Nunc mea Pierios cupiam per pectora fontes
Irriguas torquere vias, totumque per ora
Volvere laxalum gemino de vertice rivum;
Ut, tenues oblita sonos, audacibus alis
Surgat in officium venerandi Musa parentis.
Hoc utcunque tibi gratum, pater optime, carmen,
Exiguum meditatur opus; nec novimus ipsi
Aptiùs à nobis quæ possunt munera donis
Respondere tuis, quamvis nec maxima possint
Respondere tuis, nedum ut par gratia donis
Esse queat, vacuis quæ redditur arida verbis.
Sed tamen hæc nostros ostendit pagina censûs,
Et quod habemus opum chartâ numeravimus istå,
Quæ mihi sunt nullæ, nisi quas dedit aurea Clio,
Quas mihi semoto somni peperere sub antro,
Et nemoris laureta sacri Parnassides umbræ.

Nec tu vatis opus divinum despice carmen,
Quo nihil æthereos ortus et semina cæli,
Nil magis humanam commendat origine mentem,
Sancta Promethëæ retinens vestigia flammæ.
Carmen amant superi, tremebundaque Tartara carmen
Ima ciere valet, divosque ligare profundos,
Et triplici duro Manes adamante coercet.
Carmine sepositi retegunt arcana futuri
Phæbades, et tremulæ pallentes ora Sibyllæ :
Carmina sacrificus sollennes pangit ad aras,
Aurea seu sternit motantem cornua taurum ;
Seu cùm fata sagax fumantibus abdita fibris
Consulit, et tepidis Parcam scrutatur in extis.

Non odi Quà via Certaque

Nec rapis

Jura, nec

Sed, mag. Me procu

Abductum Phæbæo la Officium d

Nos etiam, patrium tunc cùm repetemus Olympum,
Æternæque mora stabunt immobilis ævi,
Ibimus auratis per cæli templa coronis;
Dulcia suaviloquo sociantes carmina plectro,
Astra quibus, geminique poli canvexa, sonabunt.
Spiritus et rapidos qui circinat igneus orbes,
Nunc quoque sidereis intercinit ipse choreis
Immortale melos, et inenarrabile carmen;
Torrida dum rutiius compescit sibila Serpens,
Demissóque ferox gladio mansuescit Orion;
Stellarum nec sentit onus Maurusius Atlas.
Carmina regales epulas ornare solebant,
Cùm nondum luxus, vastæque immensa vorago
Nota gula, et modico spumabat cæna Lyæo.
Tum, de more sedens festa ad convivia vates,
Æsculeâ intonsos redimitus ab arbore crines,
Heroumque actûs, imitandaque gesta canebat,
Et chaos, et positi latè fundamina mundi,
Reptantesque deos, et alentes numina glandes,
Et nondum Ætnæo quæsitum fulmen ab antro.
Denique quid vocis modulamen inane juvabit,
Verborum sensúsque vacans, numerique loquacis?
Silvestres decet iste choros, non Orphea, cantus,
Qui tenuit fluvios, et quercubus addidit aures,
Carmine, non citharâ; simulachraque functa canendo
Compulit in lacrymas: habet has à carmine laudes.

Nec tu perge, preçor, sạcras contemnere Musas,
Neç vanas inopesque pata, quarum ipse peritus
Munere mille sonos numeros componis ad aptos;
Millibus et vocem modulis variare canoram
Doctus, Arionii meritò sis nominis hæres.
Nunc tibi quid mirum, si me genuisse poetam
Contigerit, charo si tam propè sanguine juncti
Cognatas artes, studiumque affine, sequamur?
Ipse volens Phæbus se dispertįre duobus,
Altera dona mihi, dedit altera dona parenti;
Dividuumque Deum, genitorque puerque, tenemus.

Tu tamen ut simules teneras odisse Camænas,

Terra para

Non odisse reor; neque enim, pater, ire jubebas
Quà via lata patet, quà pronior area lucri,
Certaque condendi fulget spes aurea nummi:
Nec rapis ad leges, malè custoditaque gentis
Jura, nec insulsis damnas clainoribus aures;
Sed, magis excultam cupiens ditescere mentem,
Me procul urbano strepitu, secessibus altis
Abductum, Aoniæ jucunda per otia ripæ,
Phæbæo lateri comitem sinis ire beatum.
Officium cbari taceo commune parentis;
Me poscunt majora: tuo, pater optime, sumptu
Cùm mihi Romuleæ patuit facundia linguæ,
Et Latii veneres, et quæ Jovis ora decebant
Grandia magniloquis elata vocabula Graiis,
Addere suasisti quos jactat Gallia flores;
Et quam degeneri novus Italus ore loquelam
Fundit, barbaricos testatus voce tumultus;
Quæque Palæstinus loquitur mysteria vates.
Denique quicquid habet cælum, subjectaque celo
Terra parens, terræque et coelo interfluus aer,
Quicquid et unda tegit, pontique agitabile marmor,
Per te nôsse licet, per te, si nôsse libebit:
Dimotâque venit spectanda scientia nube,
Nudaque conspicuos inclinat ad oscula vultus,
Ni fugisse velim, ni sit libasse molestum.

I nunc, confer opes, quisquis malesanus avitas
Austriaci, gazas Peruanaque regna, præoptas.
Quæ potuit majora pater tribuisse, vel ipse
Jupiter, excepto, donâsset ut omnia, cælo?
Non potiora dedit, quamvis et tuta fuissent,
Publica qui juveni commisit lumina nato,
Atque Hyperionios currus, et fræna diei,
Et circùm undantem radiatâ luce tiaram.
Ergo ego, jam doctæ pars quamlibet, ima, catervæ,
Victrices hederas inter laurosque sedebo ;
Jámque nec obscurus populo miscebor inerti,
Vitabuntque oculos vestigia nostra profanos,
Este procul, vigiles Curæ, procul este, Querele,

My so

The re Who, Visits n Nor slig

Who gr

Invidiæque acies transverso tortilis hirquo,
Sæva nec anguiferos extende, Calumnia, rictus;
In me triste nihil, feedissima turba, potestis,
Nec vestri sum juris ego: securaque tutus
Pectora, vipereo gradiar sublimis ab ictu.

At tibi, chare pater, postquam non æqua merenti
Posse referre datur, nec dona rependere factis,
Sit memorâsse satis, repetitaque munera grato
Percensere animo, fidæque reponere menti.

Et vos, O nostri, juvenilia carmina, lusús,
Si modò perpetuos sperare audebitis annos,
Et domi superesse rogo, lucemque tueri,
Nec spisso rapient oblivia nigra sub Orco;
Forsitan las laudes, decantatumque parentis
Nomen, ad exemplum, sero servabitis ævo.

Show th His brea Heaven's With thi With cha The dusk Verse cha Rapt into

TO MY FATHER.

Verse smi
At the dre
To fell the
Or in the
We too,
Where til
Crown'd
Attuning
While th
Catch the

O! that, descending from the two-fold hill,
Pieria's fountain would my bosom fill;
Through all its depths, in limpid fancy, roll,
Blend with my thought and sparkle in my soul:
That thus my song might happily aspire
From meaner themes to hail my honour'd sire.
The Muse, thou best of parents! fain would twine
A wreath to crown paternal worth like thine:
The gift though small my sire will not refuse;
Nor know we how, without the according muse,
To find what we may offer,-you receive,
In fond requital of the love you give. -
To form the just requital of your love,
Poor would the muse with all her offerings prove
To absolve my mighty debt her gifts how vain-
A tuneful nothing, and barren strain.
But in my numbers all my wealth resides,
I own no means of recompense besides :

The guar
Wheels |
Pours, as
The unul
Fierce Ol
And ster1
While All
Exults, u

When y

Disdain

When

My sole exchequer fill'd by Clio's smile;
The regal maid, who crowns my faithful toil;
Who, as beneath her laurel shade I dream,
Visits my

slumbers in a golden stream.
Nor slight the treasures of the harmonious Nine,
Who greatly speak the source of man, divine:
Show that he caught a sparkle from above;
His breast still glowing with the fire of Jove.
Heaven's ear is charm'd with song: controlling verse
With thrilling force dire Tartarus can pierce;
With chains of triple adamant compell
The dusky hosts, and bind the powers of hell.
Verse chaunts the priestess in the Pythian cave:
Rapt into verse, the pale-eyed Sybills rave:
Verse smooths the sacrificer's holy prayer
At the dread altar, as his hands prepare
To fell the victim, with gilt horns elate,
Or in the breathing entrails grope for fate.
We too, when raised to our celestial land,
Where time in one stupendous pause shall stand,
Crown'd with pure gold shall tread the eternal fane,
Attuning to the lyre the numerous strain:
While the pleased stars, that gem the vaulted sky,
Catch the soft tones, and ring in sweet reply.
The guardian Power, who, throned on every sphere,
Wheels the vast orb, and guides its proud career,
Pours, as he circles through the starry throng,
The unutterable notes of angel-song.
Fierce Ophiuchus hears with mute delight;
And stern Orion checks the threaten'd fight;
While Atlas, as the lays abstract his soul,
Exults, unconscious of the incumbent pole.
When yet the social board, by reason graced,
Disdain'd subservience to the glutton taste:
When modest Bacchus gave the frugal cheer,
The feasts of monarchs own'd the Muses dear.
There sate the bard, in state above the rest,
His unshorn locks with oaken wreaths compress'd: