TRANSLATIONS. HORACE, BOOK III. ODE III. Augustus had a design to rebuild Troy, and make it the metropolis of the Roman empire: having closetted several Senators on the project, Horace is supposed to have written the following Ode on this occasion. THE man resolved, and steady to his trust, May the rude rabble's insolence despise, Their senseless clamours and tumultuous cries; The tyrant's fierceness he beguiles, And the stern brow and the harsh voice defies, And with superior greatness smiles. Not the rough whirlwind that deforms Adria's black gulf, and vexes it with storms, The stubborn virtue of his soul can move, Nor the red arm of angry Jove, That flings the thunder from the sky, And gives it rage to roar, and strength to fly. Should the whole frame of Nature round him In ruin and confusion hurl'd, [break, He, unconcern'd, would hear the mighty crack, And stand secure amidst a falling world. Such were the godlike arts that led Where now Augustus, mix'd with heroes, lies, By arts like these did young Lyæus rise, [yoke. He tamed them to the lash, and bent them to the Such were the paths that Rome's great founder When in a whirlwind snatch'd on high He shook off dull mortality, And lost the monarch in the god. [trod Bright Juno then her awful silence broke, Lay heavy on her head, and sunk her to the dust. To my resentment, and Minerva's rage, The guilty king and the whole people fell. And now the long-protracted wars are o'er, The soft adulterer shines no more; No more does Hector's force the Trojans shield, That drove whole armies back, and singly clear'd the field. My vengeance sated, I at length resign But far be Rome from Troy disjoin'd; 'Still let the cursed detested place, Where Priam lies, and Priam's faithless race, And frisk upon the tombs of kings. May tigers there, and all the savage kind, Sad solitary haunts and silent deserts find; In gloomy vaults and nooks of palaces, Her brinded whelps securely lay, Or, couch'd, in dreadful slumbers waste the day. While Troy in heaps of ruin lies, Rome and the Roman Capitol shall rise ; The' illustrious exiles unconfined Shall triumph far and near, and rule mankind. Europe from Afric shall divide, And part the sever'd world in two: Through Afric's sands their triumphs they shall And the long train of victories pursue To Nile's yet undiscover'd head. [spread, Riches the hardy soldiers shall despise, And look on gold with undesiring eyes, Nor the disbowell'd earth explore In search of the forbidden ore; Those glittering ills conceal'd within the mine, Till storms and tempests their pursuits confine; To build again a second Troy, If none the rash design pursue, Nor tempt the vengeance of the gods anew. And at their army's head myself will show Thrice should Apollo's self the city raise, And line it round with walls of brass, Thrice should my favourite Greeks his works confound, And hew the shining fabric to the ground; But hold, my Muse, forbear thy towering flight, The mighty strains, in lyric numbers bound, VIRGIL'S FOURTH GEORGIC, EXCEPT THE STORY OF ARISTEUS. ETHERIAL sweets shall next my Muse engage, Join in the piece, and make the work divine. hive. |