If law or impulse guides the starry sphere,
What power presides o'er lunar wanderings,
What means the jarring harmony of things,
Which after all is wise, and which the fool,
Empedocles or the Stertinian school.
But whether you're for taking fishes' life,
Or against leeks and onions whet your knife,
Let Grosphus be your friend, and should he plead
For aught he wants, anticipate his need:
He'll never outstep reason; and you know,
When good men lack, the price of friends is low.
But what of Rome? Agrippa has increased
Her power in Spain, Tiberius in the East:
Phraates, humbly bending on his knee,
Submits himself to Cæsar's sovereignty:
While golden Plenty from her teeming horn
Pours down on Italy abundant corn.
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XIII. To Vinius Asella.
Ut proficiscentem.
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S I have told you oft, deliver these,
My sealed-up volumes, to Augustus, please,
Friend Vinius, if he's well and in good trim,
And (one proviso more) if asked by him:
