HORACE. The Cretan Chloe now commands me, fkilful in fweet modulations, and a miftrefs of the lyre; for whom I would not dread to die, if the fates would fpare her my furviving foul. LYDIA. Calais, the fon of the Thurian Ornithus, inflames me with a mutual fire; for whom I would twice fuffer death, if the fates wou'd fpare my furviving boy. But what if our former love returns, and unites by a brazen (indiffoluble) yoke us now feparated? what if Chloe with her golden locks be fhook off, and the door of the repudiated Lydia again open to me? LY DI A. Tho' he is brighter than a far, you of more levity than a cork, and more paffionate than the bluftering Adriatic; with you I fhou'd love to live, with you I wou'd chearfully die. ODE CARMEN X AD LY CEN. Ut, pofita duritie, aliqua ipfius mifericordia capiatur. XTREMUM Tanaim fi biberes, Lyce, EX E Sævo nupta viro; me tamen afperas Porrectum * ante fores objicere incolis Audis quo ftrepitu janua, quo nemus Ingratam Veneri pone fuperbiam, Tyrrhenus genuit parens. O! quamvis neque te munera, nec preces, Nec vir Pieria pellice faucius Curvat; fupplicibus tuis Parcas, nec rigida mollior efculo, Proje&tum ante fores. Bentl tnter pulchra fatum. Sentis, et pofitas ut glaciet nives 5 10 15 20 CARMEN O DE X. To LYCE. That, laying afide her hardness of heart, he would take fome pity of him. * drank from the remote Lyce, had you Tanais, in a state of marriage with fome barbarian, yet you might be forry to expofe me. proftrated before your obdurate doors, to thofe inhabitants the north winds. Do you hear with what a noise your gate, with what a noife the grove planted about your elegant buildings rebellows to the winds? And how Jupiter glazes the fettled fnow with his pure influence? Lay afide disdain offenfive to Venus, left your f rope fhou'd run backwards with rapid wheel. Your Tyrrhenian father did not beget you to be as inacceffible as Penelope to your wooers. O, notwithstanding neither prefents, nor prayers, nor the violet-tinctured palenefs of your lovers, nor your husband fmitten with a mufical madam, bend you to pity; yet at length fpare thy fuppliants, thou that art no fofter than the turdy oak, nor of a gentler difpofition than the African ferpents. This fide of mine will not always be able to bear your threshold and the rain. ODE If you had been an inhabitant of Scythia, of which Tanais is a river. Alluding to wheels and pulleys. where, if you once let go your hold, the weight carries off the rope with great velocity. CARMEN XI. AD MERCURIU M. Graviffimas vel in inferis panas fævitia conftitutas effe. MERCURI, (nam te docilis magiftro Movit Amphion lapides canendo), Tuque teftudo refonare feptem Callida nervis, Nec loquax olim neque grata, nunc et Quæ, velut latis equa trima campis, Tu potes tigres, comitefque filvas Cerberus; quamvis furiale centum Quin et Ixion, Tityofque vultu Carmine mulces. Audiat Lyde fcelus atque notas 5 15 20 25 Dolium O DE IX. To MERCURY. That most grievous punishments were appointed for cruelty even in the other world. Mercury (fince the ingenious Amphion moved rocks by his voice, you being his tutor), and thou my harp expert to refound with feven strings, formerly neither vocal nor pleafing, but now agreeable to the tables of the wealthy, and the temples of the Gods; dictate measures to which Lyde may incline her obftinate ears, who, like a filly of three years old, playfome frifks about in the fpacious fields, inexperienc'd in the fweets of nuptial loves, and hitherto unripe for the enjoyment of a huf band. You are able to draw after you tigers and attendant woods, and to retard rapid rivers. Το blandithments the enormous porter of the infernal palace yielded, tho' an hundred ferpents fortify his head, and a peftilential fteam, and an infectious poifon iffues from his tripletongu'd mouth. Moreover, Ixion and Tityus fmil'd with a reluctant afpect: and while you footh the daughters of Danaus with your delightful harmony, their veffel for fome time remained dry. Let Lyde hear an account of their crime, and their wellknown punishment, and the cafk ftill empty by the water ftreaming thro' the bottom, and what lafting VOL. I. your fates |