The Works of the Reverend and Learned Isaac Watts, D. D. Containing, besides his Sermons, and Essays on miscellaneous subjects, several additional pieces, Selected from his Manuscripts by the Rev. Dr. Jennings, and the Rev. Dr. Doddridge, in 1753: to which are prefixed, memoirs of the life of the author, compiled by the Rev. George Burder. In six volumes |
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AN EPIGRAM OF MARTIAL TO CIRINUS.
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 | The Works of the Reverend and Learned Isaac Watts, D. D. |  |
AN EPIGRAM OF MARTIAL TO CIRINUS.
INSCRIBED TO MR. JOSIAH HORT. NOW LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
Sic tua, Cirini, promas Epigrammata vulgo ut mecum possis, &c.
1694.
So smooth your numbers, Friend, your verse so sweet,
So sharp the jest, and yet the turn so neat,
That with her Martial Rome would place Cirine,
Rome would prefer your sense and thought to mine.
Yet modest you decline the public stage,
To fix your friend alone amidst the applauding age.
So Maro did; the mighty Maro sings
In vast heroic notes of vast heroic things,
And leaves the Ode to dance upon his Flaccus strings.
He scorn'd to daunt the dear Horatian lyre,
Tho' his brave genius flash'd Pindaric fire,
And at his will could silence all the lyric quire.
So to his Varius he resign'd the praise
Of the proud buskin and the tragic bays,
When he could thunder with a loftier vein,
And sing of gods and heroes in a bolder strain.
So sharp the jest, and yet the turn so neat,
That with her Martial Rome would place Cirine,
Rome would prefer your sense and thought to mine.
Yet modest you decline the public stage,
To fix your friend alone amidst the applauding age.
So Maro did; the mighty Maro sings
In vast heroic notes of vast heroic things,
And leaves the Ode to dance upon his Flaccus strings.
He scorn'd to daunt the dear Horatian lyre,
Tho' his brave genius flash'd Pindaric fire,
And at his will could silence all the lyric quire.
So to his Varius he resign'd the praise
Of the proud buskin and the tragic bays,
When he could thunder with a loftier vein,
And sing of gods and heroes in a bolder strain.
A handsome treat, a piece of gold, or so,
And compliments will every friend bestow;
Rarely a Virgil, a Cirine we meet,
Who lays his laurels at inferior feet,
And yields the tenderest point of honour, wit.
And compliments will every friend bestow;
Rarely a Virgil, a Cirine we meet,
Who lays his laurels at inferior feet,
And yields the tenderest point of honour, wit.
| The Works of the Reverend and Learned Isaac Watts, D. D. | |