This day, to me no common holiday,
All melancholy cares shall drive away;
Nor tumult I, nor death by violent blow
Will fear, while Cæsar rules the world below.

Ho! boy, fetch unguents, coronals, a jar
Of wine remembering the Marsian war,
If by a lucky chance throughout the land
A vat 'scaped Spartacus and his roving band.

Bid too Neaera with her voice so clear
Tie quickly in a knot her golden hair;
If the accursed porter cause delay,
Anon, without ado, come, come away.

The temper's calmed, when hairs are turning gray,
Which loved the brawl and wantoned in the fray,
I would not have endured it at the date,

When in hot youth, of Plancus' consulate.

LIBER III. CARMEN XVI.

Inclusam Danaen turris aenea
Robustaeque fores et vigilum canum
Tristes excubiae munierant satisae
Nocturnis ab adulteris

Si non Acrisium virginis abditae Custodem pavidum Juppiter et Venus Risissent fore enim tutum iter et patens Converso in pretium deo.

Aurum

per medios ire satellites

Et perrumpere amat saxa potentius

Ictu fulmineo: concidit auguris

Argivi domus, ob lucrum

BOOK III. ODE XVI.

Imprisoned Danae, brazen tower,

Oak doors, and watch-dogs, sentry sour,
Had been sufficient to secure

From every nightly paramour,

Had not great Jove, and Goddess Love,
Laughed at Acrisius from above,

Guarding with fear the hidden maid;

A broad safe road, they saw, was made--
The God became the gold he paid.

Gold through the midst of troops will go,
And bursts through rocks with mightier blow
Than thunderstroke. The Argive seer
Perished with all that he held dear,
Gain plunged him in that gulf of woe:
The Macedonian hero, too,

Cleft right in twain the wallèd town
And brought his royal rivals down

AA

Demersa exitio; diffidit urbium

Portas vir Macedo et subruit aemulos
Reges muneribus; munera navium
Saevos inlaqueant duces.

Crescentem sequitur cura pecuniam
Majorumque fames. Jure perhorrui
Late conspicuum tollere verticem,
Maecenas, equitum decus.

Quanto quisque sibi plura negaverit
Ab dis plura feret; nil cupientium
Nudus castra peto et transfuga divitum
Partes linquere gestio,

Contemptae dominus splendidior rei Quam si quicquid arat impiger Apulus Occultare meis dicerer horreis,

Magnas inter opes inops.

Purae rivus aquae silvaque jugerum
Paucorum et segetis certa fides meae
Fulgentem imperio fertilis Africae
Fallit sorte beatior.

By secret gifts; gifts often are
To the fierce naval chief a snare.
When
money grows, soon will succeed
Care, and for larger things a greed;
With reason I have had great dread
Of lifting up on high my head,
To be conspicuous far and wide,
Maecenas, of the knights the pride.
The more each man himself deny,
The more shall he bear from on high;
Naked I seek the camp of men
Who are not covetous of gain,

And, a deserter in the fight,

The rich man's side leave with delight.
With far more splendour do I shine,
While a contemned estate is mine,
Than were my barns said to contain
All that immense amount of grain
The brisk Apulians possess―
'Mid all my treasures treasureless.
A brook of water pure and good,
Just a few acres too of wood,
A tilth which will sure crops afford,
(Although the bright Imperial lord