IF e'er with thee, my lyre, beneath the shade
I've sported, carolling some idle lay,
Destined mayhap not all at once to fade,
Aid me to sing a master-song to-day,
In strains, the Lesbian's lyre was foremost to essay;
Who, though in battle brave among the brave,
Yet, even amidst the camp's tumultuous roar,
Or when his bark, long toss'd upon the wave,
Lay anchor'd safe upon the oozy shore,
Did hymns to Bacchus and the golden Muses pour.
And Venus, and that source of many sighs,
The Boy, who from her side is parted ne'er,
And Lycus famed for his black lustrous eyes,
And for the glory of his deep dark hair,
Rang in his full-toned verse along the charmed air.
O, 'midst Apollo's glories chief of all,
Thou shell, that ever art a welcome guest, In sovereign Jove's imperial banquet-hall,
Thou, labour's balm, and bringer of sweet rest, Aid him that doth on thee with due devotion call!
NAY, Albius, a truce to this sighing and grieving!
Is Glycera worth all this tempest of woe?
Why flatter her, lachrymose elegies weaving,
Because she is false for a youthfuller beau ?
There's Lycoris, the maid with the small rounded forehead,"
For Cyrus is wasting by inches away,
Whilst for Pholoë he, with a passion as torrid,
Consumes, and to him she 'll have nothing to say.
The she-goats, in fact, might be sooner expected
Apulia's wolves for their partners to take,
Than a girl so divine to be ever connected
With such an abandoned and pitiful rake.
Such caprices hath Venus, who, rarely propitious,
Delights in her fetters of iron to bind
Those pairs whom she sees, with a pleasure malicious,
Unmatched both in fortune, and figure, and mind.
I myself, woo'd by one that was truly a jewel,
In thraldom was held, which I cheerfully bore,
By that common chit, Myrtale, though she was cruel
As waves that indent the Calabrian shore.
UNTO the gods my vows were scant
And few, whilst I profess'd the cant
Of philosophic lore,
But now I back my sails perforce,
Fain to retrace the beaten course,
I had contemned before.
For Jove, who with his forkèd levin
Is wont to rend the louring heaven,
Of late with hurtlings loud
His thunder-pacing steeds did urge,
And winged car along the verge
Of skies without a cloud;
Whereat the huge earth reel'd with fear,
The rivers, Styx, the portal drear
Of Tænarus abhorr'd,
While distant Atlas caught the sound,
And quiver'd to its farthest bound.
The world's great god and lord
Can change the lofty to the low,
The mighty ones of earth o'erthrow,
Advancing the obscure;
Fate wrests the crown from lordly brow
On his to plant it, who but now
Was poorest of the poor.
O PLEASANT Antium's goddess queen,
Whose presence hath avail
Mortals to lift from mean estate,
Or change triumphal hymns elate
To notes of funeral wail;
Thee with heart-anxious prayer invokes
The rustic at the plough,
Thee, mistress of the ocean-wave,
Whoe'er Carpathia's surges brave
With frail Bithynian prow;
Thee Scythia's ever roving hordes,
And Dacians rude revere,
Cities, and tribes, Rome's dauntless band,
Barbaric monarchs' mothers, and
Empurpled tyrants fear;
Lest thou shouldst crush their pillar'd state
Beneath thy whelming foot,
Lest madding crowds with shrill alarms
Pealing the cry, "To arms! To arms!"
Should seated thrones uproot.
Before thee evermore doth Fate
Stalk phantom-like, and bear
In brazen hand huge nails dispread;
And wedges grim, and molten lead,
And iron clamps are there.
Thee Hope attend, and Truth rare-seen,
In vestments snowy-dyed,
Nor quit thee, though in changed array
Thou turn with angry frown away
From halls of stately pride.
But the unfaithful harlot herd
Slink back. Howe'er they cling,
Once to the lees the wine-vat drain,
And shrinking from the yoke of pain,
These summer friends take wing!
Our Cæsar's way to Britain guard
Earth's farthest boundary,
And make our youthful hosts thy care,
Who terror to the East shall bear,
And the far Indian sea!
By brothers' blows, by brothers' blood,
Our souls are gash'd and stain'd.
Alas! what horror have we fled ?
What crime not wrought? When hath the dread Of heav'n our youth restrain'd?
Thy hand new-whet their blunted swords,
To smite Arabia's tented hordes,
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