 | The odes, epodes and Carmen Seculare of Horace (1719) |  |
ODE VII. To Torquatus.
The Spring dissolves the fleecy Snows;Fresh Green adorns the Fields, fresh Leaves the Boughs:
Nature is deck'd in all her gayest Pride;
The limpid Streams in narrow Chanels glide:
The Nymphs trip naked o'er the Plains,
And with 'em hand in hand, the Graces dance.
The rolling Hours, and shifting Year
Inform you, that your last great Change is near;
Warm Zephyr melts the Winter down,
Then Spring succeeds, and Summer's quickly gone;
Then Autumn, rich in Fruits and Grain,
Rolls regular, till Winter comes again.
The Moon renews her fading Light,
Whilst Man lies down in everlasting Night:
We moulder into Dust and Clay,
Where Tullus, Ancus, and Æneas lay.
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Or give another Day, when this is done?
Be free and chearful; do not spare
Your Wealth, to glut an undeserving Heir:
When to the Shades below you come,
And Minos fixes your eternal Doom,
Not Virtue, nor High Birth shall save,
Nor Eloquence redeem you from the Grave:
Diana try'd to bring, in vain,
Her chaste Hippolytus to Life again;
Though Theseus did to Hell descend,
He could not rescue his unhappy Friend.
| The odes, epodes and Carmen Seculare of Horace (1719) | |