Classic Poem

Lest you should think the strains will die,
Which I in skill but newly found
With voice to correspondent strings ally,
Borne where from far the rocks of Aufidus resound:
Know, that if Homer take the lead,
Yet is not Pindar out of date;
Nor Cean nor Alcean fire recede,
Nor that Sicilian bard's authority and weight.
Nor if of old Anacreon sung,
Has time his sportive lays suppress'd;
Alive are all the notes of Sappho's tongue,
Which to her lyre she play'd, of genuine warmth possess'd.
Helen was not the only fair,
That was enamour'd to admire
Th'adult'rer's golden garb, and flowing hair,
And royal equipage, with all their grand attire.
Nor Teucer, from Cydonian string,
Was first that with his darts engag'd;
Nor Troy but once besieged, nor Cretan king,
Nor Sthenelus alone the well-sung contest wag'd.
Not Hector, val'rous as he was,
Nor fierce Deiphobus begun
To bleed and suffer in their country's cause,
Or for a virtuous wife, or for a darling son.
Before great Agamemnon shone,
Heroes there were — but all in night,
Long night, are buried, piteous and unknown,
For want of sacred bards their glories to recite.
Virtue conceal'd is next, I deem,
To bury'd sloth — I will not spare
For ornament, when Lollius is the theme;
Nor suffer so much merit, such a life of care
In black oblivion to be hurl'd —
You, Lollius, have a noble mind;
Skilful and fraught with knowledge of the world,
Equal for all events, or temp'rate or resign'd.
Of greedy fraud the judge severe,
Forbearing all-attractive gold;
A consul not elected for a year,
But still esteem'd, in fact, that dignity to hold,
Where'er the magistrate prefers
Things honest to his private ends,
And bribing villains with a look deters,
And draws against the crowd, and his fair fame defends.
He is not happy, rightly nam'd,
Whom large possessions still increase —
By him more truly is that title claim'd,
Who holds the gift divine in prudence and in peace;
Who's able hardship to sustain,
And dreads vile actions worse than death;
He for his friends counts any loss a gain,
And for his country's cause will give his dying breath.