Odes 2.3 (Creech): Aequam, Memento

AN even mind in every State,
Amidst the Frowns and Smiles of Fate,
Dear mortal Delius always show;
Let not too much of cloudy Fear,
Nor too intemperate joys appear
Or to contract, or to extend thy Brow:

Whether thy dull unhappy Years
Run slowly clog'd with Hopes and Fears,
And sit too heavy on thy Soul;
Or whether crown'd on Beds of Flowers
Mirth softly drives thy easy hours
And cheers thy Spirits with the choicest Bowl:

Where Poplars white the lofty Pine
And Myrtles friendly Branches joyn,
And hospitable shades compose;
Where near a purling Spring doth glide
In winding Streams, and softly chide
The interrupting Pebble as it flows.

There bring thy Wine; thy Odors spread,
Let fading Roses crown thy Head,
Whilst Wealth, and Age and Life will bear;
For you must leave your Groves, your House,
And Farm where yellow Tiber flows;
And thy heap'd Wealth shall fill thy greedy Heir:

For whether sprung from Royal Blood,
Or from themeanest of the Crowd;
'Tis all a Case, for nought can save;
The Hand of Fate doth strike at all,
And thou art surely doom'd to fall,
A Sacrifice to the impartial Grave:

Our Lots are cast, Fate shakes the Urn,
And each mans Lot must take his turn
some soon leap out, and some more late:
But still 'tis sure each Mortals Lot
Will doom his Soul to Charon's Boat,
To bear th' eternal Banishment of Fate.