Page:Pindar and Anacreon.djvu/297

And let the rattling dice assign^[1]
The royal honours of the wine,
Ere surly Death thy garland tear,
Or fell disease with frown severe,
Forbid the nectar'd juice to sip,
And dash the goblet from thy lip.

 

ODE XVI.—THE CAPTIVE.

Some sing of Thebes, and some prolong^[2]
The battle-shouts of Phrygian wars;
But I must trill a captive's song,^[3]
Sigh o'er my wounds, and count my scars.

Of conq'ring fleets no slave am I,
No armies claim me for their prize;
But all my foes in ambush lie,
And dart their fires from Pyrrha's eyes!

 

ODE XVII.—ON A SILVER BOWL.

Mulciber, thou skilful wright,
Carve for me this silver bright;
But I do not wish to see
Polish'd arms or panoply.
What are arms or wars to me?

1. It was usual among the ancients to appoint a master of the feast by the cast of dice, whose office it was to determine the size and number of the cups, and to decide on the proper ceremonies.
2. Anacreon here alludes to the famous war waged by the seven captains against Eteocles, king of Thebes, in order to restore to his brother Polynices his share in the government, according to their agreement on their father's death to reign annually in turn. On this subject Æschylus has written a tragedy, and Statius a noble poem called the Thebaid.
3. The poet here alludes to the numerous instances in which he had been brought under the dominion of love.