Poems by Three Friends :: :: University of Virginia Library

See hoary winter from our hills retire,
And whispering zephyrs fan the vernal plain,
The plowman leaves his hearth and blazing fire,
The cheerful seaman hies him to the main;
Forth from their fostering stalls the cattle come,
Pleased o'er the dewy mead again to roam.

Now, whilst the moon illumes the placid scene,
Fair Venus bids her lovely train advance;
Gladly the Nymphs and Graces own their queen,
And lightly tripping, join the measured dance;
Whilst ardent Vulcan in the realms beneath,
Forges for angry Jove the bolts of death.

Now be your youthful brow with myrtle crown'd,
Or fragrant flowers relenting fields bestow,
To Faunus be the chosen victim bound,
Deep in yon grove where cooling breezes blow;
At every door too soon pale death appears,
Nor dreads the monarch's frown, nor heeds the rustic's tears.

Seize then the hour, O Sextius, as it flies,
Hope's lingering visions we indulge in vain;
For soon, alas! the fabled ghosts will rise,
And you descend to Pluto's drear domain;
There at the social board no more to move
The youth to friendship, or the maids to love.

University of Virginia Library

[_] The attribution of this poem is questionable. HORACE, BOOK I. ODE IV.

TO SEXTIUS.

[_]

The attribution of this poem is questionable.

HORACE, BOOK I. ODE IV.