The Stalling of Q.H.F.
Horace: Epode 14
“Mollis inertia cur tantam diffuderit imis”
Maecenas, you fret me, you worry me
Demanding I turn out a rhyme;
Insisting on reasons, you hurry me;
You want my Iambics on time.
You say my ambition’s diminishing;
You ask why my poem’s not done.
The god it is keeps me from finishing
The stuff I’ve begun.
Be not so persistent, so clamorous.
Anacreon burned with a flame
Candescently, crescently amorous.
You rascal, you’re doing the same!
Was no fairer the flame that burned Ilium.
Cheer up, you’re a fortunate scamp,
. . . Consider avuncular William
And Phryne, the vamp.
