The works of Anacreon, Sappho, Bion, Moschus and Musæus | ||
ODE XLI. THE BANQUET OF WINE
Now let us gayly drink, and join
To celebrate the God of Wine,
Bacchus, who taught his jovial Throng
The Dance, and patroniz'd the Song;
In Heart, in Soul, with Love the same,
The Favourite of the Cyprian Dame.
To celebrate the God of Wine,
Bacchus, who taught his jovial Throng
The Dance, and patroniz'd the Song;
100
The Favourite of the Cyprian Dame.
Revelry he nam'd his Heir;
The Graces are his Daughters fair:
Sadness in Lethe's Lake he sleeps;
Solicitude before him sleeps.
The Graces are his Daughters fair:
Sadness in Lethe's Lake he sleeps;
Solicitude before him sleeps.
When in large Bowls fair Boys produce
The heart-exhilarating Juice,
Then all our Sorrows are resign'd,
They fly, and mingle with the Wind.
The generous Bowl then let us drain,
Dismissing Care, forgetting Pain:
For Life, what Pleasure can it give,
If with Anxiety we live?
And what hereafter may betide
No living Casuist can decide.
The heart-exhilarating Juice,
Then all our Sorrows are resign'd,
They fly, and mingle with the Wind.
The generous Bowl then let us drain,
Dismissing Care, forgetting Pain:
101
If with Anxiety we live?
And what hereafter may betide
No living Casuist can decide.
The Days of Man are fix'd by Fate,
Dark and obscure, though short the Date.
Dark and obscure, though short the Date.
Then let me, warm with Wine, advance,
And revel in the tipsey Dance;
Or, breathing Odours, sport and play
Among the Fair, among the Gay.
As for those stubborn Fools that will
Be wretched, be they wretched still.
But let us gayly drink, and join
To celebrate the God of Wine.
And revel in the tipsey Dance;
Or, breathing Odours, sport and play
Among the Fair, among the Gay.
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Be wretched, be they wretched still.
But let us gayly drink, and join
To celebrate the God of Wine.
The works of Anacreon, Sappho, Bion, Moschus and Musæus | ||