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Ye bleft remains of that illuftrious age!
Delightful springs and woods !-

Might I with you my peaceful days live o'er,
You, and my friend, whofe abfence I deplore,
Calm as a gentle brook's unruffled tide
Should the delicious flowing minutes glide;
Difcharg'd of care, on unfrequented plains,
We'd fing of rural joys in rural strains.

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No falfe corrupt delights our thoughts should move,
But joys of friendship, poetry, and love.
While others fondly feed ambition's fire,
And to the top of human ftate afpire,
That from their airy eminence they may
With pride and scorn th' inferior world furvey,
Here we should dwell obfcure, yet happier far than
they.

HORA C

BOOK I ODE XXII.

Integer vitæ, fcelerifque purus,

Eig

"Non eget Mauri jaculis, neque arcu," &c.

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Wrapp'd in thick clouds, and fhades of night,
To confcious fouls direct thy flight!

There brood on guilt, fix there a loath'd embrace,
And propagate vain terrors, frights,

Dreams, goblins, and imagin'd sprights,

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Thy visionary tribe, thy black and monftrous race. Go, haunt the flave that stains his hands in gore Poffefs the perjur'd mind, and rack the Ufurer more, Than his oppreffion did the poor before.

II.

Vainly, you feeble wretches, you prepare
The glittering forgery of war;

The poison'd shaft, the Parthian bow, and spear
Like that the warlike Moor is wont to wield,

Which pois'd and guided from his ear

He hurls impetuous through the field:

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In vain you lace the helm, and heave in vain the

fhield;

He's only safe, whofe armour of defence

Is adamantine innocence.

III.

If o'er the fteepy Alps he go,

Vaft mountains of eternal fnow,

Or where fam'd Ganges and Hydafpes flow;

If o er parch'd Libya's defart land,

Where threatening from afar

Th' affrighted traveller

Encounters moving hills of fand ;

No fenfe of danger can disturb his reft;

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He

He fears no human force, nor favage beaft; Impenetrable courage fteels his manly breast.

IV.

Thus, late within the Sabine grove,
While free from care, and full of love,

I raise my tuneful voice, and stray
Regardless of myself and way,

A grizly wolf, with glaring eye,

View'd me unarm'd, yet pafs'd unhurtful by.
A fiercer monster ne'er, in queft of food,

Apulian forefts did moleft;

Numidia never faw a more prodigious beast;
Numidia, mother of the yellow brood,

Where the stern lion fhakes his knotted mane,

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And roars aloud for prey, and scours the fpacious plain.

V.

Place me where no foft breeze of fummer wind
Did e'er the ftiffen'd foil unbind,

Where no refreshing warmth e'er durft invade, 45
But Winter holds his unmolefted feat,

In all his hoary robes array'd,

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And rattling forms of hail, and noisy tempefts beat.
Place me beneath the fcorching blaze
Of the fierce fun's immediate rays,
Where house or cottage ne'er were feen,
Nor rooted plant or tree, nor fpringing green;
Yet, lovely Lalage, my generous flame
Shall ne'er expire; I'll boldly fing of thee,
Charm'd with the mufic of thy name,
And guarded by the gods of Love and Poetry.
HORACE

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HOR A CE,

BOOK II. ODE XVI.

TO GROS PHUS.

"Otium Divos rogat in patenti
"Prenfus Ægæo," &c.

IMITATED IN PARAPHRASE.

I.

INDULGENT Quiet! power ferene,

Mother of Peace, and Joy, and Love!
O fay, thou calm propitious queen,
Say, in what folitary grove,

Within what hollow rock, or winding cell,

By human eyes unfeen,

Like fome retreated Druid doft thou dwell?

And why, illufive goddess! why,

When we thy manfion would furround,

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Why doft thou lead us through inchanted ground, To mock our vain research, and from our wishes fly?

II.

The wandering failors, pale with fear,

For thee the gods implore,

When the tempeftuous fea runs high,

And when, through all the dark benighted sky, 15

No

No friendly moon or stars appear

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To guide their fteerage to the fhore: For thee the weary foldier prays; Furious in fight the fons of Thrace, And Medes, that wear majestic by their fide A full-charg'd quiver's decent pride, Gladly with thee would pafs inglorious days, Renounce the warrior's tempting praise, And buy thee, if thou might'ft be fold, With gems, and purple vefts, and stores of plunder'd

gold.

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III.

But neither boundless wealth, nor guards that wait Around the conful's honour'd gate,

Nor anti-chambers with attendants fill'd,

The mind's unhappy tumults can abate,

Or banish fullen cares, that fly

Across the gilded rooms of ftate,

And their foul nefts, like swallows, build

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Close to the palace-roofs, and towers that pierce the sky.

Much lefs will Nature's modeft wants fupply;

And happier lives the homely fwain,
Who, in fome cottage, far from noise,

His few paternal goods enjoys,
Nor knows the fordid lust of gain,
Nor with Fear's tormenting pain

His hovering fleeps destroys.

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