AD APOLLINE M.

Non divitias petit ab Apolline, fed ut fit mens fana in corpore fano.

QUID dedicatum pofcit Apollinem

Vates quid orat, de paterâ novum
Fundens liquorem? non opimas
Sardiniæ fegetes feracis :

Non æftuofæ grata Calabria

Armenta: non aurum, aut ebur Indicum:
Non rura quæ Liris quietâ

Mordet aquâ, taciturnus amnis.

Premant Calena falce, quibus dedit
Fortuna, vitem: dives & aureis

Mercator exficcet culullis

Vina Syrâ reparata merce
Diis charus ipfis: quippe ter & quater
Anno revifens æquor Atlanticum
Impune; me pascunt olivæ,
Me cichorea, levefque malva.

PROSE INTERPRETATION.

What does the poet afk from the dedicated fhrine of Apollo? What does he pray for pouring out from the goblet the new wine? Not the abundant crops of rich Sardinia, not the defirable flocks of the hot Calabria, not gold, nor Indian ivory, not those countries which the mute river Liris wears away with its quiet ftream. Let thofe to whom fortune has given the vine, prefs it, when cut with the Calenian hook, and let the opulent merchant exhauft, out of golden cups, the

wines

He afks not riches of the God, but only a found mind in a found body

WHAT fhall the pious poet pray

Upon the dedication day;

What vow prefer to this Phæbean fhrine, While from the bowl he pours the first-fruits of his wine? Not the rich crop Sardinia yields,

Nor of Calabria's funny fields

The herds I afk, nor elephants nor gold,

Nor grounds of which still Liris leaves the tale untold. Let the Calenian grape be prefs'd

By those whom fortune has poffefs'd;

Let the rich merchant in gold cups exhauft
The wine, which to replace his Syrian venture cost:
Dear to the Gods, fince thrice or more

In one year he can travel o'er

Th'* Atlantic fea undamag'd, while with me Sweet olives, mallows light, and fucc'ry beft agree.

PROSE INTERPRETATION.

wines replaced by his Syrian lading, dear to the Gods themfelves furely, fince without hurt he revifits the Atlantic ocean three or four times in a year. Olives and fuccory, and the

1 2

mallows,

Frui paratis & valido mihi

Latoë dones, & (precor) integrâ

Cum mente: nec turpem senectam
Degere, nec citharâ carentem.

PROSE INTERPRETATION.

mallows, light of degeftion, are the beft food for me. O thou fon of Latona, grant me to enjoy what I have got, and, I befeech thee, with a found mind, nor to live a base old age, nor devoid of the lyre.

ODE

In

Grant, God of fong, this humble lot,

But to enjoy what I have got,

And I beseech thee keep my mind intire

age without disgust, and with the chearful lyre.

Alloquitur Lyram eamque pofcit ut fibi adfit, & fecum canere non definat.

POSCIMUS, fi quid vacui fub umbrâ
Lufimus tecum, quod & hunc in annum
Vivat & plures: age, dic Latinum
Barbite carmen:

Lesbio primum modulate civi:
Qui ferox bello tamen inter arma,
Sive jactatam religaret udo
Littore navim:

Liberum & Mufas Veneremque, & illi
Semper hærentem puerum canebat:
Et Lycum, nigris oculis nigroque
Crine decorum.

O decus Phoebi, & dapibus fupremi
Grata teftudo Jovis, ô laborum
Dulce lenimen, mihi cunque falve
Rite vocanti.

PROSE INTERPRETATION.

I require of you, if I have played any thing upon you at leifure under a fhade, that may live for the present year and many others; come on, my lyre, and speak a Latin ode thou that wert first modulated by the Lefbian citizen: who, fierce in war, yet amidst arms in the field, or if he had faftened to the beech his fhattered veffel, fung Bacchus and the Mufes, and Venus, and her boy ever clinging to

her,