And I by sad experience know
'Tis gold that works the lover's wo!
ODE XLVII.—YOUNG OLD AGE.
I love the cheerful, blithesome sage,
Whose temper ne'er betrays his age.
I love the youth that dances well,
To music of the sounding shell.
But when an aged youth like me
Can join the dance with sportive glee,
Though age in hoary locks appears,
His heart is young, despite his years.
ODE XLVIII.—HAPPY LIFE.
Oh! for the harp, the harp of fire,
That godlike Homer strung:
But ah! on such a blood-stain'd lyre
Could love's soft notes be sung?
No! let the measured cups be brought,[1]
And from this scroll divine
I'll read the laws which Bacchus taught
To votaries of the wine.
Then warm in heart, but wisely gay,[2]
I'll join the sportive throng;
- ↑ The custom of appointing a master of the revels by the cast of a die has already been alluded to.—See ode xiv.
- ↑ I find but few commentators who have noticed the very singular expression of the original in this passage. It means literally, "preserving the mind;" and is intended to express that degree of pleasurable excitement which exhilarates the spirits without overpowering the senses; or, as Cowper says,
though the remark is certainly applied to a beverage of a very different nature."Cups which cheer but not inebriate:"
