HORACE, EPODE II.

How happy in his low degree,
How rich in humble poverty, is he
Who leads a quiet country life,
Discharg'd of bus'ness, void of strife,
And from the griping scriv'ner free?
Thus, ere the seeds of vice were sown,
Liv'd men in better ages born,
Who plow'd with oxen of their own
Their small paternal field of corn.
Nor trumpets summon him to war,
Nor drums disturb his morning sleep,
Nor knows he merchants' gainful care,
Nor fears the dangers of the deep.
The clamours of contentious law,

And court and state he wisely shuns;
Nor brib'd with hopes, nor dar'd with awe,
To servile salutations runs :
But either to the clasping vine

Does the supporting poplar wed,
Or with his pruning hook disjoin
Unbearing branches from their head,
And grafts more happy in their stead :
Or, climbing to a hilly steep,

He views his herds in vales afar,
Or sheers his overburden'd sheep,
Or mead for cooling drink prepares,
Of virgin honey in the jars;

Or in the now declining year,

When bounteous Autumn rears his head," He joys to pull the ripen'd pear,

And clust'ring grapes, with purple spread. The fairest of his fruit he serves;

Priapus, thy rewards:: ylimaske

Sylvanus, too, his part deserves, 11211
Whose care the fences guards. Jožitne el
Sometimes beneath an ancient oak, stb.
Or on the matted grass, he lies.

No god of sleep he need invoke, tong one
The stream that o'er the pebbles flies 1977
With gentle slumber crowns his eyes -
The wind that whistles through the sprays w
Maintains the consort of the song Braden

And hidden birds with native lays

A

o eston The golden sleep prolongi se, ul But when the blast of Winter blows,,10chini yok And hoary frost inverts the yearst prower sol Into the naked woods, he goes, flew Tadud b.A And seeks the trusty boar to rear, won Lead a With well-mouth'd hounds land pointed spear; Or spreads his subtle nets from sighữn pamanla mn With twinkling glasses, to betray sồi rủ mùi h The larks that in the meshes light to ebat me” Or makes the fearful hare his preya, qo AufT Amidst his harmless easy joysed: dmel our 11 No anxious care invades his health, 1, 9 Nor love his peace of mind destroys,s? seni sezon Nor wicked avarice of wealth ignaz y su

I

But if a chaste and pleasing wife,
To case the bus'ness of his life
Divides with him his household care,
Such as the Sabine matrons were,
Such as the swift Apulian's bride,
Sun-burnt and swarthy though she be,
Will fire for winter nights provide,

And, without noise, will oversee
His children and his family;
And order all things till he come,
Sweaty, and over-labour'd, home:
If she in pens his flocks will fold,

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And then produce her dairy store,ving fu With wine to drive away the cold, w 2001 11w na k And unbought dainties of the poor cu tadké Not oysters of the Lucrine lake na asiliƒ baz My sober appetite would wish, bale gebick 41 Nor turbot, or the foreign fish aldar pola 118 That rowling tempests overtake, And hither waft the costly dish Not heathpout, or the rarer birds, Which Phasis or Ionia yields, More pleasing morsels would afford

Than the fat olives of my fields Antwo day Pa
Than shards or mallows for the pot,tapeduceranda'
That keep the loosen'd body sound; (hom 10
Or than the lamb, that falls by lot med at tab in A
To the just guardian of my ground.

Amidst these feasts of happy swains; god svol
The jolly shepherd smiles to see bazate

His flock returning from the plains:
The farmer is as pleas'd as he
To view his oxen sweating smoke,
Bear on their necks the loosen'd yoke;
To look upon his menial crew,

That sit around his cheerful hearth,
And bodies spent in toil renew

With wholesome food and country mirth. This Morecraft said within himself,

Resolv'd to leave the wicked Town,

And live retir'd upon

his own,

He call'd his money in :

But the prevailing love of pelf,
Soon split him on the former shelf,
He put it out again.

FINIS