Here figur'd fights the blazing round adorn,
There his long line of heroes yet unborn.
But if a [1] poet of Ausonian birth,
Describes the various kingdoms of the earth,
Wide intersperst; the Medes or swarthy Moors;
The diff'rent natures of their soils explores,
And paints the trees that bloom on India's shores.
Of his own land regardless he appears,
Unless he praise Ausonia to the stars;
To all the rest his country he prefers,
And makes the woods of Bactria yield to her's,
With proud Panchaia; tho' her groves she boasts,
And breathes a cloud of incense from her coasts.
Hear then, ye gen'rous youths, on this regard,
I should not blame the conduct of the bard,
Who in soft numbers, and a flowing strain,
Relieves and reconciles our ears again.
When I the various implements had sung
That to the fields, and rural trade belong,
In sweet harmonious measures would I tell
[2] How nature mourn'd when the great Cæsar fell.
Page:Vida's Art of Poetry.djvu/66
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Book II.
POETRY.
55
When