Utrumque sacro digna silentio Densum humeris bibit aure vulgus. Quid mirum, ubi illis carminibus stupens Aures, et intorti capillis Eumenidum recreantur angues? Quin et Prometheus et Pelopis parens Aut timidos agitare lyncas. OBSERVATIONS (continued). mind the dark realm of Proserpine and the shadowy forms. which people those gloomy groves, among which he particularly specifies Sappho and Alcæus, those models of lyric song, from whom he drew his own inspirations. This transition from the execrations with which he loads the ill-omened tree in the opening stanzas is most artfully and beautifully managed, and is worthy of all admiration. The phrase in this Ode, "Quid quisque vitet, nunquam homini satis recurs to one's recollection every day. Feb. 1842. ODE XIV. TO POSTUMUS. Он, Postumus! how speedily The wrinkles of advancing age, And Death's indomitable rage, Not if whole hecatombs we bring That wave which all must navigate, A labourer's lot they share. ODE XIV. AD POSTUMUM. EHEU! fugaces, Postume, Postume, Rugis et instanti senectæ Afferet, indomitæque morti. Non, si trecenis, quotquot eunt dies, Plutona tauris; qui ter amplum Geryonen Tityonque tristi Compescit unda, scilicet omnibus, Sive inopes erimus coloni. D D In vain from bloody Mars we run, Of Hadria's roaring seas; Cocytus, in his mazy bed, And Lethe's languid waters; Thy lands, and home, and pleasing wife, And save the bough abhorred A worthier heir shall grasp thy keys, Jan. 1833. Frustra cruento Marte carebimus, Visendus ater flumine languido Linquenda tellus, et domus, et placens Ulla brevem dominum sequetur. Absumet hæres Cæcuba dignior Servata centum clavibus; et mero OBSERVATIONS. In this favourite Ode the poet seems to continue the same train of thought as that with which he concluded the last. Here he moralises upon the shortness of life, the certainty of death, and the loss of all sublunary enjoyments. Having, alas! no hope to offer beyond the grave, he can but conduct you to Sisyphus and Cocytus, and predicate the waste of your substance by your heir and successor. |