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ODE II. To Augustus.

I

Sure 'tis enough! give o'er, dread Sire!
To show'r thy stormy Hailstones down,
To smite the Capitol with Fire,
And rock with Thunderbolts the frighted Town.
3

II

Compass'd with Prodigies, we fear'd
That Pyrrha's Watry Age was near,
When Proteus drove his scaly Herd
Up to the Hills and dispossess'd the Deer:

III

When Fishes plaid among the Boughs,
And chac'd the fluttering Birds away:
When Doves took Wing, and frighted Does
Swam thro' the Woods and wander'd in the Sea.

IV

We saw, when o'er Etruria's Plain
Great Tiber from his Chanel stray'd,
Prophanely wasting Vesta's Fane,
And Monuments of Kings in Ruins laid;

V

Full of Revenge and fond Desire,
For Ilia's sake, he rais'd his Flood:
Whilst to the Left his Waves aspire,
Tho' Jove himself forbad th' uxorious God.

VI

Our Youth shall hear the sound of Arms,
To gall the Parthian Foe decreed;
Shall rouze to War and fresh Alarms,
And for Paternal Crimes our Children bleed.

VII

To what propitious Shrine or Pow'r
Shall the declining State repair?
How shall the Vestal Maids implore
Their angry Goddess with incessant Pray'r?

VIII

What Victim will great Jove admit,
T' avert a guilty Nation's Doom?
O Phœbus! vail thy Beams of Light,
And clad in Clouds, to our Assistance come.

IX

Or thou, fair Venus! bring thy Train
Of Loves and Smiles and Am'rous Mirth:
Or thou, great Mars, revive again
Thy long forgotten Sons, and Fav'rite Earth.
4

X

Let Streams of Blood and tedious War
Allay thy Thirst, thy Rage appease;
Tho' only Arms, the Sword and Spear,
And Troops in close Array thy Godhead please.

XI

Or dost thou, gentle Maia's Son!
With ready Help protect the Good?
Hast thou dissembled Youth put on,
Deigning to purge the Earth from Cæsar's Blood?

XII

Long may the Age enjoy thy Stay,
O Great Augustus! and no Crimes
Urge thy Return, or wing thy Way
Back to the Gods, and thy own Heav'n, betimes.

XIII

Long may'st thou here on Earth maintain
The Names of Father, Good, and Great,
Make the World happy in thy Reign,
And from invading Foes secure the State.
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