Let the gods, who dispose of every king's crown, I'll bleed without grumbling though w that tax should .appear As oft as new moons, or weeks in a year. For why should I let a seditious word fall, Tho' I care not for riches, may I not be so poor, That the rich without shame cannot enter my door; May they court my converse, may they take much delight My old stories to hear in a winter's long night. My small stock of wit may I not misapply, of Milan, whose cheese is of greater fame than Parme san. Those odious names of distinction kindled great animosity and strangeness, and even hatred, betwixt relations and friends. u If that should happen, it would be a shrewd affliction to the poet. w A poll-bill. Dî, quos imperium penes est, rerumque potestas, Regna, quibus visum est, dent, adimantque data. Impositum capiti solvam non invidus assem, Una licet tubulo nox cyathoque caret. Equo animam imperio &c. Solvam ego, nec querulus contra mussabo, tributa Non p to divitias; nec sim tam sordide egenus, Quin mecum histo) is ad largum circulus ignem Regum ut laudator fiam, vitiisque minister, * A good encouragement to pay for his head. Y A place in Jupiter, or the Moon, or some other of the planets; for it is not to be found in the map of the world. Nor mispend the few moments I steal from the grave, May none whom I love, to so great a riches rise, So low or so high may none of them be, A friendship I wish for, but alas! 'tis in vain, But if friends prove unfaithful, and fortune a b whore, My life then as useless, may I freely resign, The Spanish proverb says, "Let not God make our friends so rich, as to forget us." b "Fortuna, sævo læta negotio, et "Ludum insolentem ludere pertinax, "Transmutat incertos honores, "Nunc mihi, nunc alii, benigna. Nec, canis ut caudam submittam et blandiar instar, Perbreve, quod morti subtraho, tempus agam. Equo animum imperio &c. Ad tantas nec surgat opes, quem diligo, quisquam, Equo animum imperio &c. Detur et oh! (si posco quod æquum est poscere) fidæ, Nec tamen ingentis, cultus amicitiæ ; Cultus amicitiæ, quam tempora nulla valebunt, Equo animum imperio &c. Sin comites infidi, et sit fortuna proterva, Tum demum videatur iners et inutilis ætas, "Laudo manentem; si celeres quatit "Pennas, resigno quæ dedit, et mea "Virtute me involvo -Hine apicem rapax "Fortuna cum stridore acuto "Sustulit; hic posuisse gaudet,” Hor. To outlive my senses may it not be my fate, I hope I shall have no occasion to send For priests or physicians, till I'm so near mine end, e That I have eat all my bread, and drank my last glass; f Let them come then, and set their seals to my pass. May I govern &c. I With a courage undaunted, may I face my last day, And when I am dead may the better sort say, In the morning when sober, in the evening when mellow, He's gone, and not left behind him his fellow. c May I not lose my sight, my hearing, and my memory, and be a burden to my friends, and myself, “Telluris inutile pondus," a dead unuseful burden to the ground. d Some corporeal and intellectual vigour. e The poet alludes to a tradition among the Turks, who believe, that when any one is born into the world, there is such a quantity of meat and drink set before him, which when he has consumed, he must die. The moral whereof is, he that desires to live long, must be sparing in his meat and drink. |