The Portland daily press., 1892-12-29

ested in any of them farther than re-
gard for the public good or the claims
of an honorable friendship would re-
quire.' He adds with great simplicity
that a position in the household of Mae
cenas necessitated "a life of virtue. !"
and was lone of the strongest safeguards
against the Establishments of the un-
worthy" Fancy Beranger's Lisette
moving in good society," with her pee
cadilloes pardoned by the polite! Eu-
gene Field must have seen this delicious
Introduction to the Odes when he wrote
THE TRUTH ABOUT HORACE.
1t is very aggravating
To hear the solemn prating
Of the SSils who are stating
That old Horace was prude;
When we know that with the ladies
He was always raising Hades..
And with many an escapade his
Best productions are imbued,
There's really not much harm in q
Large number of his carmina,
But these people find alarm in a
Few records of his acts;
So they'd squelch the muse caloric,
And to students sophomore
They'd present as metaphoric
Hlldb OH dOTdCt u6dub LOT IdctS.
We have always thought 'em lazy;
Now we adjudge 'em crazy!
Why, Horace was daisy
That was very much alive!
And the wiSeSt of us know him
AS his Lydia verses show him.
G :, read that virile poen,--
1t is No. %.
He was a very owl, sir,
And starting out to prowl sir.
You bet he made Rome howl, sir,
Until he filled his date;
With a maSSic-laden ditty
And classic maiden pretty
He painted up the city.
And Msecenas paid the freight!
Some of Fields own paraphrases of
Horace are charming, as might be ex-
pected of the brightest man of letters,
except Dr. Holmes, in America said
man, mind you. Listen, as evidence, to
the following Chaucerian paraphrase of
I-23. "Vitas hinl,ules me sinilis Chloe, y
etc..
c yooge t FIJI sosen
Like as lyttel deere you ben Winding,
Whenas come lovers with their pityse Gliding:
Softly it ben faire to give up your moder
For to beare Swete company with some ODER.
our moder ben well enow SO fare she goeth,
But that ben not fare enow, God kna weth
That marrye not shall leade an aype in HadyS;
But all that they do with code men wed full
quickylye
When that they be on dead go to We sentS full
sickerly
In grayer vein, though equally as good,
are the Fountain Of Bandusia, the Mel
pomene, and the Happy Isles; but I
must pass them by and content myself
with giving the ode to Pyrrha whom
our Doctor of Philosophy before quoted
tells us that 'sshe and her gracilis puer
were living in marriage relations ::ap-
proved by Roman law. Pyrrha could
dissolve them at the end of a year,
quite in the Chicago fashion and after
the Chicago heart. Here is Field para
phrase in breezy Western verse, lacking,
it must be admitted, the polish and high
bred air that marked Horace; but faith
fully conveying the sentiment:
What perfumed, posie.dizened sirrah,
Wi Ii smiles for diet.
Clasps you. fair ut faithless Pyrrha,
On the quiet?
EOr whom 40 you DIM up your tI0SSeS,
As spun-gold yellow
Meshes that go, with your caresseS,
To snare a fellow?
How will he rail at fateIcapricious,
And curse you duly!
Yet now he deems your wiles delicious,
You perfect, truly!
Pyrrha yonr loves treacherouS ocean;
He'll soon fall in there!
Then shall glOat on his cOmmoti0n,
For have been therel
This is audacious to the verge of inso-
lence, but it gives the story the Roman
told. Almost as good, though in differ
emit way, are the paraphases of Beranger
''Ma Vocation" for example, and of
INLAND. Even with Heine, most untrans-
latable of poets, Field does not make an
utter failure. The original poems, too,
are notable-the lambert wit of 'sThe
Prayer" and the rollick-
ing fun of ''Mr. Dana, of the New York
Sum- in the closing aspiration of which
all pencil-pushers can join; for, to para
phrase the ''Shelley is the poets poet"
the Sun is the newspaper mems news
paper; they all swear by it-sometimes
at it. But here is a bit of tender verse
that must not escape quotation; and
with it I take reluctant leave of Mr..
Eugene Field:
THE LYTTEL BOY.
Sometime there ben lytteI boy
That wolde not renne and play,
An, helpless like that little tyke
Ben alwais In the way.
fGoe, max u merrie with the rest,''
His weary moder cried;
But with frown e catcht her gown
And hong until her side.
That boy did love his moder well,
Which spake him faire, ween;