Yes, a small box of nard from the stores of Sulpicius[2]
A cask shall elicit, of potency rare
To endow with fresh hopes, dewy-bright and delicious,
And wash from our hearts every cobweb of care.
If you'd dip in such joys, come--the better the quicker!--
But remember the fee--for it suits not my ends,
To let you make havoc, scot-free, 'with my liquor,
As though I were one of your heavy-pursed friends.
To the winds with base lucre and pale melancholy!--
In the flames of the pyre these, alas! will be vain,
Mix your sage ruminations with glimpses of folly,--
'Tis delightful at times to be somewhat insane.
--Sir Theodore Martin
[Footnote 2: Virgil must bring some rare perfume in exchange
for the rich wine, since Horace thus playfully conditions his
invitation.]