TO GROS PHU S.

All men covet peace of mind, which cannot be acquired either by riches or bonours, but only by reftraining the appetites.

WHEN o'er the Ægean vaft he fails

The feaman fues the gods for eafe, Soon as the moon the tempeft veils, Nor fparkling guide he fees.

Eafe by fierce Thracians in the end;

Eafe by the quiver'd Mede is fought;
By gems, nor purple bales, my friend,
Nor bullion to be bought.

Not wealth or state, a conful's share,
Can give the troubled mind its reft,
Or fray the winged fiends of care,
That pompous roofs infeft.
Well lives he, on whofe little board
Th' old filver falt-cellar appears,
Left by his fires-no fordid hoard
Disturb his fleep with fears.

PROSE INTERPRETATION.

For neither treasures nor the conful's officer turn out the miferable emotions of the mind, nor cares that fly about the vaulted ceilings of the great. It is a good life, though upon a little, with that man, whose paternal falt-cellar fhines upon his frugal table. Neither apprehenfion of danger, or fordid covetoufnefs, deprive him of his light flumbers. Why do O 4

we

Quid brevi fortes jaculamur ævo
Multa? Quid terras alio calentes
Sole mutamus? Patriæ quis exul
Se quoque fugit ?

Scandit æratas vitiofa naves

Cura: nec turmas equitum relinquit,
Ocyor cervis, & agente nimbos
Ocyor Euro.

Lætus in præfens animus, quod ultra eft
Oderit curare: & amara læto
Temperet rifu. Nihil eft ab omni
Parte beatum.

Abftulit clarum cita mors Achillem,
Longa Tithonum minuit fenectus :
Et mihi forfan, tibi quod negarit,
Porriget hora.

Te greges centum Siculæque circum
Mugiunt vaccæ. Tibi tollit hinni-
tum apta quadrigis equa, te bis Afro
Murice tinctæ

PROSE INTERPRETATION.

we fo ftrenuously aim at many things for fo fhort a season ? Why do we change our own country for regions warmed by another fun? Whoever, though a fugitive from his birthplace, has alfo run away from himself? Mischievous care gets aboard the brazen-beaked fhips; nor does it leave the fquadron of horse, more fwift than ftags, and more swift than the east wind when it drives the showers. A difpofition that is in fpirits for the present should disgust to be folicitous

about

Why with fuch ftrength of thought devise,
And aim at fublunary pelf,

Seek foreign realms? Can he, who flies
His country, 'scape himself?

Ill-natur'd care will board the fleet,

Nor leave the fquadron'd troops behind,
Swifter than harts, or irksome fleet
Driv'n by the eastern wind.

If good, the present hour be mirth
If bitter, let your smiles be sweet,
Look not too forward- nought on earth
Is in all points complete.

A fudden death Achilles feiz'd,
A tedious age Tithonus wore-
If you're amerc'd, fate may be pleas'd
To give to me the more.

A hundred flocks around thee ftray,
About thee low Sicilian kine,
And mares apt for thy carriage neigh,
And purple robes are thine.

PROSE INTERPRETATION.

about what is beyond it, and can palliate the bitters of life with a chearful smile. Nothing under the fun is in all points happy. A fudden death took off the famous Achilles; a tedious old age wafted Tithonus; and time perhaps may extend for me the days that he fhall refuse to thee. Around thee are a hundred flocks, and Sicilian heifers low; for you the mare, fit for the carriage and four, sets up a neighing;

wool

Veftiunt lanæ mihi parva rura &
Spiritum Grajæ tenuem Camænæ
Parca non mendax dedit, & malignum
Spernere vulgus.

PROSE INTERPRETATION.

wool doubly dyed in the African purple cloaths you; on me faithful providence has bestowed a small country farm, and a

little

Me, born for verfe and rural peace,

A faithful prophetess foretold,

And groundlings, fpirited from Greece,
In high contempt I hold.

PPOSE INTERPRETATION,

little portion of the Grecian poetical spirit, and a disposition to contemn the ill-natured vulgar,

ODE