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ODE III.

17

Since sorrow never comes too late
And happiness too swiftly flies?
Thought would destroy their Paradise.
No more;—where ignorance is bliss,
'Tis folly to be wise. 100

HYMN TO ADVERSITY.^{[N 1]}

―Ζῆνα―
·······
Τὸν φρονεῖν Βροτοὺς ὁδώ-
σαντα, τῷ πάθει μαθών
θέντα κυρίως ἔχειν.
ÆSCH. AGAM. ver. 181.

[This Ode, suggested by Dionysius' Ode to Nemesis, v. Aratus, ed Oxford, p. 51, translated by S. Meyrick, in Bell's Fug. Poetry, vol. xviii. p. 161.]

Daughter of Jove, relentless power,^{[N 2]}
Thou tamer of the human breast,

Notes

sorrow's spy, it is not safe to know." And Dodsley, Old Plays, xi. p. 119:

—"Ignorance is safe;
I then slept happily; if knowledge mend me not,
Thou hast committed a most cruel sin
To wake me into judgment."

↑ This Hymn first appeared in Dodsley. Col. vol. iv. together with the "Elegy in a Country Churchyard;" and not, as Mason says, with the three foregoing Odes, which were published in the second volume. In Mason's edition it is called an Ode; but the title is now restored, as it was given by the author. The motto from Æschylus is not in Dodsley.
↑ V. 1. "Ἄτη, who may be called the goddess of Adversity,

[2] This Hymn first appeared in Dodsley. Col. vol. iv. together with the "Elegy in a Country Churchyard;" and not, as Mason says, with the three foregoing Odes, which were published in the second volume. In Mason's edition it is called an Ode; but the title is now restored, as it was given by the author. The motto from Æschylus is not in Dodsley.

[p17-3] V. 1. "Ἄτη, who may be called the goddess of Adversity,

[N 1]

[N 2]