The odes, epodes and Carmen Seculare of Horace (1719) | ||
46
ODE XII. To Mæcenas.
It ill becomes the Lyrick Strain
Of Battels and of Camps to tell,
What Slaughter dy'd the Punick Main,
How Hannibal was slain, and Carthage fell;
Of Battels and of Camps to tell,
What Slaughter dy'd the Punick Main,
How Hannibal was slain, and Carthage fell;
How the mad drunken Centaurs warr'd,
And pour'd at once their Wine and Blood:
How, when the Gods their Safety fear'd,
Alcides' Arm the Rebel Race withstood.
And pour'd at once their Wine and Blood:
How, when the Gods their Safety fear'd,
Alcides' Arm the Rebel Race withstood.
You in just History and Prose,
Can best describe a Mortal God:
What Triumphs Rome to Cæsar owes:
How on the Necks of Captive Kings he trod.
Can best describe a Mortal God:
What Triumphs Rome to Cæsar owes:
How on the Necks of Captive Kings he trod.
I, by the Muse's strict Command,
Sing of Licimnia's Magick Voice,
Her Eyes, whose Beams no Heart can stand,
Her Soul, how true, how faithful to its Choice!
Sing of Licimnia's Magick Voice,
Her Eyes, whose Beams no Heart can stand,
Her Soul, how true, how faithful to its Choice!
How sweet her Wit, how great her Mien!
When in the active Dance she treads:
And midst the Nymphs distinctly seen,
At chaste Diana's Feast the Revels leads.
When in the active Dance she treads:
And midst the Nymphs distinctly seen,
At chaste Diana's Feast the Revels leads.
For one so Constant, and so Fair,
You would all Phrygia's Wealth forego:
And justly prize her fragrant Hair
Above the Sweets that in Arabia grow,
You would all Phrygia's Wealth forego:
And justly prize her fragrant Hair
Above the Sweets that in Arabia grow,
See how her Snowy Neck she turns,
To meet the fiery eager Kiss!
She sometimes snatches what she scorns,
And dearly loves the Pleasure she denies.
To meet the fiery eager Kiss!
She sometimes snatches what she scorns,
And dearly loves the Pleasure she denies.
The odes, epodes and Carmen Seculare of Horace (1719) | ||