TRANSLATION S.

HORACE, Book III. ODE III.

Auguftus had a defign to rebuild Troy and make it the metropolis of the Roman empire, having clofeted several senators on the project: Horace is fuppofed to have written the following ode on this occafion.

"HE man refolv'd and steady to his truft,

THE

Inflexible to ill, and obftinately just,

May the rude rabble's infolence despise,

Their fenfeless clamours and tumultuous cries;
The tyrant's fiercenefs he beguiles,

And the ftern brow, and the harsh voice defies,
And with fuperior greatness smiles.

Not the rough whirlwind, that deforms,
Adria's black gulf, and vexes it with storms,
The ftubborn virtue of his foul 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 break,

In ruin and confusion hurl'd.

He, unconcern'd, would hear the mighty crack,

And stand secure amidst a falling world.

Such

Such were the godlike arts that led
Bright Pollux to the bleft abodes;
Such did for great Alcides plead,
And gain'd a place among the gods;

Where now Auguftus, mixt with heroes, lies,
And to his lips the nectar bowl applies :
His ruddy lips the purple tincture show,
And with immortal ftains divinely glow.

By arts like thefe did young Lyæus rife :
His tigers drew him to the skies;

Wild from the defert and unbroke,

In vain they foam'd, in vain they star'd,
In vain their eyes with fury glar'd;

He tam'd them to the lafh, and bent them to the yoke. Such were the paths that Rome's great founder trod, When in a whirlwind fnatch'd on high,

He fhook off dull mortality,

And loft the monarch in the god.

Bright Juno then her awful filence broke,

And thus th' affembled deities befpoke.

Troy, fays the goddefs, perjur'd Troy has felt
The dire effects of her proud tyrant's guilt;
The towering pile, and foft abodes,
Wall'd by the hand of fervile gods,
Now spreads its ruins all around,
And lies inglorious on the ground.
An umpire, partial and unjuft,
And a lewd woman's impious luft,

Lay heavy on her head, and funk her to the duft.

Since falfe Laomedon's tyrannic sway,
That durft defraud th' immortals of their pay,

H 3

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Her

Her guardian gods renounc'd their patronage,
Nor would the fierce invading foe repel;
To my refentment, and Minerva's rage,
The guilty king and the whole people fell.
And now the long-protracted wars are o'er,
The foft adulterer fhines no more;

No more does Hector's force the Trojans fhield,
That drove whole armies back, and singly clear'd the
field.

My vengeance fated, I at length refign

To Mars his offspring of the Trojan line:
Advanc'd to godhead let him rise,
And take his ftation in the fkies;
There entertain his ravish'd fight
With fcenes of glory, fields of light;
Quaff with the gods immortal wine,
And fee adoring nations croud his fhrine:

The thin remains of Troy's afflicted host,
In diftant realins may feats unenvy'd find,
And flourish on a foreign coast;

But far be Rome from Troy disjoin'd,

Remov'd by feas, from the difaftrous fhore,

May endless billows rife between, and ftorms unnumber'd

roar.

Still let the curft detefted place

Where Priam lies, and Priam's faithless race,
Be cover'd o'er with weeds, and hid in grafs.
There let the wanton flocks unguarded ftray;
Or, while the lonely fhepherd fings,
Amidft the mighty ruins play,
And frisk upon the tombs of kings.

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May

May tigers there, and all the favage kind, Sad folitary haunts and filent deferts find; In gloomy vaults, and nooks of palaces, May th' unmolefted lioness

Her brinded whelps fecurely lay,

Or, coucht, in dreadful flumbers waste the day.
While Troy in heaps of ruins lies,
Rome and the Roman capitol shall rise;
Th' illuftrious exiles unconfin'd

Shall triumph far and near, and rule mankind.

In vain the fea's intruding tide

Europe from Afric fhall divide,

And part the fever'd world in two :

Through Afric's fands their triumphs they shall spread, And the long train of victories pursue

To Nile's yet undiscover'd head.

Riches the hardy foldiers fhall defpife, And look on gold with un-defiring eyes, Nor the disbowel'd earth explore

In fearch of the forbidden ore;

Thofe glittering ills, conceal'd within the mine,
Shall lie untouch'd, and innocently shine.

To the laft bounds that nature fets,

The piercing colds and fultry heats,
The godlike race shall spread their arms,
Now fill the polar circle with alarms,

Till storms and tempefts their purfuits confine;
Now sweat for conqueft underneath the line.

This only law the victor fhall restrain,
On thefe conditions fhall he reign;