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HORACE.

The Cretan Chloe now commands me, skilful in fweet modulations, and a mistress 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 would fpare my furviving boy.

HORACE.

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?

LYDIA.

Though he is brighter than a star, you of more levity than a cork, and more paffionate than the bluftering Adriatic; with you I fhould love to live, with you I would chearfully die.

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CARMEN X.

AD LYCEN.

Ur, pofita duritie, aliqua ipfius miferecordia capiatur.

EXTREMUM Tanaim fi biberes, Lyce,

Saevo nupta viro; me tamem afperas
Porrectum [a] ante fores objicere incolis
Plorares Aquilonibus.

Audis quo ftrepitu janua, quo nemus
Inter pulchra [b] fitum tecta remugiat
Ventis? [c] et pofitas ut glaciet nives
Puro numine Jupiter?

Ingratam Veneri pone fuperbiam,
Ne currente retro funis eat rota.
Non te Penelopen difficilem procis
Tyrrhenus genuit parens.

O, quamvis neque te munera, nec preces,
Nec tinctus viola pallor amantium,

Nec vir Pieria pellice faucius

Curvat; fupplicibus tuis

Parcas, nec regida mollior efculo,

Nec Mauris [d] animo mitior anguibus.
Non hoc femper erit liminis aut aquae
Coeleftis patiens latus.

[a] Projectum ante fores. BENTL.

[b] Inter pulchra fatum.

ΤΟ

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CARMEN

[c] Sentis, et pofitas ut glaciet nives

Dure numine Jupiter? BENTL.

(d) Animum mitier.

ODE X

To LYC E.

That, laying afide her hardness of heart, fhe would take fome pity of him.

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*

Lyce, had you drank from the remote Tanais, in a state of marriage with some barba rian, 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 difdain offenfive to Venus, left your + rope fhould 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-tincture 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 fturdy 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.

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*If you had been an inhabitant of Scythia, of which Tanais is a river.

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† 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 MERCURIUM.

Graviffimas vel in inferis poenas faevitiae conftitutar effe.

MERCURI (nam te docilis magiftro
Movit Amphion lapides canendo)

Tuque teftudo refonare feptem
Callida nervis,

Nec loquax olim neque grata, nunc et
Divitum menfis et amica templis ;
Dic modos, Lyde quibus obftinatas

Applicet aures:

Quae, velut latis equa trima campis,
Ludit exultim, metuitque tangi,
Nuptiarum expers, et adhuc protervo
Cruda marito.

Tu potes tigres comitefque filvas-
Ducere, et rivos celeres morari:
Ceffit immanis tibi blandienti
Janitor aulae

Cerberus, quamvis furiale centum
Muniant angues caput ejus, atque
Spiritus teter, faniesque manet
Ore trillingui : +

Quin et Ixion, Tityofque vultu
Rifit invito; ftetit urna paulum
Sicca, dum grato Danai puellas

Carmine mulces.

Audiat Lyde fcelus atque notas
Virginum poenas, et inane lymphae

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Dolium

ODE XI.

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 seven 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 frisks about in the fpacious fields, inexperienced in the fweets of nuptial loves, and hitherto unripe for the enjoyment of a husband. Youare able to draw after you tygers and attendant woods, and to retard rapid rivers. Το your blandishments the enormous porter of the infernal palace yielded, though an hundred ferpents fortify his head, and a peftilential fteam, and an infectious poifon iffues from his triple-tongued mouth. Moreover Ixion and Titytus fmiled 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 well-known punishment, and the cask still empty by the water ftreaming through the bottom, and what lafting

fates

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