Ο DI profanum vulgus, et arceo. Favete linguis: carmina non prius Virginibus puerifque canto. Regum timendorum in proprios greges, Cun&ta I Abominate the uninitiated vulgar, and drive them off Give a religious attention: I, the priest of the mufes, fing to virgins and boys verfes not heard before. The dominion of dread fovereigns is only over their own fubjects *, that of Jupiter, glorious for his conqueft over the giants, *Literally flocks. Homer is fond of terming kings fhepherds of the people. Thus the true God entitles himfelf the shepherd of his people, and them the sheep of his pafture: the expreffion therefore is not too low for the pomp of the ftrophe, agreeably to the charge of a late ingenious editor of our author. who Cuneta fupercilio moventis. Omne capax movet urna nomen. Non avium citharæque cantus Non Zephyris agitata Tempe. Impetus, aut orientis Hœdi; Non verberatæ grandine vineæ, Fundufque mendax; arbore nunc aquas 30 Culpante, nunc torrentia agros Sidera, nunc hiemes iniquas. Contracta pifces æquora fentiunt, Cum famulis, dominufque terræ. Faftidiofus: fed timor et mina Scandunt eodem quo dominus; neque Poft equitem fedet atra cura. 35 40 Quod who fhakes all nature with his nod, is over fovereigns themselves. It happens that one man plants trees, in regular rows, to a greater extent than another this man comes down into the Campus Martius as a candidate of a better family, while another vies with him for morals and a better repu✩ tation; a third has a fuperior number of dependants; but death, by the impartial law of nature, is allotted both the confpicuous and obfcure: the capacious urn keeps every name in motion. Sicilian dainties will not force a delicious relish * to that man, over whofe impious neck the naked fword impends: the fongs of birds or the lyre will not restore his fleep. Sleep difdains not the humble cottages and shady bank of peasants, he dif dains not Tempe, fann'd by zephyrs. Him, who defires but a competency, neither the tempeftuous fea renders auxious, nor the malign violence of Arcturus setting, or of the rifing kid; not his vineyards beaten down with hail, and a deceitful farm, his plantations at one season blaming the rains, at another, the influence of the conftellations parching the grounds, at another, fevere winters diflurb him. The fishes perceive the seas contracted by the vaft foundations that have been laid into the deep hither numerous undertakers, with their men, and lords difdainful of the land, fend down mortar : but anxiety, and the threats of conscience, afcend by the fame way as the poffeffor, nor does gloomy care depart from the brazen-beaked galley, and she mounts behind the horseman. Seeing then Alluding to the ftory of Damocles. VOL. I. N neither Quod fi dolentem nec Phrygius lapis, Vitis, Achæmeniumque coftum ; CARMEN II. AD AMICOS. Bellicam fortitudinem, probitatem, et arcani fi dem commendat. ANGUSTAM, amici, pauperiem pati Robuftus acri militia puer Condifcat, et Parthos feroces Vexet eques metuendus hafta ; Vitamque fub dio, et trepidis agat In rebus illum ex moenibus hofticis Matrona bellantis tyranni : Profpiciens, et adulta virgo Sufpiret, Eheu! ne rudis agminum Per medias rapit ira cædes. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori : (a) Divitias onerofiores. Bentl. 5 |