Horace. Book II, Ode 10
Reading edition
Receive, dear friends, the truths I teach, So shalt thou live beyond the reach Of adverse Fortune's power; Not always tempt the distant deep, Nor always timorously creep Along the treacherous shore. He that holds fast the golden mean And lives contentedly between The little and the great, Feels not the wants that pinch the poor, Nor plagues that haunt the rich man's door, Imbittering all his state. The tallest pines feel most the power Of wintry blasts; the loftiest tower Comes heaviest to the ground; The bolts that spare the mountain's side His cloud-capt eminence divide, And spread the ruin round. The well-informed philosopher Rejoices with a wholesome fear, And hopes in spite of pain; If winter bellow from the north, Soon the sweet spring comes dancing forth, And nature laughs again. What if thine heaven be overcast? The dark appearance will not last; Expect a brighter sky. The god that strings a silver bow Awakes sometimes the Muses too, And lays his arrows by. If hindrances obstruct thy way, Thy magnanimity display, And let thy strength be seen: But O! if Fortune fill thy sail With more than a propitious gale, Take half thy canvas in. —William Cowper
TO THE READER
Martial
He unto whom thou art so partial, O reader, is the well-known Martial, The Epigrammatist: while living, Give him the fame thou wouldst be giving So shall he hear, and feel, and know it: Post-obits rarely reach a poet. —Lord Byron