From piles which to the clouds aspire;

Leave wealthy Rome for humbler joys,

Its smoke, its riches, and its noise.

Vicissitudes delight the great

Well pleased sometimes to quit their state:

Beneath the poor man’s humble roof,

A frugal supper neatly dress’d

Oft smooths the brow, keeps care aloof,

Though there no purple couch be prest.

III.