IN STATUAM BACCHI.[1]

A statue of Bacchus

Bacche pater quis te mortali lumine novit,
Et docta effinxit hinc[2] tua membra manu.
Praxiteles[3], qui me rapientem Gnosida[4] vidit
Atque illo pinxit tempore qualis eram.
  Link to an image of this page  [D4v]Cur iuvenis teneraque etiam lanugine vernat,
Barba, queas Pylium cum superare senem.[5]
Muneribus quandoque meis si parcere disces,
Iunior & forti pectore semper eris.
Tympana non manibus capiti non cornua desunt,[6]
Quos nisi dementeis talia signa decent.
Hoc doceo, nostro quod abusus munere sumit,
Cornua & insanus mollia sistra[7] quatit.
Quid vult ille color membris penè igneus omen,
Absit, an humanis ureris ipse focis?
Cum Semeles de ventre[8] parens me fulmine traxit,
Ignivomo, infectum pulvere mersit aquis.
Hinc sapit, hinc[9] liquidis qui nos bene diluit undis,
Qui non ardenti torret ab igne iecur.
Sed nunc me doceas, quî vis miscerier? & qua
Te sanus tutum prendere lege queat?
Quadrantem addat aquae calicem sumpsisse falerni[10]
Qui cupit, hoc sumi pocula more iuvat.
Stes citra[11] haeminas[12], nam qui procedere tendit
Ultra, alacer, sed mox ebrius, inde furit.
Res dura haec nimium, sunt pendula guttura dulce
Tu filuis [=fluis] , heu facile commoda nulla cadunt.

Father Bacchus, who set mortal eyes upon you and accordingly fashioned your limbs with skilful hand? - It was Praxiteles, who saw me carrying off the girl from Knossos and represented me as I was at that time. - Why are you young, and why is your beard fresh with tender down, though you can surpass the old man of Pylos? - Because you will always be young and of a brave heart, if you will learn to use my gifts sparingly. - Drums are not absent from your hands, horns are not missing from your head. Whom but the mad do such symbols fit? - I teach men that anyone who abuses my gifts grows horns and in madness shakes unmanly rattles. - What is the meaning of the colour like fire upon your limbs? Perish the thought - do you yourself burn with mortal fires? When my father drew me with his flaming lightning-blast from Semele’s womb, he dipped me in water, all marked with ash as I was. And so that man is wise who dilutes me well with water. He who does not, gets his liver scorched from the raging fire. - But now, tell me how you wish to be mixed, and under what conditions a sensible man can take you in safety. - The man who desires to take a cup of Falernian should add a quadrans of water. It is good when cups are taken like this. You should keep within small measures. Anyone who pushes on further is first merry, soon drunk and then mad. - This is a very hard thing. Our tongues hang out, you flow sweetly down. Alas, nothing good for us comes easy.