| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 1729. Persicos Odi |
| | | By Charles Edmund Merrill, Jr. |
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| BOY, I detest these modern innovations, | |
| The Voice crusade may alter some men’s habit, | |
| But, as for me, I ’ll stick to my old rations, | |
| Ale and a rarebit. | |
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| In vino vis. The pious dames of Ipswich, | 5 |
| Knowing its worth and fearing lest men waste it, | |
| Condemn its use in christening battle-ships which | |
| Can’t even taste it. | |
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| Old Cato Major (and, no doubt, his wife, too) | |
| Found in Falernian, mixed with milder Massic, | 10 |
| Courage which led him, at his time of life, to | |
| Read the Greek classic. | |
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| Yes, Cato drank, nor should we lightly damn a | |
| Man who, at eighty and without coercion, | |
| Mastered Liddell and Scott, and Hadley’s grammar, | 15 |
| My pet aversion. | |
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| Elihu’s ways, they say, are growing sinful; | |
| Crimes that are nameless are committed daily. | |
| Oscar! my toby, and I ’ll sin a skinful, | |
| So to bed gayly. | 20 |
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