<SYSTEM_TASK:>
Solve the following problem using Python, implementing the functions described below, one line at a time
<END_TASK>
<USER_TASK:>
Description:
 def paginate(db_query, items_per_page, offset=0, start_page=1):
 """Instantiates a Paginator instance for database queries. Args: db_query: The SQLAlchemy database query to paginate. items_per_page: The desired number of items per page. offset: The number of items to skip when paginating. start_page: The number of the first page when reporting on page numbers. """

    return Paginator(db_query, items_per_page, offset=offset, start_page=start_page)