The Poems of John Byrom :: :: University of Virginia Library

What! must Mæcenas, when he sups
With Horace, drink a Hundred Cups?
A Hundred Cups Mæcenas drink!
Where must he put them all, d'ye think?
Pray, have the Critics all so blunder'd,
That none of 'em correct this “Hundred?”

II

“Not that I know has any one
“Had any Scruple thereupon;
“And for what Reason, pray, should you?
“The Reading, to be sure, is true;
“‘A hundred Cups:’ that is to say:
“‘Mæcenas! come, and drink away!’”

III

If that was all the Poet meant,
It is express'd without the “Cent.”
“Sume, Mæcenas, Cyathos”
Does it full well without the Dose,—
The monst'rous Dose in Cup or Can,
That suits with neither Bard nor Man!

509

IV

“Nay, why so monst'rous? Is it told
“How much the ‘Cyathus’ would hold?
“You think perhaps it was a Mug,
“As round as any Johnian Jug.
“They drank all Night; if small the Glass,
“Would ‘Centum’ mount to such a Mass?”

V

Small as you will, if 'twas a Bumper,
“Centum” for One would be a Thumper.
Its Bulk Horatian Terms define:
“Vates attonitus” with nine;
“Gratia” forbidding more than three.
They were no Thimbles, you may see.

VI

“Not in that Ode; in this they might
“Intend a more diminish'd Plight;
“And, then, Mæcenas and the Bard
“That Night, I warrant ye, drank hard;

510

“‘Perfer in Lucem,’ Horace cries;
“To what a Pitch might Numbers rise!”

VII

A desperate long Night, my Friend,
Before their hundred Cups could end!
Nor does the Verse invite, throughout,
Mæcenas to a drunken Bout:
“Perfer in Lucem” comes in View
With “procul omnis clamor” too.

VIII

“Was it no Bout, because no Noise
“Should interrupt their Midnight Joys?
“Horace, you read, with annual Tap,
“Notes his escape from dire Mishap:
“Must he, and Friends conven'd, be sober,
“Because 'twas March, and not October?

IX

“Sober or drunk” is not the Case,
But Word and Meaning to replace,
Both here demolish'd. Did they, pray,
Do nothing else but drink away?
For Friends conven'd had Horace got
No Entertainment but to sot?

511

X

“Yes, to be sure; he might rehearse
“Some new or entertaining Verse;
“Might touch the Lyre, invoke the Muse,
“Or twenty Things that he might choose.
“No doubt but he would mix along
“With Cup and Talk the joyous Song.”

XI

Doubtless, he would; and that's the Word,
For which a “Centum” so absurd
Has been inserted, by Mistake
Of his Transcribers, scarce awake;
Which all the Critics when they keep,
Are, quoad hoc, quite fast asleep;

XII

For that's the Word!—“What Word d'ye mean?
“For Song does ‘Centum’ intervene?
“Song would be—O, I take your Hint:
“‘Cantum,’ not ‘Centum,’ you would print,
“‘Sospitis Cantum,’—but the Clause
“Can have no Sense with such a Pause.”

XIII

Pause then at “Sospitis,” nor strike
The three Cæsuras all alike;

512

One Cup of Helicon but quaff,
The Point is plain as a Pikestaff:
“The Wine, the Song, the Lustre's Light,”—
The Verse, the Pause, the Sense is right.

XIV

“Stay, let me read the Sapphic out
“Both Ways, and then resolve the Doubt:
“Sume Mæcenas cyathos Amici
Sospitis centum, et vigiles Lucernas
Perfer in Lucem; procul omnis esto
Clamor et Ira!”
“Sume Mæcenas cyathos Amici
Sospitis; Cantum, et vigiles Lucernas
Perfer in Lucem; procul omnis esto
Clamor et Ira!”
“Well, I confess, now I have read,
“The Thing is right that you have said;
“One Vowel rectified, how plain
“Does Horace's Intent remain!”