But ah! what woe, when doom'd to mourn
The love that never meets return!
In vain we boast of noble birth,
And vain is wisdom, wit, or worth,
Since sordid wealth alone is sought,
And even love with gold is bought.
O may he sleep in endless night,
Who brought the shining plague to light,
Who first gave worth to useless ore,
And taught mankind to sigh for more!
Gold breaks through every sacred tie,
And bids a friend or brother die;
The fruitful source of kindred strife,'
Gold would not spare a parent's life.
Long wars and murders, crimes untold,
All spring from cursed thirst of gold;
And I by sad experience know
'Tis gold that works the lover's woe!
ODE XLVII.-YOUNG OLD AGE.
I LOVE the cheerful, blithesome sage,
Whose temper ne'er betrays his age.
I love the youth that dances well,
To music of the sounding shell.
Thus sings the bard; the magic of whose verse, in spite of reason, leads the fancy captive; the efforts of whose mighty genius will be regarded by future ages with sentiments of admiration, pleasure and regret. For him the Muses wove their brightest wreaths: why did he perversely mingle weeds, rank, poisonous weeds, with their sweet perennial flowers? 1 The ancient poets are loud in their invectives against the 'auri sacra fames.' Ovid says,
This is the golden age; all worship gold:
Honors are purchased, love and beauty sold.
Our iron age is grown an age of gold,
'Tis who bids most, for all men would be sold.
But when an aged youth like me
Can join the dance with sportive glee,
Though age in hoary locks appears,
His heart is young, despite his years.
O! FOR the harp, the harp of fire,
That god-like Homer strung:
But ah! on such a blood-stain❜d lyre
Could love's soft notes be sung?
No! let the measured cups be brought,'
And from this scroll divine
I'll read the laws which Bacchus taught
To votaries of the wine.
Then warm in heart, but wisely gay,
I'll join the sportive throng;
With joy the merry harp I'll play,
And trill the jovial song.
1 The custom of appointing a master of the revels by the cast of a die has already been alluded to.-See ode xiv.
2 I find but few commentators who have noticed the very singular expression of the original in this passage. It means literally preserving the mind;' and is intended to express that degree of pleasurable excitement which exhilarates the spirits without overpowering the senses; or, as Cowper says,
Cups which cheer but not inebriate :
though the remark is certainly applied to a beverage of a very different nature.
DEAR artist, while I wake the string,
Paint thou the lovely scenes I sing ;
First, let my fix'd, delighted eyes,
Behold a well-built city rise;
And with inventive skill portray
Its people happy, blithe and gay.
Describe the Bacchanalian throng,
Engaged in festive dance and song ;
Where, whilst the shrill-voiced pipe is mute,
Is heard the softly-breathing flute.
And if the crowded space permit,'
To make the blissful scene complete,
Let happy pairs be seen to rove,
Intent on life's best bus'ness-love.
SEE! the youthful god descends ;
Bacchus, who the youth befriends,
Strings his nerves, strong toil to bear,
Courage gives to win the fair ;
1 Allusion is here again made to the famous shield of Achilles, thus described by Homer:
Two cities radiant on the shield appear,
The image one of peace, and one of war;
Here sacred pomp and genial feast delight,
And solemn dance and hymeneal rite;
Along the streets the new-made brides are led,
With torches flaming, to the nuptial bed:
The youthful dancers in a circle bound
To the soft flute and cittern's silver sound;
Through the fair streets the matrons in a row
Stand in the porches, and enjoy the show.
Graceful ease and skill bestows,
When the vigorous dancer glows.
In his hand behold he bears
An antidote for human cares;
Bless'd with which poor mortals gain
Pleasure's draught unmix'd with pain.
He preserves the future wine,
While the crimson clusters shine,
Ere the juice is taught to flow,
Sweet assuager of our woe.
Wine, the cure of every ill,'
Proves the best physician still;
All its happy patients find
Health of body, ease of mind.
Sound in mind-in body sound,
While the rolling year goes round,
Till the grapes again appear,
Med'cine for another year.
ON A MEDAL REPRESENTING VENUS.
WHAT matchless skill! what art divine
On this bright silver medal shine!
1 A similar passage occurs in the Odyssey, book iv., in which the princess Helen is introduced mixing this sovereign cordial :
Meantime with genial joy to warm the soul,
Bright Helen mix'd a mirth-inspiring bowl;
Temper'd with drugs of sovereign use, t' assuage
The boiling bosom of tumultuous rage;
To clear the cloudy front of wrinkled care,
And dry the tearful sluices of despair.
Charm'd with that virtuous draught, th' exalted mind
All sense of woe delivers to the wind.-Fenton.
On every side; above, below,
The floods of ocean seem to flow;
While softly gliding, calm and clear,
The undulating waves appear.
Some heav'n-taught genius, in its flight,
Has dared attempt the wondrous sight'
Of Venus, love's soft deity,
Emerging from the silver sea.
What bright and dazzling beauties rise
To charm the gazer's ravish'd eyes!
And those the jealous waves conceal,
Sure none but impious hands reveal.
She, like some sea-flower, fresh and gay,
Shines glittering on her watery way.
Where'er the lovely goddess swims,
Obsequious billows kiss her limbs;
Now rise above, now sink below
Her rose-bud breasts and neck of snow.
As virgin lilies brighter show
Amid the dark-leaved violet's glow,
So through the dark-blue wave is seen
The beauteous form of love's dear queen..
See, gaily sporting at her side,
Young laughing Loves on dolphins ride,
And o'er the silvery surface glide.
The crooked natives of the deep,
With wanton curve and bounding leap,
Attend the goddess in her train,
Where'er she smiling skims the main.
1 Many a poet has dared attempt the description. Tickel in his Prospect of Peace' has the following lines :
As when sweet Venus, so the fable sings,
Awaked by Nereids, from the ocean springs;
With smiles she sees the threat'ning billows rise,
Spreads smooth the surge, and clears the louring skies:
Light o'er the deep with fluttering Cupids crown'd
The pearly conch and silver turtles bound;
Her tresses shed ambrosial odors round.
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