The Satires, Epistles & Art of Poetry of Horace/Ep1-11

by Quintus Horatius Flaccus

XI. To Bullatius.

Quid tibi visa chios?

 
OW like you Chios, good Bullatius? what
Think you of Lesbos, that world-famous spot?
What of the town of Samos, trim and neat,
And what of Sardis, Croesus' royal seat?
Of Smyrna what and Colophon? are they
Greater or less than travellers' stories say?
Do all look poor beside our scenes at home,
The field of Mars, the river of old Rome?
Say, is your fancy fixed upon some town
Which formed a gem in Attalus's crown?
Or would you turn to Lebedus for ease
In mere disgust at weary roads and seas?
You know what Lebedus is like; so bare,
With Gabii or Fidenæ 'twould compare;
Yet there, methinks, I would accept my lot,
My friends forgetting, by my friends forgot,
Stand on the cliff at distance, and survey
The stormy sea-god's wild Titanic play.
Yet he that comes from Capua, dashing in
To Rome, all splashed and wetted to the skin,
Though in a tavern glad one night to bide,
Would not be pleased to live there till he died:
If he gets cold, he lets his fancy rove

In quest of bliss beyond a bath or stove:
And you, though tossed just now by a stiff breeze,
Don't therefore sell your vessel beyond seas.
But what are Rhodes and Lesbos, and the rest,
E'en let a traveller rate them at their best?
No more the wants of healthy minds they meet
Than does a jersey in a driving sleet,
A cloak in summer, Tiber through the snow,
A chafing-dish in August's midday glow.
So, while health lasts, and Fortune keeps her smiles,
We'll pay our devoir to your Grecian isles,
Praise them on this condition--that we stay
In our own land, a thousand miles away.
Seize then each happy hour the gods dispense,
Nor fix enjoyment for a twelvemonth hence.
So may you testify with truth, where'er
You're quartered, 'tis a pleasure to be there:
For if the cure of mental ills is due
To sense and wisdom, not a fine sea-view,
We come to this; when o'er the world we range
'Tis but our climate, not our mind we change.
What active inactivity is this,
To go in ships and cars to search for bliss!
No; what you seek, at Ulubræ you'll find,
If to the quest you bring a balanced mind.