ds. Be confident, that
your beloved is not of the worthless crowd; nor that one so true, so
unmercenary, could possibly be born of a mother to be ashamed of. I can
commend arms, and face, and well-made legs, quite chastely: avoid being
jealous of one, whose age is hastening onward to bring its eighth
mastrum to a close.

* * * * *

ODE V.

Not yet is she fit to be broken to the yoke; not yet is she equal to the
duties of a partner, nor can she support the weight of the bull
impetuously rushing to enjoyment. Your heifer's sole inclination is
about verdant fields, one while in running streams soothing the grievous
heat; at another, highly delighted to frisk with the steerlings in the
moist willow ground. Suppress your appetite for the immature grape;
shortly variegated autumn will tinge for thee the lirid clusters with a
purple hue. Shortly she shall follow you; for her impetuous time runs
on, and shall place to her account those years of which it abridges you;
shortly Lalage with a wanton assurance will seek a husband, beloved in a
higher degree than the coy Pholoe, or even Chloris; shining as brightly
with her fair shoulder, as the spotless moon upon the midnight sea, or
even the Gnidian Gyges, whom if you should intermix in a company of
girls, the undiscernible difference occasioned by his flowing locks and
doubtful countenance would wonderfully impose even on sagacious
strangers.

* * * * *

ODE VI.

TO SEPTIMUS.

Septimus, who art ready to go with me, even to Gades, and to the
Cantabrian, still untaught to bear our yoke, and the inhospitable
Syrtes, where the Mauritanian wave perpetually boils. O may Tibur,
founded by a Grecian colony, be the habitation of my old age! There let
there be an end to my fatigues by sea, and land, and war; whence if the
cruel fates debar me, I will seek the river of Galesus, delightful for
sheep covered with skins, and the countries reigned over by
Lacedaemonian Phalantus. That corner of the world smiles in my eye
beyond all others; where the honey yields not to the Hymettian, and the
olive rivals the verdant Venafrian: where the temperature of the air
produces a long spring and mild winters, and Aulon friendly to the
fruitful vine, envies not the Falernian grapes. That place, and those
blest heights, solicit you and me; there you shall bedew the glowing
ashes of your poet friend with a tear due [to his me