ODE XXVII.

AD GALATEAM.

Eam a navigando deterret, præsertim exemplo Europa. IMPIOS parræ recinentis omen

Ducat, et prægnans canis, aut ab agro

Rava decurrens lupa Lanuvino,

Foetaque vulpes :

Rumpat et serpens iter institutum,
Si per obliquum similis sagittæ
Terruit mannos. Ego, cui timebo
Providus auspex,

Antequam stantes repetat paludes
Imbrium divina avis imminentum,
Oscinem corvum prece suscitabo
Solis ab ortu.

Sis licet felix, ubicumque mavis,
Et memor nostri, Galatea, vivas;
Teque nec lævus vetet ire picus,
Nec vaga cornix.

Sed vides, quanto trepidet tumultu
Pronus Orion? Ego quid sit ater
Adriæ novi sinus, et quid albus

Peccet Iapyx.

ODE XXVII.

TO GALATEA.

LET pregnant bitch, or chattering jay,
Or fox with whelps, or wolf—all day—
Impede the impious on their way

With omens black;

The snake, too, like an arrow keen,
If cross their path to dart 'tis seen,
Frightens their horses, and, I ween,

Oft keeps them back.

For her in whom I interest take

To raven hoarse my prayers I'll make,

Ere crow can seek the stagnant lake,—
Presage of rain!

O Galatea mayst thou be

Everywhere blest-remembering me!

No boding pie mayst thou e'er see

To give thee pain.

Know'st thou how prone Orion moves

And labours on ?-It me behoves

To tell, that oft Iapyx' proves

Falsely serene.

1 A north-westerly wind.

Hostium uxores puerique cæcos
Sentiant motus orientis Austri, et

Equoris nigri fremitum, et trementes
Verbere ripas.

Sic et Europe niveum doloso
Credidit tauro latus, et scatentem
Belluis pontum mediasque fraudes
Palluit audax.

Nuper in pratis studiosa florum, et
Debitæ Nymphis opifex coronæ,
Nocte sublustri, nihil astra præter
Vidit et undas.

Quæ simul centum tetigit potentem
Oppidis Creten: pater, ô relictum
Filiæ nomen, pietasque ! dixit

Victa furore.

Unde? Quò veni? Lenis una mors est Virginum culpæ. Vigilansne ploro

Turpe commissum? An vitio carentem Ludit imago

Vana, quæ portâ fugiens eburnâ

Somnium ducit? Meliusne fluctus

Ire

per longos fuit, an recentes
Carpere flores?

Let wives and children of our foes

Feel to what heights the south-wind grows;
Lashing the shore with billowy blows

Of frightful mien.

Europa, thus, her snowy shape

Trusted to bull intent on rape;

But when she saw sea-monsters gape,

Sigh follow'd sigh.

She who was late, in meadows green,
Of virgin chaplet-weavers queen,
Now saw herself, at night, between

The waves and sky!

But when she reach'd the shores of Crete, Whose hundred towns the traveller greet, "Father!" she cried, with frantic heat,

"Ah, woe is me!

"Whence come I?-to what barbarous clime? Can death wipe out the virgin's crime?

Am I awake, and—all this time—

From phantoms free?

"Or does, from out the ivory gate', Some dream disturb my virgin state?

Why did I leave my flowery fate

For ocean drear?

The poets feigned that out of "the ivory gate" proceeded false dreams. Vide Virgil, Æn. vi. 896.

Si quis infamem mihi nunc juvencum Dedat iratæ ; lacerare ferro, et Frangere enitar modo multum amati Cornua tauri.

Impudens liqui patrios Penates! Impudens Orcum moror! O Deorum Si quis hæc audis, utinam inter errem Nuda leones.

Antequam turpis macies decentes
Occupet malas, teneræque succus
Defluat prædæ, speciosa quæro

Pascere tigres.

Vilis Europe, pater urget absens ;

Quid mori cessas? Potes hâc ab orno Pendulum zonâ bene te secutâ e

lidere collum.

Sive te rupes et acuta leto

Saxa delectant; age, te procellæ

Crede veloci: nisi herile mavis

Carpere pensum,

Regius sanguis, dominæque tradi
Barbara pellex. Aderat querenti
Perfidum ridens Venus, et remisso

Filius arcu.

Mox ubi lusit satis, abstineto

(Dixit) irarum, calidæque rixæ,