The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1852-04-15
For the Pioneer
For the Pioneer.
lIOrace.-AdP uerum.
book /, ODE 3S.
s.PeYsicos Odi.'

Mn. EDITOR:
Your classical correspondent SIGMA, has ia
vored your readers with translation o: the Ode
of the celebrated Lyricist, the popular vice OF
tibbliny Permit me to add hasty version OF
my own; and while indulge no VAN thought of
rivaling so close reaper as SIGMA appears to
be, Though remind him that near the end Of his
work his tool has lost its edse,) hope that the
few modest flowers which the sacred Nine have
transplanted TO my garden, may be thoasht to
have had their birth, On the banks Of the "nPpling
Anio,' or, by our poets Sabine home. -
abhor all Persian pomp,
The grandeur Of their bowers;
Their claplets and the linden's rind,
Their garlands and their flowers:
Seek not, boy, the arbute wreath,
The lettering autumn rose;
hate their festive laurel crown
When racy Massc flows
Naught but the glossy evergreen
Shall coronet my head,
The myr,le's simple comeliness
With fragrance mildly shed:
And SO beneath the ivy's shade
The man;Iing, shrouding vine,
(Scorning the sumptive Asian feast)
] quaF the mellow wine.
The Ode was written, by the courier poet.
10 condemnation of the sumptuous extravaganza,
and absurd imitation Of foreign luxury. which
characterized the jovial entertainments Of The
day, in such marked contrast TO the primitive Sc
verify of Roman manners. The tide Of .9siaiiC
luxariousness which inundated Rome was cou-
sequence Of increased intercourse with a foreign
and voiuptuous people, and may convey a lesson
TO US.
The bard here forewarps his attendant agains
such indulgence, ordering the simplest prepara-
tons for his qualification.
How to reconcile this frugal elfusion with hi.
proverbiai convviality we scarcely know, unles.
BY referring it to one of his occasional moods Of
anxious mi>gving; or, TO the more sober ha6i.
tude Of his naturer years, when long safety had
in measure tempered his bibbling propensiiies
and the frOsts Of fifty winters had blanched the
ardor Of his Venusian blood.
The s'chaplets" alluded to as "lowery,' "
were either Of laurel, ivy, myrtle, parsley, yer
vain or arbu,e, (s,rawberry) bound together b,
the inner-rnd Of the linden; and gracefully deco.
rated with roses and violets.--
s'Sweet violets, loves PARADISE
with which the guests among the ''upper ten
were crowned in their carousals.
The design in using these chapIets was, b,
diffusing u grateful odor, and by operatin;
through the sense Of beauty and upon the oliac-
tory nerves, to inAame the passions, and. in part
to counteract the noxious effects Of their rae,
Massc, Falernian and other wlnes--to prevent
intoxicatiou and yet give zest to the feast
The poet while condemning all these articles
desires no other chapet than the myrtle, which
by its cooling and astrinsen qualities suppos.
ed to exert composing influence en- the mind
thus, with his daily beverage his happiness i,
complete ''under his own vine and 6g-tree.''
The Ode may therefore be taken as an indica
ton Of the leaning Of the bard towards anythin.
but inebrieiy, the light wines drank then, as now
under the sunny skies Of Italy, being compare.
lively harmless. 1t may be a serious question
whether if the famous Law Of the DrRI G Stat
had had existence then, the Poet would have ut
tuned his Tyre TO its praise-or, TO its re
QUEEN. Such quere we shall submit to sue!
pundits as our friend Mr.. SIGMA.
JUNIUS.