Thy utmost wish the Fair-One crowns,
And thy calm'd heart may well pursue
The paths of knowledge;—Lyce frowns,
And I, distasteful, shun their view.
From themes, that wake the powers of mind,
The wounded Spirit sick'ning turns;
To those be then this hour consign'd,
That Mirth approves, tho' Wisdom spurns.
They shall disarm my Lyce's frown,
The frolic jest, the lively strain,
In flowing bowls, shall gaily drown
The memory of her cold disdain.
[1]: At the feast, held in honor of Licinius Murena having been chosen Augur, Horace endeavours to turn the conversation towards gayer subjects than Grecian Chronology, and the Trojan War, upon which his Friend Telephus had been declaiming; and for this purpose seems to have composed the ensuing Ode at table. It concludes with an hint, that the unpleasant state of the Poet's mind, respecting his then Mistress, incapacitates him for abstracted themes, which demand a serene and collected attention, alike inconsistent with the amorous discontent of the secret heart, and with the temporary exhilaration of the spirits, produced by the occasion on which they were met. This must surely be the meaning of Horace in this Ode, however obscurely expressed. People of sense do not, even in their gayest conversation, start from their subject to another of total inconnexion. When the latent meaning in the concluding verses is perspicuously paraphrased, it accounts for the Poet's preference at that period, of trifling to literary subjects. These slight, and often obscure allusions, closely, and what is called faithfully translated, give a wild and unmeaning air to the Odes of Horace, which destroys their interest with the unlearned admirers of Poetry. To give distinct shape and form to these embryo ideas, often capable of acquiring very interesting form and shape, is the aim of these Paraphrases.
Telephus, who was a Greek, appears to have been a Youth of noble birth—being mentioned as such in the Ode to Phyllis, which will be found farther on amongst these Paraphrases. From that to Lydia, so well known, and so often translated, we learn that he had a beautiful form, and was much admired by the Roman Ladies.
[2]: The Translator was doubtful about using that word, till she recollected it in the gravest of Pope's Poems,
“Destroy all creatures for thy sport and gust;
Then cry, If Man's unhappy God's unjust.” Essay on Man.
TO PHIDYLE.
EXHORTING HER TO BE CONTENT WITH A FRUGAL SACRIFICE.
BOOK THE THIRD, ODE THE TWENTY-THIRD.