Odes 2.2 (Martin): Nullus Argento

Nor gold, nor silver, buried low
Within the grudging earth,
With lustre doth or beauty glow,
'Tis light to these gives birth.
This truth, Sallustius, thou dost make
Thy law, thou foe to pelf,
Unless from temperate use it take
A sheen beyond itself;

Such use as Proculeius taught;
Pre-eminently known
For all a father's loving thought
Unto his brothers shown,
Through distant ages shall his name
With note triumphant ring,
Borne on from clime to clime by fame
On ever-soaring wing.

Subdue the lust for gold, and thine
Will be an ampler reign.
Than if thy kingdom should combine
Far Lybia with Spain;
A grasping spirit to o'ercome
Is better, than to seize
The solely sovereign masterdom
Of both the Carthages.

That scourge of man, the dropsy fell,
By self-indulgence curst,
Grows worse and worse, nor can expel
The still increasing thirst,
Unless the cause, which bred the bale,
Is routed from the veins,
And from the body's tissues pale
The watery languor drains.

Wisdom, who doth all issues test
By worth and worth alone,
Scorns to pronounce Phraates blest,
Replaced on Cyrus' throne;
From vulgar tongues, that swell the roar
Of clamour differing wide.
It teaches them to deal no more
In phrases misapplied.

For only he is king indeed,
And may securely wear
The diadem, and, nobler meed,
The laurel garland fair,
Who, even where piles of treasure lie,
Preserves an even mind,
And passing them without a sigh,
Cares not to look behind.