< The Hesperides & Noble Numbers < Hesperides
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8. WHEN HE WOULD HAVE HIS VERSES READ.

In sober mornings, do not thou rehearse
The holy incantation of a verse;
But when that men have both well drunk and fed,
Let my enchantments then be sung or read.

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When laurel spirts i'th' fire, and when the hearth
Smiles to itself, and gilds the roof with mirth;
When up the thyrse[1] is rais'd, and when the sound
Of sacred orgies[2] flies, a round, a round.
When the rose reigns, and locks with ointments shine,
Let rigid Cato read these lines of mine.

Round, a rustic dance.
Cato, see Martial, x. 17, quoted in Note.

  1. ↑ "A javelin twined with ivy" (Note in the original edition).
  2. ↑ "Songs to Bacchus" (Note in the original edition.)
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