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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. XII. To Iccius.
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Epist. XII. To Iccius.

While Iccius farms Agrippa's large Estate,
If he with Wisdom can enjoy his Fate,
No greater Riches Jove himself can give;
Then cease complaining, Friend, and learn to live.

325

He is not poor to whom kind Fortune grants,
Even with a frugal Hand, what Nature wants.
Are you with Food, and Warmth, and Raiment blest?
Not royal Treasures are of more possest;
And if, for Herbs and Shell-fish at a Feast,
You leave the various Luxuries of Taste,
Should Fate enrich you with a Golden Stream,
Your Life and Manners shall be still the same;
Whether meer Money cannot change the Soul,
Or Virtue should our Appetites controul.
That vagrant Herds, in Days of Yore, should eat
The Sage's Harvest, while without its Weight
His Spirit rov'd abroad, shall ne'er be told
As wonderful; since, not debas'd by Gold,
And its Infection, Iccius bravely wise
Spurns this vile Earth, and soars into the Skies.
Curious you search what bounds old Ocean's Tides;
What through the various Year the Seasons guides:
Whether the Stars, by their own proper Force
Or foreign Power, pursue their vagrant Course:
Why Shadows darken the pale Queen of Night:
Whence she renews her Orb, and spreads her Light:
What Nature's jarring Sympathy can mean,
And who, among the Wise, their Systems best maintain.

327

But whether slaughter'd Onions crown your Board,
Or murder'd Fish an impious Feast afford,
Receive Pompeius Grosphus to your Heart,
And, ere he asks, your willing Aid impart;
He ne'er shall make a bold, unjust Request,
And Friendship's cheap, when good Men are distrest.
Now condescend to hear the public News:
Agrippa's War the Sons of Spain subdues.
The fierce Armenian Nero's Virtue feels:
Short by the Knees the haughty Parthian kneels:
Again the Monarch is by Cæsar crown'd,
And Golden plenty pours her Blessings round.