EPODE II. IN PRAISE OF A COUNTRY LIFE. "Beatus ille qui procul negotiis." HAPPY he, who free from care Anxious thoughts, and worldly schemes Ne'er disturb his pleasing dreams; War for him has no alarms, When ambition calls to arms. Honest, he abjures the Law; Splendid Courts he never saw; If, to cheat the ling'ring time, Formal pedants, bred at schools, Nought restrains his Muse of whim, If the bounteous Gods afford Would you once his mind bewitchGive him wealth, and make him rich: Keep him to his low degree, Kings are not so blest as he. ODE XX. BOOK I. A POET'S INVITATION. "Vile potabis modicis Sabinum." IF you come to dine with me, Harmless pleasure, social glee, These I give-and should my Lord Me to visit humbly deign, Port is all I can afford, He must bring the bright Champaigne ! Cool beneath a spreading vine, Jovial Horace, thirsty chap, he Quaff'd his rich Falernian wine, With Mæcenus snug and happy— We, in lodgings near the skies, And the bray of Kent-Street Lions. ODE XV. BOOK III. TO A FADED BEAUTY. "Uxor pauperis Ibyci." DEAR Chloris, at an age like thine Give o'er thy light fantastic tricks, Forswear the company of beaux, Nor thus to ridicule expose The winter of thy charms. No beauty thou hast left to boast, Though twenty years a reigning toast, By coxcombs pledg'd aloud; Retreat in time, give others room, No nostrum can restore thy bloom; Haste, Chloris! nor defraud the tomb, Death courts thee for a shroud. What sprightly Phoebe, frank and free, Leave off thy pert affected prate, Should make thee play the fool. Ah! roll no more the leering eye Thy ogling days are past : And mark the moral of my strain, That beauty, though she proudly reign, Must be dethron'd at last. |