Book 2 — HORACE, BOOK II. ODE X.

Receive, dear friend, 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 cloudcapt eminence divide, And spread the ruin round. The well-inform'd 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 the 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.

And is this all? Can Reason do no more Than bid me shun the deep, and dread the shore? Sweet moralist! afloat on life's rough sea, The Christian has an art unknown to thee: He holds no parley with unmanly fears; Where Duty bids he confidently steers, Faces a thousand dangers at her call, And, trusting in his God, surmounts them all.