Odes 3.30 (Creech): Exegi Monumentum

'TIs finish't; I have rais'd a Monument
More strong than Brass, and of a vast extent:
Higher than Egypt's statelyest Pyramid,
That costly Monument of Kingly Pride;
As High as Heaven the top, as Earth the Basis wide:
Which eating showers, nor North wind's seeble blast,
Nor whirling Time, nor flight of Years can wast:
Whole Horace shall not dye, his Songs shall save
The greatest portion from the greedy Grave:
Still fresh I'le grow, still green in future praise,
Till Time is lost, and Rome it self decays;
Till the chief Priest and silent Maid no more
Ascend the Capitol, and Jove adore:
Where violent Aufid rouls thro humble Plains,
And where scorch'd Daunus rul'd the labouring Swains,
There shall my fame resound, there all shall cry
'Twas I, the great from mean descent, 'twas I
That first did dare to bind the Grecian Song,
And unknown numbers in the Roman tongue:
Muse take thy Merits due, and proudly raise
Thy Head, and gladly Crown my Brows with Bays.