Still closing with a rueful cry,
"Was ever such a wretch as I?"
Yes, thousands have endured before
All thy distress; some haply more.
Unnumber'd Corydons complain,
And Strephons, of the like disdain;
And if thy Chloe be of steel,
Too deaf to hear, too hard to feel;
Not her alone that censure fits,
Nor thou alone hast lost thy wits.
NEMO MISER NISI COMPARATUS.
"Quis fuit infelix adeò! quis perditus æque !"
Conqueritur mæsto carmine tristis amans.
Non novus hic questus, rarove auditus; amantes
Deserti et spreti mille queruntur idem.
Fatum decantas quod tu miserabile, multus
Deplorat, multo cum Corydone, Strephon.
Si tua cum reliquis confertur amica puellis,
Non ea vel sola est ferrea, tuve miser.
Frondibus, et pomis, herbisque tenaciter hæret
Limax, et secum portat ubique domum.
Tutus in hac sese occultat, si quando periclum
Imminet, aut subitæ decidit imber aquæ.
Cornua vel leviter tangas, se protinus in se
Colligit, in proprios contrahiturque lares.
Secum habitat quacunque habitat; sibi tota supellex;
Solæ quas adamat, quasque requirit opes.
Secum potat, edit, dormit; sibi in ædibus iisdem
Conviva et comes est, hospes et hospitium.
Limacem, quacumque siet, quacumque moretur,
Siquis eum quærat, dixerit esse domi.
With two spurs or one; and no great matter which,
Boots bought, or boots borrow'd, a whip or a switch,
Five shillings or less for the hire of his beast,
Paid part into hand;-you must wait for the rest.
Thus equipt, Academicus climbs up his horse,
And out they both sally for better or worse;
His heart void of fear, and as light as a feather;
And in violent haste to go, not knowing whither :
Through the fields and the towns (see!) he scampers along,
And is look'd at and laugh'd at by old and by young.
Till at length overspent, and his sides smear'd with blood,
Down tumbles his horse, man and all in the mud.
In a waggon or chaise, shall he finish his route?
Oh! scandalous fate! he must do it on foot.
Young gentlemen, hear !—I am older than
The advice that I give, I have proved to be true:-
Wherever your journey may be, never doubt it,
The faster you ride, you 're the longer about it.
EQUES ACADEMICUS.
Calcari instruitur juvenis; geminove vel uno,
Haud multum, aut ocreis cujus, et unde, refert ;
Fors fortasse suo, fortasse aliunde, flagello;
Quantulacunque sui, pars tamen ipse sui.
Sic rite armatus, quinis (et forte minoris)
Conductum solidis scandere gestit equum.
Lætus et impavidus qua fert fortuna (volantem
Cernite) quadrupedem pungit et urget iter:
Admisso cursu, per rura, per oppida fertur:
Adlatrant catuli, multaque ridet anus.
Jamque ferox plagis, erectâ ad verbera dextrâ
Calce cruentatâ lassat utrumque latus.
Impete sed tanto vixdum confecerit ille
Millia propositæ sexve novemve viæ,
Viribus absumptis, fessusque labore, caballus
Sternit in immundum seque equitemque lutum.
Vectus iter peraget curru plaustrove viator?
Proh pudor et facinus! cogitur ire pedes.
Si, nec inexpertum, seniorem junior audis,
Quæ sint exiguæ commoda disce moræ.
Quam tibi præcipio, brevis est, sed regula certa ;
Ocyus ut possis pergere, lentus eas!
EPIGRAMS TRANSLATED FROM THE LATIN OF OWEN.
ON ONE IGNORANT AND ARROGANT.
Thou mayst of double ignorance boast,
Who know'st not, that thou nothing know'st.
IN IGNORANTEM ARROGANTEMLINUM.
Captivum, Line, te tenet ignorantia duplex.
Scis nihil, et nescis te quoque scire nihil.
PRUDENT SIMPLICITY.
That thou mayst injure no man, dovelike be,
And serpentlike, that none may injure thee!
PRUDENS SIMPLICITAS.
Ut nulli nocuisse velis, imitare columbam :
Serpentem, ut possit nemo nocere tibi.
TO A FRIEND IN DISTRESS.
I wish thy lot, now bad, still worse, my friend;
For when at worst, they say, things always mend.
AD AMICUM PAUPEREM.
Est male nunc? Utinam in pejus sors omnia vertat;
Succedunt summis optima sæpe malis.
When little more than boy in age,
I deem'd myself almost a sage;
But now seem worthier to be styled
For ignorance almost a child.
Omnia me, dum junior essem, scire putabam:
Quo scio plus, hoc me nunc scio scire minus.
RETALIATION.
The works of ancient bards divine,
Aulus, thou scorn'st to read;
And should posterity read thine,
It would be strange indeed!
LEX TALIONIS.
Majorum nunquam, Aule, legis monumenta tuorum :
Mirum est, posteritas si tua scripta legat.
SUNSET AND SUNRISE.
Contemplate, when the sun declines,
Thy death, with deep reflection!
And when again his rising shines,
Thy day of resurrection!
DE ORTU ET OCCASU.
Sole oriente, tui reditûs a morte memento!
Sis memor occasûs, sole cadente, tui!
IN OCEANO GERMANICO NATANTES.
En, quæ prodigia, ex oris allata remotis,
Oras adveniunt pavefacta per æquora nostras!
Non equidem priscæ sæclum rediisse videtur
Pyrrhæ, cum Proteus pecus altos visere montes
Et Sylvas, egit. Sed tempora vix leviora
Adsunt, evulsi quando radicitùs alti
In mare descendunt montes, fluctusque pererrant.
Quid verò hoc monstri est magis et mirabile visu?
Splendentes video, ceu pulchro ex ære vel auro
Conflatos, rutilisque accinctos undique gemmis,
Baccâ cæruleâ, et flammas imitante pyropo.
Ex oriente adsunt, ubi gazas optima tellus
Parturit omnigenas, quibus æva per omnia sumptu
Ingenti finxere sibi diademata reges?
Vix hoc crediderim. Non fallunt talia acutos
Mercatorum oculos: prius et quàm littora Gangis
Liquissent, avidis gratissima præda fuissent.
Ortos unde putemus? An illos Vesvius atrox
Protulit, ignivomisve ejecit faucibus Ætna?
Luce micant propriâ, Phoebive, per aëra purum
Nunc stimulantis equos, argentea tela retorquent?
Phœbi luce micant. Ventis et fluctibus altis
Appulsi, et rapidis subter currentibus undis,
Tandem non fallunt oculos. Capita alta videre est
Multâ onerata nive, et canis conspersa pruinis.
Cætera sunt glacies. Procul hinc, ubi Bruma ferè omnes
Contristat menses, portenta hæc horrida nobis
Illa strui voluit. Quoties de culmine summo
Clivorum fluerent in littora prona, solutæ
Sole, nives, propero tendentes in mare cursu,
Illa gelu fixit. Paulatim attollere sese
Mirum cœpit opus; glacieque ab origine rerum
In glaciem aggestâ sublimes vertice tandem
Aquavit montes, non crescere nescia moles.
Sic immensa diu stetit, æternumque stetisset
Congeries, hominum neque vi neque mobilis arte,
Littora ni tandem declivia deseruisset,
Pondere victa suo. Dilabitur. Omnia circum
Antra et saxa gemunt, subito concussa fragore,
Dum ruit in pelagum, tanquam studiosa natandi,
Ingens tota strues. Sic Delos dicitur olim,
Insula, in Ægæo fluitâsse erratica ponto.
Sed non ex glacie Delos; neque torpida Delum
Bruma inter rupes genuit nudem sterilemque.
Sed vestita herbis erat illa, ornataque nunquam
Deciduâ lauro; et Delum dilexit Apollo.
At vos, errones horrendi, et caligine digni
Cimmeriâ, Deus idem odit. Natalia vestra,
Nubibus involvens frontem, non ille tueri
Sustinnit. Patrium vos ergo requirite cœlum!
Ite! Redite! Timete moras; ni lenitèr austro
Spirante, et nitidas Phoebo jaculante sagittas
Hostili vobis, pereatis gurgite misti!
ON THE ICE ISLANDS,
SEEN FLOATING IN THE GERMAN OCEAN.
What portents, from what distant region, ride,
Unseen till now in ours, th' astonish'd tide?
In ages past, old Proteus, with his droves
Of sea-calves, sought the mountains and the groves.
But now, descending whence of late they stood,
Themselves the mountains seem to rove the flood.
Dire times were they, full charged with human woes;
And these, scarce less calamitous than those.
What view we now? More wondrous still! Behold!
Like burnish'd brass they shine, or beaten gold;
And all around the pearl's pure splendour show,
And all around the ruby's fiery glow.
Come they from India, where the burning earth,
All bounteous, gives her richest treasures birth;
And where the costly gems, that beam around
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