Odes 3.23 (Creech): Coelo Supinas

A Fat and costly Sacrifice
Is not the welcom'st Tribute to the Skys,
They'r more delighted with the small expence
Of Honesty and Innocence.

Let rustick Phydile prepare
At each new Moon an humble Prayer,
And at her old Penates Shrine
Pour one small bowl of Country Wine,
And stain their Altars with a greedy Swine;
No scorching Winds shall blast her fruit,
Her Corn be free from barren smut;
Nor let her darling Children fear
The shivering Agues of the dying Year.

The Sacrifice Albanian Pastures feed,
Or Snowy Algidum's cold Mountains breed
'Midst fruitful Oaks a pamper'd Beast,
Shall stain the Axes of the Priest:
But why should You profusely try
With slaughter'd Flocks to bribe the Sky,
Since Myrtle Crowns, and from the neighbouring Flood
Few sprinkled drops shall please the God
More than whole Rivers of their offer'd blood?
If with an unpolluted hand,
Which neither Blood nor wicked Arts have stain'd,
A little Meal and Salt you bring
'Twill prove a more prevailing Offering
Than all the Spices of the Eastern King.