Book L. ODE II. TO AUGUSTUS CÆSAR. ENOUGH of direful hail and snow Hath Jove now sent on earth below; The sacred temples felt the blow His red arm hurl'd, The city trembled; nations shook; When Proteus' herd the deeps forsook To mount the world; When in the elms the fish were mesh'd, Where once had been the wild-dove's nest; And timid deer could find no rest, But swam for life. No lack of omens !-Tiber's rage Dash'd 'gainst the towers of Numa's age, Then rush'd with Vesta's fanes t' engage In eddying strife! Iliæ dum se nimium querenti Labitur ripâ, Jove non probante, ux orius amnis. Audiet cives acuisse ferrum, Quo graves Persæ melius perirent; Audiet pugnas, vitio parentum Rara juventus. Quem vocet Divûm populus ruentis Imperî rebus? prece quâ fatigent Virgines sanctæ minus audientem Carmina Vestam? Cui dabit partes scelus expiandi Augur Apollo. Sive tu mavis, Erycina ridens, Sive neglectum genus, et nepotes Respicis, auctor, Heu! nimis longo satiate ludo; Quem juvat clamor, galeæque leves, Acer et Mauri peditis cruentum Vultus in hostem ; Sive mutatâ juvenem figurâ Ales in terris imitaris, almæ Whilst that uxorious river-god, Without great Jove's approving nod, O'erflows the bank. Our youth, less numerous than of yore, "Twere better Parthians fell before Their serried rank! What god will save our falling state? But VESTA has been deaf of late To all their prayers! Who shall thy wrath, great Jove, appease? Prophetic Phoebus! mayst thou please, Veil'd in a cloud, to come and ease Our vex'd affairs. Or thou sweet goddess of the doves, Or, thou, great founder, mighty Mars! Which goad the state. Or thou, wing'd son of Maia mild,— Filius Maiæ, patiens vocari Cæsaris ultor : Serus in cœlum redeas: diuque Ocyor aura Tollat hic magnos potius triumphos, Hic ames dici pater, atque princeps: Neu sinas Medos equitare inultos, Te duce, Cæsar. Cæsar's avenger to be styled, In human shape : O late mayst thou return to heaven :- On winds t' escape! Here, as Augustus, long preside- Till Medes no more, incursive, ride— But, awe-struck, gape! |