If he had blindly tafted, he had been
A brutal Vaffal to a luftful Queen;
Had liv'd a Dog, debas'd to vile Defire,
Or loathfome Swine, and grovel'd in the Mire.
But we, meer Cyphers in the Book of Life,
Like thofe, who boldly woo'd our Hero's Wife,
Born to confume the Fruits of Earth; in truth,
As vain and idle, as Phæacia's Youth;
Mere Outfide all, to fill the mighty Void
Of Life, in Dress and Equipage employ'd,
Who fleep till Mid-day, and with melting Airs
Of empty Music footh away our Cares.
Rogues nightly rife to murder Men for Pelf,
Will you not rouse you to preserve yourself?
But though in Health you doze away your Days
You run, when puff'd with dropfical Disease.
Unless you light your early Lamp, to find
you form your Mind
To nobler Studies, you shall forfeit Rest,
And Love or Envy shall distract your Breaft.
For the hurt Eye an inftant Cure you find ;
Then why neglect, for Years, the fickening Mind?
Who fets about hath half perform'd his Deed;
Dare to be wife, and, if you wou'd fucceed,
phorical Senfe, all the foftneffes and Vices, which our Author afterwards mentions. The ufual Reading, curres, although less fupported by Manuscripts, and hardly to be connected with the rest of the Paffage, (a re prorfus aliena, fays Dr. Bentley) yet hath its Value. It was received by the Scholiaft Porphyrio, with this Remark, that People in the Dropfy were ordered by their Phyficians to run, and the fame Cure for that Diftemper is prefcribed by Celfus. However, Watchfulness and Waking were equally recommended to cure the Dropfy, and have been approved of by the Experience of all Ages. VOL. IV. B
Incipe. Vivendi rectè qui prorogat horam,
Rufticus expectat dum defluat amnis: at ille
Labitur, & labetur in omne volubilis ævum.
Quæritur argentum, puerifque beata creandis
Uxor, & incultæ pacantur vomere fylvæ.
Quod fatis eft, cui contingit, nihil ampliùs optet.
Non domus & fundus, non æris acervus & auri
Ægroto domini deduxit corpore febres,
Non animo curas. Valeat poffeffor oportet,
Si comportatis rebus bene cogitat uti.
Qui cupit aut metuit, juvat illum fic domus ac res,
Ut lippum pictæ tabulæ, fomenta podagrum,
Auriculas citharæ collectâ forde dolentes.
Sincerum eft nifi vas, quodcunque infundis, acefcit.
Sperne voluptates; nocet emta dolore voluptas.
Semper avarus eget; certum voto pete finem.
Invidus alterius macrefcit rebus opimis:
Invidiâ Siculi non invenêre tyranni
Majus tormentum. Qui non moderabitur iræ,
Infectum volet effe, dolor quod fuaferit ac mens,
odio per vim feftinat inulto.
52. Ut lippum pi&tæ tabula.] That Strength of colouring, which gives greater Pleasure to a good Eye, affects a weak, fore Eye with greater Pain.
Fomenta podagrum.] The Gout proceeds from fuch an inward Sharpness of Humours, as no outward Remedies can correct. We muft regulate our whole Course of Life in Hopes of a Cure. Thus, in the Disorders of the Soul, all outward Applications of Wealth and Power are useless, and as Anacreon fays of his Combat with Love,
Outward Arms in vain he tries,
When the Foe within him lies.
56. Certum voto pete finem.] Since Avarice is neither enlarged by Abundance, nor contracted by Want, the wife Man alone can mark, for his own Happiness, the proper Bounds to which it should extend. CRUQ:
60. Dolor ac mens.] For dolor mentis, That Grief which rifes from Refentments of an Injury received.
Begin. The Man, who has it in his Pow'r
To practife Virtue, and protracts the Hour,
Waits till the River pass away: but lo!
Ceafelefs it flows, and will for ever flow.
At Wealth, and Wives of Fruitfulness we aim,
We ftub the Foreft, and the Soil reclaim ;
Who hath fufficient, fhould not covet more:
Nor House, nor Lands, nor Heaps of labour'd Ore
Can give the feverish Lord one Moment's Reft,
Or drive one Sorrow from his anxious Breast ;
The fond Poffeffor must be blefs'd with Health,
the Comforts of his hoarded Wealth.
Demaine and Fortune gratify the Breaft,
For Lucre lufting, or with Fear depreft;
As Pictures, glowing with a vivid Light,
Afford Amusement to a blemish'd Sight;
As chafing quells the Gout, or Mufic chears
The tingling Organs of impofthum'd Ears.
For tainted Veffels four what they contain ;
Then fly from Pleasures, dearly bought with Pain.
He wants for ever, who wou'd more acquire,
Set certain Limits to your wild Defire.
The Man, who envies, must behold with Pain
Another's Joys, and ficken at his Gain:
Nor could Sicilia's Tyrants ever find
A greater Torment, than an envious Mind.
The Man, unable to controul his Ire,
Shall wish undone, what Hate and Wrath inspire:
To fate his Rage, præcipitate he flies,
Yet in his Breast th' unfated Vengeance lies.
61. Dum poenas odio, &c.] He, who will not moderate his Anger, fhall certainly repent of having, by a precipitate Violence, attempted to fatisfy an Hatred, which never thinks itself fufficiently revenged.
Ira furor brevis eft. Animum rege; qui, nifi paret,
Imperat; hunc frænis, hunc tu compefce catenâ.
Fingit equum tenerâ docilem cervice magifter
Ire viam, quâ monftret eques: venaticus, ex quo
Tempore cervinam pellem latravit in aulâ,
Militat in fylvis catulus. Nunc adbibe puro
Pectore verba, puer; nunc te melioribus offer.
Quo femel eft imbuta recens, fervabit odorem
Tefta diu. Quòd fi ceffas, aut ftrenuus anteis;
Nec tardum operior, nec præcedentibus infto.
67. Adbibe puro pecore verba, puer.] These Expreffions of fanus, puro pectore and puer, can be juftly applied only to a Youth. The younger Lollius went with Auguftus to the War of Spain, when he was about fixteen Years of Age, as we shall find in the eighteenth Epiftle, which is addreffed to him.
70. Quòd fi ceffas.] If you will run the Race of Wisdom with me, let us run together; for if You either ftop, or endeavour to get before me, I shall neither wait for You, nor ftrive to overtake You, When we enter the Lifts of Virtue, to wait for those behind us is Indolence; too carneftly to pursue thofe before us, is Envy.
Anger's a fhorter Frenzy: then fubdue
Your Paffion, or your Paffion conquers You.
Let lordly Reason hold the guiding Reins,
And bind the Tyrant with coercive Chains.
The Jockey forms the tender Steed with Skill,
To move obedient to the Rider's Will.
Since firft the home-taught Hound began to bay
The Buck-fkin trail'd, he challenges his Prey
Through woody Wilds. Now pliantly inure
Your Mind to Virtue, while your Heart is pure ;
Now fuck in Wisdom; for the Veffel, well
With Liquor feafon'd, long retains the Smell.
But if you lag, or run a head, my Friend,
I leave the Slow, nor with the Swift contend.
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