For mighty Mars, the dreadful god of arms, Oft from his bloody toil the god retires To quench in thy embrace his fierce desires. HORACE, BOOK II. ODE X. Rectius vives, Licini WOULDST thou through life securely glide, Nor boundless o'er the ocean ride; Nor ply too near th' insidious shore, Scared at the tempest's threat'ning roar. The man who follows Wisdom's voice, And makes the golden mean his choice, Nor plunged in antique gloomy cells 'Midst hoary desolation dwells; Nor to allure the envious eye Rears his proud palace to the sky. The pine, that all the grove transcends, The man, whose steadfast soul can bear Hopes when she frowns, and when she smiles With cautious fear eludes her wiles. Jove with rude winter wastes the plain, Jove decks the rosy spring again. Life's former ills are overpast, Now Phoebus wings his shafts, and now HORACE, BOOK III. ODE XIII. O Fons Blandusiæ BLANDUSIA! more than crystal clear! Their careless limbs diffused supine, When fiery Sirius blasts the plain, And lays his languid limbs to rest. As springs of old renown'd, thy name, Biest fountain! I devote to fame; Thus while I sing in deathless lays, The verdant holm, whose waving sprays, Thy sweet retirement to defend, High o'er the moss grown rock impend, Whence prattling in loquacious play Thy sprightly waters leap away. THE PASTORALS OF VIRGIL. Non ita certandi cupidus, quam propter amorem Lucret. lib. iii. PASTORAL I.* MELIBUS, TITYRUS. Melibæus. WHERE the broad beech an ample shade displays, Driven from our lands, to distant climes are borne, It has been observed by some critics, who have treated of pastoral poetry, that, in every poem of this kind, it is proper that the scene or landscape, connected with the little plot or fable on which the poem is founded, be delineated with at least as much accuracy as is sufficient to render the description particular and pictur sque. How far Virgil has thought fit to attend to such a rule may appear from the Temarks which the translator has subjoined to every pastoral. The scene of the first pastoral is pictured out with great accuracy. The shepherds Melibœus and Tityrus are represented as conversing together beneath a spreading beech-tree. Flocks and herds are leding hard by. At a little distance we behold, on the one hand a great rock, and on the other a fence of flowering willows. The prospect as it widens is diver itied with groves, and streams, and some tall Frees, particularly elms. Beyond all these appear marsby grounds, and rocky his. The ragged and drooping flock of the unfortunate shepherd particularly the she-goat which he leads along, are no incon-iderable figures in this picture.-The time is the evening of a summerday, a little before sunset. See of the original, v. 1. 5. 9. 52. 51. 57. 59. 81, &c. This pastoral is said to have been written on the following occasion. Augustus, in order to reward the services of his veterans, by means of whồn: he had established himself in the Roman empire, distributed among them the lands that lay contiguous to Mantua and Cremona. To make way for these intruders, the rightful owners, of whom Virgil was one, were turned out. But our poet, by the intercession of Mecænus, was reinstated in his possessions. Melibaus here personates one of the unhappy exiles, and Virgil is represented under the character of Tityrus. Tityrus. This peace to a propitious god I owe; None else, my friend, such blessings could bestow. And frequent lambs shall stain his sacred shrine. Melibœus. I envy not, but wonder at your fate, That no alarms invade this blest retreat; While neighbouring fields the voice of woe resound. Worn with fatigue I slowly onward bend, Whose young new yean'd (ah once an hopeful pair!) On the sharp flint were left to pine away. But say, O Tityrus, what god bestows This blissful life of undisturb'd repose? Tityrus. Imperial Rome, while yet to me unknown, I vainly liken'd to our country town, Our little Mantua, at which is sold The yearly offspring of our fruitful fold: As in the whelp the father's shape appears, |