John Milton. The Fifth Ode of Horace. "What slender Youth bedewed with liquid odors."

John Milton

The Fifth Ode of Horace. Lib. I.

Quis multa gracilis te puer in Rosa, Rendred almost word for word with-
out Rhyme according to the Latin Measure, as near as the Language will
permit.

WHAT slender Youth bedew'd with liquid odours
Courts thee on Roses in some pleasant Cave,
        Pyrrha for whom bindst thou
        In wreaths thy golden Hair,
Plain in thy neatness; O how oft shall he
On Faith and changed Gods complain: and Seas
        Rough with black winds and storms
        Unwonted shall admire:
Who now enjoyes thee credulous, all Gold,
Who alwayes vacant, alwayes amiable
       Hopes thee; of flattering gales
        Unmindfull. Hapless they
To whom thou untry'd seem'st fair. Me in my vow'd
Picture the sacred wall declares t' have hung
        My dank and dropping weeds
        To the stern God of Sea.

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Beeching, Rev. H. C., ed. The Poetical Works of John Milton.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1900. 82.

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