thereby the Bleffings the Romans enjoyed under the mild Reign of Auguftus. Si quâ ratione; as in Virgil,

Si quâ fata afpera rumpas.

The Word vagans is very expreffive of the wide Havock made by thofe Gladiators, who spread themselves to the farthest Part of the Country of the Brutii, where they were cut to Pieces by Licinius Craffus. DACIER.

8 Albefcens capillus.] Horace was then 42 Years old.

9

Calidus juventa,

Confule Planco.]

Horace was born under the Confulship of L. Manlius Torquatus, in the Year of Rome 689; and the L. Munatius Plancus, here mentioned, was Conful in the Year 711: So that Horace was then but in his 23d Year.

10 Non ego hoc ferrem.] Ferrem is here put for tulifem: This Change of the Tenfe is frequent in good Authors.

DACIER.

********

****

O DE

XV.

THO

To CHLOR I S.

HOU Wife of Ibycus the Poor,
At length to Scandal bar the Door;
Advancing near thy funeral Flame,
Set Bounds to thy notorious Shame :
Sport not among the Virgin-Train,
Nor fparkling Stars with Vapours ftain.
What suits the Daughter in her Prime,
In wrinkled Age is deem'd a Crime.
For fhe, with Bacchanalian Rage,
In midnight Frolics may engage,

And,

And, like a Kid, with better Grace,
In wanton Sport her Nothus chafe.
The Wool, near fair 2 Luceria fhorn,
Will more than Harps thy Hands adorn.
The purple Rofe is now too weak
To hide the Palenefs of thy Cheek.
Since Age and Riot ill agree,
Think on thy own Mortality!
For Revels will not Thee become,
Grown old, and bending to the Tomb.

NOTE S.

This Ode is entirely fatirical. Horace wrote it against Chloris, the Mother of Pholoë. It is uncertain at what Time it was made. However, it feems probable, that it was written after the 23d Ode of the first, and the 5th Ode of the fecond Book.

1 Uxor pauperis Ibyci.] When the Courtezans began to grow old, it was ufual with them (that they might more fafely profecute their infamous Commerce) to marry fuch poor Men as this Ibycus, who were rather their Slaves than Hufbands. Thus this firft Verse is very fatirical, and Horace defcribes her Trade barely by calling her the Wife of poor Ibycus. DACIER.

In like manner a Lady of Quality, in the Reign of Queen Anne, married a Footman, to fkreen herself from her Creditors. The Confequence was, he was thrown into the Fleet, and he retired into Holland.

2 Luceria was an ancient and confiderable City of Daunian Apulia: The Pafture-Grounds about it were excellent, Strabo fays, that the Wool of that Country was finer and more foft than the Wool of Tarentum, but not fo white.

ODE

ODE XVI.

To MACENAS.

By Mr. J. DUNCOMBE.

'W T

2

ITHIN a brazen Tower immur'd,
Strong Gates and watchful Dogs fe-

cur'd

From 3 nightly Lovers Danaë ; But all the Father's fruitlefs Cares, His jealous Doubts, and anxious Fears, 4 Venus and fove in fecret fmil'd to fee: They knew no Gates so strong, no Dogs so bold, As to exclude a God transform'd to Gold.

When Gold appears, what Guards deny
A ready Paffage? Warriors fly,

Rocks open, at the Touch of Gold.
Nor Jove fo fure a Bolt can boast:
The Grecian Sage by Gold was loft,

And all his Family betray'd, or fold:
Philip by Gold unbarr'd the ftrongest Gates;
By Gold he conquer'd all the rival States.

Rough Captains, boisterous as the Seas,
All-powerful Prefents can appease.

Wealth ever is purfu'd by Care.

70 Glory

"O Glory of th' Equestrian Name, Maecenas! Diffidence and Shame

Allow me not aloft my Head to rear. The more each Man fhall to himself deny, The more the Gods shall all his Wants supply.

I, to no wild Defires a Slave,

Join with the few, that nothing crave,
And scorn to haunt the rich Man's Door:
Of what my humble Fields afford,
By jufter Claim, the fplendid Lord,

Than if, amidst exhaustless Plenty, poor,
My ample Garners held whate'er the Swains
Industrious reap on rich Apulia's Plains.

What though, in ermin'd Purple gay,'
The Conful wide extends his Sway
O'er fultry Afric's fruitful Soil;
He knows not that a 9 purling Rill,
A fhady Grove, a Field that still

With fure Increase repays the Tiller's Toil,
Such heart-felt Joys to Me, contented, yield,
As muft from Him for ever be conceal'd.

What though no Gallic Flocks for Me
Are fed, nor the 10 Calabrian Bee

Distills her honey'd Sweets; nor Cafks
Of Formian Wine my Cellars ftore;
"
Yet Horace knows not Want; and more

You freely will bestow, if more he asks;

But,

fee his Description of it, which is not very different from this of Horace.

Κατὰ δέ ψυχρὸν ξείν ύδως

Υψόθεν ἐκ πέτρης· &c.

Where, from the Rock, with liquid Lapse distills
A limpid Fount

Neritus, Ithacus, Polyctor, there

In fculptur'd Stone immortalis'd their Care,
In Marble Urns receiv'd it from above,

And shaded with a green furrounding Grove;
Where filver Alders, in high Arches twin'd,
Drink the cool Stream, and tremble to the Wind,
Beneath (fequefter'd to the Nymphs), is seen
A moffy Altar, deep embower'd in Green;
Where conftant Vows by Travellers are paid,
And holy Horrors folemnife the Shade.

POPE.

In Ovid's third Book de Faftis, Numa offers a Sacrifice to a Fountain, in all respects like this, only he gives a Sheep, whereas Horace here promises a Kid :

Fonti rex Numa mactat ovem,

Plenaque odorati difponit pocula Bacchi.

We have here a Victim, Wine, and Crowns; for plena pocula odorati Bacchi, full Cups of fragrant Wine, is the fame thing as pocula floribus coronata, Cups of Wine crown. ed with Flowers, or (in Horace's Words) merum cum floribus. This Paffage of Ovid ought, therefore, to be tranflated thus: King Numa facrifices a Sheep to this

Fountain, and places on its Banks full Cups of Wine crowned with Flowers.' We are alfo taught here one Particular, which is not expreffed in Horace, namely, that after having offered up a Sheep or a Kid, and poured out a little Wine to make Libations, the Cups, with the Wine in them, were placed on the Margin of the Fountain, to invite the Gods of those Streams to come and drink of it. DACIER.

The