I.
Forbear, thou great good husband, little ant;
A little respite from thy flood of sweat!
Thou, thine own horse and cart under this plant,
Thy spacious tent, fan thy prodigious heat;
Down with thy double load of that one grain!
It is a granarie for all thy train.
II.
Cease, large example of wise thrift, awhile
(For thy example is become our law),
And teach thy frowns a seasonable smile:
So Cato sometimes the nak'd Florals saw.<67.2>
And thou, almighty foe, lay by thy sting,
Whilst thy unpay'd musicians, crickets, sing.
III.
LUCASTA, she that holy makes the day,
And 'stills new life in fields of fueillemort,<67.3>
Hath back restor'd their verdure with one ray,
And with her eye bid all to play and sport,
Ant, to work still! age will thee truant call;
And to save now, th'art worse than prodigal.
IV.
Austere and cynick! not one hour t' allow,
To lose with pleasure, what thou gotst with pain;
But drive on sacred festivals thy plow,
Tearing high-ways with thy ore-charged wain.
Not all thy life-time one poor minute live,
And thy ore-labour'd bulk with mirth relieve?
V.
Look up then, miserable ant, and spie
Thy fatal foes, for breaking of their<67.4> law,
Hov'ring above thee: Madam MARGARET PIE:
And her fierce servant, meagre Sir JOHN DAW:
Thy self and storehouse now they do store up,
And thy whole harvest too within their crop.
VI.
Thus we unt[h]rifty thrive within earth's tomb
For some more rav'nous and ambitious jaw:
The grain in th' ant's, the ant<67.5> in the pie's womb,
The pie in th' hawk's, the hawk<67.6> ith' eagle's maw.
So scattering to hord 'gainst a long day,
Thinking to save all, we cast all away.
<67.1> A writer in CENSURA LITERARIA, x. 292 (first edit.)--the
late E. V. Utterson, Esq.--highly praises this little poem, and
says that it is not unworthy of Cowper. I think it highly
probable that the translation from Martial (lib. vi. Ep. 15),
at the end of the present volume, was executed prior to the
composition of these lines; and that the latter were suggested
by the former. Compare the beautiful description of the ant in
the PROVERBS OF SOLOMON:--"Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider
her ways and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the
harvest.--PROVERBS, vi. 6-8.
In the poems of John Cleveland, 1669, is a piece entitled
"Fuscara, or the Bee Errant," which is of a somewhat similar
character, and is by no means a contemptible production, though
spoiled by that LUES ALCHYMISTICA which disfigures so much of the
poetry of Cleveland's time. The abilities of Cleveland as a
writer seem to have been underrated by posterity, in proportion
to the undue praise lavished upon him by his contemporaries.
<67.2> The Floralia, games antiently celebrated at Rome in honour
of Flora.
<67.3> Here used for DEAD OR FADED VEGETATION, but strictly it
means DEAD OR FADED LEAF. FILEMORT is another form of the same
word.
<67.4> Original has HER.
<67.5> Original reads ANTS.
<67.6> Original reads HAWKS.