Chapter 2

(In part, only)

He lives on little, and is blest, On whose plain board the bright Salt-cellar shines, which was his sire's delight, Nor terrors, nor cupidity's unrest, Disturb his slumbers light.

Why should we still project and plan, We creatures of an hour? Why fly from clime to clime, new regions scour? Where is the exile, who, since time began, To fly from self had power?

Fell care climbs brazen galley's sides; Nor troops of horse can fly Her foot, which than the stag's is swifter, ay, Swifter than Eurus when he madly rides The clouds along the sky.

Careless what lies beyond to know, And turning to the best, The present, meet life's bitters with a jest, And smile them down; since nothing here below Is altogether blest.

In manhood's prime Achilles died, Tithonus by the slow Decay of age was wasted to a show, And Time may what it hath to thee denied On me perchance bestow.

To me a farm of modest size, And slender vein of song, Such as in Greece flowed vigorous and strong, Kind fate hath given, and spirit to despise The base, malignant throng.

--Sir Theodore Martin

AN INVITATION TO DINE WRITTEN BY HORACE TO VIRGIL