Odes 1.24 (Gladstone): Quis Desiderio

What bounds can Shame, can Moderation, set,
For one so dear, to yearning and regret?
Lead thou the dirge, for Jove, Melpomene,
Gave lyre and song to thee.

Shall then unending sleep Quintilius bind?
O bashful Shame, O Truth's transparent mind,
Pure Faith and Justice, twinborn sisters dear,
Where shall ye find his peer?

What cause he left the good for sorrowing pain!
What cause to thee, my Virgil! who, in vain
Devout, hast sought him from the gods of heaven,
But he was lent, not given.

If sweetlier than Thre'ician Orpheus thou
Could'st touch the chord that made the forests bow,
The blood returns not to the senseless clod,
For Mercury's stern rod,

Inexorable guard of Fate's command,
Hath fast conjoined him to the spectral band.
Alack! But what the iron laws impose
By patience lighter grows.