University of Virginia Library


137

ODE XXXVIII. TO HIS SERVANT.

He would have him bring nothing for the gracing of his banquet but myrtle.

[_]

In the original metre exactly.

Persian pomps, boy, ever I renounce them:
Scoff o' the plaited coronet's refulgence;
Seek not in fruitless vigilance the rose-tree's
Tardier offspring.
Mere honest myrtle that alone is order'd,
Me the mere myrtle decorates, as also
Thee the prompt waiter to a jolly toper
Hous'd in an arbour.