Thus, when the Theban swan attempts the skies, A nobler gale of rapture bids him rise; But like a bee, which through the breezy groves 26 Sits on the bloom, and with unceasing toil From thyme sweet-breathing culls his flowery spoil; So I, weak bard! round Tibur's lucid spring, 31 Of humbler strain laborious verses sing. "Tis thine with deeper hand to strike the lyre When Cæsar shall his raptured bard inspire; And crown'd with laurel, well-earn'd meed of war, Drag the fierce Gaul at his triumphal car. 36 Than whom the gods ne'er gave, or bounteous fate, To humankind a gift more good or great, Nor from the treasures shall again unfold, Though time roll backward to his ancient gold. 40 Be thine the festal days, the city's joys, The forum silenced from litigious noise; The public games for Cæsar safe restored, A blessing oft with pious vows implored. Then, if my voice can reach the glorious theme, Then will I sing, amid the loud acclaim46 "Hail, brightest sun! in Rome's fair annals shine; Cæsar returns-eternal praise be thine." As the procession awful moves along, 50 Of thy fair herds twice ten shall grateful bleed, While I, with pious care, one steerling feed: Wean'd from the dam, o'er pastures large he roves, And for my vows his rising youth he proves: His horns like Luna's bending fires appear, When the third night she rises to her sphere; And, yellow all the rest, one spot there glows Full in his front, and bright as winter snows. 56 60 44 During the absence of Augustus vows were made to the gods for his return, which the new consuls repeated in 741, by decree of the senate, as appears by medals and inscriptions. Torr. ODE III. TO MELPOMENE.* HORACE attributes his place and rank among poets to the favour of Melpomene. HE, on whose natal hour the queen Of verse hath smiled, shall never grace First in the famed Olympic race: And taming haughty monarchs' pride, But him, the streams which warbling flow 10 And shady groves, his haunts, shall know The sons of Rome, majestic Rome! And envy, now or dead or dumb, Forbears to blame what they admire. Goddess of the sweet-sounding lute, Which thy harmonious touch obeys, Thy gift it is, that all, with ease, 15 20 They who have taste for whatever is delicate and natural m poetry; for whatever is noble and elegant in style, or flowing and harmonious in numbers, must acknowledge that there is not anything in Greek or Latin more finished and complete than this poem. Such is the judgment of all the commentators; bu Scaliger is so charmed with it, that he assures us he woul rather have been author of it than be king of Arragon. 21 The praises which Horace gives himself in this ode are happily tempered by his acknowledgments that all his poetical abilities are a present from the muses. We should allow something for this instance of modesty, because it is not usually a favourite virtue among poets.-San. ODE IV. THE PRAISES OF DRUSUS.* HORACE celebrates the victory of Drusus over the Vindelici. As the majestic bird of towering kind, Who bears the thunder through th' ethereal space, (To whom the monarch of the gods assign'd Dominion o'er the vagrant feather'd race, His faith approved, when to the distant skies From Ida's top he bore the Phrygian prize,) Sprung from his nest, by sprightly youth inspired, Fledged, and exulting in his native might, Novice to toils, but as the clouds retired, And gentler gales provoked a bolder flight, On sailing wings through yielding air explored Unwonted paths, and panted while he soar'd: Anon to ravage in the fleecy fold 5 10 The glowing ardour of his youthful heart Pour'd the beak'd foe; now more maturely bold 15 With talons fierce precipitate to dart On dragons fell, reluctant in the fray; Such is his thirst for battle and for prey: *This poem is so perfectly finished, that it has disarmed >en the terrible criticism of Scaliger, and obliged him to conss that Horace excels himself and all Greece in this whole de. The first part of it is of a strain almost beyond Pindaric; the middle is elevated by a noble, just, pathetic morality; and the conclusion is wrought with a masculine and vehement elo quence. 1 Pliny tells us that the fiction of the eagle's carrying Jupiter's thunder was founded on an experience that this is the only bird never destroyed by lightning. But this experience appears very doubtful, and the title seems rather to be given it for its remarkable strength and swiftness. It was employed to carry Ganymede to heaven, whom the gods, as Xenophon informs us, thought worthy of immortality for an understanding and wisdom far above his age. 17 Pliny describes an eagle's combat with a dragon as most Or as a lion through the forest stalks, Wean'd by his tawny dam from milky food; A goat descries him from her flowery walks, 20 First doom'd to stain his youthful jaws with blood: The Rhætian bands beheld him such in war, Felt how Augustus with paternal mind Fired the young Neros to heroic deedsThe brave and good are copies of their kind: In steers laborious, and in generous steeds We trace their sires; nor can the bird of Jove Intrepid, fierce, beget th' unwarlike dove. Yet sage instructions to refine the soul, 25 30 35 Strength to the mind, and vigour to the heart: 40 How much the grandeur of thy rising state doubtful and dangerous. The dragon, by a malignant avidity, searches for an eagle's eggs, who therefore seizes him, wherever they meet. But the dragon rolling himself round his wings, they frequently fall down together to the earth. 31 Tiberius Nero died in the same year in which he had yielded his wife Livia to Augustus, and by his last will named that prince, not only a guardian of Tiberius, who was then four years old, but of Drusus, who was born three months after his mother was inarried to Augustus. In this manner the emperor was a second father to both the Neros. Witness Metaurus, and the dismal fate Of vanquish'd Asdrubal, and that glad day Resistless in his rage, before that day As through the pitchy pines destructive fire 45 50 55 The Roman youth, improving by their toils, 45 Claudius Nero being encamped in Lucania in view of Hannibal, went with six thousand foot and a thousand horse to join his colleague Salinator, and oppose the passage of Asdrubal, who was bringing a considerable reinforcement to his brother. This diligence preserved Italy, for Asdrubal was defeated near the river Metaurus, and Nero, returning to his camp before the Carthaginians perceived he had been absent, ordered Asdrubal's head to be thrown into Hannibal's camp, who cried out, "I acknowledge the fate of Carthage." Va Horace has chosen this action, not only because it was one of the most important performed by the family, but because Drusus and Tiberius were descended from both these consuls. lerius Maximus, speaking of the quarrel between these two great men during their censorship, cries out, with reason, "If any god had told them that their blood, after having flowed through the veins of so many illustrious persons, should unite to form our prince, Tiberius, the safety of the state, they would have renounced their hatred, and joined in the strictest amity, that they might leave to their common descendant their country to be preserved, which they themselves had preserved." -Dac. 47 This day really dissipated the darkness which covered Italy. The Romans had been defeated in several battles, and if Asdrubal had joined his brother, the fate of Rome had been inevitable. In all authors the word darkness signifies misfor tune, ruin, and perdition; as the word light is used to express happiness, victory, and safety.-Dac. |