To MUNATIUS PLANCUS. Ode 7.
Divers men praise divers Cities and Countries; Horrace prefers Tybur, Plancus his Birth-place; whom he exhorts to chearfulness.
Some men advance bright Rhodes or Mitylene,
Choice Ephesus, Corinth between
Two guarding Seas; or Thebes by BACCHUS crown'd,
Delphos by PHEBUS; Tempe-ground:
Some Athens worth, unmoved PALLAS Station,
Yield endless Verse for celebration;
And th' Olive cropt from far her brows present;
More minds (for JUNO'S Honour bent)
Argos, Horse-stor'd; Mycæne's wealth compleat
Me patient Lacedæmon's Seat.
Not near transports, Larissa's Soil so good,
Like House in Albune's murmuring Wood.
Steep Anio's Stream, with Tibur Groves where trace
Pure wandring Founts, their Orchards grace.
As North-wind clear doth wipe from blackest Skie
The purged Clouds, nor breeds on high
Still Show'rs, so PLANCUS wisely o'rereach, delude
Unwholsome Grief; life's toils conclude
With mildest Wine; thee whether Tents do hold,
Glistring with Ensigns brave and bold;
Or thy dark Tibur's shade: TEUCER when fled
His Sire and Salamine ('tis sed)
He Poplar-bound his brows bedew'd with Wine,
And to sad Friends did thus divine:
Fortune where-ere, more kind than harshest Father,
shall lead (Comrades) we'l follow rather;
TEUCER your Captain guide in nought despair,
Since PHÆBUS truth hath promis'd fair,
That second Salamine upon new ground
Shall rise: O stout and valiant found
With me in worse, now Drink let griefs restrain;
To morrow scour vast Seas again.
