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by saying, "that he sat between sighs and tears." He had a farm in the country of the Sabines, and a house at Tibur, now Tivoli, the ruins of which are still shown to strangers. He died in his fifty-ninth year; so suddenly that he left no will, and his property therefore reverted to the emperor. He was buried in the cemetery on the Esquiline Hill, near the tomb of Mæcenas.

The writings of Horace have an air of frankness and openness about them; a manly simplicity, and a contempt of affectation, or the little pride of a vain and mean concealment, which, at once, take hold on our confidence. We can believe the account which he gives of his own character, without scruple or suspicion. That he was fond of pleasure is confessed; but generally speaking he was moderate and temperate in his pleasures; and his convivial hours seem to have been far more intellectual, and more enlightened by social wit and wisdom, than are those of the common herd of Epicurean poets.

Horace, of all the writers of antiquity, most abounds with that practical good sense, and familiar observation of life and manners, which render an author, in a more emphatic sense, the reader's companion. Good sense, in fact, seems the most distinguishing feature of his Satires; for his wit seems rather forced; and it is their tone of sound understanding, added to their easy, conversational air, and a certain turn for fine raillery, that forms the secret by which they please. In variety and versatility his lyric genius is unrivalled by that of any poet with whom we are acquainted; and there are no marks of inequality or of inferiority to himself. Whether his odes be of the moral and philosophic kind; or the heroic; the descriptive; or the amatory, the light, and the joyous; each separate species would seem to be his peculiar province. His epistles evince a knowledge of the weaknesses of the human heart, which would do honour to a professed philosopher. What Quintilian, and the moderns after him, call the "Art of Poetry," seems to have been only the third epistle of the second book, addressed to the Pisos. The style and manner differ in no respect from the former epistles. The observations are equally desultory, and we meet with the same strokes of satirical humour; which appear unsuitable to a didactic piece.*

* See Elton's Specimens of the Classic Poets.

QUINTI HORATII FLACCI

CARMINUM

LIBER PRIMUS.

ODE I.

AD MECENATEM.

MECENAS, atavis edite regibus,
O et præsidium et dulce decus meum!
Sunt quos curriculo pulverem Olympicum
Collegisse juvat; metaque fervidis
Evitata rotis, palmaque nobilis,
Terrarum dominos evehit ad deos:
Hunc, si mobilium turba Quiritium
Certat tergeminis tollere honoribus;
Illum, si proprio condidit horreo
Quidquid de Libycis verritur areis.
Gaudentem patrios findere sarculo
Agros Attalicis conditionibus
Nunquam dimoveas ut trabe Cypriâ
Myrtoüm pavidus nauta secet mare.
Luctantem Icariis fluctibus Africum
Mercator metuens, otium et oppidi
Laudat rura sui: mox reficit rates
Quassas, indocilis pauperiem pati.

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Detestata. Manet sub Jove frigido
Venator, teneræ conjugis immemor;
Seu visa est catulis cerva fidelibus,
Seu rupit teretes Marsus aper plagas.
Me doctarum ederæ præmia frontium
Dîs miscent superis; me gelidum nemus,

Nympharumque leves cum Satyris chori,
Secernunt populo; si neque tibias
Euterpe cohibet, nec Polyhymnia

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Lesboüm refugit tendere barbiton.

Quòd si me lyricis vatibus inseres,
Sublimi feriam sidera vertice.

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ODE II.

AD AUGUSTUM CAESAREM.

JAM satìs terris nivis atque diræ
Grandinis misit Pater, et, rubente
Dexterâ sacras jaculatus arces,
Terruit urbem:

Terruit gentes, grave ne rediret

Sæculum Pyrrhæ, nova monstra questæ ;

Omne quum Proteus pecus egit altos

Visere montes;

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Audiet cives acuisse ferrum

Quo graves Persæ meliùs perirent;
Audiet pugnas, vitio parentûm
Rara, juventus.

Quem vocet divûm populus ruentis
Imperî rebus? prece quâ fatigent
Virgines sanctæ minùs audientem
Carmina Vestam?

Cui dabit partes scelus expiandi
Jupiter? tandem venias, precamur,
Nube candentes humeros amictus,
Augur Apollo.

Sive tu mavis, Erycina ridens,

Quam Jocus circumvolat, et Cupido.

Sive neglectum genus et nepotes

Respicis, auctor,

Heu! nimis longo satiate ludo,

Quem juvat clamor, galeæque leves,

Acer et Mauri peditis cruentum

Vultus in hostem :

Sive mutatâ juvenem figurâ,

Ales, in terris imitaris, almæ

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Filius Maiæ, patiens vocari
Cæsaris ultor :

Serus in cœlum redeas, diuque

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Lætus intersis populo Quirini;

Neve te nostris vitiis iniquum
Ocior aura

Tollat. Hic magnos potiùs triumphos,
Hîc ames dici Pater atque Princeps:
Neu sinas Medos equitare inultos,
Te duce, Cæsar.

ODE III.

AD NAVEM QUA VIRGILIUS ATHENAS PROFICISCENS

VEHEBATUR.

Sic te diva potens Cypri,

Sic fratres Helenæ, lucida sidera,

Ventorumque regat pater,

Obstrictis aliis, præter Iapyga,

Navis, quæ tibi creditum

Debes Virgilium, finibus Atticis

Reddas incolumem, precor,

Et serves animæ dimidium meæ.

Illi robur et æs triplex

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Circa pectus erat, qui fragilem truci

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Commisit pelago ratem

Primus, nec timuit præcipitem Africum

Decertantem Aquilonibus,

Nec tristes Hyadas, nec rabiem Noti,
Quo non arbiter Hadriæ

Major, tollere seu ponere vult freta.

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