Odes 2.15 (Creech): Jam Pauca Aratro

OUr Squares still rise, our fields decrease,
And now the Ploughs must rust in ease;
New Motes are dug, large Ponds we make
That Rival e'en the Lucrine Lake:
Round lofty Firrs weak Ivy twines,
Unmarry'd Plains profusely spread
A useless melancholly Shade
O're larger Fields than marry'd Elms and Vines:

Our Beds of Roses, Myrtle Bowers
And all the Luxury of Flowers
Their fruitless Shades and Smells afford:
They now those fruitful grounds possess
Where Olives rose with vast Increase,
And with great Bounty fed the former Lord:

Thick Laurells plac't by purling Streams
Shut out the Mid-days burning Beams
And give us shade to drink and play;
Was this by Romulus allow'd?
Was this the way our Fathers show'd
To rise to Empire, and extend our sway?

No, then each single Man's Estate
Was small, the Publick Stock was great,
The Publick-Weal imploy'd their Care;
No private Man profusely Skill'd
Did then his large Piazza's build
To take cool Breezes of the Northern Air:

The little Hut their Father's House
The Laws forbad them to refuse,
But live content in mean Aboads;
Enjoyning all their Shrines and Towns
To build with new and costly Stones,
To grace their Country, and to please their Gods.