A Poetical Translation Of The Fables of Phaedrus With The Appendix of Gudius, And an accurate Edition of the Original on the opposite Page. To which is added, A Parsing Index For the Use of Learners. By Christopher Smart |
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 | A Poetical Translation Of The Fables of Phaedrus |  |
FABLE I. The Old Woman and Empty Cask.
An ancient dame a firkin sees,
In which the rich Falernian lees
Send from the nobly tinctur'd shell
A rare and most delicious smell!
There when a season she had clung
With greedy nostrils to the bung
“O spirit exquisitely sweet
“(She cried) how perfectly complete;
“Was you of old and at the best,
“When ev'n your dregs have such a zest!”
In which the rich Falernian lees
Send from the nobly tinctur'd shell
A rare and most delicious smell!
There when a season she had clung
With greedy nostrils to the bung
“O spirit exquisitely sweet
“(She cried) how perfectly complete;
89
“When ev'n your dregs have such a zest!”
They'll see the drift of this my rhime,
Who knew the author in his prime.
Who knew the author in his prime.
| A Poetical Translation Of The Fables of Phaedrus | |