The Spectator Volume Iii Part 159

555. PERS. Sat. iv. 51.

'Lay the fict.i.tious character aside.'

556. VIRG. aen. ii. 471.

'So s.h.i.+nes, renew'd in youth, the crested snake, Who slept the winter in a th.o.r.n.y brake; And, casting off his slough when spring returns, Now looks aloft, and with new glory burns: Restored with pois'nous herbs, his ardent sides Reflect the sun, and raised on spires he rides; High o'er the gra.s.s hissing he rolls along, And brandishes by fits his forky tongue.'

(Dryden).

557. VIRG. aen. i. 665.

'He fears the ambiguous race, and Tyrians double-tongued.'

558. HOR. 1 Sat. i. 1.

'Whence is't, Maecenas, that so few approve The state they're placed in, and incline to rove; Whether against their will by fate imposed, Or by consent and prudent choice espoused?

Happy the merchant! the old soldier cries, Broke with fatigues and warlike enterprise.

The merchant, when the dreaded hurricane Tosses his wealthy cargo on the main, Applauds the wars and toils of a campaign: There an engagement soon decides your doom, Bravely to die, or come victorious home.

The lawyer vows the farmer's life is best, When at the dawn the clients break his rest.

The farmer, having put in bail t' appear, And forced to town, cries they are happiest there: With thousands more of this inconstant race, Would tire e'en Fabius to relate each case.

Not to detain you longer, pray attend, The issue of all this: Should Jove descend, And grant to every man his rash demand, To run his lengths with a neglectful hand; First, grant the hara.s.s'd warrior a release, Bid him to trade, and try the faithless seas, To purchase treasure and declining ease: Next, call the pleader from his learned strife, To the calm blessings of a country life: And with these separate demands dismiss Each suppliant to enjoy the promised bliss: Don't you believe they'd run? Not one will move, Though proffer'd to be happy from above.'

(Horneck).

559. HOR. 1 Sat. i. 20.

'Were it not just that Jove, provoked to heat, Should drive these triflers from the hallow'd seat, And unrelenting stand when they entreat?'

(Horneck).

560. OVID. Met. i. 747.

'He tries his tongue, his silence softly breaks.'

(Dryden).

561. VIRG. aen. i. 724.

'But he Works in the pliant bosom of the fair, And moulds her heart anew, and blots her former care.

The dead is to the living love resign'd, And all aeneas enters in her mind.'

(Dryden).

562. TER. Eun. Act i. Sc. 2.

'Be present as if absent.'

563. LUCAN. i. 135.

'The shadow of a mighty name.'

564. HOR. 1 Sat. iii. 117.

'Let rules be fix'd that may our rage contain, And punish faults with a proportion'd pain, And do not flay him who deserves alone A whipping for the fault that he hath done.'

(Creech).

565. VIRG. Georg. iv. 221.

'For G.o.d the whole created ma.s.s inspires.

Through heaven and earth, and ocean's depths: he throws His influence round, and kindles as he goes.'

(Dryden).

566. OVID, Ars Am. ii. 233.

'Love is a kind of warfare.'

567. VIRG. aen. vi. 493.

'The weak voice deceives their gasping throats.'

(Dryden).