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The lofty trees that pierce the sky^[1]
Drain up the earth and leave her dry;
Th' insatiate sea imbibes, each hour,^[2]
The welcome breeze that brings the show'r;
The sun, whose fires so fiercely burn,
Absorbs the wave; and, in her turn,
The modest moon enjoys, each night,^[3]
Large draughts of his celestial light.
Then, sapient sirs, pray tell me why,
If all things drink, why may not I?

 

ODE XX.—TO HIS MISTRESS.

On desert Phrygia's silent sands
Poor Niobe an image stands;^[4]
And Pandion's injured child, we know,^[5]
Still, twittering, tells her tale of wo.
But would the gods the change allow,
And hear and grant my tender vow,
Dear girl! thy mirror I would be,
That thou might'st always smile on me.

1. The poet here refers to the supply of moisture which trees receive by means of their roots and fibres.
2. This passage, which seems to have given the commentators some trouble, is by many supposed to be an error in the text. I have followed the usual reading, though I think Fawkes's amendment very judicious. He has it, "the sea drinks up the rivers," certainly a much more natural idea.
3. The moon is said to drink from the sun, because she borrows her light from that luminary.
4. Niobe was the daughter of Tantalus, king of Phrygia, and wife of Amphion, king of Thebes; by whom, according to Homer, having six sons and six daughters, she became so proud of her offspring and high birth, that she had the vanity to prefer herself to Latona, the mother of Apollo and Diana; who, to revenge the affront offered to their parent, in one day slew all her children: on which Niobe was struck dumb with grief, and remained stupid. For that reason the poets have feigned her to be turned into a stone.—See Ovid's Met, book vi.
5. The poet here alludes to the fabled transformation of Philomela. See note, p. 25.