University of Virginia Library

KING PYRRHUS AND HIS COUNSELOR.

AN APOLOGUE FROM BOILEAU.

Quoth Cyneas, counselor and friend
To royal Pyrrhus, “To what end,
Tell me, O mightiest of kings,
Are all these ships and warlike things?”
“To conquer Rome!—a pretty prize,
And worth the cost,” the King replies;
“She'll prove, I think, a valiant foe;
So, if you please, to Rome we go.”
“Well,—Rome reduced, my royal friend,
What conquest next do you intend?”
“The rest of Italy will do
To keep our arms from rusting.” “True.
And then, of course there 's something more?”
“Well,—Sicily, a neighboring shore,
Is worth the having.” “Very well,—
What next?” “That is n't hard to tell;
Of such a navy what 's the use
Unless we sail to Syracuse?”
“'T is well,—and, having at command
All these, why, then you'll stay your hand?”
“No. Syracuse obtained, we'll make
A trip to Carthage; then we'll take”—
“Your scheme is vast. I must confess.
Thus you advance till you possess
Arabia, Africa, and what
May lie beyond,—till you have got
The Indian realm; nor resting there,
Extend your broad dominion where
The hardy Scythian dwells. And then?”
“Why, then we'll hasten back again,
And take our ease, and sweetly spend
Our lives in pleasure to the end.”
So quoth the King. “Ah!” Cyneas said,
And gravely shook his reverend head,
“Why go so far and pay so dear
For pleasures, Sire, that now and here
We may possess? How much more wise
To take the good that near us lies,
To seize the passing joy, unvext
With anxious care about the next!”