Page:Pindar and Anacreon.djvu/113

Rh Thou the triumphant Castorean song,

With music that th' Æolian lyre shall make,

To which the seven harmonious chords belong,

Skill'd as thou art, with willing candour take.

Let witless boys extol the shape

Of the deform'd unsightly ape:

But we the lofty song of praise

To Rhadamanthus justly raise—

Clear-sighted judge! whose rigorous mind

With wisdom and experience fraught,

Ne'er by the mists of flattery blind,

In her seducing wiles is caught.

How often from her whisper'd lies

Inextricable evils rise!

To him whose lips with foxlike art

The slanderous calumnies impart;

And him who with believing ear

The tale of falsehood joys to hear.

From such deceit what good can spring?

Will this or fame or profit bring?

As in the fisher's watery toil,

Aloft the buoyant cork remains,

While laden with its finny spoil,

The whelming gulf his net retains.

So I from fear and danger free,

Float corklike on the briny sea.

Ne'er is a good and potent word

From lips of treacherous townsman heard.

His wiles that all alike deceive,

A web of endless mischief weave.

Such boldness ne'er can I approve—

Still be it mine a friend to love;

But like a wolf the foe to view,

And in his crooked ways pursue.