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MODE XIX

ON BACCHU S.

A DITHYRAMBIC, or DRINKING SONG.

That it was his duty to celebrate the praises of Bacchus, as being full of, and roufed and animated by his divinity.

I

Saw Bacchus (believe it, pofterity), dictating verfes amongst the remote rocks, and the nymphs a-learning them, and the attentive ears of the goat-footed fatyrs. Evae! * (buzza!) my mind trembles with recent dread, and my foul, being replete with Bacchus, has a tumultuous joy. Evae! fpare me, Bacchus; fpare me, thou that art formidable for thy dreadful Thyrfist, It is given me to fing the wanton Bacchanalian prieftefs, and the fountain of wine, and rivulets flowing with milk, and to reiterate the honies diftilling from hollow trunks. It is granted me likewife to celebrate the honour added to the conftellations by your happy fpoufet, and the palace of Pentheus, demolished with hideous ruin, and the perdition of Thracian Lycurgus. You command the rivers, you the barbarian fea: You, moist

M 3

An interjection, afed by the priestess of Bacchus on this feftival, which cannot be literally tranflated.

† A Spear, round the shaft of which ivy and vine leaves were twined.

Ariadne.

Tu feparatis, uvidus in jugis
Nodo coërces viperino

Biftonidum fine fraude crines.

Tu, cum parentis regna per arduum,
Cohors Gigantum fcanderet impia,
Rhoetum retorfifti, leonise
Unguibus, horribilique mala :
Quanquam choreis aptior et jocis
Ludoque dictus, non fat idoneus
Pugnæ ferebaris; fed idem
Pacis eras mediufque belli.
Te vidit infons Cerberus aureo
Cornu decorum, leniter atterens
Caudam; et recedentis trilingui
Ore pedes tetigitque crura.

CARMEN XX.

AD MECENATEM.

20

25

30

Eternam fibi ex fuis carminibus famam pollicetur.

NON

*
ufitáta, nec tenui ferar

Penna, biformis, per liquidum æthera,
Vates; neque in terris morabor
Longius; invidiaque major,

Urbes relinquam. Non ego pauperum

Sanguis parentum,
, non e

ego, quem vocas, divat

Dilecte Mæcenas, obibo,

Nec Stygia cohibebor unda. crus barriol

Jam jam refidunt cruribus afperæ
Pelles; et album mutor in alitem

Non tenui ferar,

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mojft with wine, in felected mountains, bind the hair of your Thraciap priefteffes with a knot of vipers without hurt. You, when the impious band of giants fcaled the realms of father Jupiter, thro' the fky repelled Rhetas, with the paws and horrible jaw of the lion-fhape you had affumed. Tho' reported to be better adapted for dances, and jokes, and play, you were accounted infufficient for fight; Yet it then appeared you had the fame common talent for peace and war. Thee, ornamented with thy golden horn, Cerberus innocently gazed at, gently waging his tail, and with his triple tongue, licked your feet and legs as you returned.

ODE XX.

To MECE NA S.

He promifes himfelf eternal fame from his verfes.

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A two-formed poet, will be conveyed thro' the liquid air with no vulgar nor humble wing: nor will I loiter upon earth any longer; and, fuperior to envy, will I quit cities. Not I, even I, whom rivals ftile the blood of low parents, my dear Mecenas, fhall die; nor will I be reftrained by the Stygian wave. At this inftant, a rough fkin fettles upon my ankles, and all upwards I am tranfformed into a white bird, and the downy plu

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údfturi Jaubder memage mudis

The poets allegorically reprefented themselves as tranfformed into fans,

Superne; nafcunturque leves
Per digitos humerofque plume.
Jam, Dædaleo ocior + Icaro,
Vifam gementis litora Bofphori,
Syrtefque Gætulas, canorus

Ales, Hyperboreofque campos.
Me Colchus, et, qui diffimulat metum
Marfæ cohortis, Dacus, et ultimi
Nofcent Geloni: me peritus

Difcet Iber, Rhodanique potor. Abfint inani funere næniæ, Luctufque turpes, et querimoniæ: Compefce clamorem, ac fepulchri Mitte fupervacuos honores.

15

Şuperna.

Dadalco tutior Icaro. Bentl.

Q. HORA.

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mage arifes over my fingers and fhoulders. Now, having become a melodius bird, more expeditious than the Dædalean Icarus, I will vifit the fhores of the murmuring Bofphorus, and the Getulean Syrtes and the Hyperborean plains. Me, the Colchan, and the Dacian, who pretends not to fear the Marfian cohort, and the remoteft Gelonians, fhall know me, the learned Spaniard, fhall ftudy, and he that drinks the waters of the Rhone. Let there be no dirges, or fhameful lamentation, or bewailings at my only feeming funeral: fupprefs your crying, and forbear the fuperfluous honours of a fepulchre.

THE

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