CARM. XXX. O Venus, regina Cnidi Paphique, Sperne dilectam Cypron, et vocantis Thure te multo Glyceræ decoram Transfer in ædem. Fervidus tecum Puer, et solutis Gratiæ zonis, properentque Nymphæ, Et parum comis sine te Juventas, Mercuriusque.1 ODE XXXI. PRAYER TO APOLLO. After the battle of Actium, Augustus, in commencing the task of social reformer, restored the ancient temples and built new ones. Amongst the latter, A.U.C. 726, he dedicated to Apollo a temple, with a library attached to it, on the Palatine. This charming poem expresses the poet's private supplication to the god thus newly installed. 1 What demands at Apollo's new temple the poet? Not sunny Calabria's fair herds; Neither prays he for gold, nor the ivory of Indus, Let those on whom Fortune bestows So luxurious a grape, prune the vine-trees of Cales, Cups' sculptured for pontiffs in gold; Dear, indeed, to the gods must be he who revisits Twice and thrice every year the Atlantic, unpunished : To me for a feast, mallows light, And endives and olives suffice. Give me health in myself to enjoy the things granted, And let it not fail of the lyre. 'Culullis,' sculptured cups used by the pontiffs and Vestal virgins in the sacred festivals. CARM. XXXI. Quid dedicatum poscit Apollinem Non æstuosæ grata Calabriæ Armenta, non aurum aut ebur Indicum, Non rura, quæ Liris quieta Mordet aqua taciturnus amnis. Premant Calena falce, quibus dedit Vina Syra reparata merce, Dis carus ipsis, quippe ter et quater Frui paratis et valido mihi, ODE XXXII. TO HIS LYRE. This short invocation to his lyre has the air of a prelude to some meditated poem of greater importance. Several of the Manuscripts commence Poscimus,' which reading Bentley adopts. The modern editors agree in preferring 'Poscimur,' which has more of the outburst of song, and renders the poem more directly an address to the lyre. We are summoned. If e'er, under shadow sequestered, Has sweet dalliance with thee in light moments of leisure Given birth to a something which lives, and may, haply, Live in years later, Rouse thee now, and discourse in the strains of the Roman, His bark, tempest-tossed, chaunted Liber, the Muses, O thou grace of Apollo, O charm in Jove's banquets, CARM. XXXIL Poscimur. Si quid vacui sub umbra Lusimus tecum, quod et hunc in annum Vivat et plures; age, dic Latinum, Barbite, carmen, Lesbio primum modulate civi, Liberum, et Musas, Veneremque, et illi O decus Phoebi, et dapibus supremi |