BOOK III.
EXERCISE.
Thro’ various toils th’ adventurous muse has past;
But half the toil, and more than half, remains.
Rude is her theme, and hardly fit for song;
Plain, and of little ornament; and I
But little practis’d in th’ Aonian arts. 5
Yet not in vain such labours have we tried,
If ought these lays the fickle health confirm.
To you, ye delicate, I write; for you
I tame my youth to philosophic cares,