Or as a kid, on pastures fair to graze

Intent, the lion's progeny,

Wean'd from his yellow mother's milk, surveys, 15
By fangs, in slaughter new, to die :

Such Drusus the Vindelici beheld
Beneath the Alps, unmatch'd in war!
And by a sage and youthful leader quell'd,
The troops, victorious, long, and far,

Proved what a genius and a mind could dare,
By precept and example taught;

And what, Augustus, that paternal care
In either Nero's bloom has wrought.

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The brave beget the brave: the bull, the steed, 25
Are stamp'd upon their generous race;

Nor is the dove's unwarlike brood decreed
The royal eagle to disgrace.

But culture calls the hidden vigour forth;
And virtue, when on learning built,

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Confirms the heart: in blood devoid of worth,
The conscious shame enhances guilt.

What Rome her Neroes owes, let Asdrubal
Be witness, that decisive day,

The first, that near Metaurus, by his fall,
From Latium chased the night away:

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When the dire African to Mars, among
The Italian cities gave the rein,
Impetuous as the flame that runs along
The pines, or Eurus o'er the main.

From that bright hour the Roman youth sustain'd
With better fate the toils of fight;

And the sad shrines, by Punic foes profaned,
Now found their guardian gods upright.

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When Hannibal at length desponding spoke,
"Like stags, the prey of wolves, are we,
And rashly to the fight such foes provoke,
As to elude were victory.

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"The warrior race, who to the Latian coast, From Ilium, sunk in Grecian fires,

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Convey'd their gods, on Tuscan billows toss'd,
Their offspring and their aged sires,

"Uninjured, like the widely spreading oak
On Aglidus, with shade imbrown'd,
Defy the sturdy steel's repeated stroke,
And draw new vigour from the wound.

"Not baffled Hercules received a foil

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More grievous from the sprouting store

Of Hydra's heads; no greater pest the soil
Of Thebes or Cholchis ever bore.

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"Plunged in the deep, more graceful thence they spring,

The sons of dearly purchased fame;

Though thrown, with vast applause the victor fling, And matrons their exploits proclaim.

"With lofty tidings I shall ne'er again My long-triumphant Carthage hail:

Lost, lost, in Asdrubal untimely slain,

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Our name's best hope and fortune fail.”

The Claudian hands all wonders shall perform,
By Jove's indulgent aid secured;

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And by sagacious care, to rule the storm

Of well-connected war, inured.

ODE V.-TO AUGUSTUS.

BY THE REV. S. SANDERSON.-1831.

GREAT chieftain! Heaven's paternal care!
Who wield'st the destinies of Rome;
And rul'st with sway propitious there,

Speed, speed thy ling'ring steps, long absent, home.

Haste to thy country, oh! return;

Their prince beloved the people claim :

For thee the people, senates burn,

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With hearts of fire, and breathe thy sacred

name.

When like the beams of rosy spring,
Thy face its living lustre throws,

The hours more vivid pleasures bring,

And the glad sun with brighter splendour glows.

As pensive on the winding shore

The mother bends her lonely way,

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And listens to the distant roar

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Of sullen waves that wanton in the fray;

Then turns to heaven th' imploring eye,

And prays the gods her son to bless; And safely to his native sky

Restore whom love is ardent to caress.

"Tis thus, e'en thus with strong desire, In steadfast faith the suppliant hand

Italia lifts: she asks her sire,

Asks that, return'd, he glad a grateful land.

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For mid the rich and flow'ry fields
Disporting herds in quiet graze:
The golden harvest Cerus yields,

And smiling fortune all her wealth displays.

Safe on the wave from hostile arms

The seaman steers: her guiltless course
Firm faith sustains, nor virtue's charms
Are marr'd by darkling wiles or daring force.

Stern law with iron arm subdues

Crimes whose foul blackness blots the skies: In each loved child the father views

Himself: transgression winged vengeance rues.

And who can now the Parthian fear,

The wand'ring tribes of Scythian snows The German fierce with lance and spear, Or shun the conflict with Iberian foes,

'Neath Cæsar's rule? The happy swain Weds to the trees his tender vine;

Then fills the bowl, and pours again

To powers supreme the richly flowing wine.

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330

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To thee we breathe full many a pray'r,
O'er costly goblets sound thy name:

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The feast the gods domestic share,

And Greece thus celebrates her Castor's fame,

Or great Alcides': "Mayst thou bring
To Latium oft such joys as these!"

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When cheerful morning blushes thus we sing,
And when the lamp of day sinks in the western

seas.

ODE VII.-TO TORQUATUS.

BY DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON.-1784.

THE Snow dissolved, no more is seen;
The fields and woods, behold, are green;
The changing year renews the plain;
The rivers know their banks again;
The sprightly nymph and naked grace
The mazy dance together trace:
The changing year's successive plan
Proclaims mortality to man.

Rough winter's blasts to spring give way;
Spring yields to summer's sovereign ray;
Then summer sinks in autumn's reign;
And winter chills the world again.

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Her losses soon the moon supplies;
But wretched man, when once he lies
Where Priam and his sons are laid,

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Is naught but ashes and a shade.

Who knows if Jove, who counts our score
Will rouse us in a morning more?

What with your friend you nobly share,

At least you rescue from your heir.

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Not you, Torquatus, boast of Rome,
When Minos once has fix'd your doom,
Or eloquence, or splendid birth,
Or virtue, shall replace on earth.

Hippolytus, unjustly slain,

Diana calls to life in vain;

Nor can the might of Theseus rend
The chains of hell that hold his friend

VOL. II.-P

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