4.
Idle it were at greater length on such a theme to speak,
Since my necessity is strong, and hopeless all I seek,
Since in the course of one short hour was all this ruin sent,
Since upon that the tears and toils of my whole life were spent.
And at the finish of a course like this, shall they presume
To scare me? let them know that now I cannot face my doom
But without dread, that Fortune when she caused to disappear
In one day all my happiness, grudged ev'n to leave me fear.
5.
River divine, rich Danube! thou the bountiful and strong,
That through fierce nations roll'st thy waves rejoicingly along,
Since only but by rushing through thy drowning billows deep,
These scrolls can hence escape to tell the noble words I weep,
If wrecked in undeciphered loss on some far foreign land,
They should by any chance be found upon thy desert sand,
Since they upon thy willowed shore must drift, where'er they err,
Their relics let the kind blue waves with murmured hymns inter.
6.
Ode of my melancholy hours! last infant of my lyre!
Although in booming waves it be thy fortune to expire,
Grieve not, since I, howe'er myself from holy rites debarred,
Have seen to all that touches thee with catholic regard.
Less, less had been thy life if thou hadst been but ranked among
Those without record that have risen and died upon my tongue;
Whose utter want of sympathy and haughtiness austere
Has been the cause of this, from me thou very soon shalt hear!