Odes 1.37 (Creech): Nunc Est Bibendum

NOw now tis time to dance and play,
And drink, and frollick all the Day;
Tis time, my Friends, to banish Care;
And costly Feasts
with thankful Hearts prepare,
In hallow'd shrines, and make the Gods your Guests:

'Twas Treason once to Sport a Flash,
And Sin to Pierce the Noble Cash,
Whilst nought but boading Fears were seen
For Ills to come,
When Egypts haughty Queen
With wither'd Eunuchs threat'ned mighty Rome:

A Woman vain, whose hopes could rise
To such Impossibilities!
A Woman Drunk with sweet success;
Whom smiling Fate
Had brought to dare no less
Then Caesar's Fortune, and the Roman State.

But soon her Pride to Fears retir'd
When all her Ships were sunk or fir'd;
And real dread possest her mind,
When Caesar's Oars
Did press so close behind
And bore his Navy to the frighted Shores.

(As Hawks pursue the trembling Doves,
Thro open Fields or shady Groves.
Or as swift Huntsmen chace the Deer
Thro Thracian Plains
That fly as wing'd with fear)
To bring the fatal Monster into Chains.

But She design'd a Nobler Fate,
And falling would appear as great
As when She singly fill'd the Throne,
No fears betray'd,
Nor fled to Coasts unknown
To live secure, or meanly beg for Aid:

Her falling Throne with smiling look
She boldly saw; she dar'd provoke
Fierce Serpents rough with Poys'nous trains.
To dart their Tongue,
And fill her dying Veins;
Grown furious now on Death resolv'd so long:

The stout Liburnian Ships, the Fame
And lasting glory of her Shame
She envy'd; she a Soul too Proud,
Too haughty to be seen
Amongst the private Crowd,
And grace a Triumph less than Egypt's Queen.