ΤΟ

PYRRH A.

BOOK THE FIRST, ODE THE FIFTH.

WHERE roses flaunt beneath some pleasant cave,
Too charming PYRRHA, what enamour'd boy,
Whose shining locks the breathing odours lave,
Woos thee, exulting in a transient joy?
For whom the simple band dost thou prepare,
That slightly fastens back thy golden hair?

Alas! how soon shall this devoted youth

Love's tyrant sway, and thy chang'd eyes deplore, Indignant curse thy violated truth,

And count each broken promise o'er and o’er, Who hopes to meet, unconscious of thy wiles, Ingenuous looks, and ever facile smiles!

He, inexperienc'd mariner! shall gaze
In wild amazement on the stormy deep,

Recall the flattery of those sunny days,

That lull'd each ruder wind to calmest sleep. 'Twas then, with jocund hope, he spread the sail, In rash dependence on the faithless gale.

Ah wretch! to whom untried thou seemest fair!
By me, who late thy halcyon surface sung,
The walls of Neptune's fane inscrib'd, declare
That I have dank and dropping garments hung,
Devoted to the GOD, whose kind decree
Snatch'd me to shore, from an o'erwhelming sea.

1.7. Neptune's fane-Horace alludes to the custom of the Roman mariners after a shipwreck-that of suspending their garments, which had been drenched in the storm, in the temple of Neptune, together with a votive tablet, on which the circumstances of the danger and escape, were painted.

ΤΟ

MUNATIUS PLANCUS.*

BOOK THE FIRST, ODE THE SEVENTH.

BE far-famed Rhodes the theme of loftier strains, Or Mitylene, as their bard decrees;

Or Ephesus, where great Diana reigns,

Or Corinth, towering 'twixt the rival seas;
Or Thebes, illustrious in thy birth divine,
Purpureal Bacchus ;-or of Phoebus' shrine,
Delphos oracular; or warbling hail

Thessalian Tempe's flower-embroider'd vale.

* He had been twice Consul; was of Brutus' and Cassius' party, but went over to Augustus, who received him with kind respect. However he revolted from him, persuaded by the friends of Marc Antony, that the battle of Actium would decree the Empire to that General. The event, so contrary, brought Munatius back to the feet of Augustus, but he was not received with former kindness, nor did he deserve it, and retired, chagrined, to his fine seat at Tivoli, in the wood of Tiburnus, so called from the neighbouring city, Tibur. There also, and near the falls of Tivoli, described at full in Mr Gray's

The art-crown'd city, chaste Minerva's pride,
There are, whose endless numbers have pourtray'd;
They, to each tree that spreads its branches wide,
Prefer the tawny Olive's scanty shade.
Many, in Juno's honour, sing thy meads,
Green Argos, glorying in thy agile steeds;
Or opulent Mycene, whose proud fanes
The blood of murder'd AGAMEMNON stains.

Nor patient Lacedæmon wakes my lyre,
Who trains her sons to all the warrior's toil;

letters, Horace had a villa. The poet, perceiving the spirits of Munatins dejected, writes this Ode to reconcile him to his destiny, and to inspire him with delight in the beautiful scenery by which he was surrounded; insinuating, that should Augustus banish him, which was no improbable event, he ought not to despond, but to form his conduct upon the spirited example of Teucer; who, together with his friends and followers, was banished his native city, Salamis, by his father, because he had not revenged upon the Greeks the death of his brother Ajax. The disinterested design of this Ode, and the humane attention it pays to a disgraced nobleman, are much to the poet's honour, who was perhaps, in general, more disposed to gratulate the powerful, than to sooth the unfortunate.

1. 1. p. 231. Far-famed Rhodes-The capital of an island of the same name in the Mediterranean, and famous for the Colossal Statue.

1. 2. p. 231. Mitylene-The chief city of Lesbos, praised by Cicero for its advantageous situation, elegant buildings, and fertile soil.

1. 4. Tawny Olive's—It was believed that Minerva presented the seed of the olive-tree to the Athenians.

Nor me Larissa's airy graces fire,

Tho' round her hills the golden vallies smile :
But my loved mansion, 'mid the circling wood,
On the green bank of clear Albunea's flood,
Its walls resounding with the echo'd roar,
As Anio's torrents down the mountain pour.

Amid my blooming orchards pleas'd I rove,
Guiding the ductile course of murmuring rills;
Or mark the curtains of the sacred grove
Sink in the vales, or sweep along the hills.
Ah, friend! if round my cell such graces shine,
The Palace of Tiburnian shades is thine;

She

every feature of the scene commands, And Empress of its varied beauty stands.

Tho' frequent mists the young Favonius shroud,
Bending his flagging wing with heavy rains,

1. 1. Larissa-A beautiful city, upon one of the hills in Thessaly.

1. 11. This surely must be the poet's meaning in mentioning his own villa, when he is endeavouring to awaken in Munatius a taste for the surrounding beauties of his more magnificent seat. Commentators rationally conclude that some connecting lines have been lost from the Latin of this Ode. It appears to me, that the idea which those dismembered lines conveyed, must necessarily have been the comparison added in the four ensuing lines, which makes the transition easy.