ODE VI. To Agrippa.
By George Jeffreys, Esq. Formerly Fellow of
Trinity College, Cambridge.
1
A
Varius, rais'd on Homer's Wing,
Your Valour and Success demand,
Our gallant Veterans to sing,
Victorious under You by Sea and Land.
2
Such Deeds, Agrippa, to relate,
Is far above my slender Vein;
To reach Achilles' stubborn Hate,
Or sage Ulysses' wand'ring o'er the Main.
3
The Muse, that tunes the bashful Lyre,
Unequal to heroic Lays,
Forbids Me, void of Wit and Fire,
To sully Yours, and sacred Cæsar's Praise.
4
Merion, with Trojan Dust o'erspread,
Or Mars in Arms of Adamant,
Or Diomed, by Pallas' Aid,
A Match for Gods in Battle, who can paint?
5
For Me, untouch'd, or half-subdu'd
By Love, of Feasts, where Virgins fight
With close-par'd Nails their Lovers rude;
With my accustom'd Levity I write.
