I professed the errors of a senseless philosophy; but now I am obliged to set sail back again, and to renew the course that I had deserted: For Jupiter, who usually cleaves the clouds* with his gleaming lightning, lately drove his thundering horses and rapid chariot through the clear serene: at which the sluggish earth, and wandering rivers, at which Styx, and the horrid seat of detested Tænarus, and the utmost boundary of Atlas, was shaken. The Deity is able to make an exchange between the highest and lowest, and diminishes the exalted, by bringing to light the obscure: rapacious fortune, with a shrill whizzing, hath borne off the plume from one head, and delights in having placed, not fixed, it on another. It was the opinion of the Epicureans, that thunder was caused by the collision of one cloud against another. But Horace, hearing thunder in a cloudless sky, gives up their doctrine. G 2 CARMEN XXXV. AD FORTUNAM. Pro republicâ, Augusto, et Romanis exercitibus deprecatur. O DIVA, gratum quæ regis Antium, Vertere funeribus triumphos : Te Dacus asper, te profugi Scythæ, Injurioso ne pede proruas Stantem columnam; neu populus frequens Ad arma cessantes, ad arma Concitet, imperiumque frangat. Te semper anteit* sæva Necessitas, Uncus abest, liquidumque plumbum. Te Spés, et albo rara Fides colit Veste domos inimicat linquis. At vulgus infidum, et meretrix retro * Serva Necessitas. Inimica vertis. Bentl. 5 10 15 20 30 25 ODE XXXV. TO FORTUNE. He prays to her for the commonwealth, Augustus, \ and the Roman armies. O GODDESS, who presidest over beautiful Antium; thou that art ready to exalt mortal man from the most abject state, or to convert superb triumphs into funerals! Thee, the poor countryman solicits with his anxious vows; and whosoever ploughs the Carpathian sea with the Bithynian vessel, importunes thee as mistress of the sea. Thee, the rough Dacian; thee, the wandering Scythians, and cities and nations, the warlike Latium also, and the mothers of barbarian kings, and tyrants clad in purple, are in dread of. Spurn not, with destructive foot, that column which now `stands firm, nor let popular tumults rouse those who now rest quiet to arms,-to arms-and break the empire. Inexorable necessity always marches before you, holding in her brazen hand huge* spikes and wedges: nor is the tormenting hook absent, or the melted lead. Thee hope reverences, and fidelity rare, robed in a white garment; nor does she desert thee, howsoever in wrath thou change thy robe, and abandon the houses of the powerful. But the faithless crowd of companions, These were several instruments of punishment and death, which were sculptured in the temple of Fortune at Antium. Perjura cedit; diffugiunt cadis Ferre jugum pariter dolosi. Serves iturum Cæsarem in ultimos Partibus, Oceanoque rubro. Eheu! cicatricum et sceleris pudet, Liquimus? unde manus juventus 30 35 40 CARMEN XXXVI. AD POMPONIUM NUMIDAM. Pomponio Numide faustum ex Hispania reditum gratulatur. ET thure et fidibus juvat Placare, et vituli sanguine debito Custodes Numidæ Deos: Qui nunc Hesperiâ sospes ab ultimâ, Caris multa sodalibus, Nulli plura tamen dividit oscula, Quam dulci Lamiæ, memor Acte non alio rege pueritiæ, Diffingas reçusum. 5 |