The Works of Horace In English Verse :: :: University of Virginia Library

In Transport borne away, these Eyes
(Believe it, Ages hence to rise!)
Beheld, in a sequester'd Wood,
Bacchus rehearse his Song: Around
The Nymphs in Chorus caught the Sound;
With Ears erect the Satyrs list'ning stood!

2

Evœ! Fear shakes my troubled Soul,
And rising Joys alternate roll,
Full of th'o'erwhelming mighty God!
Evœ! O spare me—Bacchus, spare
My trembling shatter'd Frame to tear;
Nor brandish thus thy dreadful Ivy Rod!

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3

O teach me to rehearse the Praise
Of thy adoring Votaries,
Fierce, and disdainful of the Yoke;
Teach me, in worthy Lays, to sing
Thy Streams of Wine, thy milky Spring,
And Honey dropping from the hollow Oak:

4

To sing thy Consort's honour'd Hair
Transform'd into a glorious Star;
And in my Lines the regal Tower
Of Pentheus, batter'd down, to trace;
Lycurgus too, the Scourge of Thrace,
A dreadful Victim to thy vengeful Power!

5

Indus and Ganges own thy Sway;
Thy Lore the barbarous Seas obey:
Thou lead'st o'er Mountains, flush'd with Wine,
O'er desart Plains, thro' Woods and Brakes,
The Thracian Dames, while lambent Snakes
Round their wild Tresses innocently twine!

6

When the bold Giants climb'd on high,
Impious, to storm thy Father's Sky,

211

The mighty Rhœtus, quell'd by Thee,
(Into a Lion's Shape transform'd,
And with a Lion's Talons arm'd,)
Retreating, curs'd his mad Temerity.

7

Tho' more renown'd for soft Delight,
For Dance and Sport; unfit for Fight
Thou once wert thought; from lazy Ease
Awaken'd, thou to Battle rose,
And trampled down thy vaunting Foes;
Alike the Arbiter of War and Peace.

8

When, with thy Horn of Gold adorn'd,
From Hell's dark Caverns Thou return'd,
E'en Cerberus, with triple Tongue,
Thy Deity was seen to greet:
Harmless he lick'd thy Legs and Feet,
And wagg'd his Tail, as Bacchus pass'd along!