Old men and youths in crowds are snatched away, Me, too, the South wind, on Orion's sign May'st thou incur meet punishment, and bow So, then, whate'er thy haste, a moment stay, Thrice sprinkle me with dust-then go thy way. XXIX. TO ICCIUS. You envy the treasure of Araby's shore, What barbarous maid will you choose for a slave When her lover in battle is slain? What boy with his sweet-scented locks will you have The cups at your feast to sustain ? What boy who can shoot with his father's strong bow? Who'll think it now out of their course, If rivers should turn and up mountains swift flow, Since you, whose first years with such promise were fraught, And to sell all the many rare books that you bought XXX. TO VENUS. O Venus, Knidos', Paphos' queen, There bring your glowing boy, and bring And bid the Nymphs to hasten too, XXXI. TO APOLLO. What seeks the poet at Apollo's shrine? What prays he from the goblet pouring wine? He asks not for Sardinia's fertile fields, Nor for the flocks that scorched Calabria yields. Nor lands which silent Liris undermines. Their vines let dressers prune with sharpened blade, To me, Apollo, grant, I pray, the wealth XXXII. TO HIS LYRE. They need us now, my lyre-if e'er Alcæus tuned thee first, of old, He sang of Liber and the Muse, O pride of Phoebus, shell, the theme Be kind whene'er thy aid I ask. XXXIII. CROSS PURPOSES. Don't bother because she is harsh and untrue, Lycoris, the narrow-browed, shamelessly runs For wolves shall transgress nature's law, And be mated with ewes ere she'll yield to the man, Thus Venus delights aye in thwarting our plan, For myself when a far nobler love had been mine, I was fettered by Myrtale's gaze ; Fair Myrtale, wilder than even the brine That breaks on Calabrian bays. XXXIV. RECANTATION. I've not troubled the gods with my prayers, I much fear, Of late, of my senses bereft ; But now they compel me my vessel to veer For Jove, who I thought never flashes on high D The earth all inert it was shaken with fright, The gods, if they please, can confound high and low, XXXV. TO FORTUNE. Goddess, of pleasant Antium Queen, To thee with strong entreaties flee Poor tillers of the soil, And all court thee, who rul'st the sea Scythian and Dacian, towns and hordes, And mothers stern of barbarous lords, And purple chiefs of fame; Lest by thy foot destructive spurned, And peaceful men to arms be turned, |