'Pauperies immunda domûs procul absit : ego,

utrum Nave ferar magná an parvá; ferar unus et idem. Non agimur tumidis velis Aquilone secundo: Non tamen adversis ætatem ducimus Austris. Viribus, ingenio, specie, virtute, loco, re, Extremi primorum, extremis usque priores. Non es avarus: abi. Quid ? cætera jam simul

isto Cum vitio fugêre ? caret tibi pectus inani Ambitione ? caret mortis formidine, et ira? Somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, sagas, Nocturnos lemures, portentaque Thessala rides? Natales gratè numeras ? ignoscis amicis ? Lenior et melior fis accedente senectà ! Quid te exempta levat spinis de pluribus una ?

Vivere si rectè nescis, decede peritis.

NOTES.

Ver. 302. In power, wit,] The six words in the original,

“ Viribus, ingenio, specie, virtute, loco, re," are wonderfully close, emphatical, and compact; but I think they could hardly be better expressed than by our author. He has not, perhaps, succeeded so well in imitating another line below :

“ Somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, sagas ;" a line of admirable brevity.

Warton. Ver. 312. Survey both worlds,] It is observable with what sobriety he has corrected the licentiousness of his original, which made the expectation of another world a part of that superstition he would explode; whereas the Imitator is only for removing the false terrors from the world of spirits ; such as the diablerie of witchcraft and purgatory.

Warburton.

*What is't to me (a passenger, God wot,)
Whether my vessel be first rate or not?
The ship itself may make a better figure,
But I that sail, am neither less nor bigger.
I neither strut with every favoring breath, 300
Nor strive with all the tempest in my teeth.
In power, wit, figure, virtue, fortune, placed
Behind the foremost, and before the last.

&“ But why all this of Avarice? I have none." I wish you joy, Sir, of a tyrant gone;

305 But does no other lord it at this hour, As wild and mad ? the avarice of power ? Does neither rage inflame, nor fear appal ? Not the black fear of death that saddens all ? With terrors round, can reason hold her throne,310 Despise the known, nor tremble at th' unknown? Survey both worlds, intrepid and entire, In spite of witches, devils, dreams, and fire ? Pleased to look forward, pleased to look behind, And count each birth-day with a grateful mind? Has life no sourness, drawn so near its end ? Can'st thou endure a foe, forgive a friend ? Has age but melted the rough parts away, As winter-fruits grow mild ere they decay? Or will you think, my friend, your business done, When, of a hundred thorns, you pull out one?

"Learn to live well, or fairly make your will ; You've play'd, and loved, and eat, and drunk your

fill :

Lusisti satis, edisti satis, atque bibisti : Tempus abire tibi est: ne potum largiùs æquo Rideat, et pulset lasciva decentius ætas.

Walk sober off; before a sprightlier age
Comes tittering on, and shoves you from the stage:
Leave such to trifle with more grace and ease,
Whom folly pleases, and whose follies please.

NOTES,

Ver. 326. Leade such to trifle] It, perhaps, might have been better to have omitted these two last lines, the second of which has a quaint and modern turn; and the humour consists in being driven off the stage, potum largius æquo. The word lusisti in the original, is used in a loose and naughty sense, says Upton. As also line 4, 13 Od. and in Propertius: " —populus lusit Ericthonius.”

Warton.