Asdrubal. There is nothing, but what the Claudian hands will perform;
which both Jupiter defends with his propitious divinity, and sagacious
precaution conducts through the sharp trials of war."

* * * * *



ODE V.

TO AUGUSTUS.


O best guardian of the Roman people, born under propitious gods, already
art thou too long absent; after having promised a mature arrival to the
sacred council of the senators, return. Restore, O excellent chieftain,
the light to thy country; for, like the spring, wherever thy countenance
has shone, the day passes more agreeably for the people, and the sun has
a superior lustre. As a mother, with vows, omens, and prayers, calls for
her son (whom the south wind with adverse gales detains from his sweet
home, staying more than a year beyond the Carpathian Sea), nor turns
aside her looks from the curved shore; in like manner, inspired with
loyal wishes, his country seeks for Caesar. For, [under your auspices,]
the ox in safety traverses the meadows: Ceres nourishes the ground; and
abundant Prosperity: the sailors skim through the calm ocean: and Faith
is in dread of being censured. The chaste family is polluted by no
adulteries: morality and the law have got the better of that foul crime;
the child-bearing women are commended for an offspring resembling [the
father; and] punishment presses as a companion upon guilt. Who can fear
the Parthian? Who, the frozen Scythian? Who, the progeny that rough