Odes and Carmen Saeculare — Book I - XXXVI - Et Thure, et Fidibus

ET THURE, ET FIDIBUS.

Bid the lyre and cittern play;

Enkindle incense, shed the victim's gore;

Heaven has watch'd o'er Numida, And brings him safe from far Hispania's shore.

Now, returning, he bestows On each, dear comrade all the love he can;

But to Lamia most he owes, By whose sweet side he grew from boy to man.

Note we in our calendar This festal day with whitest mark from Crete: Let it flow, the old wine-jar, And ply to Salian time your restless feet.

Damalis tosses off her wine, But Bassus sure must prove her match to-night.

Give us roses all to twine, And parsley green, and lilies deathly white.

Every melting eye will rest On Damalis' lovely face; but none may part Damalis from our new-found guest;

She clings, and clings, like ivy, round his heart.

XXXVII.