NO master sage, nor orator I know, Who can success, like gentle Cupid show; His ways and arguments are pleasing smiles, Engaging looks, soft tears, and winning wiles. Wars in his empire will at times arise,...
Were I a pet of fair Calliope, I would devote the gifts conferr'd on me To dress in verse old Aesop's lies divine; For verse, and they, and truth, do well combine;...
While one philosopher[2] affirms That by our senses we're deceived, Another[3] swears, in plainest terms, The senses are to be believed. The twain are right. Philosophy...
Whilst one philosopher tells us that men are constantly the dupes of their own senses, another will swear that the senses never deceive. Both are right. Philosophy truly affirms that the senses will deceive so long as men are c...
YOUR name with ev'ry pleasure here I place, The last effusions of my muse to grace. O charming Phillis! may the same extend Through time's dark night: our praise together blend;...
Death never taketh by surprise The well-prepared, to wit, the wise - They knowing of themselves the time To meditate the final change of clime. That time, alas! embraces all...
A poor unfortunate, from day to day, Call'd Death to take him from this world away. 'O Death' he said, 'to me how fair thy form! Come quick, and end for me life's cruel storm.'...
A poor wood-chopper, with his fagot load, Whom weight of years, as well as load, oppress'd, Sore groaning in his smoky hut to rest, Trudged wearily along his homeward road....
How do I hate the tide of vulgar thought! Profane, unjust, with childish folly fraught; It breaks and bends the rays of truth divine, And by its own conceptions measures mine. Famed Epicurus' master[1] tried...
How I have always hated the opinions of the mob! To me, a mob seems profane, unjust, and rash, putting false construction on all things, and judging every matter by a mob-made standard. ...
'Tis thus, by crystal fount, my muse hath sung, Translating into heavenly tongue Whatever came within my reach, From hosts of beings borr'wing nature's speech. Interpreter of tribes diverse,...
Beside a well, uncurb'd and deep, A schoolboy laid him down to sleep: (Such rogues can do so anywhere.) If some kind man had seen him there, He would have leap'd as if distracted;...
Of yore, a farm had Jupiter to rent; To advertise it, Mercury was sent. The farmers, far and near, Flock'd round, the terms to hear; And, calling to their aid The various tricks of trade,...
How danger would the gods enrich, If we the vows remember'd which It drives us to! But, danger past, Kind Providence is paid the last. No earthly debt is treated so....
Said Jupiter, one day, As on a cloud he lay, 'Observing all our crimes, Come, let us change the times, By leasing out anew A world whose wicked crew Have wearied out our grace,...
One day, as Jupiter seated on high looked down upon the world, he was incensed at the faults committed by mankind. "Let us," he said, "have some other occupants in the regions of the universe in place of these present inhabitan...
IN life oft ills from self-imprudence spring; As proof, Candaules' story we will bring; In folly's scenes the king was truly great: His vassal, Gyges, had from him a bait,...
Look where we will throughout creation, We look in vain for moderation. There is a certain golden mean, Which Nature's sovereign Lord, I ween, Design'd the path of all forever....
Three sorts there are, as Malherbe[2] says, Which one can never overpraise - The gods, the ladies, and the king; And I, for one, endorse the thing. The heart, praise tickles and entices;...
Once there was a country bumpkin Who observed a great big pumpkin To a slender stem attached; While upon an oak tree nourished, Little acorns grew and flourished. "Bah!" said he. "That's badly matched."...