The Poems of John Byrom :: :: University of Virginia Library

“Non est meum, si mugiat Africis
Malus procellis, ad miseras preces
Decurrere, et votis pacisci,
Ne Cypriæ Tyriæque merces
Addant avaro divitias mari.
Tum me biremis præsidio scaphæ
Tutum per Ægæos tumultus
Aura feret geminusque Pollux.
—Lib. iii. Od. 29, vv. 57–64.

524

It is no part of my concern, if the mast be cracked by African storms, to descend to piteous entreaties, and by my vows to make an agreement that my Cyprian and Tyrian wares shall not augment the treasures of the greedy ocean. Then, under the safe-guard of a two-oared skiff, the breeze and the twin-brother Pollux will waft me safely through the Ægean tempests.”

I

This Passage, Sirs, may put ye, one would think,
In mind of him, who, in a furious Storm
Told that the Vessel certainly would sink,
Made a Reply in the Horatian Form:
“Why, let it sink then, if it will!” quoth he;
“I'm but a Passenger,—what is't to me?”

II

So, “non est meum,” Horace here cries out,
To purchase Calm with wretched Vows and Pray'rs;
“Let them who freight the Ship be thus devout,—
I'm not concern'd in any of its Wares!”
May not one ask, if common-Sense will read,
Was ever Jest and Earnest more agreed?

525

III

Nay but you see the Reason, 'tis replied,
Why he rejects the Bargaining of Pray'r:
His little Skiff will stem the raging Tide
With double Pollux, and with gentler Air.
“This is his Moral,” say his Under-pullers:
“The Poor and Innocent are safe in Scullers.”

IV

Why, so they may be, if they coast along,
And shun the Winds that make “a Mast to moan!”
But here, according to the critic Throng,
Horace was in the Ship, tho' not his own.
Suppose a Sculler just contriv'd for him,
When the Ship sunk, would his “Biremis” swim?

V

Can you by any construing Pretence,—
If you suppose, as Commentators do,
Him in the Ship,—make tolerable Sense
Of his surviving all the sinking Crew?
With Winds so boist'rous, by what cunning Twist
Can his clear Stars and gentle Air resist?

VI

“The Gifts of Fortune Horace had resign'd,
“And poor and honest his just fancied Case:
“Nothing to do had he with ‘stormy Wind,’
“Nor in ‘Ægæan Seas’ to seek a Place.

526

“How is it likely then, that he should mean
“To paint himself in such an awkward Scene?”

VII

Why, but “Tum me biremis” must suppose,
By “then” escaping, that he sure was in't;
And “feret,” too, that comes into the close
In all the Books that we have here in Print.—
Both Words are wrong, tho', notwithstanding that;
“Tum” should be “Cum,” and “feret” be “ferat.”

VIII

The Sense, or Moral, if you please, is this:
“Henceforth be Probity, tho' poor, my Lot!
“The Love of Riches is but an Abyss
“Of dangerous Cares, that now concern me not.
“Caught in its Storms, let Avarice implore;
“I thank my Stars, I'm rowing safe to Shore.”