_Juvenis_ (_dubiously_). Ah! Concerning yon Hibernian Harp, I presume?
_Senex_ (_impatiently_). Dear me, no! The Hibernian Harp be--jangled. As, indeed, it is, and unstrung into the bargain.
_Juvenis_ (_relieved_). Why, have you then, like the _other_ Minstrel Boy, "torn its chords asunder"?
_Senex._ Well, no, not that exactly. I fear its native thrummers will spare others that trouble. But--ahem!--it is the Horatian Lyre that interests me at present.
"Quem virum aut heroa lyra vel acri Tibia sumis celebrare, Clio? Quem deum? Cujus recinet jocosa Nomen imago, Aut in umbrosis Heliconis oris Aut super Pindo gelidove in Hæmo?"
_Senex_ (_musingly_). Hum! I have not yet tried the Tibia--the shrill pipe--but I _may_.
_Juvenis._ Doubtless; and you are quite equal to it.
_Senex_ (_drily_). Thanks! But I've no wish, my dear PRIMULA, "to play the _rôle_ of elderly _Narcissus_." At present my part is only that of _Echo_--to the Venusian's vibrant voice.
_Juvenis_ (_taking advantage of the opportunity_). Well, my dear GLADSTONIUS, there are one or two little matters upon which I want to take your opinion. For example, CÆCILIUS----
_Senex_ (_quickly_). "CÆCILIUS, who provoked the populace to such a degree, that CICERO could hardly restrain them from doing him violence." Do you want me to play the part of CICERO?
_Juvenis_ (_taken aback_). Well--ahem!--hardly _that_, perhaps. But----
_Senex_ (_interrupting him_). My dear PRIMULA, as I have already said in response to an appeal from a friend of the modern ORBILIUS (_not_ like HORACE'S pedagogue, "_Plagosus_," though), "After a contentious life of fifty-two years, I am naturally anxious to spend the remainder of my days in freedom from controversy."
_Juvenis._ Oh! Quite so--of course. But ahem!--the people are a little pressing----
_Senex._ Eh? To hurtful measures? What says AUGUSTUS's "pleasant mannikin" again, _à propos_?
Justum et tenacem propositi virum Non civium ardor prava jubentium, Non vultus instantis tyranni, Mente quatit solida neque Auster,
Dux inquieti turbidus Hadriae, Nec fulminantis magna manus Jovis Si fractus illabitur orbis, Impavidum ferient ruinæ.
_Juvenis._ Doubtless. One such as yourself, "retired from business," like your beloved HORACE on his Sabine farm.