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Folly the spring of his pursuit,

And disappointment all the fruit.

While Cynthio ogles, as she passes,

The nymph between two chariot glasses, 20

She is the pineapple, and he

The silly unsuccessful bee.

The maid, who views with pensive air
The showglass fraught with glitt'ring ware,

Sees watches, bracelets, rings, and lockets,
But sighs at thought of empty pockets;
Like thine, her appetite is keen,
But ah, the cruel glass between!

Our dear delights are often such,
Expos'd to view, but not to touch;
The sight our foolish heart inflames,
We long for pineapples in frames;
With hopeless wish one looks and lingers;
One breaks the glass, and cuts his fingers;

But they whom truth and wisdom lead,

Can gather honey from a weed.

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36

HORACE.

BOOK II. ODE X.

RECEIVE, dear friend, the truths I teach,

So shalt thou live beyond the reach
Of adverse Fortune's pow'r;
Not always tempt the distant deep,
Nor always timorously creep

Along the treach'rous shore.

He that holds fast the golden mean,
Andlives contentedly between

The little and the great,

Feels not the wants that pinch the poor, 10 Nor plagues that haunt the rich man's door, Imbitt'ring all his state.

The tallest pines feel most the pow'r

Of wintry blasts; the loftiest tow'r
Comes heaviest to the ground;

The bolts, that spare the mountain's side,
His cloudcapt eminence divide,

And spread the ruin round.

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The well inform'd philosopher
Rejoices with a wholesome fear,

And hopes, in spite of pain;

If Winter bellow from the north,

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Soon the sweet Spring comes dancing forth,

And Nature laughs again.

What if thine Heav'n be overcast,

The dark appearance will not last;

Expect a brighter sky.

The God, that strings the silver bow,

Awakes sometimes the muses too,

And lays his arrows by.

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If hindrances obstruct thy way,
Thy magnanimity display,

And let thy strength be seen;

But O! if Fortune fill thy sail

With more than a propitious gale,
Take half thy canvass in.

A

REFLECTION ON THE FOREGOING ODE.

AND is this all? Can Reason do no more,

Than bid me shun the deep, and dread the shore?
Sweet moralist! afloat on life's rough sea,
The Christian has an art unknown to thee.
He holds no parley with unmanly fears;
Where Duty bids, he confidently steers,
Faces a thousand dangers at her call,

And, trusting in his God, surmounts them all.

336

IDEM LATINE REDDITUM.

HEU inimicitias quoties parit æmula forma, Quam raro pulchræ pulchra placere potest! Sed fines ultra solitos discordia tendit,

Cum flores ipsos bilis et ira movent.

Hortus ubi dulces præbet tacitosque recessus,
Se rapit in partes gens animosa duas;
Hic sibi regales Amaryllis candida cultus,
Illic purpureo vindicat ore Rosa.

Ira Rosam et meritis quæsita superbia tangunt, Multaque ferventi vix cohibenda sinu,

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Dum sibi fautorum ciet undique nomina vatum,

Jusque suum, multo carmine fulta, probat.

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