He bent his course, and on the margin stood, Ran through each nerve, and thrill'd in ev'ry vein, 'Till using all the force of winds and oars We sped away; he heard us in our course, And with his out-stretch'd arms around him grop'd, So stands a forest tall of mountain oaks HORACE. ODE III. BOOK III. Augustus had a design to rebuild Troy, and make it the Metropolis of the Roman Empire, having closeted several Senators on the project: Horace is supposed to have written the following Ode on this occasion : THE man resolv'd 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, Not the rough whirlwind, that deforms Not 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 break, In ruin and confusion hurl'd, He, unconcern'd, would hear the mighty crack,a And stand secure amidst a falling world. a Crack. Plainly used here for the sake of the rhyme; for the poet knew very well that the word was low and vulgar. To ennoble it a little he adds the epithet "mighty," which yet, has only the effect to make it even ridiculous. [This unfortunate line has been not unworthily recorded in the “Art of Sinking in Poetry."-G.] Such were the godlike arts that led Where now Augustus, mix'd with heroes, lies, By arts like these did young Lyæus rise: His tigers drew him to the skies, Wild from the desert and unbroke: In vain they foam'd, in vain they star'd, He tam'd 'em to the lash, and bent 'em to the yoke. Such were the paths that Rome's great founder trod, When in a whirlwind snatch'd on high, He shook off dull mortality, And lost the monarch in the god. Bright Juno then her awful silence broke, And thus th' assembled deities bespoke. Troy, says the goddess, perjur'd Troy has felt Lay heavy on her head, and sink her to the dust. That durst defraud th' immortals of their pay, Her guardian gods renounc'd their patronage, And now the long protracted wars are o'er, The soft adult'rer 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 To Mars his offspring of the Trojan line: The thin remains of Troy's afflicted host, But far be Rome from Troy disjoined. Remov'd by seas, from the disastrous shore, May endless billows rise between, and storms unnumber'd roar. Still let the curst 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, coucht, in dreadful slumbers waste the day. Rome and the Roman capitol shall rise; Th' illustrous exiles unconfin'd Shall triumph far and near, and rule mankind. In vain the sea's intruding tide Europe from Afric shall divide, And part the sever'd world in two: Through Afric's sands their triumphs they shall spread, And the long train of victories pursue To Nile's yet undiscover'd head. Riches the hardy soldier shall despise, And look on gold with undesiring eyes, In search of the forbidden ore; Those glitt'ring ills conceal'd within the mine, The godlike race shall spread their arms Till storms and tempests their pursuits confine; This only law the victor shall restrain, On these conditions shall he reign ; If none his guilty hand employ To build again a second Troy, If none the rash design pursue, Nor tempt the vengeance of the gods anew. |