Page:Satires, Epistles, Art of Poetry of Horace - Coningsby (1874).djvu/109

U. Forgive my vehemence, and kindly state
The meaning of the fable you narrate.
T. When he, the Parthian's dread, whose blood comes down
E'en from Æneas' veins, shall win renown
By land and sea, a marriage shall betide
Between Coranus, wight of courage tried,
And old Nasica's daughter, tall and large,
Whose sire owes sums he never will discharge.
The duteous son-in-law his will presents,
And begs the sire to study its contents:
At length Nasica, having long demurred,
Takes it and reads it through without a word;
And when the whole is done, perceives in fine
That he and his are simply left—to whine.
Suppose some freedman, or some crafty dame
Rules an old driveller, you may join their game:
Say all that's good of them to him, that they,
When your back's turned, the like of you may say
This plan has merits; but 'tis better far
To take the fort itself, and end the war.
A shrewd old crone at Thebes (the fact occurred
When I was old) was thus by will interred:
Her corpse was oiled all over, and her heir
Bore it to burial on his shoulders bare:
He'd stuck to her while living; so she said
She'd give him, if she could, the slip when dead.
Be cautious in attack; observe the mean,
And neither be too lukewarm, nor too keen.
Much talk annoys the testy and morose,