Pindar and Anacreon/Anacreon/Ode 48
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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;
With joy the merry harp I'll play,
And thrill the jovial song.
- ↑ 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,
"Cups which cheer but not inebriate:"