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A Poetical Translation of the works of Horace

With the Original Text, and Critical Notes collected from his best Latin and French Commentators. By the Revd Mr. Philip Francis...The third edition
  

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Epist. X. To Aristius Fuscus.
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Epist. X. To Aristius Fuscus.

To Fuscus, who in City-sports delights,
A Country-Bard with gentle Greeting writes;
In this we differ, but in all beside,
Like twin-born Brothers, are our Souls allied;
And, as a Pair of fondly-constant Doves,
What one dislikes the other disapproves.
You keep the Nest, I love the rural Mead,
The Brook, the mossy Rock and woody Glade;
In short, I live and reign, whene'er I fly
The Joys, You vaunt with Rapture to the Sky,
And like a Slave, from the Priest's Service fled,
I nauseate honey'd Cakes, and long for Bread.
Would you to Nature's Laws Obedience yield,
Would you a House for Health or Pleasure build,
Where is there such a Situation found,
As where the Country spreads its Blessings round?
Where is the temperate Winter less severe?
Or, when the Sun ascending fires the Year,

317

Where breathes a milder Zephyr to asswage
The Dogstar's Fury, or the Lion's Rage?
Where do less envious Cares disturb our Rest?
Or are the Fields, in Nature's Colours drest,
Less grateful to the Smell, or to the Sight,
Than the rich Floor, with inlaid Marble bright?
Is Water purer from the bursting Lead,
Than gently murmuring down its native Bed?
Among your Columns, rich with various Dyes,
Unnatural Woods with aukward Art arise:
You praise the House, whose Situation yields
An open Prospect to the distant Fields.
Though Nature's driven out with proud Disdain,
The powerful Goddess will return again;
Return in silent Triumph to deride
The weak Attempts of Luxury and Pride.
The Man, who cannot with judicious Eye
Compare the Fleece, that drinks the Tyrian Dye,
With the pale Latian, yet shall ne'er sustain
A Loss so touching, of such heart-self Pain,
As he, who can't, with Sense of happier Kind,
Distinguish Truth from Falshood in the Mind.
They, who in Fortune's Smiles too much delight,
Shall tremble when the Goddess takes her Flight,
For if her Gifts our fonder Passions gain,
The frail Possession we resign with Pain.
Then leave the gaudy Blessings of the Great,
The Cottage offers a secure Retreat,
Where You may make a solid Bliss your own,
To Kings, and Favourites of Kings, unknown.

319

A lordly Stag, arm'd with superior Force,
Drove from their common Field a vanquish'd Horse,
Who for Revenge to Man his Strength enslav'd,
Took up his Rider, and the Bitt receiv'd:
But, when he saw his Foe with Triumph slain,
In vain He strove his Freedom to regain,
He felt the Weight and yielded to the Rein.
So he, who Poverty with Horrour views,
Nor frugal Nature's Bounty knows to use;
Who sells his Freedom in Exchange for Gold
(Freedom for Mines of Wealth too cheaply sold)
Shall make eternal Servitude his Fate,
And feel a haughty Master's galling Weight.
Our Fortunes and our Shoes are near allied;
We're pinch'd in strait, and stumble in the wide.
Then learn thy present Fortune to enjoy,
And on my Head thy just Reproach employ,
If e'er, forgetful of my former Self,
I toil to raise unnecessary Pelf,
For Gold will either govern or obey,
But better shall the Slave, than Tyrant play.
This near the Shrine of Idleness I pen'd,
Sincerely blest, but that I want my Friend.