AD NAVEM SIC te diva potens Cypri, Sic fratres Helenae, lucida sidera, Ventorumque regat pater Obstrictis aliis praeter Iäpyga, Navis, quae tibi creditum Debes Vergilium, finibus Atticis Reddas incolumem, precor, Et serves animae dimidium meae. Illi robur et aes triplex Circa pectus erat, qui fragilem truci Commisit pelago ratem Primus, nec timuit praecipitem Africum All winds but those that are serene and soft : That so a mild melodious obbligato Of murmuring Zephyrs swift upon its way May speed the ship that bears the great Barnato The man who first on South Sea speculation Embarked, O Barney, surely must have had A nerve like his who saved the situation When Kaffir stocks went slumping down like mad : Decertantem Aquilonibus Nec tristes Hyadas nec rabiem Noti, Quo non arbiter Hadriae Maior, tollere seu ponere vult freta. Quem Mortis timuit gradum, Qui siccis oculis monstra natantia, Qui vidit mare turgidum et Infames scopulos Acroceraunia? Nequicquam deus abscidit Prudens Oceano dissociabili Terras, si tamen impiae Non tangenda rates transiliunt vada. Audax omnia perpeti Gens humana ruit per vetitum nefas. Who 'faced the music' with a simple tankard, Defied the captious questions of the crank, And quelled the storm of critics cross and cankered Who raged and raved and blustered round his Bank. He who pursues his course with mien unflinching, 'Mid all the 'deeps' and reefs within the Rand, Despises dynamite and laughs at lynching Though Sharks, Bulls, Bears, and Boers around. him stand. O vainly Heav'n, to save mankind from worry, Has severed shore from shore by perilous ways, If the unconscionable Donald Currie Can take you to the Cape in eighteen days! Presumptuous man, unriddling ev'ry rebus, Rides roughshod to his goal with impious joy; |