Chap. X.
TRANSLATION.
155
For short is life's uncertain race;
Then why, capricious mortal! why
Dost thou for happiness repair
To distant climates and a foreign air?
Fool! from thyself thou canst not fly,
Thyself the source of all thy care:
So flies the wounded stag, provok'd with pain,
Bounds o'er the spacious downs in vain:
The feather'd torment sticks within his side,
And from the smarting wound a purple tide
Marks all his way with blood, and dies the grassy plain.
Then why, capricious mortal! why
Dost thou for happiness repair
To distant climates and a foreign air?
Fool! from thyself thou canst not fly,
Thyself the source of all thy care:
So flies the wounded stag, provok'd with pain,
Bounds o'er the spacious downs in vain:
The feather'd torment sticks within his side,
And from the smarting wound a purple tide
Marks all his way with blood, and dies the grassy plain.
V.
But swifter far is execrable Care
Than stags, or winds, that through the skies
Thick-driving snows and gather'd tempests bear;
Pursuing Care the sailing ship out-flies,
Climbs the tall vessel's painted sides;
Nor leaves arm'd squadrons in the field,
But with the marching horseman rides,
And dwells alike in courts and camps, and makes all places yield.
But swifter far is execrable Care
Than stags, or winds, that through the skies
Thick-driving snows and gather'd tempests bear;
Pursuing Care the sailing ship out-flies,
Climbs the tall vessel's painted sides;
Nor leaves arm'd squadrons in the field,
But with the marching horseman rides,
And dwells alike in courts and camps, and makes all places yield.
VI.
Then, since no state's completely blest,
Let's learn the bitter to allay
Then, since no state's completely blest,
Let's learn the bitter to allay
