Nec mea consueto languescent corpora lecto?
Depositum nec me qui fleat, ullus erit ?
Nec mandata dabo? nec cum clamore supremo
Labentes oculos condet amica manus?
Sed sine funeribus caput hoc, sine honore sepulcri
Indeploratum 2 barbara terra teget?

I follow things which are hurtful.

Scilicet est cupidus studiorum quisque suorum;
Tempus et assuetâ ponere in arte juvat.
Saucius ejurat pugnam gladiator, et idem
Immemor antiqui vulneris arma capit.
Nil sibi cum pelagi dicit fore naufragus undis;
Et ducit remos, quâ modo navit, aquâ.
Nos quoque delectant, quamvis nocuere, libelli:
Et carmen demens, carmine laesus, amo.

Nothing is thought valuable which is not beneficial. Turpe quidem dictu, sed (si modo vera fatemur) Vulgus amicitias utilitate probat.

sad by the locality?" By occurring where it will, all the surroundings will be dreary.

1 Cum clamore supremo. As soon as a person was dead amongst the Romans, the eyes and mouth were closed by the nearest relation present, and the deceased called on aloud by name, with the word Vale! added. Cf. Ovid, Metam. x. 64: Supremum que vale quod jam vix auribus ille Acciperet dixit;" and Fasti, iv. 852: "Atque ait

Invito frater adempte, vale!"
2 Indeploratum. Cf. Scott's
Lay of the Last Minstrel :-

-

"The vile wretch,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown;
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile earth from whence he sprung
Unwept, unhonoured, and unsung.”

3 Nil sibi. So Horace, Carm. i. 15:

"Luctantem Icariis fluctubus Africum
Mercator metuens, otium et oppidi
Laudat rura sui: mox reficit rates
Quassas indocilis pauperiem pati."

Cura quid expediat prius est, quàm quid sit ho

nestum,

Et cum fortunâ statque caditque fides.
Nec facile invenias multis e milibus unum,
Virtutem pretium qui putet esse sui.
Ipse decor recti, facti si praemia desint,
Non movet, et gratis poenitet esse probum.

One who has suffered dreads even what is harmless. Qui semel est laesus fallaci piscis ab hamo, Omnibus unca1 cibis aera subesse putat. Saepe canem longe visum fugit agna, lupumque Credit, et ipsa suam nescia vitat opem. Membra reformidant mollem quoque saucia tactum ; Vanaque sollicitis incutit umbra metum: Sic ego, fortunae telis confixus iniquis, Pectore concipio nil nisi triste meo.

Each defends his own performance.

Ut Venus artificis labor est et gloria Coi,2
Aequoreo madidas quae premit imbre comas;

1 Omnibus unca. Shakespeare conveys the same idea in a different way :—

"The bird that hath been limed in a
tree,
With trembling wings misdoubteth
every bush."

2 Artificis
Coi. Apelles
of Cos painted Venus rising
from the sea. "Si Venerem Cous
nunquam posuisset Apelles"

(Ovid, Ars Am. iii. 401). Phidias executed a colossal statue of Pallas of ivory and gold (here brass), which stood in the Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens (arx Actaea). Calamis and Myron were statuaries, the former renowned for his skill in moulding horses, the latter in moulding cows. The cows of Myron were a favourite sub

Arcis ut Actaeae vel eburna, vel aenea custos,
Bellica Phidiacâ stat Dea facta manu;
Vindicat ut Calamis laudem, quos fecit, equorum;
Ut similis verae vacca, Myronis opus:
Sic ego, pars rerum non ultima, Sexte, tuarum,
Tutelaeque feror munus opusque tuae.

Ovid, the artist of love.

1

Si quis in hoc artem populo non novit amandi,
Me legat; et lecto carmine doctus amet.
Arte citae veloque rates remoque moventur :
Arte levis currus, arte regendus Amor.
Curribus Automedon lentisque erat aptus habenis:
Tiphys in Haemoniâ puppe magister erat.
Me Venus artificem tenero praefecit Amori:
Tiphys1 et Automedon dicar Amoris ego.

Variety of the human mind.

Non tellus eadem parit omnia; vitibus illa
Convenit, haec oleis; hâc bene farra virent.
Pectoribus mores tot sunt, quot in orbe figurae:
Qui sapit, innumeris moribus aptus erit.
Utque leves Proteus 2 modo se tenuabit in undas;
Nunc leo, nunc arbor, nunc erit hirtus aper.

ject with the Greek epigram-
matists. For instance-
"Why me, a heifer, fix as at a shrine?
Myron, home drive me with my fel-

low-kine."

And

"Me Myron moulded not-he lies-but, feeding, from the flock

Drove me away, and fastened me upon this marble block"

(Greek Anthol. v. 714 and 719).

1 Tiphys. The pilot of the Argo, which sailed from Thessaly (Haemonia). Cf. Verg. Eclog. iv. 34: "Alter erit tum Tiphys, et altera quae vehat Argo." For Automedon, see note 2, p. 17. 2 Proteus. A sea god. He was fond of eluding those who

Hi jaculo pisces, illi capiuntur ab hamis;
Hos cava contento retia fune trahunt.

Beauty.

Forma bonum fragile est; quantumque accedit ad

annos,

Fit minor, et spatio carpitur ipsa suo.

Nec violae semper, nec hiantia lilia florent,
Et riget amissâ spina relicta rosâ ;

Et tibi jam cani venient, Formose, capilli:
Jam venient rugae, quae tibi corpus arent.

Jam molire animum, qui duret, et adstrue formae :
Solus ad extremos permanet ille rogos.
Nec levis, ingenuas pectus coluisse per artes
Cura sit, et linguas edidicisse duas.

5

10

Poets.

Cura Deûm fuerant olim regumque Poëtae;
Praemiaque antiqui magna tulere Chori:
Sanctaque maiestas, et erat venerabile nomen
Vatibus; et largae saepe dabantur opes.
Ennius emeruit, Calabris in montibus ortus,
Contiguus1 poni, Scipio magne, tibi.

wished to obtain from him a
knowledge of futurity by chang-
ing himself into various forms.
Cf. Verg. Georg. iv. 407-

"Fiet enim subito sus horridus, atraque tigris

Squamosusque draco, et fulva cervice

leaena

Aut acrem flammae sonitum dabit atque ita-vinclis

Excidet, aut in aquas tenues dilapsus

abibit."

So Shakespeare (Henry VI. p. 3, act iii. sc. 2):—

"Change shapes with Proteus for advantages."

the

1 Contiguus. Ennius, Latin poet (born at Rudii in Calabria), was a friend of Scipio Africanus; and his bust is said to have been placed in the tomb of the Scipios.

Nunc hederae sine honore jacent; operataque1 doctis Cura vigil Musis nomen inertis habet.

Selfishness of vulgar friendship.

Donec eris felix, multos numerabis amicos:
Tempora si fuerint 2 nubila, solus eris.
Aspicis, ut veniant ad candida tecta columbae;
Accipiat nullas sordida turris aves:
Horrea formicae tendunt ad inania nunquam;
Nullus ad amissas ibit amicus opes.
Utque comes radios per Solis euntibus umbra,
Cum latet hic pressus nubibus, illa fugit;
Mobile sic sequitur Fortunae lumina vulgus;
Quae simul inductâ nube teguntur, abit.

What gives pleasure may give pain also. Igne quid utilius? si quis tamen urere tecta Comparat, audaces instruit igne manus.

1 Operataque, etc. "Spending its labour on the learned muses.' Operari" is used especially of engaging in sacrifice, and other religious work. Cf. Hor. Carm. iii. 14: "Mulier . . . Prodeat justis operata sacris;" Verg. Georg. i. 339: "Sacra refer Cereri laetis operatus in herbis; " Prop. ii. 32: "Cynthia jam noctes est operata decem."

2 Tempora si fuerint. Cf. Hor. Carm. i. 35: "Diffugiunt cadis Cum facce siccatis amici Ferre jugum pariter dolosi." There is a Greek proverb, "While the pot's a-boiling,

5

10

So

friendship keeps alive." Shakespeare (King Lear, act iii. sc. 4):

"That, sir, which serves and secks for

gain,

And follows but for form,
Will pack, when it begins to rain,

And leave thee in the storm."

3 Aspicis, ut, etc. "You see how." Cf. Hor. Carm. i. 9: "Vides ut alta stet nive candidum, Soracte." Not, of course, "You see that," etc., for that would require, "Aspicis venire columbas." Below, for "simul" in the sense of "simul atque," see note on p. 11.