The SAME ODE Imitated. By Mr. J. DUNCOMBE. To the PEN, employed in writing Sermons. O Thou! whofe Nip the trivial Strain Of amorous Bard shall ne'er profane, A beauteous Profpect drawn by Thee; What though, in thoughtless Sports and Play, They now beguile the jocund Day, Soon fhalt Thou fill each vacant Mind With Pleasures of a nobler kind, And, calm'd by thy perfuafive Lore, Their truant Paffions fhall rebell no more. Thou art the friendly Crook, that leads And, fafe from Wolves, with Transport stray Through Groves, where Streams of living Waters play. Thy deathlefs Praises shall inspire Some Poet with a Preacher's Fire; While I thofe fluttering Feathers fing, That tremble o'er the filver Spring; From whence, with fwift, but filent Tide, O'er fnow-white Leaves thy fable Waters glide. Sundrich, Kent, 1754. ODE XIV. On the Return of AUGUSTUS from Spain. C By Mr. DUNCOMBE, Sen. ESAR, like Hercules, in Spain, Who, late we boafted, won with Blood The Laurel Wreath, now comes again Victorious to his high Abode. Let 2 Her, to whom aufpicious Fate Go forth to meet her matchless Mate, And pay The Band let good 3 Octavia lead To welcome our Deliverer home. And 4 You, whofe Sons efcap'd the Sword, In Hymns to Heaven your Voice employ; But But let no inaufpicious Word No gloomy Cares fhall overspread | 'Go, Boy, fetch Oil; and Crowns prepare ; And broach the Cafks, that 'fcap'd the Hands, (If any fuch remaining are) 7 Of Spartacus's vagrant Bands. With effenc'd Hair, in Fillets tied, 8 Grey Locks impetuous Heat reclaim : When bold with Youth, in Plancus' Year, A Trifle would my Blood inflame, Nor 10 could I then fuch Treatment bear. NOTES. Monfieur Le Fevre rightly obferves, that this Ode was written in the Year of Rome 729, under the tenth Confulfhip of Auguftus, who then returned from Spain, where he had been four Years waging War against the Cantabrians; for he fet out on that Expedition in his seventh Confulfhip, in the Year 726, and did not return to Rome till the Year 729, in his tenth Confulfhip, after a long Sickness, of which he had like to have died. Suetonius writes, that he received his eighth and his ninth Con ful hip fulfhip at Tarragona: Octavum et nonum confulatum Tarracone iniit. But he does not fay, that he there received the tenth; which has been afferted without Foundation, in Defiance of hiftorical Truth; for he fet out from Spain, on his Return, at the End of his ninth Confulfhip, and arrived at Rome at the Beginning of the Year 729, as appears by a Paffage in Dion, Book 53. Horace therefore wrote this Ode on the Return of Auguftus, just about the Time of his Arrival. He had before written the 35th Ode of the first Book, O Diva, gratum quæ regis Antium, on his Departure for this Expedition. I --- Hifpaná repetit Penates Victor ab orâ.] DACIER. The Word repetit, returns, in the prefent Tense, shows that Horace wrote this Ode on the News of Auguftus's Approach, and before he had made his public Entry into Rome.By Penates, his Houshold Gods, he denotes Auguftus's Palace He was thought to have put an End to the War with the Cantabrians; but they revolted feveral Timés after his Departure, and were not entirely quelled till the Year of Rome 734, or 735, when they were fubdued by Agrippa. Horace here points out Livia, the Wife of Auguftus, without naming her. Though fhe was one of the most beautiful Women in the World, her Wifdom till furpaffed her Beauty. Dion relates, that fome naked Men having one Day met her (whether by Chance, or by Defign, is uncertain), the Senate would have condemned them to Death; but the interceded for them, and procured their Pardon, faying, that to a virtuous Woman a naked Man was no more than a Statue.' The Line above quoted (the literal Tranflation of which is, Let the Wife delighting in her Husband alone, or in one Hufband, go forth) has very much perplexed the Critics: For, fay they, it can fcarce be imagined, that a Man of Horace's Politene fs would compliment • Livia at the Expence of all the other Roman Ladies ; which yet he plainly does, if this be the true Reading, and the true Construction of this Paffage.' Mr. Cuningham therefore, for unico, reads unicè gaudens, en tirely rejoicing; which is, at least, a very plaufible Correction, and adopted by Sanadon. Dacier feems to think, that the Word unicus may fignify here peeriefs, or unparelleled. If this can be juftified, it undoubtedly gives a rational Meaning, and is followed by the Tranflator, as moft agreeable to Common Sense. 3 Soror clari ducis.] Octavia was the Sifter of Auguftus, and, at that Time, the Widow of Marc Antony. 4 Matres virginum, juvenumque nuper Sofpitum.] He here addreffes himself to the Mothers of those young Romans, who followed Auguftus into Spain, and had efcaped all the Dangers of that bloody War. Cafare terras ] By tumultus, Horace means Civil Wars. This Phrafe cannot be better explained, than by a parallel Paffage in the 15th Ode of the fourth Book: Cufode rerum Cæfare, non furor Civilis, non vis eximit otium. Furor Civilis is what he here calls Tumultus; and Vis, in both thefe Paffages, fignifies foreign Wars. Tenente Cæfare terras, and Cuftode rerum Cæfare, have juft the fame Senfe; for the Word tenere fignifies here cuftodire, to protect, or defend. 6 The four firft Stanzas of this Ode (here tranflated in five) are grave and folemn; the three last sportful and gay. 7 Spartacum fi qua potuit vagantem Fallere tefta.] Sixteen or feventeen Years after the Marfian War, the Romans were engaged in the War of Spartacus, who, putting himself at the Head of a small Number of Gladiators at Capua, which was daily increased by Slaves reforting to him from all Parts, ravaged all Italy. See Florus. Book iii. Chap. 20. The Addrefs of Horace here deferves to be remarked; who, while he feems only to be sportfully treating of old Wine, gives a lively Defcription of the Calamities of this War, to enhance thereby |