The Works of Horace In English Verse :: :: University of Virginia Library

As Jove's imperial Bird, to whom the Sway
O'er all the feather'd Race was given,
(For so did he his faithful Favourite pay,
For wafting Ganymed to Heaven)
With native Vigour join'd to youthful Prime,
Springs from the Nest, tho' check'd by Fear,
Unwonted Heights with tender Wing to climb,
The Sky when Summer Breezes clear:
With hostile Rage the Spoiler next descends,
Impetuous, on the bleating Fold;
Thence, more assur'd, reluctant Dragons rends,
With Love of Prey and Combat bold:
Or as a Kid, on Pastures fair to graze
Intent, the Lion's Progeny,
Wean'd from his yellow Mother's Milk, surveys;
By Fangs in Slaughter new, to die;

434

Such Drusus the Vindelici beheld
Beneath the Alps, unmatch'd in War!
And, by a sage and youthful Leader quell'd,
The Troops, victorious long and far,
Prov'd what a Genius and a Mind could dare,
By Precept and Example taught;
And what, Augustus! thy Paternal Care
In either Nero's Bloom has wrought.
The Brave beget the Brave: The Bull, the Steed,
Are stamp'd upon their generous Race;
Nor is the Dove's unwarlike Brood decreed
The Royal Eagle to disgrace.
But Culture calls the hidden Vigour forth,
And Virtue, when on Learning built,
Confirms the Heart: In Blood, devoid of Worth,
The conscious Shame enhances Guilt.
What Rome her Neros owes, let Asdrubal
Be Witness, that decisive Day,
The first, that near Metaurus by his Fall
From Latium chas'd the Night away:
When the dire African to Mars, among
Th'Italian Cities gave the Rein,
Impetuous as the Flame, that runs along
The Pines, or Eurus o'er the Main.

435

From that bright Dawn the Roman Youth sustain'd,
With better Fate, the Toils of Fight:
And the sad Shrines, by Punic Foes profan'd,
Now found their Guardian Gods upright.
When Hannibal at length desponding spoke:
‘Like Stags, the Prey of Wolves, are We,
‘And rashly to the Fight such Foes provoke,
‘As to elude were Victory.
‘The Warrior Race, who to the Latian Coast,
‘From Ilium sunk in Grecian Fires,
‘Convey'd their Gods, on Tuscan Billows tost,
‘Their Offspring and their aged Sires,
‘Uninjur'd, like the widely-spreading Oak
‘On Algidus with Shade embrown'd,
‘Defy the sturdy Steel's repeated Stroke,
‘And draw new Vigour from the Wound.
‘Not baffled Hercules receiv'd a Foil
‘More grievous from the sprouting Store
‘Of Hydra's Heads; no greater Pest the Soil
‘Of Thebes or Colchis ever bore.
‘Plung'd in the Deep, more graceful thence they spring,
‘The Sons of dearly purchas'd Fame!
Tho' thrown, with vast Applause the Victor fling,
‘And Matrons their Exploits proclaim.

436

‘With lofty Tidings I shall ne'er again
‘My long-triumphant Carthage hail;
‘Lost, lost, in Asdrubal untimely slain,
‘Our Name's best Hope and Fortune fail!’
The Claudian Hands all Wonders shall perform,
By Jove's indulgent Aid secur'd,
And, by sagacious Care, to rule the Storm
Of well-conducted War, inur'd.