Straight I began with thundering Jove,
And all th' immortal pow'rs, but love.
Love fmil'd; and from my enfeebled lyre
Came gentle airs, fuch as infpire
Melting love, and soft defire.
Farewel, then, heroes, farewel kings,
And mighty numbers, mighty things;
Love tunes my heart juft to my strings.
THE thirfty earth foaks up the rain,
And drinks, and gapes for drink again.
The plants fuck in the earth, and are,
With conftant drinking, fresh and fair.
The fea itself, which, one would think,
Should have but little need of drink,
Drinks ten thousand rivers up,
So fill'd, that they o'erflow the cup.
The bufy fun (and one would guess,
By's drunken fiery face, no lefs)
Drinks up the fea; and when he'as done,
The moon and ftars drink up the fun.
They drink and dance by their own light,
They drink and revel all the night.
Nothing in nature's fober found,
But an eternal health goes round.
Fill up the bowl then, fill it high,
Fill all the glaffes there: for why
Should every creature drink, but I,
Why, man of morals, tell me why?
LIBERAL nature did difpenfe
To all things arms for their defence;
And some she arms with finewy force,
And fome, with swiftnefs in the course;
Some, with hard hoofs, or forked claws,
And fome, with horns, or tusked jaws ;
And fome with scales, and some with wings,
And fome with teeth, and fome with ftings,
Wisdom to man fhe did afford,
Wisdom for fhield, and wit for fword.
What to beauteous woman-kind,
What arms, what armour, has fhe affign'd?
Beauty is both; for with the fair
What arms, what armour, can compare?
What steel, what gold, or diamond,
More impaffible is found?
And yet what flame, what lightning, e'er
So great an active force did bear?
They are all weapon; and they dart,
Like porcupines, from every part.
Who can, alas, their ftrength exprefs,
Arm'd, when they themselves undress,
Cap-a-pee with nakedness ?
YES, I will love then, I will love :
I will not now love's rebel prove,
Though I was once his enemy;
Though, ill-advis'd and stubborn, I
Did to the combat him defy.
An helmet, fpear, and mighty shield,
Like fome new Ajax, I did wield.
Love in one hand his bow did take,
In th' other hand a dart did shake.
But yet in vain the dart did throw,
In vain he often drew the bow.
So well my armour did refift,
So oft by flight the blow I mifs'd.
But, when I thought all danger past,
His quiver emptied quite at last,
Inftead of arrow, or of dart,
He shot himself into my heart.
The living and the killing arrow
Ran through the fkin, the flesh, the blood,
And broke the bones, and fcorch'd the marrow;
No trench or work of life withstood.
In vain I now the walls maintain,
I fet out guards and scouts in vain,
Since th' enemy does within remain.
In vain a breaft-plate now I wear,
Since in my breast the foe I bear.
In vain my feet their fwiftnefs try;
For from the body can they fly?
OFT am I by the women told, Poor Anacreon, thou grow'ft old : Look, how thy hairs are falling all; Poor Anacreon, how they fall!
By th' effects I do not know.
This I know, without being told,
"Tis time fhort pleasures now to take, Of little life the best to make,
And manage wifely the last stake.
WHEN all the stars are by thee told
. (The endless fums of heavenly gold);
Or, when the hairs are reckon❜d all;
From fickly autumn's head that fall,
Or, when the drops that make the fea,
Whilst all her fands thy counters be;
Thou then, and thou alone, may'st prove
Th' arithmetician of my love.
An hundred loves at Athens fcore,
At Corinth write an hundred more:
Fair Corinth does fuch beauties bear,
So few is an escaping there [o].
Write then at Chios feventy-three;
Write then at Lefbos (let me fee)
Write me at Lefbos ninety down,
Full ninety loves, and half a one.
[o]-an escaping there.] A ftroke of moral fatire, flid in, on that city, fo infamous for its brothelry. The poet is fage, even in these mad Anacreontics.
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