Decurrit illi vita beatior
Quicunque lucem non nimis anxius
Reddit molestam, urgetve curas
Sponte sua satis ingruentes;
Et
quem dierum lene fluentium
Delectat ordo, vitaque mutuis
Felix amicis, gaudiisque
Innocuis bene temperata.
A PUPPET-SHOW.
ADMIRANDA cano levium spectacula rerum, Exiguam gentem, et vacuum sine mente popellum; Quem, non surreptis cœli de fornice flammis, Innocua melior fabricaverat arte Prometheus.
Compita qua risu fervent, glomeratque tumultum Histrio, delectatque inhiantem scommate turbam; Quotquot lætitiæ studio aut novitate tenentur, Undique congressi permissa sedilia complent. Nec confusus honos; nummo subsellia cedunt Diverso, et varii ad pretium stat copia scamni. Tandem ubi subtrahitur velamen, lumina passim Angustos penetrant aditus, qua plurima visum Fila secant, ne, cum vacuo datur ore fenestra, Pervia fraus pateat: mox stridula turba penates Ingreditur pictos, et mania squallida fuco. Hic humiles inter scenas, angustaque claustra, Quicquid agunt homines, concursus, bella, triumphos, Ludit in exiguo plebecula parva theatro.
Sed præter reliquos incedit HOMUNCIO rauca Voce strepens; major subnectit fibula vestem, Et referunt vivos errantia lumina motus; In ventrem tumet immodicum; pone eminet ingens A tergo gibbus; Pygmæum territat agmen Major, et immanem miratur turba Gigantem. Hic magna fretus mole, imparibusque lacertis Confisus, gracili jactat convitia vulgo,
Et crebro solvit, lepidum caput, ora cachinno.
Quanquam res agitur solenni seria pompa,
Spernit sollicitum intractabilis ille tumultum,
Et risu importunus adest, atque omnia turbat.
Nec raro invadit molles, pictamque protervo
Ore petit Nympham, invitoque dat oscula ligno.
Sed comitum vulgus diversis membra fatigant Ludis, et vario lascivit mobile saltu.
Sæpe etiam gemmis rutila, et spectabilis auro,
Lignea gens prodit, nitidisque superbit in ostris.
Nam, quoties festam celebrat sub imagine lucem,
Ordine composito Nympharum incedit honestum
Agmen, et exigui proceres, parvique quirites.
Pygmæos credas positis mitescere bellis,
Jamque, infensa Gruum temnentes prælia, tutos
Indulgere jocis, tenerisque vacare choreis.
Tales, cum medio labuntur sidera cœlo,
Parvi subsiliunt Lemures, populusque pusillus
Festivos, rediens sua per vestigia, gyros
Ducit, et angustum crebro pede pulsitat orbem.
Mane patent gressus; hinc succos terra feraces
Concipit, in multam pubentia gramina surgunt
Luxuriem, tenerisque virescit circulus herbis.
At non tranquillas nulla abdunt nubila luces,
Sæpe gravi surgunt bella, horrida, bella, tumultu.
Arma cient truculenta cohors, placidamque quietem
Dirumpunt pugnæ; usque adeo insincera voluptas
Omnibus, et mistæ castigant gaudia curæ.
Jam gladii, tubulique ingesto sulphure fœti,
Protensæque hasta, fulgentiaque arma, minæque
Telorum ingentes subeunt; dant claustra fragorem
Horrendum, ruptæ stridente bitumine charta
Confusos reddunt crepitus, et sibila miscent.
Sternitur omne solum pereuntibus; undique cæsæ
Apparent turmæ, civilis crimina belli.
Sed postquam insanus pugnæ deferbuit æstus,
Exuerintque truces animos, jam Marte fugato,
Diversas repetunt artes, curasque priores.
Nec raro prisci heroes, quos pagina sacra
Suggerit, atque olim peperit felicior ætas,
Hic parva redeunt specie. Cano ordine cernas
Antiquos prodire, agmen venerabile, Patres.
Rugis sulcantur vultus, prolixaque barbæ
Canities mento pendet: sic tarda senectus
TITHONUM minuit, cum moles tota cicadam
Induit, in gracilem sensim collecta figuram.
Nunc tamen unde genus ducat, quæ dextra latentes
Suppeditet vires, quem poscat turba moventem,
Expediam. Truncos opifex et inutile lignum
Cogit in humanas species, et robore natam
Progeniem telo efformat, nexuque tenaci
Crura ligat pedibus, humerisque accommodat armos,
Et membris membra aptat, et artubus insuit artus.
Tunc habiles addit trochleas, quibus arte pusillum
Versat onus, molique manu famulatus inerti
Sufficit occultos motus, vocemque ministrat.
His structa auxiliis jam machina tota peritos
Ostendit sulcos, duri et vestigia ferri:
Hinc salit, atque agili se sublevat incita motu,
Vocesque emittit tenues, et non sua verba.
AD INSIGNISSIMUM VIRUM
D. THO. BURNETTUM,
SACRE THEORIÆ TELLURIS AUTOREM.
NON usitatum carminis alitem,
BURNETTE, poscis, non humiles modos;
Vulgare plectrum, languidæque
Respuis officium camœnæ.
Tu mixta rerum semina conscius,
Molemque cernis dissociabilem,
Terramque concretam, et latentem
Oceanum gremio capaci :
Dum veritatem quærere pertinax
Ignota pandis, sollicitus parum
Utcunque stet commune vulgi
Arbitrium et popularis error.
Auditur ingens continuo fragor,
Illapsa tellus lubrica deserit
Fundamina, et compage fracta
Suppositas gravis urget undas.
USEFULNESS OF ANCIENT MEDALS.
ESPECIALLY IN RELATION TO THE LATIN AND GREEK POETS.
Quoniam hæc ratio plerumque videtur
Tristior esse, quibus non est tractata, retroque
Volgus abhorret ab hac: volui tibi suaviloquenti
Carmine Pierio rationem exponere nostram,
Et quasi musæo dulci contingere melle,
Si tibi forte animum tali ratione tenerem.
OCCASIONED BY MR. ADDISON'S TREATISE ON
MEDALS.
SEE the wild waste of all-devouring years!
How Rome her own sad sepulchre appears:
With nodding arches, broken temples spread!
The very tombs now vanished like their dead!
Some felt the silent stroke of mouldering age;
Some, hostile fury; some, religious rage;
Barbarian blindness, Christian zeal, conspire;
And Papal piety, and Gothic fire.
Perhaps by its own ruins saved from flame,
Some buried marble half preserves a name;
That name the learn'd with fierce disputes pursue,
And give to Titus old Vespasian's due.
Ambition sighed. She found it vain to trust
The faithless column and the crumbling bust;
Huge moles whose shadow stretched from shore to shore,
Their ruins perished, and their place no more!
Convinced, she now contracts her vast design;
And all her triumphs sink into a coin.
A narrow orb each crowded conquest keeps ;
Beneath her palm here sad Judæa weeps;
Now scantier limits the proud arch confine,
And scarce are seen the prostrate Nile and Rhine:
A small Euphrates through the piece is rolled;
And little eagles wave their wings in gold.
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