O quisquis volet impias

Caedes et rabiem tollere civicam;

Si quaeret PATER URBIUM

Subscribi statuis, indomitam audeat

Refrenare licentiam,

Clarus postgenitis: quatenus (neu nefas!) Virtutem incolumem odimus,

Sublatam ex oculis quaerimus invidi.

Quid tristes querimoniae

Si non supplicio culpa reciditur? Quid leges sine moribus.

Vanae proficiunt; si neque fervidis Pars inclusa caloribus

Mundi, nec Boreae finitimum latus, Durataeque solo nives

Mercatorem abigunt? horrida callidi Vincunt aequora navitae?

Magnum pauperies opprobrium jubet

Quidvis et facere et pati,

Virtutisque viam deserit arduae ?

Vel nos in Capitolium,

Quo clamor vocat et turba faventium, Vel nos in mare proximum

Gemmas et lapides, aurum et inutile, Summi materiem mali,

Mittamus, scelerum si bene poenitet.

Eradenda cupidinis

Pravi sunt elementa: et tenerae nimis

Mentes asperioribus

Formandae studiis. Nescit equo rudis

Knows not, and is afraid to hunt: more meet
To trundle with you the Greek hoop, forsooth,
If so you bid, or if you more require,
To play with the, by law forbidden, dice.
In the meanwhile the idling youngster's sire,
Partner and guest, with perjured artifice
Defrauds, and hurries forward in the race
For wealth, to be devolved on worthless heir.
Verily gains ill-gotten grow apace:

Nathless, I know not what, aye lacketh there.

Mr. Macleane supposes the aid of Bacchus to be here invoked for some projected poem in honour of Augustus, which may or may not have been subsequently composed.

WHITHER me, Bacchus, filled with thee,

Thus hurriest thou? Unto what groves or caves am I Sped in unwonted ecstasy?

Within what grot o'erheard, shall I essay, on high Amid the stars and Jove's conclave,

Illustrious Caesar's sheen for ever to install?

I shall achieve a new, soul-stirring stave,

By other mouth unsung yet. Sleepless Bacchanal, From mountain range contèmplating

Hebrus, and all snow-whitened Thrace, and Rhodope Which savage feet are traversing,

Is even so inspired. What pleasure 'tis to me

Haerere ingenuus puer,

Venarique timet; ludere doctior Seu Graeco jubeas trocho,

Seu malis vetita legibus alea : Cum perjura patris fides

Consortem socium fallat et hospitem : Indignoque pecuniam

Heredi properet. Scilicet improbae Crescunt divitiae; tamen

Curtae nescio quid semper abest rei.

XXV. AD BACCHUM.

Quo me, Bacche, rapis tui

Plenum quae nemora aut quos agor in specus,

Velox mente nova! quibus

Antris egregii Caesaris audiar

Aeternum meditans decus

Stellis inserere et consilio Jovis !

Dicam insigne, recens, adhuc

Indictum ore alio. Non secus in jugis

Exsomnis stupet Evias,

Hebrum prospiciens, et nive candidam

Thracen, ac pede barbaro

Lustratam Rhodopen. Ut mihi devio

By river bank, through lonely wood

To rove admiring! Oh, o'er Naiads absolute

And Bacchant priestesses, endued

With hands of force enow tall ash-trees to uproot,

Naught petty, naught in lowly mode,

Naught mortal, will I utter.

Lenaeus to pursue the god

Peril 'tis, yet sweet,

Around whose cinctured brows verdurous vine-leaves

meet.

Whether this was written when the poet was becoming painfully conscious of getting on in years, or whether it is an ordinarily successful suitor's exclamation of disgust at his first rebuff, is a fair specimen of 'Quaestiones Horatianae.' Fortunately the words of the Ode will warrant either interpretation: so the reader can choose for himself between the two.

A PROPER ladies' man of late was I,
And fought love's battles not ingloriously:

Now, with my arms discharged from fight,
And cithern, shall this wall be dight,

Which sea-born Venus on the leftward side
Protects. Leave here, let here abide

Torch, crowbar, bow, which heretofore
Beleaguered the opposing door.

Goddess, who happy Cyprus own'st, and whose
Is Memphis, lacking the Sithonian snows,

Ah queen! let by thy scourge upraised
Just once be haughty Chloe grazed.

Ripas et vacuum nemus

Mirari libet! O Naïadum potens, Baccharumque valentium

Proceras manibus vertere fraxinos, Nil parvum aut humili modo,

Nil mortale loquar. Dulce periculum est, O Lenaee, sequi deum

Cingentem viridi tempora pampino.

XXVI.

VIXI puellis nuper idoneus,
Et militavi non sine gloria:
Nunc arma defunctumque bello
Barbiton hic paries habebit,
Laevum marinae qui Veneris latus
Custodit. Hic, hic ponite lucida
Funalia, et vectes, et arcus

Oppositis foribus minaces.

O quae beatum diva tenes Cyprum, et
Memphin carentem Sithonia nive

Regina, sublimi flagello

Tange Chloën semel arrogantem.