ffPPU^IH;;:
GIFT OF
SEELEY W. MUDD
and
GEORGE I, COCHRAN MEYER ELSASSER
DR. JOHN R. HAYNES WILLIAM L. HONNOLD
JAMES R. MARTIN MRS. JOSEPH F. SARTOR!
to the
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
SOUTHERN BRANCH
j ji^isi^iijigSS^^
r
JOHN FISKE
"•^ts book is DUE on the last d
UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA
AT
LOS ANGELES
- LIBRARY
COLLECTIONS
FROM THE
GREEK ANTHOLOGY.
BY THE LATE
Rev. ROBERT BLAND, and OTHERS.
A NEW EDITION;
COMFRIsrNG
THE FRAGMENTS OF EARLY LYRIC POETRY, WITH SPECIMENS
OF ALL THE POETS INCLUDED IN MELEAGER'S GARLAND.
BY
J. H. MERIVALE, Esq. F.S.A.
HMISY MET ^YXH2 ETI TO HNEON.
t t r
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR
LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMAN; AND
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1833.
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ADVERTISEMENT.
In giving to the world a new series of Trans-
lations grounded on a work published many
years ago, to which I was a principal contri-
butor, in partnership with nriy lamented friend,
the late Rev. Robert Bland =*, it will not perhaps
be regarded as altogether superfluous to prefix a
short notice relative to the former publication.
v.» * Ttie Rev. Robert Bland, -vvho was also author of " Edvvy
C7 and Elgiva" and "Sir Everard," and of "The Four Slaves of
,_l Cythera," besides other poetical works, died, curate of Kenil-
worth, in 1825, when little more than forty years old, leaving
_ a widow and several children to mourn his irreparable loss a
M circumstance which I may be allowed to mention, as affording
.^ a motive to the present publication, in the hope of its proving a
&. source of profit, however inconsiderable, intended to be applied
exclusively in aid of the eldest son on his approaching removal
to College from the Charter House. That, among other attain-
ments of a more solid nature, my young friend inherits at least a
j^ portion of his father's talents in the art of versification, will, I
trust, be made evident from a few pieces in the last division of
the present volume, to which the signature R. B. is attached.
O a 2
IV ADVERTISEMENT.
The design of exhibiting in an English version
some of the most beautiful, or otherwise remark-
able, of the pieces ascribed to the Minor Poets
of Greece, more especially the writers of the
Anthology, originated at a very early period
with my deceased friend. He commenced the
execution of his plan by the publication of two
or three papers in the Monthly Magazine, be-
ginning in March, 1805; and these became
subsequently the groundwork of a Preface, re-
printed without alteration in the present volume.
The series thus commenced was continued at
intervals during the remainder of the year 1805
and part of 1806, under the title of " Epigrams,
Fragments, and Fugitive Pieces, from the Greek,"
to which was affixed the signature "Narva;"
and in the course of the last-mentioned year, the
greater part of those contributions, with some
additions, were collected together and published
in a small octavo volume, entitled, "Translations,
chiefly from the Greek Anthology ; with Tales
and Miscellaneous Poems," (Phillips, 1806.)
The arrangement of Brunck and Jacobs, accord-
ing to the names of authors, was here followed,
with a short appendix of " Fragments from the
ADVERTISEMENT.
Comic Poets," and with notes following the
translation. I was myself a contributor to this
volume, in about equal partnership ; and we
enjoyed the valuable accession of three pieces
(The Complaint of Danae, and Two Versions of
the Hymn to Harmodius,) from the pen of the
present Lord Chief Justice Denman, and of a few
from that of our mutual friend the Rev. Francis
Hodffson, which in the later edition were distin-
guished by his initial. Of the success of the
small volume thus ushered into the world, it does
not become me to say more than that it received
from Lord Byron, in his " English Bards and
Scotch Reviewers," first published not long after
it made its appearance, the compliment of a few
lines, beginning,
" And yc, associate Bards," &c.
Between the time of this first publication
and that of the second, the joint authors, besides
having been emboldened by the recommendation
of the noble poet, separately, on various occasions,
to encounter the risk of original composition,
were prevented by other circumstances, arising
out of occupations and engagements of the most
vi ADVERTISEMENT.
foreign nature, from bestowing much thought on
the subject of repubhcation. In the mean time,
however, the portfolios of each had received
large additions from the same rich storehouse
of the Anthology, as well as from other classical
sources, and each had continued occasionally to
contribute to the periodicals of the day — first
to the Monthly Magazine (as before) , and after-
wards to Dr. Aikin's Athenaeum — some of the
fruits of their respective gleanings. I may here
be allowed to mention, with satisfaction, that
this example was thought worthy of imitation
by so distinguished and elegant a scholar as
Dr. Haygarth, with some of whose specimens,
as printed in the last-named classical and useful,
though short-lived, miscellany, T have not scru-
pled to enrich the present volume.
It was not till 1813, that my friend and my-
self jointly resolved on the publication of a new
Work, which was to contain the entire substance
of the former, together with such additions as
each of us had since made ; and the result of this
resolution was the production of the volume
entitled " Collections from the Greek Anthology,
and from the Pastoral, Elegiac, and Dramatic
ADVERTISEMENT. Vll
Poets of Greece, by the Rev. Robert Bland and
others," (Murray, 1813.) This new Work, be-
sides the insertion of the very considerable ad-
ditions already spoken of, was constructed on
the principle of an entirely new arrangement ;
being divided into distinct heads or subjects —
the Amatory — the Convivial — the Moral — the
Sepulchral — the Descriptive — the Dedicatory —
and the Humorous, or Satirical — together with a
pretty copious infusion, in the midst of one of
these departments, of irrelevant matter, consisting
of metrical versions of passages from the Grecian
drama — each division being followed by notes,
to the extent in bulk of nearly half the volume,
and containing a variety of illustrations both in
prose and in verse.
The defects of such an arrangement were
too glaring to escape the just censure of even
the most indulgent critics, and I have not
ceased, during the period of twenty years which
have now elapsed since its appearance, to enter-
tain the desire and intention, should circum-
stances ever permit, of giving to the world a new
edition, freed from the most striking blemishes
as well as superfluities of the former, besides ex-
Vlll ADVERTISEMENT.
hibiting a more correct and classical represen-
tation of the original Anthology, by a more
abundant infusion of the best specimens, and by
returning to our early plan of assigning each to
its several author, and placing the authors them-
selves in chronological order of succession. This
design even acquired strength from a circum-
stance which might be supposed to have been ra-
ther calculated to check it, — the premature death
of my early associate — by exciting the wish of
doing honour to his memory, and at the same
time (if possible) of deriving benefit to his chil-
dren from the profits of a new undertaking.
A constant succession of other pursuits and
engagements occasioned the postponement, until
the present moment, of the accomplishment of
this long-cherished intention ; and, without fur-
ther reflection on the past, it now remains for
me to state shortly in what points the present
publication will be found principally to diff^er
from the two that preceded it.
In the first place, it will be obvious that the
present volume, although in itself complete, as
containing specimens of all the poets whom it is
its professed design to illustrate, comprises, ne-
ADVERTISEMENT. IX
vertheless, but an inferior portion either of the
poems printed in the Work entitled " Bland's
Collections," or of the authors contained in that
far larger storehouse of original poetry generally
known under the appellation of "The Greek
Anthology." The literary history of that re-
markable compilation, and of its various succes-
sive collectors, has been already sufficiently de-
tailed by Mr. Bland in his Preface here re-
printed ; and from this it will be seen, without
going into unnecessary repetition, that the por-
tion which may be properly called Meleager's,
though the smallest in extent, is far the most
valuable, as exhibiting the productions of the
better ages ; while the remainder, being spread
over the whole extended period of Grecian de-
generacy, from the age of Augustus to the fall of
the Constantinopolitan Empire, must be regard-
ed as comparatively of low estimation in the
scale of classical excellence, although far from
deficient in the refinements of poetical expression
and sentiment. At the same time, all those
specimens of the Gnomic, Elegiac, and Dramatic
fragments of antiquity which are contained in
our former volumes, although included by Brunck
in his Analecta, formed no part of either of the
a 5
X ADVERTISKMENT.
Anthologies, properly so denominated. These
are now, therefore, reserved to constitute an
appendix to a second volume, should I receive
sufficient encouragement to enter on such an
undertaking.
In using this hypothetical expression, I beg,
however, to be considered as free from the ap-
prehension expressed by my late colleague, of
being numbered among those who injure the
cause they espouse "by giving dignity to trifles."
On the contrary, I am well convinced that no
genuine scholar will ever regard the bulk of the
poems which constitute what is commonly known
as the Greek Anthology in a point of view so
disparaging, or refuse to admit that it forms an
essential portion of what remains to us of Grecian
literature.
Enough, has been said to explain in what con-
sists the principal difference above referred to ;
and, by comparison with the edition of 1813, it
will be found that more than three fourths of
the contents of the present are additions to the
former Work, and that, even as to those which
are republished, so much of correction and
amendment has been freely admitted as to render
them in many instances new versions of the ori-
ADVERTISEMENT. M
ginal ; except indeed with respect to Mr. Bland's
translations, which I have seldom thought my-
self at liberty to alter in any essential matter.
His portion of the Work is distinguished, as in
the former publication, by the initial B. ; while
the letter H. still continues to denote the con-
tributions of Mr. Hodgson, and those marked
C. M. belong to my son, Mr. Charles Merivale,
of St. John's College, Cambridge, whom I am
proud to name on the present occasion as having
afforded me most material assistance in the
arrangement of the Work*.
* I have omitted, from not feeling myself sufficiently autho-
rized, to insert the names of other contributors, whose initials
will be found interspersed through the work. But I cannot suffer
this motive of delicacy to extend so far as to restrain me
from naming those to whom I am more particularly indebted
for much valuable advice and suggestion as to the conduct of
the Work, — Henry Nelson Coleridge, Esq., author of one of the
versions of the 47th Epigram of Callimachus ; and Benjamin
Keen, Esq., the contributor of several from Meleager and
others, which will be discovered by the initials severally
affixed to them. I must be also allowed to embrace the present
opportunity of expressing my acknowledgments to Mr. John
Edward Taylor, of the printing establishment of Mr. Richard
Taylor, for the able critical assistance he has rendered me in
many parts of the Work, no less than for his zealous attention
to the office of typographical correction and superintendence
through the whole of it.
Xll ADVERTISEMENT.
It remains merely to notice that the Greek text
which I have uniformly followed is that of Brunck
and Jacobs, except as to the fragments of Lyric
Poetry which are not to be found in their respec-
tive collections. I should have willingly sub-
joined the originals for the greater satisfaction
of critical readers, but found it would swell the
Work both in respect of size and expense far be-
yond my wishes, and have therefore contented
myself with adding double references to the Pla-
nudean Anthology printed by Henry Stephens,
and to the celebrated Vatican MS. now rendered
accessible to all scholars by means of the Tran-
script recently edited*. On the merits or de-
merits of the several versions, I must leave it to
others to pronounce judgment ; but, at the risk
even of repeating some of what has been already
m-ged by Mr. Bland in his Preface, T must be
allowed to conclude with a few remarks as to
the nature of the task which it has been our aim
to accomplish.
The reader who is acquainted with the original
* " Anthologia Grseca, ad fidem Codicis olim Palatini nunc
Parisini, ex Apograplio Gothano edita." A Jacobs. 4 torn.
Lips. 1813.
ADVERTISEMENT. Xlll
will at once perceive that, as the compilation has
been the work of several hands, so no uniform
rules of translation have been adopted. Many of
the Epigrams in the Anthology owe their whole
charm to their perfect unity of sentiment and
simphcity of expression. Here, therefore, it be-
comes the duty of the translator to preserve the
charm by rendering his version, at w^hatever dis-
advantage, as literal as he can. Others, again,
contain more expanded thoughts, and more va-
rious imagery ; and here w^ill be found to have
been allowed the occasional licence of para-
phrase, since the metaphors which pass current
in an ancient idiom are rarely convertible into
precise equivalents in modern diction. If, on
the other hand, many of the fancies of these
early poets appear common-place and trivial to
those accustomed to the variety of more recent
literature ; if the reader occasionally stumbles
upon a thought hackneyed by modern usage, or
a conceit rendered famiUar to him by its trans-
fusion through many languages, let him remem-
ber that the Anthology, although a rich, is not
an inexhaustible storehouse of treasures, which
later ages have plundered without restraint or
XIV ADVERTISEMENT.
scruple. Love, friendship, pleasure, sorrow, —
all the most familiar sources of human interest,
• — furnished the first race of poets with their
freshest and most obvious images ; and succeed-
ing writers have found it an easier and more
popular task to reproduce them under a perpe-
tual variety of forms, than to tax invention for
original subjects.
It is our misfortune to live in an after age,
when all the poetical topics which appeal most
readily to the imagination are worn threadbare by
the use of so many generations. But let us not
forget that the same complaint has been re-echoed
from the remotest periods —
'A nctKap, offTis erjy Keivov ')(p6rov "i^pis aoiSfis,
M.ovaddJV QepaiTMv, or aKtiparos r/v en \eifiwv'
vvv S" ore irciPTa ^edacrrai, ey^pvcri he Treipara Te^^vai,
vtrrepoi Cliare Bpofxov KaraXenrofxed', ovde tti? eort
Travrrj TraTTTaivovra peo^vyes apfxa ireXacraai.
J. H. Merivale.
MR. BLAND'S PREFACE
TO THE
TWO FORMER EDITIONS.
The merit to which the poems in the Greek An-
thology have a claim, consists generally in the just-
ness of a single thought conveyed in harmonious
language. Very little can be done in the space of
a few couplets, and it only remains for the writer to
do that little with grace. The eye is fatigued with
being raised too long to gaze on rocks and preci-
pices, and delights to repose itself on the refreshing
verdure and gentle slopes of scenery less bold and
daring. In the same manner, the lover of poetry
will sometimes find a grateful pause from grandeur
and elevation, in the milder excellence of suavity
and softness.
The two great Epic Poets of antiquity have been
instructed to sing in English numbers; and the
smaller works which have been bequeathed to us
XVI MK. BLAND S PREFACE
have had admirers and translators. Even Horace,
the most versatile, who illustrates the greatest va-
riety of subjects with expressions for ever new and
varying, has fallen in with persons hardy enough to
attempt meeting him in all the shapes which he as-
sumes. The Greek Anthology opens a wide and
almost an untried field for further exertions ; and,
although the present age may boast of no poets ca-
pable of piercing deep into the regions made sacred by
ancient genius, yet we have those whose taste may
enable them to gather a few flowers that grow by
the way-side, and preserve them to their country.
There is a certain turn of thought in many of the
English fugitive pieces, which may easily be traced
to a Greek fountain ; such as that with which Ben
Jonson concludes his Epitaph on Drayton. He thus
addresses the ''pious marble :"
" And when thy ruins shall disclaim
To be the treasurer of his name.
His name, that cannot fade, shall be
An everlasting monument to thee."
The following distich, inscribed by Ion to the me-
mory of Euripides, furnished the above :
Ov aov fjLpfjfia roc ear , 'RvpinlSr), ctXXct cv rovce.
But our learned countryman commonly had recouise
to the ancients for thoughts and images ; and he has
TO THE TWO FORMER EDITIONS. XVU
been detected, by Mr. Cumberland, *'in poaching in
an obscure collection of love-letters, written in a
most rhapsodical style," for all the ideas transmitted
to us in the well-known song, '' Drink to me only
with thine eyes," — for which it turns out that he
was indebted to a pretty although conceited turn
of thought in the twenty-fourth letter of the sophist
Philostratus ; efxol Se i^iovoic, irpoirive toIg o/^iinaaiv,
&c. : the version is literal. One of the few translated
Epigrams (that of Simmias on the tomb of Sopho-
cles,) has been naturalized in our language by every
charm of poetry and of music; and Cumberland's,
Observer contains several others, which, although
faithfully translated, are as easy and familiar as ori-
ginals.
It is necessary to mention the impropriety of com-
bining in our minds with the word Epigram, when
applied to the poetry of the Greeks, any of the ideas
which that term is apt to excite in the mind of a
mere English reader. It is owing chiefly to this im-
propriety, that those beautiful remains of antiquity
are so little known to us, and that so few have been
familiarized through the medium of translation. They
relate to subjects that will be interesting and affect-
ing, as long as youth and gaiety delight, as wine and
music and beauty captivate, or as the contrary ideas
of old-age anddeath, sickness,banishment, neglected
xviii MR. eland's preface
love, or forsaken friendship, can melt in pleasing sor-
row, or chasten into tender melancholy.
The term Epigram, which literally signifies an
Inscription, was first appropriated to those short
sentences which were inscribed on oflTerings made
in temples. It was afterwards transferred to the
inscription on the temple gate; thence to other edi-
fices, to the statues of gods and heroes, and of men
whether living or dead ; and the term remained,
whether the inscription was in verse or in prose; as
was that very ancient one on the tomb of Cyrus : 'Q
avdpwtre, e-yw Kujooc, o ti]v hpyj^v role, Ylkpaaic, ktt}-
aap.evoQ Koi rrJQ 'Acrirjc /BatrtAeuq' fxrj ovv (j)dovi](Tr]Q tou
jui'jj^aTOG. The brevity of these inscriptions, which
rendered it so easy to impress on the memory any
particular event, or any illustrious name, soon re-
commended them for other purposes. The lawgiver
adopted them to convey a moral precept, and the
lover to express a tender sentiment ; and hence, in
process of time, almost every little poem, which con-
cisely presented one distinct idea, or pursued one
general argument, acquired the title of Epigram.
But the small poems which claim the greatest
attention are those which were written as memo-
rials of the dead, as tokens of regard for living
beauty or virtue, or as passing observations upon,
and brief sketches of, human life.
TO THE TWO FORMER EDITIONS. XIX
The excellence belonging to the Greek inscrip-
tions in honour of the dead, consists in the happy
introduction of their names and peculiar characters
or occupations. The lines inscribed by Pope to the
illustrious dead, have been well called " Epitaphs
to let." The omission of the name is not their only
defect. The virtues so liberally bestowed have
nothing in them of discrimination, and would sit
equally easy on the shoulders of any other good or
great personage, as of those thus generalized. They
are " the scourge of knaves " — " honest courtiers "
— " statesmen, vet friends to truth " — " uncor-
rupted e'en among the great,"
" And they are all, all honourable men." —
Yet their very names and distinguishing marks of
character are frequently forgotten in the rhymes
built to their immortality.
In the tributes presented to beauty the same cha-
racteristic is observable. A Grecian lover seldom la-
bours at a picture for which the colours must be so
far-fetched. Indeed he seldom gives any picture
at all. He has been favoured or repulsed, as it may
happen ; the occasion seems to suggest one natural
turn of thought ; and, contenting himself with a de-
lineation of what he felt, and not of what he might
feel, he has done as much as the circumstance re-
quired, and no more.
XX ME. eland's preface
The short observations on human life, couched in
Greek Epigrams, are ever of a melancholy cast : a
complaint on the ills of age, sickness, or poverty ;
or a beacon set up to light us on our road, and to
warn us against pride, perfidy, ingratitude, envy,
and all the other shoals that lie in the way of our
happiness. Gloomy and uncomfortable reflections
on the shortness and misery of life, seem equally to
have inspired the philosopher and the voluptuary.
By such reflections the former points his moral, and
the latter defends his excesses.
To those, whose notions of a future state were
perplexed, dark, and uncertain ; whose belief in re-
tribution was unsettled and wavering, and rather an
object of speculation than a ground of hope or sa-
tisfaction, this present life must have appeared the
boundary of all human desires and fears ; and the
very uncertainty of its duration, and the dark and
miserable gloom which involved everything beyond
it, will of themselves account for the continual com-
plaints of the sad lot of humanity to be found in
the ancient poets. That such were the ideas which
followed them in solitude, and crept in upon their
banquets, witness the few remaining strains of Mi-
mnermus, the poet of love and pleasure.
From the histories, orations, and nobler poems
which have come down to us, we know how to ap-
preciate the bold and masterly characters, who in
TO THE TWO FORMER EDITIONS. XXI
lono" succession were the pilots of Greece, and whose
steady guidance directed her with safety and glory
through tempests which other states were unable to
withstand. From documents so ample, we become
acquainted with her greatest heroes and statesmen.
For private events and domestic occurrences, we
must look to her fugitive pieces, which, like planks
of a mighty wreck, help to convey to us some idea
of the majesty of the vessel which has gone to pieces.
In these minor relics many events are recorded be-
neath the dignity of history to commemorate, and
which introduce us to the private characters, cus-
toms, and transactions of the age. We follow ob-
scure individuals into their retirements ; we are
made companions of their festivities, are present
at their tables, games, births, nuptials, and fu-
nerals.
While Greece was yet in her infancy, her Epi-
grams were almost the only records of things, and
memorials of the dead. To their testimony Hero-
dotus and Thucydides recur, and these are followed
by Diodorus and Plutarch, all of whom appeal to
them, as to sure and undisputed authority. Scarcely
was a trophy consecrated, or a city depressed by
the vicissitudes of fortune and of war, without some
Epigram recording the event, and the causes which
led to its completion. Thus the history of an epoch
xxii MR. eland's preface
is sometimes found couched in a few disticbs, whicli
are remembered and referred to without trouble.
Simonides in particular claims our attention among
the metrical historians of his country. His lines on
Megistias the prophet, who fell at Thermopylce, and
his inscriptions on the other heroes who perished at
that famous battle, are preserved to us by Hero-
dotus. Every thing relating to so generous and
glorious an achievement cannot fail of interesting ;
and we are at once delighted and instructed by the
praises intended to convey to posterity the memory
of those warriors who were the saviours of Greece.
The valour of the people of Tegea, in defending
themselves against the Spartans, is celebrated in
four lines. On a Corinthian monument were four
lines inscribed by the same poet to those of Corinth,
who fell at Salamis ; and many other memorials,
equally concise and important, are yet remaining.
Polemo appears to have been the first collector of
that species of Epigram, whose only aim it was to
commemorate public transactions, cities, and gifts
consecrated to the Gods. His books '* Ylepl twv
Kara ttoAcic 'ETrtypafmaTWV," " Tlepi tcov avaOr)-
{.lariov ev AaKe^a'ifiovi," and " Uepi twi' ev AeXcpotc
Qy]rravpb}v" have furnished Athenseus and Plutarch
with quotations and illustrations of times that had
long elapsed.
TO THE TWO FORMER EDITIONS. XXlll
But jMeleager *, a Syrian, who flourished under
the last of the Seleucidae, first collected the nume-
rous fragments of Greece, which were entrusted, be-
fore his time, to the memory of men, engraven on
marbles, or dispersed as fugitive pieces. He is said
to have been an imitator of the Cynic IMenippus,
whom Lucian has selected as the most convenient
and characteristic vehicle for scurrility and abuse :
Movtrai MeXiaypoy
^levnnreiats yyXaitray j^apitn.
But either some other Menippus, or some other
Meleager, far different from the tender and affecting
collector of the first Anthologia, seems to have been
intended. It would appear impossible, that he, who
so eloquently pourtrays the softer passions of our na-
ture, whose muse is dedicated to amorous pleasures
and incentives, should have sat a severe and stern
censor on human frailties, passions, and infirmities,
— that the same man who was by turns a slave to
* An old Greek scholiast seems to settle the dispute concerning
the aera in which Meleager lived. ijKjuu'jiv tTri ^sT^ivkov tou
i(JX»~ov. Olymp. 170, about ninety-six years before the Christian
aera. [Mr. Fyncs Clinton has amply confirmed the opinion here
expressed; and no future translator or critic will confound toge-
ther persons so dissimilar as the Cynic of Gadara, and the poet
and collector of the Anthology. See Introd. to Meleager below.
XXIV MR. BLAND S PREFACE
love and melancholy, should have sneered sarcasti-
cally at his fellow-creatures, few of whom were half
so prone to weakness and error as himself.
Diogenes Laertius speaks of a Meleager, who not
only imitated, but equalled the biting and barking-
Cynic of Gadara in wit and acrimony ; and Athe-
naeus mentions a Cynic by the name of Meleager,
but in such a manner, that he seems almost to be
making a distinction between him and another of
that name. MeXeay/ooc o Kvvikoq ev tw 2v|U7rotj-{w
ovTiDol ypacjyei. Whence it appears that the Cynic
had written a satire, called ^vfnroaiov. And the same
author mentions the titles of two other satirical per-
formances by the same Meleager, whom he calls the
Cynic of Gadara, the birth-place of the Epigram-
matist. Would not Athenseus with more consis-
tency have given to our author the titles of Collec-
tor and Poet, as well as that of Cynic, had he
intended the last-mentioned appellation to have ap-
plied to the same man ? * [There is a coarseness
in the satirical character, which is never fined away
into feeling for surrounding objects. Selfishness,
which is inseparable from it, detains all its wishes
and desires, its pleasures and uneasinesses, at home.
The delight of such a man is purchased by the tor-
* The passage here included between brackets is in the edition
of 1806 (p. xvi.), but was omitted in that of 1813.— J. H. M.
TO THE TWO FORMER EDITIONS. XXV
ture of another, unless he has sacrificed his daily
victim, —
Noctem patltur lugentis araicum
Peleidse.
The nutriment on which he fattens is loathsome ;
he cannot for a moment conceal the spirit of perse-
cution, which is unrelenting ; it intrudes upon all
his forced essays of philanthropy, and gives a tino-e
to his constrained sallies of pleasantry. It must, it
will be seen.]
The relics of Meleager [form of themselves a con-
trast to this description. They] bespeak a mind
woven of the finest texture, shaded, but not dark-
ened by melancholy ; easily affected by change of
place or season ; soft and pliable to a guilty excess;
and in no one instance do they betray a propensity
to sneer, or a struggle to conceal it. At least his
satires are no more; while his amatory poems, epi-
taphs, and other records of affection, tenderness,
and sorrow, remain in sufficient number to contra-
dict his supposed devotion to Menippus, or to
prove that, if he ever were so devoted, it was not
until after he had banqueted to satiety at the table
of Epicurus.
The venom of Archilochus ceases to operate.
All that we know of Menippus is, that his Satires
were written in prose, with a sprinkling of verse ;
b
xxvi MR. eland's preface
and even this peculiarity might have been unre-
corded, had it not been imitated by Varro *, who
thus procured to himself the title of the Roman
Cynic, and to his writings the name of the poet
whom he followed. The extemporary burlesques,
written in France against the League, were collected
together under the title of " Satires Menippees,"
and our countryman, Dr. Ferriar, has given us a
specimen of the peculiarity at least of a Menippean
treatise.
The Menippean satires of the Cynic Meleager
are so entirely buried in oblivion, that confusion has
even arisen about their author. Burlesques, written
to expose the eccentricities of individuals, are read
with avidity, and are irresistible at their first appear-
ance. The love of novelty and curiosity, the self-
complacence and vanity which those persons feel
who have escaped the lash, and the free indulgence
of all that is malignant in human nature, conspire
to adapt personal satire to the taste of the world.
* Varro not only mixed prose with verse, but Greek witli Latin.
The few fragments which we possess are much corrupted — the
titles of many satires remain. He rejected the acrimony of Me-
nippus, and is rather to be ranked am.ong those poets who are
called aTovQoyi'hoioi.
Boethius departs still further from the intention of Menippus ;
and seeks consolation in the imprisonment imposed on him by the
Gothic king, from the mixed charm of poetry and philosophy.
TO THK TWO FORMER EDITIONS. XXvii
But the once dreaded sting becomes blunted by
time, and the salhes of raillery lose their poignancy
with their application.
Two Epigrams of Meleager seem to fix the aara
in which he flourished. In one he commemorates
the fall of Corinth ; in another he endeavours to ex-
plain the emblematical figures of a cock supporting
a branch of palm and a die, on the tomb of Anti-
pater, the poet and philosopher of Sidon, whose re-
mains are interwoven in the Anthologia.
To this beautiful collection Meleager prefixed a
poem descriptive of the work, and of the authors by
whose contributions it was enriched. This preface
is entitled the Garland, in which the choicest flowers
of every ancient and contemporary poet are wreathed
together, and presented to his friend Diodes.
"Avvae fikv MeXeaypos, &c.
Implicuit Meleager, honoratoque Diocli
Munus amicitice dtsdala serta dedit ;
Lilia multa Anytae subnectens, multaque Myrus
Lilia ; Lesboae pauca, sed ilia rosas.
The youthful vigour of Greece was now declining ;
and her exertions in arms and arts were becoming
less active as centuries rolled on ; but in her green
old age, the features of her youth were discernible,
and the spirit with which she was animated burst
forth in irregular and partial gleams, that evinced
b 2
xxviii MR. eland's preface
her not yet to be exhausted by the efForts of former
days.
Deprived of the advantages enjoyed by his pre-
decessor, Philip of Thessalonica continued the work
after an interval of a hundred and fifty years. We
must here no more expect to meet with those vivid
flowers which adorned the elder wreath.
Perfection is no longer to be found. The Sap-
phos and Anacreons of the day were admirers and
imitators of their predecessors, but bore no nearer
resemblance to them than the Pseudo-Hercules * in
one of Menander's plays, to the real hero of anti-
quity. The same ideas recur : but the power of
expression to give them their due illustration is
wanting. It is a most just and elegant comparison
which Addison makes somewhere in his Spectators
(and which may well be transferred to the subject
before us,) when, speaking of Roman eloquence, he
observes, that the same idea expressed in the
language of Cicero, and attempted by another
writer, differs as much as the same object when
seen by the light of the sun, or the glimmering of a
taper.
The attractions of these light compositions be-
* This person is recorded to have appeared on the stage with a
club, like his predecessor, which he brandished to and fro, threat-
ening annihilation to the weak, timid, and defenceless.
TO THE TWO FORMER EDITIONS. XXIX
come less striking as we advance ; the colourings,
no longer vivid, are mellowed into the tints of au-
tumn, but although " fallen into the sear and yel-
low leaf," remain pleasing to the eye, and interesting
even to their latest decay.
During the lapse of more than five hundred years,
the lyre of Greece hung silent and unstrung ; and
when Agathias, in the sixth century, attempted to
give it sound, a feeble tinkling was returned to the
touch before it lay mute for ever.
This collector raked together the loose miscel-
lanies and scattered fragments of his time ; and
knew not that by his exertions he was bequeathing
and perpetuating to succeeding ages the figure of
his country, enfeebled, helpless, exhausted, and
nearly sunk into dotage. Some of his own produc-
tions may be brought forward to redeem it from this
second childishness. He himself acknowledges
the strong bent of his mind to the alluring pursuit
of poetry, and in early youth he published a collec-
tion of amorous poems, which he entitled " Daph-
niaca." In some of his works a tenderness and
justness of expression are perceivable, which would
have done honour to better times; and the tribute
offered to the Ereutho of Agathias, would not have
been disregarded by the Heliodora of Meleager. It
is most probable that our collector was assisted by
XXX MR. eland's preface
his friend Paul the Silentiary*, who, besides his
more desultory works, wrote a laboured account of
the Church, dedicated to Santa Sophia, or Sacred
Wisdom, from which the cross has been taken, and
the monks have in latter days retired, to make way
for dervishes and the adorers of Mahomet.
Many of the Epigrams of Agathias and his friend
the Silentiary, correspond with each other. Paul
was a courtier, who prostituted his muse, it is said,
in celebration of the infamous Theodora; he was a
voluptuary, who seems to have indulged himself
freely in the gardens, the baths, and all the de-
basing pleasures of his countrymen. He is never
cloyed by possession, but returns after enjoyment,
and dwells, in his polluted imagination, on the ban-
quet by which he has been surfeited. In this how-
ever he is not singular; for dreadful as were the
calamities of his times, we turn with still greater
horror from the vices which gave birth to them.
We can know little of the private life of Aga-
thias ; but from an anecdote which he has himself
related, we may conjecture that it was imbittered by
family disputes and misfortunes. His sister, Euoe-
nia, had been married to Theodotus. This gentle
* n«SAof li'hivrtufito^, a term adopted from the Latin Silen-
tium; more properly Uav'ho;' ^avxoT!'oio^ : it was an office in the
court of Justinian, corresponding to that of Gentleman-usher.
TO THE TWO FORMER EDITIONS. XXxi
pair, on some difference of opinion, had recourse to
a trial of strength, in which, before they could be
separated, they both expired*. Agathias supposes
the husband to exculpate them, by declaring, from
their common tomb, that neither was in fault, — that
envy, or some fury, had devoted them to its ven-
geance, and that before the judge of the shades
they stood acquitted of malice.
The labours of Agathias have however deserved
well of posterity ; for as the public taste declines
with the morals and power of a people, he found
admirers in his contemporaries, who seem to have
given all the encouragement in their power to this
unpromising offspring of decrepitude, and to have
watched over it with such jealous care, that we have
more remains from the collection of Agathias, than
from those of his two predecessors conjointly. Thus,
if we are not indebted to this collector for any very
refined pleasure in the perusal of his work, — yet, if
it be true that muta est picturapoesis, we are at least
enabled to judge, from the preference given to the
new over the old collection, of the then prevailing
taste in literature.
A more calamitous period in the history of the
* See Epig. 86 Agath. Brunck. torn. iii. p. 65.
Jcxxii MR. eland's preface
world is not to be found, than that which elapsed
from the fourth to the sixth century. The barba-
rians of the North had not only succeeded in their
depredations on the enfeebled inhabitants of the
Eastern and Western empires, but had introduced
their manners among them, and had even engrafted
their jargons on the withering stem of Grecian lite-
rature.
At the end of the sixth century, this unhappy
country appears to have become foreign to herself,
and none, except those who devoted themselves
solely to the study of ancient learning, were masters
of the dialects, metres, and nice discriminations be-
tween words seemingly synonymous. Grammarians
had, at different times, endeavoured to affix, by ac-
cents, certain rules for the raising and depression of
the voice, which, if not invented at this sera, were
at least more generally resorted to as the standards
of tone and modulation. On props so faithless and
unsteady, the ancient fabric was not calculated long
to brave the assaults of barbarism. The public
taste continued to decline ; and while the collection
of Agathias remained entire, those of Meleager and
Philip were yearly losing some of their ornaments
from two distinct causes : for the decay of old ma-
nuscripts was not supplied by new transcribers ; and
TO THE TWO FORMER EDITIONS. XXXUl
with a gloomy and unrelenting zeal the ministers of
religion persecuted every work of ingenuity and
fancy.
The first of Meleager's collections was necessarily
exposed to their fury. The specimens of that work
which yet remain too abundantly justify the perse-
cution. It was written for the express purpose of
celebrating Eastern sensuality ; and is said to have
contained nothing but the divitias miseras of a mind
pregnant with ideas wasted in the embellishment of
vice. But unfortunately its undiscriminating ene-
mies appear to have been actuated by a rage no less
furious, against those beautiful relics of affection
and sorrow, by which the poet endeavoured to make
amends to an insulted world for the extravagance of
his youth.
To Agathias we are indebted for six years of the
reign of Justinian, continued from the history of
Procopius to the last victory of Belisarius, in the
year 559, over the Bulgarians, commanded by Za-
bergan. The history of our author has been cen-
sured, perhaps justly, as a dull and prolix declama-
tion. Yet he is generally allowed to maintain a
respectable place among the Byzantine historians,
and is peculiarly noticed for the mildness and huma-
nity of his sentiments.
The whole series of the Gothic war had been com-
b 5
xxxlv MR. eland's preface
pleted by Proeopius. — Daring the eventful reign of
Justinian, Rome had five times changed masters,
and was once more restored to her lawful Emperor
by the bravery of Narses. The times were big with
stratagems, individual deeds of heroism, distant mi-
grations of Barbarians from the bleak and ungenial
North in quest of milder suns, the havoc of war and
pestilence, and the convulsions of empires and of
nature *. Gibbon takes a reluctant leave of Proeo-
pius for Agathias. *' We must now (says he) relin-
quish a statesman and a soldier, to attend the foot-
steps of a poet and a rhetorician." The savage
descent of the Franks under the two brothers Buc-
celin and Lothaire into the fair plains of Italy, the
wild superstitions of their allies the AUemanni, who
sacrificed the heads of horses to their native deities
of woods and rivers, are noticed by this even and
placid writer in the strain of cool philosophy. The
Sibyl's cave, made venerable by its inmate and by
the ancient dreams of inspiration, is only mentioned
with a view of ascertaining its site with accuracy ;
and the final victory gained by Narses on the banks
of the Vulturnus was only chosen to give point and
ornament to an epigram of six lines. Rome had so
* See an account of the earthquakes that shook Constantinople
incessantly, and the comets which appeared in the reign of Justi-
nian.
TO THE TWO FORMER EDITIONS. XXXV
frequently been the seat of empire to barbarous
mouarchs, had so often crouched under the despo-
tism and indignities imposed on her by strangers,
the theatre of her former victories had in such nu-
merous instances represented the scenes of her dis-
grace and humihation, that we are no longer to ex-
pect from her historians that awful regard, that holy
" admonitiis locorum," which is felt by the patriot
while musing over the honours of his country.
But in describing the joy which diffused itself
over Italy, this writer is insensibly betrayed into
language so nearly approaching to poetry, that its
resemblance to the opening of Richard the Third
could not escape the notice of Gibbon*. — ''Nothing
(says Agathias) remained for the Italians but to
exchange their shields and helmets for the soft lute
and capacious hogshead."
Agathias was one of the few remaining Greeks
who made the study of the ancient language the
business of their lives, and hence he obtained the
name of Scholasticus ; for, amongst other encou-
* I am led to observe another remavl?able resemblance between
a celebrated passage in Henry the Fifth, and the following s])len-
did figure in a homily of St. Chrysostom : tj-; Ss dvr&) Trqoiy Knuiau
fAiv 6 oi/Qciiio; ciirocg, dixr^ou oi ii olx.ovf/,iuri, Qtarctt Zt kxI dy^QOXratt
Trxvrti cLyyiK'iii kxi oivd^wTruv oaonriQ oLy/ihoi 'Tvyj(,»uov(!tu oi/r;;, ij
xxxvi MR. eland's preface
ragements held out to support the cause of expiring
literature, the names and titles of grammarian and
scholar were applied to those who signalized them-
selves by successful application to the works of
their forefathers.
In the tenth century, the manuscripts, from the
combined effects of time, discord, and superstition,
were either nearly destroyed, or falling quietly into
oblivion. Happily for the lovers of poetry, a person,
known to us by name only, embarked once more in
the undertaking, and saved the vessel that was go-
ino- unnoticed down the stream of time to oblivion.
This person was Constantinus Cephalus, the friend
and relation of the Emperor Leo the Philosopher,
some of whose whimsical productions appear in the
work. How small a share of Hterature and talent
entitled a person in these days to public notice, we
may easily collect from the honourable title con-
ferred on Leo, whose time appears to have been de-
voted to anything" rather than those pursuits from
whence he derived his precedence in name.
Maximus Planudes, a monk of the fourteenth
century, was the last collector. We are not to ex-
pect great excellence of selection in a man of that
age and profession ; and must not be surprised if
many dull and, to say no worse of them, unmeaning
epigrams of his tasteless times have a place in his
TO THE TWO FORMER EDITIONS. XXXVU
work, to the exclusion of others recommended by
elegance and antiquity *.
Pianudes turned with abhorrence from the many
indelicacies that yet disgraced the work ; and, as
Lascaris says of him in his Preface, " Non magis
disposuit, quam mutilavit, et, ut ita dicam, castravit
hunc librum, detractis lascivioribus epigrammatis ;
ut ipse gloriatur."
To this imperfect and tasteless abridgement the
scholars of Europe were referred until the seven-
teenth century ; and this might have been added to
the number of instances on record, where abridge-
ments have survived their originals, had not a youth
of Burgundy, the pride and wonder of the age in
which he lived, rescued the parent collection from
total oblivion.
Claude de Saumaise, well known to us by the name
of Salmasius, was one of those original and hardy
geniuses of the sixteenth and beginning of the seven-
teenth centuries who braved the terrors of religious
persecution, and embraced tenets rather from con-
viction than the fashion of the times. His mother
was a Protestant, and had infused into his mind her
• The Edilio Princeps of this Antholog'ia was that of Janus
Lascaris, accompaniccl by a Greek Prologue of the editor, and a
Latin Epistle to Pietro de' Medici, printed at Florence, August,
1192.
xxxviii MR. eland's preface
notions on points of faith with such assiduity, that,
after a residence in Paris of two or three years, he
fled from that city to Heidelberg, for the express
purpose of enjoying in freedom his religious opi-
nions. It was at the age of fourteen that, under
the escort of some merchants who were going to
Frankfort fair, he reached the capital of the Pala-
tinate, with recommendatory letters to all the learned
there from Isaac Casaubon, with whom he had be-
come intimate at Paris. To oblige his father, he
studied civil law under Gothofredus. But his own
inclination induced him to avail himself of the per-
mission granted him of perusing the books contained
in the library of the Palatinate. To accomplish this
purpose, he sat up every third night, and was already
pronounced by Casaubon "ad miraculum doctus."
His time was employed in comparing printed edi-
tions with their MSS., and in transcribing the MSS.
not hitherto printed.
He soon discovered that Maximus Planudes had
been unfaithful in the oflice he had undertaken ;
and put together that collection, which, though un-
published, has ever since been known by the name
of Salmasian, and constantly referred to by succeed-
ing commentators.
Various causes prevented Salmasius from pub-
lishing his favourite work. Towards the close of life
TO THE TWO FORMER EDITIONS. XXXIX
he was in great estimation among the sovereigns of
Europe, and, on his return from Sweden, was un-
fortunately engaged to undertake the defence of the
unhappy House of Stuart, which called down upon
him the retaliation of Milton, with whom he was in
no respect qualified to measure lances. Thus elated
by the attentions of the great, and humbled in a
contest with one who was then regarded as compa-;
ratively an obscure individual, his mind fluctuated
between the extremes of grandeur and debasement,
and seems for ever to have lost that firm serenity,
that just appreciation of its own powers, which
neither aims at things beyond its grasp, nor sacri-
fices, to a temporary repulse, the pursuit in which
it was formed to excel from inclination and experi-
ence.
* [Within the last century, however, others arose to
complete the task which Salmasius left imperfectly
accomplished. Various MSS. in almost all the
great public libraries of Europe, contained multi-
tudes of Epigrams which had been rejected by or
unknown to Planudes; many of them such as he
certainly could not be imagined to have cast aside
from any of the conscientious scruples above alluded
to. The great Dictionary of Suidas, also, and other
* The part included within brackets was added to the original
Preface in the Edition of 1813.— J. H. M.
xl MR. eland's preface
similar magazines of ancient literature, had pre-
served numbers, either entire, or in fragments, which
are to be found in none of those existing MSS. and
the sources of which are now no longer to be traced.
From this mass of materials Brunck undertook to sup-
ply the deficiencies of all former editions of the An-
thology ; and his''Analecta,"corrected and perfected
with all the industry and learning for which his name
is so deservedly eminent, form the text of the later
and very superior edition which has been since given
to the world by Jacobs. The "Analecta," however,
comprise, besides the numerous legitimate additions
to the Anthology of Planudes already mentioned, a
great quantity of the works of the minor Grecian
poets, who are not, strictly speaking, entitled to a
place among the Poets of the Anthology ; and this
is avowed by Jacobs to have been his principal mo-
tive for o-ivino; a new edition of Brunck, in which
all extraneous matter was to be omitted, in pre-
ference to publishing simply a commentary upon
Brunck 's whole text. This intention being ex-
pressed in the very outset of his Preface, it appears
strangely inconsistent in him to have retained the
Lyrics and Elegiacs of Simonides, the Fragments of
Archilochus and Bacchylides, the Hymns of Proclus,
&c. while he rejected the greater proportion of the
Elegiac, Gnomic, Lyric, and Pastoral Poems which
TO THE TWO FORMER EDITIONS. xU
formed so large a part of Brunck's publication. He
surely might have retained the whole, if he retained
any part ; and he does not assign the shadow of a
sufficient reason for making such a selection.
The conduct of both these Editors of the Antho-
logy being so arbitrary in this respect, there seems
to be no apology necessary on the part of an English
translator, who has considered himself as not con-
fined exclusively even within the widest of the limits
which they have prescribed ; and the fragments of
dramatic writers, and even the few extracts from the
great tragedians which will be found in the ensuing
pages, may, it is hoped, defend their intrusion upon
pleas at least as good as any that can be adduced in
favour of Theocritus, Sappho, or Anacreon.
To return to the editions of the Anthology : Ja-
cobs's is the latest, and incomparably the best. It
proceeds (as I have said before,) on the text, and
retains the paging, of Brunck ; and all the numeri-
cal references in the following Work are made to the
same text. Whenever the sense of any of the pieces,
which I selected for translation, appeared to require
explanation, I have also made free use of the assist-
ance which his annotations furnish towards it.
A considerable portion of the Anthologia still re-
mained in its inedited state after Brunck and Jacobs
liad ransacked all the libraries to which they had
xlii MR. bland's preface
access, for the sake of giving the whole to the pub-
lic. A splendid MS. known by the name of the
Vatican, and now in the Imperial library at Paris,
seems to have been untouched by them ; and it is
said to contain some hundreds of Epigrams by the
oldest and best poets of the Anthology, which are
not to be found in either Brunck or Jacobs. Several
of these have been subsequently edited by Huschke,
in a small volume entitled "Analecta Critica;" but
the best and fullest account of the MS. which con-
tains them is to be found in the "Melanges de Cri-
tique et de Philologie, par S. Chardon de la Ro-
chette, 3 tomes, Paris, 1812," which contains also
a few of the Epigrams themselves, with the conjec-
tural emendations and notes of the very learned and
sensible writer. We also learn, from that Work, that
M. Chardon himself has, for a great many years
past, been engaged in the design of giving to the
world a new edition of the Anthology, to comprise
all that ought strictly to be comprised under the
term, and of course the whole of the yet unexhaust-
ed treasures of this Vatican MS. The revolution of
France, he says, interrupted the execution of this
design, but he gives reason to believe that he has
since resumed it ; and if our hopes of the whole
Work are well founded upon these few specimens,
there is reason to expect at last a perfect collection
TO THE TWO FORMER EDITIONS. xliii
of all those pieces of fugitive poetry, the history of
which, and of their early assemblage and subsequent
dispersion, has been hastily and imperfectly sketch-
ed in the preceding pages. To this late publication
of M. Chardon, it will be seen that I am under ob-
ligations, upon other grounds, besides that of its
having afforded me the information, which I have
here communicated, respecting the '' Anthologia
inedita."]
I cannot conclude without slightly noticing the
principal sources from which (besides the Antho-
logia,) the materials of the ensuing Work have been
collected. The first is Athenoeus, who was an
Egyptian, a native of Naucratos, and flourished in
the third century. From his extraordinary powers
of memory, and from the extensive learning which
his works display, he has acquired and merited the
title of the Grecian Varro. Of these works, which
were numerous, that of the " Deipnosophists " only
remains to us, and is alone sufficient to support his
character and justify his pre-eminence. To us, at
least, it is rendered a most invaluable treasure by
the quotations it contains from celebrated works of
esteemed authors, and from authors whose names
alone would have survived to us but for the frag-
ments which it preserves. He conveys information,
in the most pleasing way, on the most interesting
xliv MR. eland's preface
subjects, the customs, manners, and opinions of the
Greeks ; and we are likewise indebted to him for
several of the poems which the later collectors have
inserted in the Anthologia.
Joannes Stobseus was so called from the place of
his birth, Stobae, in Macedonia. His age is not pre-
cisely ascertained, but has been conjectured by
Heeren, his commentator, to have been about the
end of the fourth, and beginning of the fifth cen-
turies. He was also a collector of an Anthologia,
but on a very different principle from any hitherto
mentioned. The instruction of a favourite son was
the scope of his labours ; and to this we are indebt-
ed for both the collections which we have under his
name, but which, in all probability, were but sepa-
rate parts of the same work. They consist of ex-
tracts from the most excellent philosophers and mo-
ral dramatic writers of Greece. To a work contain-
ing the united wisdom of the best ages of antiquity
and the most beautiful poetry which the vigorous
genius of Athens ever produced, the title of a well-
arranged common-place book is perhaps now the
strongest recommendation that can be given ; and
to such praise are the books of Stobseus entitled.
Fragments of near three hundred writers are pre-
served by him, of whom the greatest number have
so nearly suffered their final dissolution, that no ves"
TO THE TWO FORMER EDITIONS. xlv
tiges of them remain anywhere else ; particularly
those of the many comic writers of Menander's
school, which (perhaps beyond any other circum-
stances,) tend to make us regret the cruel depreda-
tions of time. I shall, in the course of my present
undertaking, present a few of these in an English
dress. — Their serious and moral turn, united to a
force and energy of expression which entitles them
to a very high poetical estimation, will afford a pleas-
ino- variety from the lighter and more alluring lays
of Meleager, Agathius, and Antipater.
The name of Menander, from the praises lavished
on him by his contemporaries, suggests to our mind
the most complete model of gaiety that any poet
before or since his time has presented. We are en-
titled, from the universal assent of the ancients, to
expect this quality in a writer, to whom it was said so
eminently to belong. But time has revelled on the
noble image of Menander ; it has preyed on all that
was inviting in his aspect, and spared little else than
his frowns, wrinkles, and deformities. What a proof
does it present to our mind of the instability of
fame, when we find that the very character of this
celebrated bard has undergone so entire a revolu-
tion j and that of his voluminous works, the monu-
ments by which lie vainly hoped to be immortalized,
only fragments enough remain to present to our
xlvi MR. eland's preface
view the very reverse of that which they were de-
signed to perpetuate !
Even this poet, gloomy and melancholy as he
now appears, was once, according to Pliny, " omnis
luxuricB interpres ;" in the language of Plutarch,
" the constant worshiper, the chief priest of the
God of Love, who, like some universal spirit, per-
vaded and connected all his works." Yet his love
was so refined and his voluptuousness so guarded by
delicacy, that he was placed, without scruple or dan-
ger, in the hands of youths and virgins :
Fabula jucundi nulla est sine amore Menandri,
Et solet hie pueris \-irginib usque legi. — Ovid. '
Many ages after his death, a statue was erected
to his memory, and placed by the side of the image
of Cupid.
Two or three Epigrams, made upon this statue,
are preserved, which display, in the figurative and
forcible language of his countrymen, the estimation
in which he was held, and give him a distinguished
rank among the gay and amorous poets of antiquity.
" In supporting the characters of fathers, sons,
husbands, soldiers, peasants, the rich and the poor,
the violent and the gentle, Menander surpassed all
in consistency, and by the brilliance of his imagery
threw every rival into the shade." Such is the cha-
TO THE TWO FORMER EDITIONS. xlvii
racter given of him by Quintilian. The natural par-
tiality of Caesar for his countrymen only permits him
to give a secondary place to Terence, the imitator of
the elegant, but not of the witty, Grecian. Ausonius
couples our poet with Homer ; and he is extolled by
all those who had access to his works, with an en-
thusiasm not inferior to that with which the name
of the prince of poets is mentioned.
I have heard that a great English orator, now
livino*, the only scholar who has made the style of
Demosthenes his own, and adapted it to present
politics and the events of the times, has frequently
declared his opinion, founded on the specimens of
our poet which yet remain, and the praises of all the
discernino- ancients, that the loss of his dramas is
more to be deplored than of any other ancient writ-
ino-s whatever. The real Menander is departed from
us ; and all the praises of antiquity, and the regret
of subsequent ages, resemble only the rich mantle
which wraps the corpse of a monarch, or the frank-
incense which burns upon his pile !
A few relics, among those of lesser note yet re-
maining, (which like the bones of some giant picked
* That is, in the year 1806, when this Preface was printed. In
the Edition of 1813 the words " now no more " were substitntcd in
the place of "now living." It is almost unnecessaiy to add that
Fox was the orator alluded to. — J. H. M.
xlviii MR. eland's preface
up in the field, once the theatre of his exploits,
cannot be fitted to any other than the huge body
to which they belonged,) give us some idea of the
vastness of Menander. — But " quantum mutatus
ab illo!" Where are the perfumes, the breathings
of gallantry and tenderness, the sprightly sallies of
wit, and all the apparatus and circumstances of love,
youth, and delight, that conveyed and recommend-
ed Morality to the gay and thoughtless, by attiring
her in a dress that enamoured her beholders ? That
his aim was morality, is evident from the praises
bestowed on him by Plutarch and other writers.
This end he kept in view, " unmixed with baser
matter," and by a sort of UeidavayKr], by an equal
exertion of force and persuasion, commanded the
hearts of his readers and auditors. And yet the
fragments that have come down to us stamp him
with the character of morose, sarcastic, and queru-
lous. But these sentiments were put by him into
the mouths of characters whom he designed to hold
up to detestation or ridicule; — and what remains of
him does not mark so strongly his own peculiar ge-
nius, as the taste of those selectors who have chosen
his words to illustrate their own ideas. Thus to
the saturnine and melancholy selector we owe the
survival of the sad, peevish, and infantine complaints
on the many sorrowful items " which flesh is heir
TO THE TWO FOKMER EDITIONS. xllX
to," and which, instead of offering an alleviation to
the evils we suffer, tend to aggravate their load and
debilitate the bearer. On the other hand, the stri-
kingly moral passages with which his works abound-
ed alone causht the attention of the fathers of the
primitive church, who found in the Greek comedian
a strain of piety so nearly approaching to their own
belief and feelings, that all ideas of a preponderance
of satire over moral precept must yield to evidence
so irresistible as the approbation of Clemens Alex-
andrinus and Eusebius. In short, it is from these
two sources alone, the writings of the melancholy
and of the religious man, that we are furnished
with our specimens of the great Menander. Happy
were it for us, and for posterity, had the gay, the
lively, and the witty, finished the portrait of the bard,
by transmitting to after ages examples that would
have enabled us to measure him by the standards of
humour, sprightliness, and fancy.
The superiority of the Grecian dramatists was
felt and acknowledged by their Roman imitators
and admirers ; and Cicero frequently reprobates the
prevailing partiality of his countrymen for these fo-
reign authors. He supposes a Roman thus to object
to his arguments : " Shall I toil through the Syne-
phebi of Caecilius, and the Andria of Terence, when
I may as easily read the same plays in Menander?"
c
1 MR. eland's preface
The answer of Cicero is not very convincing, nor
likely to turn the scale in favour of the Roman stage.
Menander was drowned in the harbour of Piraeus
(A. C. 293), at a time of life when he had done
enough for immortality, but while the powers of his
mind were yet unimpaired by age, and his genius
sufficiently ardent to do still more. He is said to
have thrown himself into the sea in a fit of jealousy,
occasioned by his unfortunate competition with Phi-
lemon, his contemporary in the Middle Comedy. He
was vanquished, as Aulus Gellius asserts, by the
superior interest rather than talents of his success-
ful rival ; and the same writer relates that, meet-
ing Philemon shortly after the contest had been de-
cided, he asked him, ''if he did not blush at gain-
ing the prize against him?" Menander is to be
classed in the melancholy list of great men to whom
the jealousy, bad taste, or intrigues of the times in
which they lived, denied justice, and to whose names
fame and honour were attached when they no longer
lived to enjoy them.
By a strange fatality, a great proportion of the
writers of antiquity were thus prematurely cut off
from existence. Euripides and Heraclitus were torn
to pieces by dogs. Theocritus ended his career by
the halter. Empedocles was lost in the crater of
Mount Etna. Hesiod was murdered by his secret
TO THE TWO FORMER EDITIONS. II
enemies; Archilochus and Ibycus by banditti. Sap-
pho threw herself from a precipice. iEschylus pe-
rished by the fall of a tortoise. Anacreon (as might
be expected) owed his death to the fruit of the vine.
Cratinus and Terence experienced the same fate with
Menander. Seneca and Lucan were condemned to
death by a tyrant, cut their veins, and died repeat-
ino- their own verses ; and Petronius Arbiter met a
similar catastrophe. Lucretius, it is said, wrote under
the delirium of a philter administered by his mis-
tress, and destroyed himself from its effects. Poison,
though swallowed under very different circumstances,
cutshort the days both of Socrates and Demosthenes;
and Cicero fell under the proscription of the Trium-
virate. It is truly wonderful that so many men, the
professed votaries of peace and retirement, should
have met with fates so widely different from that to
which the common casualties of life should seem to
expose them.
Of Philemon, the successful rival of Menander,
we know but little. He seems to have passed his
life in the exercise of those social virtues which se-
cure to a man the affection of intimates, but have
little tendency to advance him to notice. These
peaceful virtues would probably have consigned the
comic poet to obscurity, had not his exigencies call-
ed out the powers he possessed to surmount those
c 2
lii MK. BLAND S PREFACE
obstacles which his inchnution had opposea, and
pushed him into active hfe. His ears could not
have been deaf to the plaudits conferred on his per-
formances, and some sparks of ambition must have
been kept alive by perpetual rivalry with the great
master of the sock.
We have a picture of Sterne, drawn by himself,
in the attitude of feeding an ass with macaroons :
" And at this moment," says that sprightly and
whimsical writer, " that I am telling it, my heart
smites me that there was more of pleasantry in the
conceit of seeing how an ass would eat a macaroon,
than of benevolence in giving him one, which pre-
sided in the act." It would be hard to say what
figure an ass would make while thus engaged ; but
we are told by Valerius Maximus, that a similar
entertainment caused the death of Philemon. This
poet, on entering a room to refresh himself with
some fi2:s, observed that an ass had been before-
hand with him, and was leisurely devouring them
one by one. Philemon, wishing to complete the
repast, courteously ordered a slave to present his
dumb guest with a goblet of wine. This curious
symposium provoked the comedian to such a degree
of laughter, that he was suffocated in the struggle.
Every anecdote of Philemon, down to the tragi-
comic one which closed his existence, recommends
TO THE TWO FORMER EDITIONS. liil
him to our esteem. He is said to have possessed
infinite good-humour ; and to the ease and gaiety
of his manners and amiable character he was, pro-
bably, more indebted for his many triumphs over
Menander, than to any superiority as a writer.
* [Everything seems to have been so well tempered
within him, all violent and malignant passions to
have been held in such perfect subjection, and all
the more engaging and estimable qualities to have
been allowed such free indulgence, that his consti-
tution suffered no violence from pent-up emotions,
and his body no diminution of vigour from the jar-
ring, gloomy or furious elements of his mind. He
did not indulge in the luxuries of the table, which,
as they pamper, irritate and inflame, are, at least,
one of the sources from which the most dangerous
disorders of temper, intellect, and constitution, de-
rive their growth. Owing to these causes, he
reached the very advanced age of one hundred and
one years.]
The Fragments of Philemon that have come down
to us bespeak a mind tranquil and unruffled, capa-
ble, from its intimacy with the human heart and all
its intricacies, to dictate what is for the good of
• The passage included between brackets is in the edition of
1806, p. li., but omitted in that of 1813.— J. H. M.
liv MR. eland's preface
mankind, but content with gentle admonition and
persuasion.
I have thus briefly recapitulated what I knew of
a few principal originals from which I have made
translations. Some names, with an occasional re-
mark or an anecdote, will find a place in the notes
subjoined.
* [Something may here be expected from me in
excuse for the number of modern trifles introduced
into the notes, partly on their own account, and
partly for the purpose of illustrating the triflers of
Greece. — They may be said to form a book upon
a book. These happy nothings are principally of
French origin ; and those whose taste is little flat-
tered by the simple soupe a la Grecque, may not
dislike the seasoning of the soupe a la Frangoise.
The names of Moncrif, Chaulieu, Racine, J. B.
Rousseau, Mad. Deshoulieres, Pannard, the Com-
* The passage included between brackets is added in the edi-
tion of 1813. It must be observed that the greater part of this
added passage will be found inapplicable to the present edition, in
which it has been endeavoured to obviate the too just censure of
a now Right Reverend critic, by leaving out of the Notes all that
he complained of as being, " to speak the truth in the words of
Cicei-o — otio et Uteris intemperantcr abiiii." For the remainder
of the critical remarks included between these brackets, the Editor
begs not to be considered as wishing to render himself entirely
responsible. — J. H. M.
TO THE TWO FORMER EDITIONS. \v
tesse de Murat, Maillard, Boileau and Bernard, are,
it is hoped, sufficient to excuse their introduction,
even though a little forced, into the service of the
ancients. Not to speak of their more important
works, by which many of these names have become
immortal, no modern authors have so gracefully re-
laxed from labour, and none have trifled with equal
playfulness and success. The French madrigal is, be-
sides, the very fac-simile of the old Greek epigram.
In comparing the epigram of the wittiest modern na-
tion with that of Martial, modern times have nothing
to regret. The character of these trifles has never yet
been impressed on English literature, except by the
few imitations of Prior ; and we are reproached to
this day, by the best of their critical writers on
the comparative literature of nations *, with our su-
perfluity of words ; we are said to be yet strangers
to the charm of that definite, close, and-graceful ex-
pression, termed by her " le langage serre." This
language, which she affirms to be utterly unknown
to our prose, and which, with the exception of Gold-
smith, Collins, and Gray, has been banished from
our verse since the sera of Dryden and of Pope, has
now left us altogether. Poetry has, for the first
time, been induced to submit itself to fashion. Man-
• Madame de Stael.
Ivi MR. eland's preface
nerism has become the substitute for character,
oddity for meaning, the infinite and indefinite of
description for thought, and a grotesque jingle for
harmony of numbers. This latter excellence, which
is the very soul of poetry, without which the very
term has no meaning, and which, when allied to the
charm of diction and of style, forms the only distinc-
tive barrier between poetry and prose, this compa-
rative music, so difficult to be elicited from a North-
ern language, which cost the successive effort and
improvement of every great writer, until it reached
its point of perfection in the more finished cadences
to be found scattered at intervals in different parts
of .Dryden, has been voluntarily abandoned, and
again we court a barbarism from which it was so
hard to emerge. Every thought, from the most
pleasing to the most sublime, may find utterance in
unmeasured language. Music, cadence, harmony
alone, exalt the thought, so conceived, to that ex-
cellence which deserves the name and title of poetry.
Those authors who arise so congenial with their
times, that they appear expected and called-for by
the existing modes, habits, and feelings of society,
should remember that, with the passing away of
those times, they pass away also.
These attempts at ancient uncouthness, like the
cements which are at present invented in imitation
TO THE TWO FORMER EDITIONS. Ivii
of stone, may answer their purpose for a period.
A few rains, succeeded by a few frosts, lay open
the imposition in the edifice ; their decay resembles
not that of age ; it claims from us no reverence ; we
cannot respect them in their mouldering state ; it is
the premature decay of youth, accelerated by de-
bauch ; and even in their ruins there is levity and
folly.
To this compliance with fashion we must attribute
the unreasonable eulogies bestowed one year on
writers, who, before the expiration of two lustres,
become unpopular with equal want of reason. Those
only can live, whose feelings and reasonings are so
true and general as to be affected by no artificial pre-
paration in matters of judgement, wit, and taste.
They are ** the men of old," as Rousseau has it,
" living in modern times." But their sentiments
are those of nature, of unyieldino; and unchano'ins:
nature ; and the modern times to come, whose
fashions shall have assumed a new, and possibly a
contrary bent, shall be their advocates and admirers.
" That which good taste has once approved," says
the same author, 'Ss ever good. If it be seldom
fashionable, on the other hand it is never absurd ;
and it derives from the congruity of things sure and
unalterable rules, which remain when the fashions
themselves are no more." True taste, it may be
Iviii MR. eland's preface
added, refuses all accommodation with fashion,
every attempt at a composition or compromise, and
sooner than yield in her pretensions, contents her-
self with obscurity, mitil the times themselves shall
come round and bow to her jurisdiction. The author
who aspires to after ages, should take leave of the
ao-e in which he lives. To be drawn into the vortex
of fashionable writing, is to pass that gate on which
is inscribed
" Voi cLe intrate, lasciate ogni speranza."
The charm of the French madrigal, like that of
the Greek epigram, consists in the perfect adapta-
tion of each word to the impression intended to be
made, the exclusion of synonymes, the rare and
happy epithet, the fine and delicate turn which em-
bellishes a thought trivial and familiar ; and, above
all, in that virtue, which modern English writers
utterly explode, conciseness. The subjects too are
rationally chosen. Here are no tender oglings of a
tuUp, no ecstasies at infantine remembrances, no
prostrations before a butterfly, no melancholy strains
on the neglected virtues of a robin redbreast. The
themes also are not below the level of common un-
derstanding, and, in general, much good sense is
couched beneath the happy trifle.
The scheme of our Work naturally induced some
disquisition into the Fugitive Pieces of ancient and
TO THE TWO rORMER EDITIONS. lix
modern Europe. It now remains for me to notice
an irregularity which nearly affects that translator
whose name appears on the title-page. It will
doubtless appear strange, that, of the two principal
authors, he who has contributed the least portion
of the body of the work, should be most prominent
to the public. While he regrets the necessity, he
has been compelled to yield to the instances of his
associate; and has, at the same time, been induced,
by the representations of their publisher, who ob-
jected to the plan of a book entirely anonymous, to
suffer his own name to appear in a place to which it
is entitled no otherwise than by participation. As the
signatures afSxed to the different metrical pieces
will do but half justice to his friend, it is a duty im-
posed on him, by his consideration for his associate
and for the reader, to declare that this participation
extends, in an equal proportion, to the remainder of
the work.]
To return to the Epigrams. — It has been my en-
deavour to avoid any needless discussion on their
merits. They have had their enemies and protectors.
From bad specimens of the later poets, Lord Ches-
terfield was probably led to utter his interdict against
the whole body. Nay, such was that nobleman's
vivacity in thinking and speaking, that he not im-
probably formed his opinion from a hint dropped in
Ix MR. eland's preface
conversation, and not from any intimate acquaint-
ance with the species of composition which he has
most inconsiderately reviled. A few of His Lord-
ship's admirers caught the idea, and ignorance and
stupidity joined in the hue and cry, led on by
fashion and ability.
On the other hand, they found an admirer them-
selves in Dr. Johnson, who filled up the intervals of
pain, during his last illness, in translating several of
them into Latin. And Mr. Cumberland has pre-
sented us, in his Observer, with some which he has
rendered into our own language, but more particu-
larly Fragments from the Comic Poets.
The estimation in which they were held in the
country which gave them birth, is evinced by the
care taken to preserve them at different periods, and
when the difficulties of collecting and collating were
infinitely greater than among ourselves. But the
mother country knew exactly how to appreciate their
value, by assigning to them the real place which
they were destined to hold with honour. They were
considered in general as pleasing and light pastimes
to the poet and his reader, and no unfair demands
were made upon such modest professions. Since
those days their friends and enemies have equally
conspired against them ; their enemies by accusing
them of a deficiency in point, equivoque, and hu-
TO THE TWO FORMER EDITIONS. Ixi
mour, at which they seldom aim ; their friends, by
indiscriminately praising the whole body, by ad-
vancing them to a degree of consequence for which
they are unfitted, and by venerating what they
should only esteem.
They have stood the test of ages, and while tried
by their own laws were not found wanting. The
charge of simplicity was subject to no penalties or
censures among the Greeks : let us not then impose
laws on them with which they were unacquainted,
and from which they cannot escape uncensured.
But it is time that I put an end to my remarks, lest
I should be numbered among those false friends who
injure the cause which they seem to defend, by di-
lating what had been more seasonably compressed,
and giving dignity to trifles.
PROLOGUE.
Thou little -wTcath, by Fancy twin'd
In Summer's sun and Winter's wind,
lliat thro' an age of deei)est gloom
Hast kept thy fragrance and thy bloom,
Tho' now whole centuries have roll'd.
And nations, since thy birth, grown old.
Ixii PROLOGUE.
Tho' Time have wither'd many a leaf.
And silent Envy play'd the thief.
And clowns have breath'd in evil hour
A poison into thy sweet flower, —
Yet dost thou live — nor tyrants' rage
Hath nipp'd thee quite, nor wars, nor age.
Yet not, as once, the gentle earth
Thou dost adorn that gave thee birth.
When, all unforc'd by pains and toil.
Wild shooting in thy native soil.
The sweetest buds that deck'd the land
Were pluck'd by Meleager's hand.
Who curl'd Anacreon's blushing vine
Around Erinna's eglantine.
And Myro's lilies cull'd, to shade
The roses of the Lesbian Maid,
And pluck'd the myrtle from thy grove,
Callimachus, the sprig of love.
With these my venturous hand shall wreathe
The baleful plants that sadly breathe.
That with a sigh the Tragic Muse
Around her path majestic strews ;
And I will twine, these flowers among,
Menander, prince of comic song !
Pluck'd from thy many garlands bright,
So charming once and new to sight,
Some honours spar'd by age and clime.
That live to grace an after-time.
Our unavailing sorrows mourn
Tlay roses pale, thy lilies torn ;
PROLOGUE. Ixiii
Thy garden rifled of its bloom,
Thy violets robb'd of their perfume :
Thy gaudy tulips now have lost
Tlieir smiles by many a chilling frost ;
Thy Spring's rich wardrobe now is scant ;
And now some sad and wintery plant.
Some wither'd shrub of power maUgn,
Of all that grac'd thy garden fine
Remains of thee, or sickly yew,
"Where buds of heavenly fragrance grew.
Or mourner cypress spreads a shade.
Or plant of Daphne, hapless maid !
Yet, 'mid the melancholy night.
Some scatter'd honours give delight.
And here and there a rose is found
Neglected on the chilly ground.
And a chance lily sheds its snow
Beneath the darker shrubs of woe.
Oh, not as erst, thou modest wreath,
Shalt thou of all thy fragrance breathe !
Oh, not as erst, when Genius knew
To give thy colours to the view.
And Taste was ready to display
The flowers that fell in Fancy's way !
For zephyrs soft that fann'd thy youth,
How wilt thou meet the gale uncouth ?
Torn from a genial Summer's smile.
How wilt thou bear a northern isle ?
Far from thy home and native sky.
Meek stranger, wilt thou live or die ? B.
Ixiv EPILOGUE.
EPILOGUE.
'Tis past — and o'er her laurels torn
The Queen of Nations bends to mourn.
The Nurse of heroes crouches low.
Slave to a base ignoble foe.
Seas, where triumphant fleets unfurl'd
Their banners that o'eraw'd the world.
Lands peopled by the wise and brave.
Abode of patriots and their grave.
Fields, where the early Muse awoke.
And tuneful reeds the silence broke,
Mountains (retreat of gods), and vales
That give their fragrance to the gales,
Rivers, from steepy heights that fell.
Where, tenants of each sparry cell.
Beneath your waters fring'd with flowers
The Nymphs of Fountains pass'd their hours,
While on your margin stretch'd along
The poet dream'd or tun'd his song.
At which the Dryads would appear,
And sylvan boys run out to hear ; —
Dim are your glories, sunk your name.
And all has perish'd but the fame
That never shall thro' time decay.
While nations rise and melt away.
EPILOGUE. ]>
XV
Fraught with the treasures of the past.
As years to years succeeding haste,
"WTiat the' in ev'ry age we trace
A moral for the coming race.
In vain we backward cast our eyes
On follies, crimes, and miseries.
From war and havoc shrink in vain,
And aU is acted o'er again.
Dead are the bards — but li^ing lays
Resound and tell of early days.
And still the trembling chords prolong
Untouch'd the power of ancient song ;
Dear is their minstrelsy, that floats
In solemn, sweet, and liquid notes,
Tliat registers the orphan's sigh.
The plighted lover's peijury.
The pride of riches and of power.
The mirthful, and the mournful hour ;
That paints the virgin in her bloom.
The triumph, banquetj and the tomb.
The deeds of mighty chiefs, who broke
The tyrant's chain, and spurn'd his yoke,
And then by Beauty's arms subdued
Were led in willing servitude.
Dear are the records that unfold
The pleasures and the cares of old,
And bid us in the past descry
The visions of Futurity. B.
TABLE OF AUTHORS.
^SCHYLTJS page 93
AlCcEus 27
Alcaeus (Mess.) 187
Alcman 39
Alexander {Mt.) 173
Anacreon 41
Antagoras 152
Antipater 201, 238
Anyte 115
Aratus 146
Archilochus 1
Arion 10
Ariphron 89
Aristotle 91, 109
Asclepiades 121
Bacchylides 75
Bias 83
Bion 164
Callimachus 174
Callistratus 84
Cleobulus 53
Damagetes 195
Dioscorides 190
Diotimiis 143
Empedocles 95
Erinna 23
Euenus 96
Euphorion 148
Hedylus 184
Hegesippus 147, 238
Hemiodorus 154
Hybrias 88
Ibycus 37
Leonidas 127
Melanippides poge 40
Meleager 210
Menecrates 181
Metrodorus 199
Mnasalcus 110
Moschus 167
Myro 118
Nicaenetus 171
Nicias 141
Nossis 113
Pamphilus 150
Pancrates 151
Perses 194
Phaedimus 153
Phaennus 149
Pittacus 82
Plato 100
Polystratus 193
Posidippus 198
Rhianus 182
Samius 186
Sapplio 12
Scol/a [various) 81
Simmias (Rhod.) 120
Simmias (Theb.) 99
Simonides 54
Speusippus 108
Stesicliorus 33
Theocritus 155
Theodoridas 197
Tiraocreon 90
Tymneus 191
Uncertain Authors 239
HMI2V MEr ^TXHS ETI TO HNEON.
(Callimachus.)
STANZAS FROM BYRON.
" The isles of Greece, the isles of Greece !
"Where burning Sappho lov'd and sung,
Where grew the arts of war and peace, —
Where Delos rose, and Phoebus sprung !
Eternal summer gilds them yet.
But aU, except their sun, is set.
" The Scian and the Teian muse.
The hero's harp, the lover's lute.
Have found the fame your shores refuse ;
Their place of birth alone is mute
To sounds which echo further West
Than your sires' Islands of the Blest.
" Fill high the bowl with Samian wine !
We will not think of themes like these ;
It made Anacreon's song divine :
He serv'd — but serv'd Polycrates —
A tyrant — but our masters then
Were still, at least, our countrymen.
" Fill high the bowl with Samian wine !
Our virgins dance beneath the shade —
I see their glorious black eyes shine ;
But, gazing on each glowing maid.
My own the burning tear-drojD laves,
To think such breasts must suckle slaves.
" Place me on Sunium's marbled steep.
Where notliing, save the waves and I,
May hear our mutual murmurs sweep :
There, swan-like, let me sing and die :
A land of slaves shall ne'er be mine —
— Dash down your cup of Samian wine ! "
COLLECTIONS.
PART L
CONTAINING SPECIMENS OF THE EARLY LYRIC POETS.
ARCHILOCHUS.*
J. HE name of Archilochus is deservedly placed at the head
of this Collection, as not only the earliest in date, but one
of the foremost in celebrity, of those commemorated by
Meleager as forming a part of his Wreath, or Crown, of
Flowers, in the fanciful Prologue already noticed. A distich
is there assigned him, descriptive alike of the pungency of
his satire and the scarcity of the remnants of his poetn-,
under the emblem of a Thistle.
'Ev Se Kal e/c 0Of}/3^s ffKoXioTpixos dvOos dKavQhs
'Apy^ikoxov, jiiKpas (rrpayyas an ojKeavov.
To the account which is given of him in almost every
Biographical Dictionary, beginning with Bayle, by whom
* Jacobs, Anth. Graec. Lips. 1794, Tom. i. p. 40 et seq.
B
ARCHILOCHUS.
his name is connected with abundance of learned though
whimsical illustration, little in substance will be found to
have been added by the industry of his most learned com-
mentators, — amongst whom it is enough to refer to the
" Recherches sur la Vie et sur les Ouvrages d'Archiloque,"
contained in the " Memoires de I'Academie des Inscrip-
tions," t. xiv. p. 55, and to the late edition of his Works by
Liebel (Lips. 1812). Of the many poetical compositions
ascribed to him, we possess, with the exception of a single
Epigram, comprised in a distich of antique simplicity, only
a few scattered fragments ; some elegiac — but mostly lyri-
cal, and in the rapid trochaic measure, which in the ensuing
versions it has been generally attempted to preserve : no-
thing, however, or next to nothing, that appears to justify
the character assigned to him, and which we must presume
to have been merited by his lost Iambics.
With respect to chronology, Archilochus is placed by
Tatian, (see Clinton, Fasti Hellenici, vol. i. p. 296,) as
having flourished about the twenty-third Olympiad, cor-
responding with the year 688 B. C, towards the end of
the reign of Gyges king of Lydia ; that is to say, about
five hundred years later than the date commonly ascribed
to the Trojan war, and two hundred years previous to the
battle of Marathon.
The memorial of his Hfe, so far as is necessary to the ex-
planation of the few fragments of his works which remain
to us, may be reduced to the compass of the following
facts. He was born at Paros, of one of the noblest families
in that island, whence he emigrated, at the age of twenty,
to Thasos, on the occasion of the foundation of a colony of
Parians, an event which Herodotus has recorded. He is
ARCHILOCHUS. 6
among the first on the long list of soldier-poets ; and, in
the course of his military career, an event happened to him
in the loss of his shield, which seems to have exposed liim
to the sarcasm of some of his contemporaries, and which
forms the subject of an allusion in one of his ensuing Frag-
ments. His marriage with Neobule, daughter of Lycambes,
— which, as some say, proceeded no further than to a mere
contract, broken by the avarice of the father — is a circum-
stance rendered memorable by the strange story attached
to it of poetical vengeance, and of its fatal consequences.
Horace, who made the writings of Archilochus, in liis time
extant, the subject both of his study and imitation, more
than once alludes to this singular catastrophe ; but in all
that now survives of the poet we find, besides a few dis-
jointed fragments, to which the ingenuity of commentators
has been appUed in detecting fancied allusions, only a single
line containing any clear reference to the connexion which
gave rise to it; and that line the exclamation, not of a
furious satirist, but of a tender and passionate lover.
El yap ws
eiiol yevoiTO x^'P" 'Seol3ov\i]S Qiye'iv.
All that remams to be said in this place is, that the poet
appears to have led a life of poverty and misfortune ; the
cause, perhaps, at once, and consequence, of the malevo-
lent humour for which he is so distinguished.
B -2
ARCHILOCHUS.
FRAGMENTS.
[N.B. The figures prefixed to each poem denote the number in the
Original Text.
The pieces marked with an asterisk (*) are those already published,
with the number of the page annexed, in the edition of 1813.]
I. (1,6,7.) FROM AN ELEGY ON A SHIPWRECK.
*p. 179. M.
Loud are our griefs, my friend ; and vain is lie
Would steep the sense in mirth and revelry.
O'er those we mourn the hoarse-resounding wave
Hath clos'd, and whelm'd them in their ocean grave.
Deep sorrow swells each breast. But Heaven bestows
One healing med'cine for severest woes,
— Resolv'd endurance — for Affliction pours
To all by turns, — today the cup is ours.
Bear bravely, then, the common trial sent.
And cast away your womanish lament !
Ah ! had it been the will of Heav'n to save
His honour'd reliques fi-om a nameless grave !
Had we but seen th' accustom'd flames aspire,
And wrap his corse in purifying fire !
Yet what avails it to lament the dead .''
Say, will it profit aught to shroud our head,
And wear away in grief the fleeting hours.
Rather than 'mid bright nymphs in rosy bowers }
ARCHILOCHUS. O
II. (3.) ON THE LOSS OF HIS SHIELD, m.
The foe-man glories in my shield —
I left it on the battle field ;
I threw it doAAni beside th^wood,
Unscath'd by scars, unstain'd with blood.
And let him glory ! Since, from death
Escap'd, I keep my forfeit breath,
I soon may find, at little cost,
As good a shield as that I 've lost.
III. (4.) THE CLOSE FIGHT. m.
Bows will not avail thee.
Darts and slings will fail thee.
When Mars tumultuous rages
On wide embattled land.
Then with faulchions clashing.
Eyes with fury flashing,
Man with man engages
In combat, hand to hand.
But most Euboea's chiefs are known,
Marshal'd hosts of spearmen leading
To conflict whence is no receding,
To make this — war's best art — their own.
IV. (.5.) CONVIVIAL. c. m.
Come then, my friend, and seize the flask.
And while the deck around us rolls.
Dash we the cover from the cask.
And crown with wine our flowing bowls.
6 ARCHILOCHUS.
While the deep hold is tempest-tost,
We 11 strain bright nectar from the lees
For, tho' our freedom here be lost.
We drink no water on the seas.
V. (9.) A PAIR OF MILITARY PORTRAITS, m.
Boast me not your valiant captain,
strutting fierce with measur'd stride.
Glorying in his well-trimm'd beard, and
wavy ringlets' cluster' d pride.
Mine be he that 's short of stature,
firm of foot, with curved knee ;
Heart of oak in limb and feature,
and of courage bold and free.
VI. (10.) RICHES AND POWER. m.
For Gyges' wealth let others care.
Gold is nothing to me ;
Envy of another's share
Never shall undo me.
Nothing that the Gods decree
Moves my special wonder ;
And as for boastful tyranny —
We 're too far asunder.
ARCHILOCHUS.
VII. (11.) THE MIND OF MAN. ai.
The mind of man is such as Jove
Ordains by his immortal will,
WTio moulds it in his courts above.
His heav'nly purpose to fulfil.
VIII. (13.) THE STORM. m.
Behold, my Glaucus ! how the deep
Heaves, while the sweeping billows howl.
And round the promontory steep
The big black clouds portentous scowl.
With thunder fraught and lightning's glare,
While Terror rules, and wild Despair.
IX. (14, 15.) MORAL. m.
Soul ! O Soul ! when round thee whelming
cares like mountain surges close.
Patient bear their mighty rage, and
with thy strength their strength oppose.
Be a manly breast your bulwark,
your defence firm-planted feet ;
So the serried line of hostile
spears with calm composure meet.
Yet in Vict'ry's golden hour,
raise not your proud vaunts too high ;
8 ARCHILOCHUS.
Nor, if vanquish'd, meanly stooping
pierce with loud lament the sky :
But in prosp'rous fortune so re-
joice, and in reverses mourn.
As well knowing what is destin'd
for the race of woman born.
Leave the gods to order all things :
often from the gulf of woe
They exalt the poor man grov'ling
in the gloomy shades below ;
Often turn again, and prostrate
lay in dust the loftiest head.
Dooming him thro' life to wander,
reft of sense, and wanting bread.
X. (16.) THE ECLIPSE. m.
Never man again may swear
tilings still shall be as erst they were ;
Never more in wonder stare,
since Jove the Olympian thunderer
Bade the sun's meridian splendour
hide in shades of thickest night ;
While th' affrighted nations started,
trembling at the fearful sight.
Who shall dare to doubt hereafter
whatsoever man may say?
Who refuse with stupid laughter
credence to the wildest lay .^
ARCHfLOCHUS. 9
Tho' for pasture dolphins ranging,
leap the hills, and scour the wood.
And fierce wolves, their nature changing,
dive beneath th' astonish'd flood.
XI. (17, 18, 19.) ON LIFE AND DEATH. ji.
Jove sits in highest Heav'n, and opes the springs.
To man, of monstrous and forbidden things.
Death seals the fountains of reward and fame :
Man dies, and leaves no guardian of his name.
Applause awaits us only whde we live.
While we can honour take, and honour give :
Yet were it base for man, of woman born.
To mock the naked ghost with jests or scom.
XII. (21,22.) THE ISLAND THASOS. m.
Like the sharp back-bone of an ass it stood,
That rugged Isle, o'ergrown with shaggy wood.
No verdant grot, no lawn for poet's dream.
Is there, like those by Siris' pleasant stream.
B O
10 ARION.
ARION.*
The fabulous history of Anon, and his preservation on the
back of a dolphin, is familiar to every reader. The follow-
ing Hymn is quoted and attributed to him by ^Elian (de
Nat. Anim. xii. 45), who has also preserved a distich on
the same subject, which he affirms to have been inscribed
on a statue of the poet. Great doubt has been thrown on
its authenticity, by the circumstance of the statue having
been mentioned, without notice of any inscription, by He-
rodotus and others ; and neither inscription nor hymn can
well be regarded in any other light than apocryphal. The
principal poem, however, is at least deserving of the reve-
rence due to great, though uncertain, antiquity ; and we
have followed Jacobs in the chronological order here as-
signed to it.
THE HYMN OF ARION. c. m.
Hail, Neptune, greatest of the gods !
Thou ruler of the salt sea floods :
Thou with the deep and dark- green hair.
That dost the golden trident bear :
* Jacobs, torn. i. p. 48.
ARION. 11
Thou that with either arm outspread
Embosomest the earth we tread :
Thine are the beasts with fins and scales
That, round thy chariot, as it sails.
Plunging and tumbling, fast and free.
All reckless follow o'er the sea.
Thine are the gentle dolphin throng.
That love and listen to the song ;
With whom the sister Nereids stray.
And in their cr}'stal caverns play.
They bore me well to Pelops' isle.
And Sparta's rocky mountain-pile ;
And thro' the deep Sicilian sea,
The briny champain plough' d for me ;
When wicked men had cast me o'er
Our vessel's side, into the roar
Of clashing waters, and a grave
Yawn'd for me in the purple wave.
12 SAPPHO.
SAPPHO.*
Of this great poetess, besides tlie immortal fragment, and
the Hymn to Venus, rendered familiar to the English reader
by the versions of Ambrose Philips, nothing of importance
in any degree commensurate with her fame has been pre-
served to us. As respects those exquisite reliques, we
might perhaps have been excused from adding to the num-
ber of attem^Dts which have been subsequently made to give
the English reader a more correct impression of their ini-
mitable beauties. All such endeavours must more or less
partake the character of decided failures, since the graces
of the original, principally residing in the inexpressible
charm of language, are of a nature essentially untrans-
latable. But, although their cliief, these are not their only
excellencies ; and that they possess others which are more
within the scope of imitation, may be held a sufficient apo-
logy for a new ti'ial.
It remains to be said, for the sake of chronological me-
thod, that the date assigned as that of the sera at which
Sappho flourished is B.C. 610, more than seventy years
later than Archilochus, and fifty before Anacreon ; and con-
sequently that her reputed amour with the latter poet is to
be classed among the splendid fictions, the " magnanime
mensogne" of early romance, having perhaps the poet Her-
* Sapphonis Fragmenta. (Museum Criticuiii, vol. i. p. 1.)
SAPPHO.
13
mesianax, who lived about three hundred years after her,
for its inventor.
Tlie only portions of Sappho's poetry received by Jacobs
into his Anthology are three Epigrams, neither of them pos-
sessing any extraordinary merit. The Ode and Fragments
are all excluded, though upon what principle of selection it
is difficult to imagine, since the lyrical fragments of other
ancient poets have been retained. The order obserA'ed in
the following versions is that of Bishop Blomfield, in the
Museum Criticum, which has been adopted for reference,
as exhibiting the most correct, as well as the completest,
edition of the works of this poetess ; comparing it, how-
ever, with that by Volger (1810), as well as with the quarto
by Wolf, in which last are exhibited, together with all the
pieces, genuine or apocryphal, ever ascribed to Sappho, a
collection of such poems and poetical passages of antiquity
as in any manner relate to her.
For a lively criticism on the character, historical and
poetical, of this most cUstinguished person, the reader is re-
ferred to the article "On Greek Authoresses," in the Edin.
Rev. No. CIX. To attempt, at this time of day, her vin-
dication from aspersions as old at least as the Augustan
a"-e, would be the most absurd of literary Quixotism. But,
so far as unfavourable inferences have been drawn from any
passages of her writings now remaining to us, it may in
fairness be asked whether, considering they are mere frag-
ments, they amount to any sort of evidence; since it is
impossible to say whether the poetess is speaking in her
own person, or in that of some imaginary character.
14 SAPPHO.
I. (1.) HYMN TO VENUS. m.
Immortal Venus, thron'd above
In radiant beauty ! Child of Jove !
O skill'd in every art of love,
And artful snare !
Dread power, to vi^hom I bend the knee !
Release my soul, and set it free
From bonds of piercing agony.
And gloomy care !
Yet come thyself ! if e'er, benign,
Tliy list'ning ear thou didst incline
To my rude lay, the starry shine
Of Jove's court leaving,
In chariot yok'd with coursers fair.
Thine own immortal birds, that bear
Thee swift to earth, the middle air
With bright wings cleaving.
Soon they were sped — and thou, most blest.
In thine own smiles ambrosial drest.
Didst ask what griefs my mind ojDjoress'd —
What meant my song —
What end my phrensied thoughts pursue —
For what lov'd youth I spread anew
My amorous nets — " Who, Sappho, who
Hath done thee wrong ?
SAPPHO. 15
What though he fly, he '11 soon return —
Still press thy gifts, though now he spurn ;
Heed not his coldness — soon he 'U burn.
E'en though thou chide."
— And saidst thou thus, dread goddess ? — O
Come then once more to ease my woe !
Grant all ! — and thy great self bestow.
My shield and guide !
II. (2.) ODE. E(s 'Epb)fi€vav.
Blest as th' immortal Gods is he.
The youth whose eyes may look on thee.
Whose ears thy tongue's sweet melody
May stiU devour !
Thou smilest too ? — sweet smile, whose charm
Has struck my soul with wild alarm,
And, W'hen I see thee, bids disarm
Each vital power.
Speechless I gaze : the flame within
Runs swift o'er all my quiv'ring skin ;
My eye-balls swim ; with dizzy din
My brain reels round;
And cold drops fall ; and tremblings frail
Seize every limb ; and grassy pale
I grow ; and then — together fail
Both sight and sound !
M.
IG SAPPHO.
FRAGMENTS.
I. (3.) M,
Planets, that round the beauteous moon
Attendant wait, cast into shade
Tlieir ineifectual lustres, soon
As she, in full-orb'd majesty array'd.
Her silver radiance pours
Upon this world of ours.
II. (4.) M.
Thro' orchard j^lots, with fragrance crown'd,
The clear cold fountain murm'ring flows ;
And forest leaves with rustlinsr sound
o
Invite to soft repose.
III. (10.) ANON. (Edin.Rev.)
Come, Venus, come !
Hither with thy golden cup.
Where nectar-floated flow'rets swim,
FiU, fiU the goblet up !
Thy laughing lips shall kiss the brim.
Come, Venus, come !
SAPPHO. 17
IV. (11.) *p. 125. B.
Unknown, unheeded, shalt thou die.
And no memorial shall proclaim,
That once beneath the upper sky
Tliou hadst a being and a name.
For never to the Muses' bowers
Didst thou with glowing heart repair.
Nor ever intertw'ine the flowers
Tliat fancy strews unnumber'd there.
Doom'd o'er that dreary realm, alone,
Shunn'd by the gentler shades, to go.
Nor friend shall soothe, nor parent own
The child of sloth, the Muses' foe.
V. (15.) M.
To what Admetus said of old attend.
And guard within your breast his counsel, friend !
" Cling to the Brave and Good — the Base disown —
Whose best of fortunes is to live unknown."
VI. (20.) M.
Here, fairest Rhodope, recline !
And 'mid thy bright locks intertwine.
With fingers soft as softest down.
The ever verdant parsley crown.
18 SAPPHO.
The Gods are pleas'd with flow'rs that bloom,
And leaves that shed divine perfume,
But, if ungarlanded, despise
The richest ofFer'd sacrifice.
VII. (21.) A DIALOGUE. m.
" Sweet Rose of May ! sweet Rose of May !
Whither, ah whither fled away ?"
" What 's gone no time can e'er restore —
I come no more — I come no more !"
VIII. (22.) M.
Yes, yes, I own it true —
Pleasure 's the good that I pursue.
How blest is then my destiny.
That I may love and honour too —
So bright, so brave a love is that allotted me !
IX. (23.) ELTON.
Mothek ! sweet mother ! 'tis in vain —
I cannot now the shuttle throw :
That youth is in my heart and brain —
And Venus' ling' ring fires within me glow.
X. (28.) M.
The silver moon is set ;
The Pleiades are gone ;
Half the long night is spent, — and yet, —
I lie alone.
SAPPHO. 19
XI. (29.) M.
Wealth, without virtue, is a dangerous guest : —
"Who holds them mingled, is supremely blest.
XII. (4.5.) ANON. (Edin. Rev.)
Hesper ! every gift is thine —
Thou bring' st the kidling from the rock ;
ITiou bring' st the damsel with the flock ;
Thou bring' st us rosy wine.
XIII. (51.) M.
I HAVE a child — a lovely one —
In beauty like the golden sun,
Or like sweet flow'rs of earliest bloom ;
And Cle'is is her name — for whom
I Lydia's treasures, were they mine.
Would glad resign.
XIV. (74.) ANON. (Edin. Rev.)
Beauty, fair flow'r, upon the surface lies :
But Worth with Beauty soon in aspect vies.
20 SAPPHO.
EPITAPHS.
I. (1.) ON A PRIESTESS OF DIANA.
Does any ask ? I answer from the dead ;
A voice that lives is graven o'er my head :
To dark-ey'd Dian, ere my days begun,
Aristo vow'd me, wife of Saon's son :
Then hear thy priestess, hear, O Virgin power !
And thy best gifts on Saon's lineage show'r.
II. (2.) ON A FISHERMAN. elton.
This oar, and net, and fisher's wicker'd snare,
Tlaemiscus plac'd above his buried son —
Memorials of the lot in life he bare,
The hard and needy life of Pelagon.
III. (3.) ON A BELOVED COMPANION, cm.
Deep in the dreary chambers of the dead
Asteria's ghost hath made her bridal bed.
Still to this stone her fond compeers may turn.
And shed their cherish' d tresses on her urn.
SAPPHO. 21
POEMS ASCRIBED TO SAPPHO.
I. HYMN TO THE ROSE. * p. 56. boyd.
If, on Creation's mom, the King of Heaven
To shrubs and flowers a sovereign lord had given,
O beauteous Rose, he had anointed tliee
Of shrubs and flowers the sovereign lord to be.
The spotless emblem of unsullied truth,
The smile of beauty and the glow of youth ;
The garden's pride, the grace of vernal bowers.
The blush of meadows, and the eye of flowers ;
It beams resplendent as the orbs above,
Inviting Paphia's form, and breathing love.
Blooming with odorous leaves, and petals fair.
In youthful pride it spreads its silken snare.
By Zephyr kiss'd it laughs, and woos the fanning air.
II. THE LOVES OF SAPPHO AND ANACREON.
MOORE.
Anacreon.
Spirit of Love ! whose tresses shine
Along the breeze, in golden twine.
Come ! within a fragrant cloud.
Blushing with light, thy votary shroud ;
And, on those wings that sparkling play.
Waft, oh ! waft me hence away !
22 SAPPHO.
Love ! my soul is full of thee.
Alive to all thy luxury:
But she, the nymph for whom I glow,
The pi'etty Lesbian mocks my woe ;
Smiles at the hoar and silver'd hues
Which Time upon my forehead strews.
Alas ! I fear she keeps her charms
In store for younger, happier arms.
Sappho.
O Muse, who sitt'st on golden throne !
Full many a hymn of dulcet tone
The Teian sage is taught by thee.
But, Goddess ! from thy throne of gold,
The sweetest hymn thou 'st ever told.
He lately learn'd and sang for me.
III. THE LOVES OF SAPPHO AND ALC^EUS.
ANON.
Alc^us.
I FAIN would speak — I fain would tell ;
But shame and fear my utterance quell.
Sappho.
If aught of good, if aught of fair,
Thy tongue were labouring to declare,
Nor shame should dash thy glance, nor fear
Forbid thy suit to reach my ear.
ERIXNA. 23
ERINNA.*
" TXvKvif 'Hpivvijs TTapQevoxpoJTa icpoKov."
The crocus, or saiFron-flower, is the emblem assigned to
this poetess in the Garland of Meleager, on account of its
maiden paleness; as in Cymbeline —
" The flow'r that 's like thy face, pale primrose."
Of the three epigrams ascribed to her, a version of each
of which is here offered, in the order in which they are
placed by Brunck and Jacobs, the first is observed to be in
a different style from that of the other two ; and, as in many
other instances, ancient commentators have endeavoured to
account for the difference by a supposition, probably gra-
tuitous, of there having been a multiplicity of Erinnas.
Not to waste time, however, in vain conjecture, it may be
permitted us to adopt the common tradition which makes
her contemporary with — perhaps a companion of — Sappho,
and which attributes to her the praise of beauty and genius,
with the tender accompaniment of an early death. She is
celebrated, on all these accounts, by Asclepiades (No. 35);
by Antipater Sidonius, in an ejiigram after inserted ; and by
an uncertain author, in another epigram (No. 523), which
commemorates a poem of her composing under the title of
" Tlie Distaff," 'lIXaK'ctr;?, stating it to have consisted of
* Jacobs, toni. i. p. 50.
24 ERINNA.
three hundred verses, although she is designated by An-
tipater as the ' Word-sparing,' — Uavpoeni'is. She is there
also asserted to have been as much the superior of Sappho
in her hexameters or heroic verses, as she was inferior to
that great poetess in lyrical composition.
It is observed by a recent critic already referred to, that
"An Ode to Rome — not, as Grotius would have it, to Forti-
tude, — which is sometimes ascribed to her, must be the pro-
duction of a later wnriter ; " a criticism in which we, some-
what reluctantly, are forced to agree, though Grotius is
unjustly censured for having fallen into the error of Sto-
bseus, who presented it in his "Florilegium" under the title
'Aydpela, Fortitude. And, since Brunck has retained it in
his Analecta, we have not scrupled to insert a version of it
in this place, notwithstanding our con\-iction that it must
be regarded as merely apocrj^phal.
I. (1.) ON A PORTRAIT. >.
From skiKul hands my being I derive,
O best Prometheus ! own that human art
May with thy plastic power not vainly strive.
Here Agatharchis breathes — in every part.
Save that she wants the charm of voice, alive.
II. (2.) ON A BELOVED COMPANION. * p. 285. b.
Say, ye cold i^Ulars, and thou weeping urn.
And sctJptur'd Sirens that appear to mourn,
ERINNA. 25
And guard, within, my poor and senseless dust,
Consign'd by fondest memory to your trust —
Say to the stranger, as he muses nigh.
That Ida's ashes here lamented lie,
Of noble lineage, — that Erinna's love
Thus mourns the partner of her joys above.
III. (3.) THE SAME SUBJECT. * p. 284. m.
I AM the tomb of Ida, hapless bride !
Unto this piUar, traveller, turn aside ;
Turn to this tearwom monument, and say,
" O envious Death, to charm this life away !"
These mystic emblems aU too plainly show
The bitter fate of her who sleeps below :
The very torch that laughing Hymen bore
To light the virgin to the bridegroom's door.
With that same torch the bridegroom lights the fire
That dimly glimmers on her funeral pyre.
Thou too, O Hymen ! bidst the nuptial lay
In elegiac moanings die away.
IV. ODE. M.
Eis rrjv 'Pw/mijv.
Daughter of Mars ! Hail, mighty Power !
Stern Queen, with golden crown array'd !
Who build' st on earth thy regal tower,
A high Olympus, ne'er assay'd !
c
26 ERINNA.
To thee alone hath awful Fate
The pride of vast dominion lent ;
The strength to bind a rising state
In bonds of order'd government.
Beneath thy yoke's compelling beam
Unmeasur'd Earth, and Ocean hoar
Together bend ; whilst thou, supreme,
The nations rul'st from shore to shore.
E'en mightiest Time, whose laws prevail
To change the world at his decree.
Can never turn the prosp'rous gale
That swells thy potent sov'reignty.
Of thee alone a race is born,
The first to blaze in glorious fight.
Like spiky ranks of waving corn.
That Ceres marshals, golden-bright.
ALC^US. 27
ALC.EUS f.
'AXKaiov ve \a.\)]dpov ev vfivoTToXois vaKivQov. (Meleager. I. 13.)
Having fixed the ckronology of Sappho, it becomes unne-
cessary to say more of the period of Alcaeus, than that he is
admitted on all hands to have been contemporary with that
great poetess, of whom he was also the fellow-countrjTnan,
and, according to ancient and not improbable tradition, a
favoured admirer. Like Archilochus, he united in his per-
son the miUtary to the poetical character, and — which is
not a little remarkable — was, like him, also celebrated for
ha^•ing saved his life, with the loss of his shield, by flight.
This incident occurred to him in a battle with the Athe-
nians ; and, such was the reputation he then enjoyed, that
the victors triumphantly suspended the trophy in the tem-
ple of Miner\'a, while the poet consoled himself for the dis-
grace by commemorating it in the following words pre-
served by Strabo (as Wesseling conjectures them to have
been written) :
'A\k«Tos (Twos, ap' ot evrea S' ovx-
" Alcseus is safe, tho' his arms are lost."
As a warrior and patriot, the name of Alcscus is impe-
rishably associated with that stem and unrelenting spirit
of enmity to tyranny or monarchical government, by which
the cities and islands of Greece had in his time already
t "Alcaei Mitylenaei Fragmenta." Museum Crilicura, vol. i. p. 421.
c 2
28 ALCiEUS.
begun to be distinguished, and which shortly afterwards
became their most striking characteristic. As a poet, he
has been commended by the ancients for the union of
" magnificence with brevity, of sweetness with consum-
mate strength of expression, of the use of figure and meta-
phor with perspicuity;" whUe by others he is recorded, in
conjunction with Anacreon, as ha\-ing passed his life in
familiar intercourse with his books, which he regarded in
the light of friends and companions ; and that, " whatever
hai^pened to him he was in the habit of making the subject
of poetical celebration, — whether it partook of joy or sor-
row, whether loves or festivals, the dangers of battle or the
miseries of exile."
" Et te sonantem plenius aureo,
Alcaee, plectro, dura navis,
Dura fugae mala, dura belli." — Hor. Od. II. 13.
Of the few fragments that have reached us, let it not be
thought too bold att- assertion, that there is enough amply
to justify the high praises which antiquity did not hesitate
to bestow on him. Among these scattered reliques, except
a few words quoted, or rather referred to, by Aristides the
Rhetorician, on which Sir William Jones has founded his
noble paraphrase, "What constitutes a state ?" &c., and
which are omitted by Bishop Blomfield in the collection of
his remains published in the first volume of the " Museum
Criticum," none, so far as we know, have ever yet been
presented in an English version. In exhibiting the follow-
ing attempt, which includes aU that appear to come within
reach of poetical translation, we have only again to appeal
to the extreme difficulty of the task as our apology for the
imperfection of its execution.
ALC.BUS. 29
I. (1.) CONVIVIAL. M.
Jove descends in sleet and snow ;
Howls the vex'd and angry deep ;
Every stream forgets to flow,
Bound in winter's icy sleep.
Ocean wave and forest hoar
To the blast responsive roar.
Drive the tempest from your door,
Blaze on blaze your hearthstone piling',
And unmeasur'd goblets pour
Brimful high with nectar smiling.
Then beneath your Poet's head
Be a downy pillow spread.
II. (2.) THE STORM. m.
Now here, now there, the wild waves sweep.
Whilst we betwixt them o'er the deep,
In shatter'd tempest-beaten bark.
With labouring ropes are onward driven,
The billows dashing o'er our dark
Upheaved deck — in tatters riven
Our sails — whose yawning rents between
The raging sea and sky are seen.
Loose from their hold our anchors burst ;
And then the third, the fatal wave
Comes rolling onward, like the first.
And doubles all our toil to save.
30 ALC^US,
III. (3.) CONVIVIAL. M.
To be bow'd by grief is folly :
Nought is gain'd by melancholy ;
Better than the pain of thinking
Is to steep the sense in drinking.
IV. (4.) SONG OF TRIUMPH. m.
Now is our time to drink, and tread
The joyous dance — since Myrsilus is dead.
V. (18.) CONVIVIAL. M.
Glad your hearts Mdth rosy wine,
Now the dog-star takes his round ;
Sultry hours to sleep incline ;
Gapes with heat the sultry ground.
Crickets sing on leafy boughs.
And the thistle is in flower ;
Melting maids forget the vows
Made to th' moon in colder hours.
VI. (20.) CONVIVIAL. m.
Why wait we for the torches' lights }
Now let us drink — the day invites.
In mighty flagons liither bring
The deep red blood of many a vine.
That we may largely quaff, and sing
The praises of the god of wine —
ALCiEUS. 31
The son of Jove and Semele,
Who gave the jocund grape to be
A sweet oblivion of our woes.
Fill, fill the goblets — one and two ;
Let every brimmer, as it flows.
In sportive chase the last pursue !
VII. (24.) THE SPOILS OF WAR. u.
Glitters with brass my mansion wide ;
The roof is deck'd on every side
In martial pride.
With helmets rang'd in order bright
And plumes of horse-hair nodding white,
A gallant sight —
— Fit ornament for warrior's brow —
And round the walls, in goodly row.
Refulgent glow
Stout greaves of brass like burnish'd gold,
And corslets there, in many a fold
Of linen roU'd ;
And shields that in the battle fray
The routed losers of the day
Have cast away ;
Euboean faulchions too are seen,
With rich embroider'd belts between
Of dazzling sheen :
And gaudy surcoats pil'd around.
The spoils of chiefs in war renown'd.
May there be found.
32 ALC^US.
Tliese, and all else that here you see.
Are fruits of glorious \'ictory
Achiev'd by me.
VIII. (26, 28.) POVERTY. m.
The worst of ills and hardest to endure.
Past hope, past cure,
Is Penury, who, with her sister mate
Disorder, soon brings dowTi the loftiest state.
And makes it desolate.
This truth the sage of Sparta told,
Aristodemus old, —
" Wealth makes the man." On him that 's poor
Proud worth looks down, and honour shuts the door.
IX. THE CONSTITUTION OF A STATE.
SIR WILLIAM JONES.
What constitutes a state ?
Not high-rais'd battlement or labour'd mound.
Thick wall or moated gate.
Not cities fair with spires and turrets cro"wn'd.
No : men — high-minded men —
With powers as far above dull brutes endued
In forest, brake, or den,
As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude.
Men, who their duties know.
Know too their rights, and, knowing, dare maintain.
Prevent the long-aim'd blow.
And crush the tjTant while they rend the chain.
STESICHORUS. 33
STESICHORUS.t
Stesichorus, a native of Himera in Sicily, was born in the
thirty- seventh 01}Tnp. (B. C. 632), and died in the fifty-
sixth (B. C. 353), at the age of eighty. He lived in the
time, and probably under the dominion, of Phalaris, tyrant
of Agrigentum, and was contemporary with Sappho, Al-
caeus, and Pittacus. Of his real history few particulars have
descended to us. The fabulous narrative by which he is
\asited with loss of sight as a punishment for his " Vitupe-
ration " of Helen, and which affirms its miraculous restora-
tion on the achievement of a "Palinode" composed at the
instigation of a dream, appears to derive its origin from a
figurative expression used by the poet himself, in the form
of a poetical recantation. It is indeed doubtful whether
the two supposed poems entitled, one the " Vitujieration,"
the other the " Encomium," of Helen, were themselves
any more than detached portions of a larger work, also
attributed to him, under the denomination of 'IXiov Trepais,
" The Destruction of Troy," of which one or two very small
fragments are all that remains to us.
His other principal works, of which the titles, with a few
scattered extracts, are preserved, consist in the "Geryoneis,"
— a poem, as its name would import, in celebration of the
Giant Gerj'on, — the " Orestea," the " Rhadine," and the
" Scylla," each indicating by its title the subject to Avhich
t Blonificld, Mus. Crit., vol. ii. p. 25G.
c 5
34 STESICHORUS,
it related. Besides these, he is cited as having composed
Bucolics, and Gymnastic, or rather Aetlilic, pieces.
His character as a poet, and especially as contrasted
with the fervid Alcaeus, the playful Anacreon, and the em-
passioned Sajipho, may be collected from Horace.
" Non, si priores Mseonius tenet
Sedes Homerus, Pindaricae latent,
Ceeeque, et Alcsei minaces,
Stesichorique graves Camcenae :
Nee si quid olim lusit Anacreon
Delevit jEtas : spirat adhuc amor,
Vivuntque commissi calores
Teliae fidibus puellae."
And to this testimony may be added that of Cicero (In
Verr. II. 35.) vv^hen, speaking of the poet's native city,
where his statue was at that time to be seen, he says,
" Erat etiam Steslchori poetse statua senilis, incurva, cum
libro, summo, ut putant, artlficls facta, qui fult Himerse,
sed et est, et fult tota in Grfecia summo propter ingenium
honore et nomine."
Wlio can read these praises of ancient writers, and not
join in the poetical aspiration breathed by a modern, deeply
imbued with the same feelings of reverence ? " Utlnam
profecto Steslchorum non Invldlsset nobis vetustas, cujus
gravitatem et magnificentiam omnes prsedicant ; quern prae
ceteris laudat Dlonysius, quod et arguraenta sumeret grandia
imprimis et splendlde, et in lis tractandis mores et perso-
narum dignitatem egregle servaret. Alcseo autem prsecipue
Ta Twv TToXiTiKwv TTpayjuarwj' i]Bos idem tribult : at cui viro }
quam strenuo civi ? quam anlmoso reipublicse et legum pro-
pugnatori ? quam acri tyrannorum insectatori et vindici ?
STESICHORUS. 35
qui gladium suum pariter et lyram Patriae et Libertati con-
secraverat; cujus 'minaces Camcense' perorapopulivolitan-
tes et praesenti et perpetuo erant, non modo suae civitati,
sed et universae Graeciae, contra malorum civium conatus
praesidio." (Lowtlide Sacra Poes. Hebr. Prael. I. p. 12). J
I. (III. 1.) THE VOYAGE OF THE SUN. h. m.
(From the Geryoneis.)
BcT now the Sun, great Hyperion's child,
Embark'd again ujoon his golden chalice.
And westward steer'd, where far o'er ocean wild
Sleeps the dim night in solitary valleys ;
Where dwell his mother, and his consort mild.
And infant sons, in his sequester' d palace ;
Whilst onward through the laurel-shaded grove
Mov'd with firm step the hero son of Jove.
II. (III. 3.) HERCULES AND THE CENTAUR, m.
(From the Same.)
He said : then, raising to his mouth the cup
That held three gallons, mantling to the brim,
At one unflinching draught he toss'd it up :
Pholus the wine had mix'd, and pledg'd to him.
III. (IV. 1.) THE SACRIFICE OF TYNDARUS. m.
(From the Helena.)
When as the royal Tyndarus did pay
To all the Gods above meet sacrifice,
36 STESICHORUS.
Benignant Venus he forgot, alone.
By prayer or incense humbly to atone ;
And hence th' offended power with hateful eyes
Beheld his sister- offspring ; wherefore they
Were doom'd thenceforth to lead dishonest lives-
Unnatural mothers, and adult'rous wives.
IV. (IV. 2.) THE PROCESSION. m.
(From the Same.)
Before the regal chariot, as it pass'd.
Were bright Cydonian apples scatter'd round.
And mjTtle leaves in showers of fragrance cast ;
And many a wreath was there, with roses bound.
And many a coronal, wherein were set.
Like gems, rich rows of purple violet.
V. (2, 3.) FROM SCATTERED FRAGMENTS, m.
Vain it is for those to weep
Who repose in Death's last sleep.
With man's life ends all the story
Of his wisdom, wit, and glory.
IBYCUS. 37
IBYCUS.f
This poet, a native of Rhegium in Italy, flourished in the
time of Croesus, from the fifty-fourth to the sixtieth Olym-
piad (B. C. 564-539). He left his native country and came
to Samos during the government of Polycrates, but upon
what occasion is doubtful ; nor can it be ascertained when
or where he met his unhappy end — an event well known,
and often cited as an instance of the watchfulness of the
Di\ane vengeance — being murdered by pirates on a desert
beach, and the discovery subsequently made by the inad-
vertent exclamation of one of the murderers, who, on a
flock of cranes flying over the market-place at Corinth,
obsen-ed aloud to another also present, "Behold the
avengers of Ibycus ! " A flock of the same birds had been
seen by them at the time when they committed the mur-
der. Of his poetry a very few fragments remain, of which
the two following, preserved by Athenaeus, are the prin-
cipal. The second appears to justify the remarkable ex-
pression with which it is introduced by the critic, as appli-
cable to the impassioned vehemence of his style, — Kat 6
Priylyos ^e'lflvKos (ioa. Koi KEKpayev Hpi, &c.
I. EURYALE. M.
Sweetest flower, Eurj^ale !
Whom the maids with tresses fair,
Sister Graces, make their care —
t Athenaeus, xiii. 564, (iOl.
(\ f\ i\ 'w Q
38 IBYCUS.
Thee Cythera nourish'd — thee
Pitho, with the radiant brow ;
And 'mid bowers where roses blow
Led thy laughing infancy.
II. THE RETURN OF SPRING.* p. 353. m.
What time soft Zephyrs fan the trees
In the blest gardens of th' Hesperides,
Where those bright golden apples glow.
Fed by the fruitful streams that round them flow,
And new-born clusters teem with wine
Beneath the shadowy foliage of the vine ;
To me the joyous season brings
But added torture on his sunny wings.
Then Love, the tyrant of my breast.
Impetuous ravisher of joy and rest.
Bursts, furious, from his mother's arms,
And fills my trembling soul with new alarms ;
Like Boreas from his Thracian plains,
Cloth'd in fierce lightnings, in my bosom reigns.
And rages still, the madd'ning power —
His parching flames my wither'd heart devour ;
Wild Phrensy comes my senses o'er.
Sweet Peace is fled, and Reason rules no more.
ALCMAN. 39
ALCMAN.f
Alcman, -whose age and country are both involved in some
degree of uncertainty, but who is generally reputed to have
been born at Sardis, and to have been nearly contemporary
with Archilochus, is at all events to be numbered among the
fathers of l}Tic poetry, and is especially characterized by
Athenseus, on the authority of Archytas, as — twv epu)TiKwv
/ueXwi' liyefxura. The scanty fragments of his works which
remain to us belong to a somewhat different class of com-
positions, and might be transplanted with advantage into
the "Almanac des Gourmands," but are wholly unconver-
tible into the language of Enghsh poetry. The following
is the only morsel at all analogous to his reputation as
" Prince of amorous poesy."
MEGALOSTRATA. m.
Again sweet Love, by Cytherea led.
Hath all my soul possest ;
Again delicious rapture shed
In torrents o'er my breast.
Now Megalostrata the fair.
Of all the Virgin train
Most blessed — with her yellow floating hair —
Hath brought me to the Muses' holy fane.
To flourish there.
•(• Athenoeus, lib. xiii. p. GOO.
40 MELANIPPIDES.
MELANIPPIDES.f
"NapKiffffov Se ropCjv MevaXLirniSov eyicvoi' v/jiviov. Meleager. i. 7.
This poet was a native of Melos, and flourished about the
sixty-fifth Olympiad (B. C. 520).
The fragment handed down by Athenseus, of which the
following lines are given as a free version, is introduced in
a dissertation among his Deipnosophists on the merits of
flutes and flute-performers.
We do not think it necessary to quote the reply made
by Telestes of Argos, another dithyrambic poet, who lived
about a century later, but refer the reader, for the particu-
lars of the dispute, to the entertaining work which has re-
corded it.
THE FLUTE REJECTED BY MINERVA. m.
But Athene flung away
From her pure hand those noxious instruments
It late had touch'd, and thus did say —
" Hence, ye banes of beauty, hence ;
What ? shall I my charms disgrace
By making such an odious face ?"
f Athenseus, lib. xiv. p. 616,
ANACREON. 41
ANACREON.f
Bv 5" ap' ' A.vaKpeiovra' to fiev yXvKv KeTvo fieXiff/xa
Ne/crapos, els 5' eXeyovs evanopov dvOefiiov.
Meleager. i. 35.
Under the very indistinct emblem conveyed by a word
which is applicable generally to any species of flower, but
is sometimes restricted in its signification to the Rose in
particular, we are here referred not to the Odes, but to the
Elegies, of Anacreon. Of the well-known Collection pre-
served under the former title, we shall but briefly touch
upon the question of the authenticity. That a considerable
portion of his lyric poetry existed in the time of Horace
can hardly be doubted ; but that the odes which we now
possess, and are fond of ascribing to him, are the same as
those with which the Roman poet was so familiar, cannot be
asserted without much hesitation, when it is obsen'ed that, of
all Horace's compositions, one only (that beginning "Vitas
hinnuleo me simUis Chloe,") appears to betray the principle
of close imitation which he generally discovers in those parts
of his works which have reference to the other lyric poets.
The argument from internal evidence must, we fear, be pro-
nounced even stronger than the negative inference — to the ex-
tent, at least, of warranting the supposition that many entire
f Anacreon Baxteri ^ Fischer. Svo, Lips. 1793,
42 ANACREON.
odes, and considerable portions also of tlie remainder, are
the fabrication of a later age ; although to what author, or to
what period, the forgery can be assigned, remains another
question, and one of far greater difficulty. If, however, we
are compelled to place them among the Apocrypha of ancient
poetry, we are not therefore to be blind to their rare excel-
lence, or refuse them the rank which they have obtained
as perhaps the most extensively popular in the whole range
of classical poetry, — a merit sufficiently attested by the fre-
quency of translation into every modern language, our own
especially, and by the more remarkable fact that, frequent
as have been the attempts, and various the degrees of suc-
cess attending them, all have failed alike to exhibit any
resemblance to the peculiar, and perhaps incommunicable,
charm of the originals. The Paraphrases of Cowley, indeed,
are possessed of many transcendent beauties ; but they are
essentially his own ; while the versions of Moore, which
bear a closer affinity to the Greek in spirit, are overloaded
with faults and redundancies peculiarly those of the living
poet, and such as even he, in his maturer judgement,
would have in great measure avoided. A single imitation
by Prior (quaintly entitled, "Cupid turned Stroller,") pos-
sesses all the graces of his o-wn lively style.
Of the elegies said to have been composed by Anacreon
nothing whatever has reached us, unless that which has
been printed as the sixteenth in number of liis epigrams,
and of which a translation is here given, be considered as
forming a portion of one of them. The remaining fifteen
epigrams are short, and of the baldest simplicity. Two
only are here presented by way of specimens.
ANACREON. 43
ODE I. TO HIS L\TIE. cowley.
I 'll sing of heroes and of kings ;
In mighty numbers, mighty things :
Begin, my Muse ! — but lo ! the strings
To my great song rebelhous prove —
The strings will sound of nought but love.
I broke them all, and put on new :
— 'T is this, or notliing, now will do.
" These, sure, (I said,) ^viU me obey ;
These, sure, heroic notes wUl play."
Straight I began with thund'ring Jove,
And aU th' immortal powers, but Love.
Love smil'd, and from my enfeebled lyre
Came gentle ayres — such as inspire
Melting Love — soft Desire.
Farewell, then, heroes ! farewell kings I
And mighty numbers, mighty things !
Love tunes my heart just to my strings.
ODE IV. THE EPICURE. cowley.
Underneath this mjTtle shade.
On flowery beds supinely laid,
"With odorous oyls my head o'erflowing.
And around it roses growing.
What should I do, but drink away
The heat and troubles of the day ?
In this more than kingly state
Love himself shall on me wait.
44 ANACREON.
Fill to me, Love, nay, fill it up !
And mingled, cast into the cup
Wit, and mirth, and noble fires.
Vigorous health, and gay desires.
The wheel of life no less will stay
On a smooth than rugged way :
Since it equally doth flee.
Let the motion pleasant be !
Why do we precious oyixtments show'r.
Nobler wines why do we pour,
Beauteous flowers why do we shed.
Upon the mon'ments of the dead ?
Nothing they but dust can show,
Or bones that hasten to be so.
Crown me with roses whilst I live —
Now your wines and oyntments give :
After death I nothing crave.
Let me alive my pleasures have !
All are stoicks in tlie grave.
ODE V. THE ROSE. moore.
Buds of roses, virgin flowers,
Cull'd from Cupid's balmy bowers.
In the bowl of Bacchus steep.
Till with crimson drops they weep !
Twine the rose, the garland twine.
Every leaf distilling wine ;
Drink and smile, and learn to tliink
We were born to smile and drink.
ANACREON. 45
Rose ! thou art the sweetest flower
That ever drank the amber shower.
Rose ! thou art the fondest child
Of dimpled Spring, the wood-nymph wild !
Ev'n the Gods, who walk the sky.
Are amorous of thy scented sigh.
Cupid, too, in Paphian shades,
His hair with rosy fillets braids,
WTien, with the blushing naked Graces,
The wanton winding dance he traces.
Tlien bring me showers of roses, bring !
And shed them round me while I sing.
ODE XI. ON HIMSELF. cowley.
Oft am I by the women told,
" Poor Anacreon, thou grow'st old.
Look, how thy hairs are falling all :
Poor Anacreon, how they fall ! "
Whether I grow old or no.
By th' effects I do not know.
This I know, without being told,
'T is time to live if I grow old.
'T is time short pleasures now to take,
Of little life the best to make.
And manage wisely the last stake.
46 ANACREON.
ODE XV. HAPPY LIFE. c m.
Tell me not of golden springs,
And the wealth that Asia brings,
Cars and crowns and precious things,
To her tj^annizing kings :
I will dwell in idle bowers,
Crown'd my head with pleasant flowers :
Loose the wine in purple showers !
Wine and beauty shall be ours !
For today I take or give ;
For today I drink and live ;
For today I beg or borrow : —
Who knows about the silent morrow ?
THE SAME. COWLEY.
Fill the bowl with rosy wine ;
Around our temples roses twine ;
And let us cheerfully awhile
Like the wine and roses smile.
Crown'd with roses, we contemn
Gyges' wealthy diadem.
Today is ours — what do we fear ?
Today is ours — we have it here.
Let 's treat it kindly, that it may
Wish at least with us to stay.
Let 's banish business, banish sorrow ;
To the Gods belongs tomorrow.
ANACREON. 47
ODE XVII. THE CUP.* p. 75. m.
I DO not want the rolling car.
Helm or shield with silver bound —
Wliat have I to do with war }
But a goblet deep and round.
Can-e not on its polish'd side
Star, nor planet's varied form.
Such as rule the angrj^ tide.
Or direct the rising storm.
Let a ^ine the cup surround.
Clasping with its tendrils fine ;
And amid the golden ground,
Raise a vat of new-made wine.
Then the festal chorus leading.
Carve the Theban god above ;
And the mellow ^'intage treading,
Cupid, mth the maid I love.
ODE XX. TO HIS MISTRESS. m.
Sad Niobe, on Phrygian shore.
Was tum'd to marble by despair ;
And hapless Progne leam'd to soar
On swallow's wing thro' liquid air.
But I would be a mirror.
So thou may'st pleas'd behold me.
Or robe, with close embraces
About thy limbs to fold me.
48 ANACREON,
A crystal fount, to lave thee,
Sweet oyls, thy hair to deck,
A zone, to press thy bosom,
Or pearl, to gem thy neck.
Or, might I worship at thy feet,
A sandal for thy feet I 'd be.
Ev'n to be trodden on were sweet.
If to be trodden on by thee.
ODE XIX. THAT WE OUGHT TO DRINK.* p. 75. m.
The black earth drinks the faUing rain ;
Trees drink the moisten' d earth again ;
Ocean drinks the streams that run.
Only to yield them to the sun ;
And the sun himself as soon
Is swallow'd by the thirsty moon.
All Nature drinks : if I would sip.
Why dash the goblet from my lip ?
THE SAME. COWLEY.
The thirsty earth soaks up the rain.
And drinks, and gapes for drink again.
The plants suck in the earth, and are
With constant drinking fresh and fair.
The sea itself — which, one would think,
Should have but little need of drink,
ANACREON. 49
Drinks ten thousand rivers up,
So fill'd, that they o'erflow the cup.
Tlie busie sun — and one would guess
By 's drunken fierj"^ face no less —
Drinks up the sea ; and, when h'as done,
Tlie moon and stars drink up the sun.
They drink and dance by their own light ;
Tliey drink and revel all the night.
Nothing in Nature's sober found,
But an eternal health goes round.
Fill up the bowl, then ! fill it high !
Fill all the glasses there ! for why
Should every creature drink, but I .''
— Why, man of morals ? — tell me, why .-'
ODE XXXIII. TO THE SWALLOW. cowley.
Foolish prater, what dost thou
So early at my window do.
With thy tuneless serenade ?
Well 't had been had Tereus made
Thee as dumb as Philomel :
There his knife had done but well.
In thine undiscover'd nest
Thou dost aU the winter rest,
And dreamest o'er thy summer joys.
Free from the stormy season's noise.
Free from th' ill thou 'st done to me.
— Who disturbs or seeks out thee .''
Hadst thou all the charming notes
Of the wood's poetick throats,
D
50 ANACREON.
All thy arts could ne'er repay
What thou 'st ta'en from me away —
Cruel hird, thou 'st ta'en away
A dream out of mine arms today,
A dream, that ne'er can equal'd be
By all that waking eyes can see.
Thou, this damage to rej^air.
Nothing half so sweet or fair.
Nothing half so good canst bring.
Though men say, thou bring' st the Spring.
ODE XXXIV. TO HIS MISTRESS.* p. 32. m.
Fly not, because the hand of Time
My silver' d locks discover :
Nor, glorying in thy golden prime,
Disdain a grey-beard lover.
Think'st thou my winter ill agrees
With charms thy spring discloses ?
Remember how those garlands please
Where lilies mix with roses !
ODE XLIII. TO THE GRASSHOPPER, cowley.
Happy insect ! what can be
In happiness compar'd to thee ?
Fed with nourishment divine.
The dewy morning's gentle wine !
Nature waits upon thee stiU,
And thy verdant cup does fill ;
ANACREON. 51
'T is fill'd wherever thou dost tread ;
Nature's self 's thy Ganymed.
Thou dost drink, and dance, and sing,
Happier than the happiest king.
All the fields which thou dost see.
All the plants belong to thee.
All that summer hours produce.
Fertile made with early juice.
Man for thee does sow and plow ;
Farmer he, and landlord thou.
Tliou dost innocently joy ;
Nor does thy luxury destroy.
The shepherd gladly heareth thee.
More harmonious than he.
Thee country hinds with gladness hear,
Prophet of the ripen'd year !
Tliee Phoebus loves, and doth inspire ;
Phoebus is himself thy sire.
To thee, of all things upon earth,
Life is no longer than thy mirth.
Happy insect ! happy, thou
Dost neither age nor winter know.
But when thou 'st drunk, and danc'd, and sung
Tliy fill, the flowery leaves among,
— Voluptuous, and wise withal —
Epicurean animal ! —
Sated with thy summer feast,
Thou retir'st to endless rest.
D 2
52 ANACREON.
EPIGRAMS.
I. (12.B. 80.) ON THE TOMB OF TIMOCRITUS. m.
TiMocRiTUS adorns this humble grave.
Mars spares the coM'ard, and destroys the brave.
II. (14.B. 82.) ON THE TOMB OF CLEANOR. m.
Thee too, Cleanor, strong Desire laid low —
Desire, that ^\Tetched exiles only know.
Of thy lov'd native land. The tyrant sway
Of winter had no force to make thee stay :
Thy fatal hour was come ; and, tempest-sped,
The wild waves clos'd around thy cherish'd head.
HI. (16. B. 84.) CONVIVIAL.* p. 76.
Ne'er shall that man a comrade be.
Or drink a generous glass with me.
Who o'er his bumpers brags of scars.
Of noisy broils and mournful wars :
But welcome thou congenial soul.
And share my purse and drain my bowl,
Who canst in social knot combine
The Muse, Good-humour, Love, and Wine.
CLEOBULUS. 53
CLEOBULUS t,
The son of Evagoras, a native of Lindus ; and accounted
one of the seven sages of Greece. He was a great com-
poser of riddles, which, in those days, may possibly have
been sufficient to obtain for him the reputation of wisdom
which he enjoyed. He had a daughter, named Cleobuline,
recorded by Diogenes Laertius as herself a poetess, Avho
wTote senigmas in hexameter verses.
Cleobulus is not among the poets included in Meleager's
Garland ; and his name would hardly have found a place
in this Collection, but by way of introduction to the parody
of Simonides of his bombastic inscription on the tomb of
Midas.
SPOKEN BY A MONUMENTAL FIGURE SCULP-
TURED ON THE TOMB OF MIDAS. m.
Sculptur'd in brass, a virgin bright.
On Midas' tomb I stand.
While water cools — while flow'rs delight —
While rivers part the land —
While Ocean girds the earth around —
While, with returning day,
Phoebus returns, and Night is crown'd
By Luna's glimmering ray —
So long as these shall last, will I,
A monument of woe.
Declare to every passer by.
That Midas sleeps below.
•j- Jacobs, vol. i. p. 52. Brutick, i. 7C.
54 SIMONIDES.
SIMONIDESf.
veov oivavQes KXrifia Stjttwvi^ew. Meleager i. 8.
From the numerous epigrams and smaller pieces, and from
the still more numerous fragments of longer poems, which
have been preserved under this celebrated name, it would
be difficult to discover any reason for assigning to him an
emblem derived from the vine, unless it be the graceful
tenderness of its newborn leaves and tendrils ; in which
respect, enough of evidence is still left to us that the device
is not without its appropriate signification. It is with re-
ference to these beautiful but melancholy remnants, and
to t^e yet more scanty memorials of the preceding poets
which it has been our faint attempt to exhibit in a dress of
corresponding grace and simplicity, that a recent critic,
himself previously distinguished by a very successful en-
deavour to familiarize the splendid beauties of Homer to
the mind of the classical student, has expressed himself in
the following eloquent passage.
" It is with respect to the wTitings of this age that the
lovers of the antique Muse of Greece have the heaviest, the
most irretrievable losses to deplore ; time and barbarism have
here swept away more than their usual share of the great and
the beautiful ; and when we take up a modern collection,
f Jacobs, vol. i. p. 57. Brunck, i. p. 120.
SIMONIDES. 55
and see what is now left us even of the mightiest of this
tlirong of great poets, — their mutilated vigour, their dis-
jointed melody, their objectless passion, — we feel our hearts
swell ^vith that melancholy and vexation of spirit, which
we know not that the sight of the shattered temples of
Athens itself should more worthily call up, than this mourn-
ful exhibition of the torsos of Archilochus, of Sappho, and
of Simonidesf."
We shall not here enter into the liistory of the causes
to which is assigned the irrej)arable destruction thus feel-
ingly lamented ; nor do we think it necessary to say
more, by way of introduction to the mutilated fragments
and smaller pieces, or epigrams, wliich have the name of
Simonides affixed to them, than that, from the concurrent
voice of antiquity, supported by internal evidence, there
were at least three distinct poets known by the same ap-
pellation, — that to the eldest of these, who was a native of
the island Amorgos, and probably contemporary with Ar-
cliilochus, is to be ascribed the long set of Iambic verses on
the characters of women, with which we have at present
no more to do than to caution the reader against attributing
them to the second and greatest of the name, — Simonides
of Ceos, the son of Leoprepes ; the date of whose birth has
been fixed at 556, and of his death at 467, B. C. ; and whose
memory is associated with the great events which formed the
subject of the princijoal part of his remaining works. A third
Simonides, a native also of Ceos, and nephew to the second.
t Quart. Rev. No. XCV. p. 69,—" Greek Elegy." We cannot be
wrong in ascribing the authorship of this article to Henry Nelson Cole-
ridge.
56 SIMONIDES.
seems to possess the best title to such at least of the epi-
grams, aSj from the date of the events recorded in them,
cannot be ascribed to the uncle without an anachronism. Of
one hundred and seven pieces (including fragments,) which
are given by Jacobs as all that exists of these two last-
mentioned poets, it has been our wish to present in the
dress of English verse all that appear capable of such pre-
sentation; those omitted being either so merely prosaic in sen-
timent, or relating to matters so purely uninteresting (such
as the achievement of athletic prizes, &c.), from their same-
ness of repetition, as to be well spared in translation. " To
Simonides," observes the critic already quoted, "we attri-
bute the invention, or, more properly, the establishment of
the Elegy in its last received sense of a funereal poem. We
have stiU a good many of his epigrams, but a very few lines
indeed of what can properly be called his elegies. He was,
past dispute, the favourite, all Greece over, for an inscrip-
tion ; and such as are preserved, chiefly on those who fell
in battle against the Persians, most fully justify his popu-
larity in this line. They are all characterized by force,
downrightness,and terse simplicity — a^eXe/a, — in the high-
est degree of any to be found in the Anthology."
After citing the above passages, and referring also to the
well-known character assigned to Simonides, with, such ex-
quisite taste, by Catullus, —
" Moestius lacrymis Simonideis, — "
it may be thought that he is here misplaced, and that his
compositions ought rather to have been ranked, in the pre-
sent Collection, among those of Mimnermus and Solon,
where some of those which are more decidedly elegiac will
be found. But not to mention that many of the fragments
SIMONIDES. 57
are decidedly lyric, and have been constantly included
(from the time of Henry Stephens downwards,) among
those of the l}'Tic poets, the occurrence of his name in the
Garland of Meleager is sufficient to give him a place among
the bards of the Anthologia, at least with regard to so much
as Jacobs has thought fit to retain. We now conclude, Avith
Wordsworth —
" O ye who patiently explore
The wreck of Herculaneaii lore,
What rapture, could ye seize
Some Theban fragment, or unroll
One precious, tender-hearted scroll
Of pure Simonides ! "
LYRIC FRAGMENTS.
I. (1.) CM.
.... For truly they who were of old
From gods descended, as the poets told, —
And half of heaven, and half of earth, —
Proceeding onwards from their birth
Arriv'd not at their honour'd years
Unscath'd by wounds, untried by toils and tears ....
II. (2.) M.
Mortal, canst thou dare to say
What may chance another day ?
d5
58 SIMONIDES.
Or, thy fellow-mortal seeing.
Circumscribe his term of being ?
Swifter than the insect's wings
1.^ the change of mortal things.
III. (3.) M.
"Whate'er of wtue or of power,
Or good, or great, we vainly call,
Each moment eager to devour.
One vast Charybdis yawns for all.
IV. (4, 5.) M.
Long, long and dreary is the night
That 'waits us in the silent grave :
Few, and of rapid flight,
The years from Death we save.
Short — ah, how short ! — that fleeting space ;
And when man's little race
Is run, and Death's grim portals o'er him close,
How lasting his repose !
V. (7.) DANAE.* p. 360.
When the wind, resounding high,
Bluster' d from the northern sky.
When the waves, in stronger tide,
Dash'd against the vessel's side.
srMON[DES. 59
Her care-worn check -with tears bedew'd.
Her sleeping infant Danae ^•iew'd;
And trembling still with new alarms,
Around him cast a mother's arms.
" My child ! what woes does Danae weep !
But thy young limbs are WTapt in sleep.
In that poor nook all sad and dark.
While lightnings play around our bark.
Thy quiet bosom only knows
The hea%y sigh of deep repose.
" Tlie howling wind, the raging sea.
No terror can excite in thee ;
The angrj' surges wake no care
That burst above thy long deep hair.
But couldst thou feel what I deplore,
Then would I bid thee sleep the more !
Sleep on, sweet boy ; still be the deep !
Oh could I lull my woes to sleep 1
Jove, let thy mighty hand o'erthrow
The baffled malice of my foe ;
And may this child, in future years,
Avenge his mother's wrongs and tears ! "
VI. (9".) ON ORPHEUS. m.
Innumerable birds around
His temples fly in ceaseless motion,
And fishes from the deep blue ocean
Leap up, enraptur'd with the dulcet sound.
60 SIMONIDES.
VII. (9''.) ON MELEAGER. m.
The victory of the spear he bore
From all th' assembled youth around,
Who hurl'd the ponderous weapon o'er
Anauros to the further shore
From fair lolcos' vine-clad ground.
Thus sang Meeonides ; and thus,
To listening crowds, Stesichorus.
VIII. (10.) REPLY TO CLEOBULUS "ON THE
TOMB OF MIDAS." m.
(See before, p. 53.)
Who so bold
To uphold
What the Lindian sage hath told ?
Who would dare
To compare
Works of men, that fleeting are,
With the sweet perennial flow
Of swift rivers, or the glow
Of the eternal sun, or light
Of the golden queen of night ?
Spring renews
The flow'ret's hues.
With her sweet refreshing dews :
Ocean wide
Bids his tide
With returning current glide.
SIMONICES. 61
The sculptur'd tomb is but a toy
Man may create, and man destroy.
Eternity in stone or brass ?
— Go, go ! who said it, was — an ass.
IX. (11.) M.
The first of mortal joys is health :
Next beauty ; and the third is wealth ;
The fourth, all youth's deUghts to prove
With those we love.
X. (12.) M.
.... Who would add an hour
To the narrow span
That concludes the life of man ?
Who would envy kings their power,
Or gods their endless day.
If pleasure were away ? ....
XI. (13.) M.
Human strength is unavailing ;
Boastful tyranny unfailing ;
AH in life is care and labour ;
And our unrelenting neighbour.
Death, for ever hovering round ;
Whose inevitable wound.
When he comes prepar'd to strike.
Good and bad will feel alike.
62 SIMOMDES.
XII. (14.) THE SEAT OF VIRTUE. m.
Sages and honour'd bards of old
Have said that Virtue loves to keep
Upon a mountain's rocky steep ;
Where those permitted to behold
May stiU her awful figure trace
CircUng about that holy place.
But 'tis not given to mortal sight
Ere wholesome sweat have purg'd away
Thick mists that dim the visual ray.
To soar to such a glorious height.
None that are loiterers in the race
May hope to see that holy place.
XIII. (15.) ON THOSE WHO FELL AT THER-
MOPYL^. R.
In dark Thermopylae they lie ;
Oh death of glory, there to die !
Their tomb an altar is, their name
A mighty heritage of fame :
Their dirge is triumph — cankering rust,
And Time that turneth all to dust.
That tomb shall never waste nor hide, —
The tomb of warriors true and tried.
The full-voic'd praise of Greece around
Lies buried in that sacred mound :
Where Sparta's king, Leonidas,
In death eternal glory has.
SIMOMDES. 63
EPIGRAMS.
I. (19. B. 25.) ON THE MEN OF TEGEA. m.
'TwAS by their valour that to heav'n ascended
No curling smoke from Tegea's ravag'd field ;
Who chose — so as the town their arms defended
They to their sons a heritage might yield
Inscrib'd with freedom's ever-blooming name —
Themselves to perish in the ranks of fame.
II. (20. B. 26.) ON OTHRYADES. m.
O NATIVE Sparta ! when we met the host
In equal combat from th' Inachian coast.
Thy brave three hundred never turn'd aside.
But where our feet first rested, there we died.
The words, in blood, that stout Othrj'ades
Wrought on his herald shield, were only these —
" Thyrea is Lacedaemon's ! " — If there fled
One Argive from the slaughter, be it said,
Of old Adrastus he hath learn'd to fly.
We count it death to falter, not to die.
III. (21.B. 27.) ON THE DEATH OF HIPPAK-
CHUS. M.
Fair was the light, that brighten'd as it grew.
Of freedom on Athena's favour'd land.
When him, the tyrant, bold Harmodius slew,
Link'd with Aristogeiton, hand in hand.
64 snioNiDES.
IV. (22. B. 28.) ON A STATUE OF PAN, m.
(erected by miltiades after the battle of marathon.)
The cloven-footed deity,
Dread king of sylvan Arcady,
Th' Athenian's hope — the Persian's fear —
Miltiades has station'd here.
V. (24. B. 30.) ON A COLUMN AT THERMO-
PYL^. H.
Stranger ! to Sparta say, her faithful band
Here lie in death, remembering her command.
VI. (25. B. 31.) ON MEGISTIAS THE SOOTH-
SAYER. * p. 301. M.
This tomb records Megistias' honour'd name.
Who, bravely fighting in the ranks of Fame,
Fell by the Persians, near Sperchius' tide.
Both past and future well the prophet knew ;
And yet, though death lay open to his \aew.
He chose to perish by his monarch's side.
VII. (26. B. 32.) ON THOSE WHO FELL AT
THERMOPYLAE. * p. 302. b.
Greatly to die — if this be glory's height —
For the fair meed we own our fortune kind.
For Greece and Liberty we plung'd to night.
And left a never-dying name behind.
SIMON IJDES. 65
VIII. (27. B. 33.) THE SAME SUBJECT, .m.
These, for their native land, through death's dark shade
Who freely passed, now deathless glory wear.
They die not ; but, by Virtue's sovereign aid,
Are borne from Hades to the upper air.
IX. (30. B. 36.) THE CORINTHIAN WOMEN TO
VENUS. M.
For those who, fighting on their country's side,
Oppos'd th' imperial Mede's advancing tide.
We, votaresses, to Cythera pray'd.
Th' indulgent power vouchsaf 'd her timely aid.
And kejDt the citadel of Hellas free
From rude assaults of Persia's archery.
X. (32. B. 38.) ON THE VICTORY AT SALAMIS. m.
Democritus was third in place on that auspicious day,
WTien Greeks with Persians mingled on the waves in dire
affray :
Five hostile barks he caj^tur'd then ; the sixth, that late
was ta'en
By foes barbaric, he redeem'd, and gave to Greece again.
XI. (33. B. 39.) ON THE CORINTHIANS WHO
FELL AT SALAMIS. c. m.
We dwelt of yore in Corinth, by the deep :
In Salamis (Ajacian Isle) we sleep,
llie ships of Tyre we routed on the sea.
And Persia, — warring, holy Greece ! for thee.
66
SIMONIDES.
XII. (35. B.41.) ON ADEIMANTUS. m.
Here Adeimantus rests — the same was he
Whose counsels won for Greece the crown of liberty.
XIII. (40.B.46.) ON CIMON'S NAVAL VICTORY, m.
Ne'er since that olden time when Asia stood
First torn from Europe by the ocean flood.
Since horrid Mars first pour'd on either shore
The storm of battle, and its wild uproar.
Hath man by land and sea such glory won
As for the mighty deed this day was done.
By land, the Medes in myiiads press the ground ;
By sea, a hundred Tyrian ships are drown'd.
With all their martial host ; while Asia stands
Deep groaning by, and wrings her helpless hands.
XIV. (41.B.47.) ON THOSE WHO FELL AT THE
EURYMEDON. m.
These by the streams of fam'd Eurymedon
Their envied youth's short brilliant race have run :
In swift-wing'd ships, and on th' embattled field,
AHke they forc'd the Median bows to yield,
Breaking their foremost ranks. Now here they lie.
Their names inscrib'd on rolls of victory.
SIMONIDES. 6"
XV. (42. B. 48.) ON THE SAME. r.
Ix life-blood streaming from those stubborn hearts
The lord of war once bath'd his barbed darts.
Where are those warriors, patient of the spear ?
Dust — soulless, lifeless dust — alone lies here.
XVI. (43. B. 49.) ON A TROPHY
(suspended in the temple of MINERVA.)
Fro-m wound and death they rest — this bow and quiver-
Beneath Minerva's holy roof for ever :
Once did their shafts along the battle speed.
And drink the life-blood of the charging Mede.
XVII. (44. B. 50.) ON A VOTIVE SPEAR, m.
Good ashen spear, that erst this arm did wield,
And hurl, fierce hissing thro' the battle field !
Now, peaceful resting in the sacred grove.
Thou lead'st the pomp of Panomphsean Jove.
XVIII. (45. B. 51.) ON THE ATHENIANS
(who fell at the commencement of the peloponnesian
WAR.) M.
Hail, great in war ! all hail, by glory chcrish'd !
Athena's sons, in chivalry renown' d !
For your sweet native soil in youth ye perish'd.
When Hellas leagued in hostile ranks was found.
68 SUIONIDES.
XIX. (46. B. 52.) ON THE ATHENIANS WHO
FELL IN EUBCEA DURING THE PELOPONNE-
SIAN WAR. M.
Is thy hollow recess, rugged Dirphe, we fell ;
By wide-rolling Euripus our monument stands ;
Nor false is the story it seemeth to tell.
How our sun set in clouds o'er those far distant sands.
XX. (47. B. 53.) ON ARCHEDICE, DAUGHTER
OF HIPPIAS. *p. 301. M.
Daughter of him who rul'd th' Athenian plains.
This honour'd dust Archedice contains.
Of tyrants, mother, daughter, sister, wife —
Her mind was modest, and unstain'd her life.
XXI. (48. B. 54.) ON ANACREON. r.
Sweet queen of autumn, mother of the wine.
Trail thy green tresses, sorrow- soothing Vine,
Thy waving tendrils, round the pillar'd stone
Above the grave where sleeps Anacreon !
That he, the bard that led the tipsy choir
The livelong night, and struck the joyous lyre.
May yet, tho' dead, around his brows entwine
A wreath of grapes, a garland from the vine.
Breathe o'er his tomb thy sweet and dewy rain :
Who rests below once wak'd a sweeter strain.
«
SIMOXIDES. 69
XXII. (49. B. 55.) ON THE SAME. r.
Behold where Teos shrouds her minstrel son.
The deathless bard, the lost Anacreon !
Whose raptur'd numbers, wing'd with soft desire.
Did all the Graces, all the Loves inspire.
For this alone he grieves within the grave ;
Not that the sun is dark on Lethe's wave,
But that Megiste's eyes he may not see.
Nor, Thressa, still look wistfully on thee.
StiU he remembers music's honey'd breath ;
Still wakes the lyre beneath the house of death.
XXIII. (53. B. 59.) ON THE TOMB OF A MUR-
DERED MAN. R.
O HOLY Jove ! — my murderers, may they die
A death like mine — my buriers live in joy !
XXIV. (54. B. 60.) ON HIS PRESERVATION FROM
DEATH BY AN APPARITION. b.
Behold the Bard's preserver ! — from the grave
The spectre came, the living man to save.
XXV. (55. B. 61.) ON TIMOCREON OF RHODES, m.
After much eating, drinking, lying, slandering,
Timocreon of Rhodes here rests from wandering.
70 SIMONIDES.
XXVI. (56. B. 62.) ON A BRIDGE OVER THE
CEPHISUS. R.
Still wend your way, ye mystic votaries.
To Ceres' shrine, nor dread the wintry tide :
For you the Lindian stranger Xenocles
Hath built this causeway o'er Cephisus wide.
XXVII. (57. B. 63.) AN OFFERING TO VENUS.
* p. 426. M.
CffiLiA and Lyce, erst by lovers known,
To Venus vow the picture and the zone.
Merchant and factor I let your purse proclaim
Both whence the zone, and whence the picture came.
XXVm. (58.B..64.) A WARNING TO SAILORS, m.
Three roving vessels of the C}T^)rian trade
Here, on these noted shoals, have shipwreck made
Of three brave mariners, and naked sped
From port to port, to beg their daily bread.
Sailors, be warn'd ! — How bright soe'er she be,
Venus can cheat you, like her mother sea.
XXIX. (59.B. 65.) ON A DOG. r.
Dead though thou art, thy whitening relics here
Still, Lycas, still the woodland stag shall fear ;
Cithseron saw thee in thy fiery flight.
And Pelion's waste, and Ossa's scarped height.
SIMOXIDES. 71
XXX. (60. B. 6G.) ON A FEMALE VICTOR AT
THE OLYMPIC GAMES. r.
My sire, my brethren Sparta's princes are ;
Mine were the coursers, mine the conqu'ring car :
'Twas I, Cynisca, I that rais'd this stone,
I won the wreath, 'mid Grecian maids alone.
XXXI. (84. B. 90.) ON A STATUE OF CUPID BY
PRAXITELES. * p. 369. h.
Well has the sculptor felt what he express'd ;
He drew the living model from his breast.
Will not his Phrj^ne the rare gift approve,
Me for myself exchanging, love for love }
Lost are my fabled bow and magic dart ;
But, only gaz'd upon, I win the heart.
XXXII. (86. B. 92.) INSCRIBED ON A CENO-
TAPH. R.
O CLOUD-CAPT Geraneia, rock unblest !
Would thou hadst reared far hence thy haughty crest.
By Tanais wild, or wastes where Ister flows ;
Nor looked on Sciron from thy silent snows !
A cold, cold corpse he lies beneath the wave.
This tomb speaks, tenantless, his ocean grave.
72 SIMONIDES.
XXXIII. (89. B. 95.) EPITAPH.
A LAND not thine hath shed its dust o'er thee,
A fated wanderer o'er the Pontic sea :
No joys for thee of sweet regretted home ;
To sea-girt Chios thou didst never come.
XXXIV. (90. B. 96.) EPITAPH.
Shame, glorious shame beside Theaerus' wave
Brought Cleodamus to his honour'd grave
'Mid Thracian lances : for his father's name
The warrior son hath gained immortal fame.
XXXV. (91.B. 97.) EPITAPH. m.
These, as the spoUs of Tyrrhene war,
to Phoebus' hallowed dome
They bore away, one sea receiv'd,
one vessel and one tomb.
XXXVI. (95, 94. B. 101, 100.) FRAGMENTS OF AN
ELEGY. ANON. (Quart. Rev. ubi supra.)
Grievous disease ! why enviest thou to men
In lovely youth to stay ?
Amercing young Timarchus of his life
Before his nuptial day ?
SIMONIDES. /ri
He, in liis father's arms embrac'd.
Thus gasp'd with failing breathy —
O Timenorides, forget me not.
Thy virtuous child, in death ! "
XXXVII. (98. B. 104.) FRAGMENT OF AN ELEGY.
* p. 185. M.
All human things are subject to decay ;
And well the man of Chios tun'd his lay, —
" Like leaves on trees the race of man is found" —
Yet few receive the melancholy sound.
Or in their breasts imprint this solemn truth ;
For Hope is near to all, but most to youth.
Hope's vernal season leads the laughing hours,
And strews o'er every path the fairest flowers :
To cloud the scene no distant mists apjiear.
Age moves no thought, and death awakes no fear.
Ah, how unmindful is the giddy crowd
Of the small span to youth and life allow'd !
Ye who reflect, the short-liv'd good employ.
And while the power remains, indulge your joy.
XXXVIII. (99. B. 105.)
ON SNOW SERVED AT A BANQUET. c. m.
With this the sharp north wind, rushing from Thrace,
Hath strown Olympus to his giant base.
And vex'd the cloakless wanderer's soul, while deep
It lay beneath the cleft and crannied steep :
But here the feast its tempering breath demands.
For draughts prefcrr'd by hos])itablc hands.
74 SIMONIDES.
XXXIX. (106. B. 112.)
THE OFFERING OF THE PRIEST OF CYBELE. m.
From winter snows descending fiercely round,
The priest of Cybele a shelter found
Beneath a desert cliff, that beetling stood
O'er the wild margin of the ocean flood.
Here, as he wrung the moisture from his hair,
He saw, advancing to his secret lair.
With hunger fierce, and horrid to behold.
The grim destroyer of the nightly fold.
Then, aU dismay'd, the sacred drum he shook
With wide-extended hand, and wildly struck.
— He struck : the hollow cave, within, around,
On every side, rebeUow'd to the sound.
Tlie forest's lord, o'ercome with holy dread,
Back to his native woods, loud howling, fled —
Fled from that trembhng votary. — He, in praise
Of her, whose power redeem'd his forfeit days.
Now hangs these locks, and garments wet with brine,
(For his deliverance due,) at Rhsea's shrine.
BACCHYLIDES. 75
BACCHYLIDES. f
Aei^avd r evKapirevvra neXiffTOLKTbJv dirb 'Movrruiv,
'SavQois eK KaXdfiris BaKxvXiSe<D ffrdxvas. — Meleager, i. 33.
This poet, to whom the golden ears of corn are assigned
by WRy of emblem, possibly with reference to the beautiful
Fragment in which he celebrates the blessings of Peace and
her attendant Plenty, was sister's son to Simonides the son
of Leoprepes, and a native of the same island. He com-
posed, like Pindar, who was by some years his predecessor.
Odes in celebration of the victors at the Pytliian games ;
but, from the scanty remains which we now possess of his
writings, it would be difficult to say how far king Hiero
was justified in assigning him the preference over his illus-
trious rival. The critical judgement of Longinus, who, in
a somewhat ambiguous comparison between the two poets,
ascribes to BacchyHdes the praise of sweet and flowery
diction, is, in the opinion of Mr. Elton, sufficiently con-
firmed by the existing fragments, — which, together with
two Epigrams, are twenty in number.
FRAGMENTS.
I. (1.) M.
Peaceful wealth, or painful toil.
Chance of war, or civil broil,
t Jacobs, vol. i. p. 82. Brunck, i. p. 14!>.
E 2
'JQ BACCHYLIDES.
'Tis not for man's feeble race
These to shun, or those embrace.
But that all- disposing Fate
Which presides o'er mortal state,
Where it listeth, casts its shroud
Of impenetrable cloud.
II. (2.) M.
Of happiness to mortal man
One is the road, and one the goal, —
To keep unburthen'd, all he can.
From loads of care the tranquil soul.
But whoso toileth night and day.
Nor day nor night permits sweet rest
To steal him from himself away.
Or still the fever of his breast.
Nought will it profit, though he bear
On gloomy brow the stamp of care.
III. (4.) TRUTH. * p. 1-22. m.
As gold the Lydian touch-stone tries.
So man — the \drtuous, valiant, wise —
Must to all-powerful truth submit
His virtue, valour, and his wit.
IV. (7, 6.) M.
Not to be born 't were best.
Nor view the Hght o' th' sun ;
Since to be ever blest
BACCHYLIDES.
Is giv'n to none ;
And Fate deals out his share.
To each alike, of pain and care.
V. (8.)
Happy, to whom the gods have giv'n a share
Of what is good and fair ;
A life that 's free
From dire mischance and ruthless poverty.
To live exempt from care.
Is not for mortal man, how blest soe'er he be.
VI. (9.) PEACE. * p. 188.
For thee, sweet Peace, Abundance leads along
Her jovial train, and bards awake to song.
On many an altar, at thy glad return.
Pure victims bleed, and holy odours burn ;
And frolic youth their happy age apply
To graceful movements, sports, and minstrelsy.
Dark spiders weave their webs within the shield ;
Rust eats the spear, the terror of the field ;
And brazen trumpets now no more affright
The silent slumber and repose of night.
Banquet, and song, and revel fill the ways.
And youths and maidens sing their roundelays.
VII. (10.) ON THE DEATH OF A CHILD.
Alas, poor chUd ! for thee our bosoms swell
With grief, tears cannot cure, words may not tell.
11
M.
M.
78 BACCHYLIDBS.
VIII. (11.) ANACREONTIC. h. m.
Thirsty comrade ! wouldst thou know
All the raptures that do flow
From those sweet compulsive rules
Of our ancient drinking schools —
First, the precious draught shall raise
Amorous thoughts in giddy maze.
Mingling Bacchus' present treasure
With the hopes of higher pleasure.
Next, shall chase through empty air
All th' intolerant host of Care ;
Give thee conquest, riches, power ;
Bid thee scale the guarded tower ;
Bid thee reign o'er land and sea
With unquestion'd sov'reignty.
Thou thy palace shalt behold,
Bright with ivory and gold ;
While each ship that ploughs the main,
Fill'd with Egypt's choicest grain.
Shall unload her pond'rous store.
Thirsty comrade ! at thy door.
IX. (12.) HERCULES TO CEYX. c. m.
. . He stood upon the threshold stone
While the feast was serving up.
And said, "The righteous ever run
Unbought, unbidden, every one.
To where their fellows sup." ....
BACCHYLIDES. 79
X. (13.) M.
Here no fatted oxen be.
Gold, nor puqile tapestry :
But a well-disposed mind ;
But a gentle muse, and kind ;
But bright wine to glad our souls.
Mantling in Boeotian bowls.
XI. (14.) ON THE TEMPLE OF PALLAS ITONIA. m.
Folded arms and saunt'ring pace
Come not nigh this holy place.
She whose image here is seen.
Golden- JEgis-bearing queen.
Dread Itonia, doth ordain ^
For the suppliants at her fane
Other services than these, —
Tributes rare from bended knees.
XII. (15.) M.
Virtue, plac'd on high, doth shine
With a glory all divine.
Riches oft alike are shower' d
On the hero and the coward.
XIII. (16.) M.
The high immortal gods are free
From taint of man's infirmity ;
Nor pale diseases round them wait.
Nor pain distracts their tranquil state.
80 BACCHYLIDES.
XIV. (17.) M.
Wise-men now, like those of old,
Can but tell what others told.
Full hard it is the hidden door
Of words unspoken to explore.
EPIGRAMS.
XV. (19.)
ON A POETICAL PRIZE. m.
O SOVEREIGN Pallantean progeny !
Thou many-titled. Virgin Victory !
Long, long may'st thou behold with fav'ring eyes
The bright Cransean choir : and when the prize
Of song the Muses have adjudg'd, bestow
Thy wreath, to grace the Cean poet's brow.
XVI. (20.)
THE HUSBANDMAN'S OFFERING. * p. 423. m.
To Zephyr, kindest wind, that swells the grain,
Eudemus consecrates this humble fane ;
For that he listen'd to his vows, and bore
On his soft wings the rich autumnal store.
SCOLIA OF VARIOUS POETS. 81
SCOLIA OF VARIOUS POETS, f
The true definition of the Greek Scolium appears to be, n
short ode, or lyric composition, made to be sung or recited
at banquets. Many of those which remain to us under that
title, have the appearance of being struck off at the mo-
ment, after the manner of the Italian improvisatori. They are
often irregular in respect of metre, (whence, perhaps, the
name assigned to them, from o-coXios, crooked,) and, in
point of subject, are rarely of the convivial cast which might
be imagined from the occasion which produced them, but
generally confined to some brief moral sentence or apo-
phthegm, some patriotic action, or the celebration of the
praises of some hero or deity. Their nature will be made
more evident by the following specimens, among which the
famous song of Harmodius and Aristogeiton is the most pro-
minent. It may seem, however, to be carrying the love of
classification too far to say (with Casaubon in his Animad-
versions on Athenseus, lib. xv.) that they were invariably
confined to the illustration of some proverbial truth or
adage ; and that, for instance, the remarkable poem just
mentioned is to be regarded in no other light than as in-
tended to inculcate the maxim, that prudence is fit to be
resorted to in aid of every human undertaking. To say no-
thing of the bald insipidity of such a notion, it seems to
be still more at variance with the character of several others
in the list of ScoHa ; although whether some of these be pro-
t Jacobs, vol. i. p. 87. Biuiick, i. p. 154.
E 5
82 SCOLIA OF VARIOUS POETS.
perly included in that list may appear to admit of a ques-
tion, as, for example, the beautiful hymn or ode to Health,
which may be more fitly regarded as a Psean. And, again, it
may be thought that several of the smaller pieces of Sappho,
Alcseus, Simonides, and Bacchylides, cited as Fragments,
ought rather to be regarded as Scolia, since they come
precisely within the more general definition of the term.
Thus, in fact, the distich which, following Bishop Blom-
field, we have given as fifth in number among our trans-
lations of Sappho's fragments, is inserted by Jacobs among
the Scolia, and ascribed by him to Praxilla of Sicyon. On
the other hand, though generally of a moral, they were not
unusually also of the convivial or festive character, possi-
bly as being made in honour of Bacchus ; and, when so
considered, are perhaps more properly to be ranked under
the description of Pseans ; which last term, as Casaubon has
shown, is by no means to be restricted to its original mean-
ing, of a hymn in praise of Apollo, but may be extended to
embrace any lyric composition in honour of the gods, made
to be sung at certain solemnities, or for the purpose of re-
citation, and with musical accompaniments.
I. (1.) BY PITTACUS: CM.
(One of the Seven Sages, a native of Mitylene, where he
attained supreme power, and contemporary with Alcseus
and Sappho.)
March, with bow and weU-stock'd quiver
Arm'd, against the wicked wight ;
SCOLIA OP VARIOUS POETS. 83
For his tongue is faithless ever,
Words and thoughts just opposite.
II. (2.) BY THE SAME. m.
The wise with jirudent thought provide
Against misfortune's coming tide.
Tlie vahant, when the surge beats high,
Undaunted brave its tyranny.
III. (3.) BY BIAS : m.
(Another of the Seven Sages, a native of Priene ; who was
li\'ing at the time of the conquest of Ionia by the Persians,
B. C. 544.)
Whilst in the city 'tis your wish to dwell,
Seek how to please aU men of each estate :
Thus may you prosper. Hate and Discord fell
Too oft pursue the proud and obstinate.
IV. (4.) UNCERTAIN. m.
'Tis best from land to watch the raging sea.
If so you may, and have the pow'r.
But if you chance on the wild waves to be.
Then make the best o' th' present hour.
V. (.5.) ANOTHER. m.
O THAT we had the art to know
Each man by more than outward show, —
M,
84 SCOLIA OF VARIOUS POETS.
To ope the door of every breast.
And see the soul's most secret place ;
Then close it fast, — and, thus possess'd,
Cling to our friends with strict embrace I
VI. (6.) ANOTHER :
(on the alcm^onid^, slaix at leipsydrion.)
Wo, wo to thee, Leipsydrion,
Betrayer of the brother-band !
How brave were they thou 'st overthrown —
How worthy of their native land —
How proud the fathers, who may own
For children such a patriot band !
VII. (7.) THE SONG OF HARMODIUS. * p. 122.
BY CALLISTRATt'S. D.
(" Num verendum erat ne quis tyrannidem Pisistratidarum
Athenis instaurare auderet, ubi in omnibus conviviis, et
seque ab infima plebe in compitis, quotidie cantitaretur
SraXiov iUud Callistrati nescio cujus, sed ingeniosi certe
poetpe, et valde boni civis ?" — Lowth, de Sacr. Poes. Hebr.
p. 13, — where it is also observed that tliis most remark-
able poem had by some been ascribed to Alcaeus, but by a
strange anachronism, since that poet flourished eighty years
before the event it commemorates. Of the name of Calli-
stratus we find mention of two, — one, the son of Empedus,
recorded by Pausanias as having fallen in the expedition of
Nicias to Sicily, B. C.413, — the other, son of CaUicrates,
SCOLIA OF VARIOUS POETS. 85
and a distinguished Athenian orator, who flourished from
B. C. 377 to 356. Whether either of these was the author
of the Hymn to Harmodius, must be left to conjecture. If
the first of the two, the composition of the poem must be
referred to a period of nearly a century after the death of
Hipparchus, by the hands of the Athenian patriots, B. C.
514. But, though unwilling to ascribe it to a more recent
period, we must not omit mention of a third Callistratus,
the author of various pieces of poetry and poetical criticism,
quoted by Athenseus and others, a list of which is given
(vol. ii. p. 530) by Mr. Fjnies Clinton, who fixes hira at
B. C. 154.
I 'll -v^Teathe my sword in myrtle bough,
ITie sword that laid the tyrant low.
When patriots, burning to be free.
To Athens gave equality.
Harmodius, hail ! though 'reft of breath.
Thou ne'er shalt feel the stroke of death ;
The heroes' happy isles shall be
The bright abode allotted thee.
I '11 wreathe my sword in myrtle bough.
The sword that laid Hipparchus low.
When at Minerva's adverse fane
He knelt, and never rose again.
While Freedom's name is understood.
You shall delight the wise and good ;
You dar'd to set your country free.
And gave her laws Equality.
86 SCOLIA OF VARIOUS POETS.
ANOTHER TRANSLATION OF THE SAME. d.
In myrtle my sword will I wreathe.
Like our patriots the noble and brave,
Who devoted the tyrant to death.
And to Athens equality gave.
Lov'd Harmodius, thou never shalt die !
The poets exultingly tell
Tliat thine is the fullness of joy
Where Achilles and Diomed dwell.
In mjTtle my sword wUl I wreathe,
Like our patriots the noble and brave,
Who devoted Hipparchus to death,
And buried his pride in the grave.
At the altar the tyrant they seiz'd.
While Minerva he vainly implor'd,
And the Goddess of Wisdom was pleas'd
With the victim of Liberty's sword.
May your bhss be immortal on high.
Among men as your glory shall be !
Ye doom'd the usurper to die,
And bade our dear country be free.
VIII. (8.) A P^AN. M.
lo Pan ! we sing to thee,
King of famous Arcady !
Mighty dancer ! follower free
Of the nymphs, 'mid sport and glee !
SCOLIA OF VARIOUS POETS. 87
lo Pan ! sing merrily
To our merry minstrelsy !
We have gain'd the victory,
"We are all we wish'cl to be,
And keep with pomp and pageantry
Pandrosos' great mystery.
IX. (9.) ANOTHER. m.
Pallas Tritonia ! sov'reign power !
Defend thy lov'd Athenian tower !
Raise and protect thy cherish'd state
From civil war and stern debate !
Thou, and thy sire, her cliildren save
From doom of an untunely grave !
X. (15.) PROVERBIAL. m.
Beneath each stone a scorpion lies :
Comrade, hold, if thou be wise ;
And, lest it seize thee, have a care I
Ever i' th' dark suspect a snare.
XI. (16.) ANOTHER. m.
Whoso, in this our evil day.
Will not his dearest friend betray.
Right worthy is, in my esteem.
That gods and men should honour'd deem.
88 SCOLIA OF VARIOUS POETS.
XII. (18.) * p. 77. ANON.
Quaff with me the purple wine.
And in youthful pleasures join ;
Crown with me thy flowing hair ;
With me love the hlooming fair :
When sweet madness fires my soul,
Thou shalt rave without control ;
When I'm sober, sink with me
Into dull sobriety.
XIII. (19.) M.
I WISH I were an ivory IjTe —
A lyre of bumish'd ivory —
That to the Dionysian choir
Blooming boys might carry me !
Or would I were a chalice bright.
Of virgin gold by fire untried —
For virgin chaste as morning light
To bear me to the altar side.
XIV. (22.) THE SOLDIER'S RICHES. * p. 124.
BY HYBRIAS OF CRETE. M.
(Of this author the name and country alone are preserved
to us ; but the poem being classed by Athenseus together
with most of the preceding Scolia, may be reasonably re-
ferred to a like early date. It should be added, however,
that the name Hybreas, without any particulars connected
with it, is inserted by Mr. Clinton in his list of Greek
SCOLIA OF VARIOUS POETS. 89
authors (vol. ii. p. 548), and the date, B. C. 40, 31,
assigned to it.)
My riches are the arms I M'ield,
The spear, the sword, the shagg-y shield.
My bulwark in the battle-field :
With this I plough the furrow'd soil,
With this I share the reaper's toil,
With this I press the generous juice
That rich and sunny vines produce ;
With these, of rule and high command
I bear the mandate in my hand ;
For while the slave and coward fear
To wdeld the buckler, sword, and spear.
They bend the supplicating knee,
And own my just supremacy.
XV. (23.) A P^AN. * p. 159.
BY ARIPHRON OF SICYON. B,
(The same ignorance awaits us as to the date and particu-
lars of the history of tins poet, as of the preceding.)
Health, brightest visitant from Heav'n,
Grant me with thee to rest !
For the short term by nature giv'n.
Be thou my constant guest !
For all the pride that wealth bestows.
The pleasure that from children flows,
Whate'er we court in regal state
That makes men covet to be great ;
90 SCOLIA OP VARIOUS POETS.
Whatever sweet we hope to find
In love's delightful snares.
Whatever good by Heav'n assign' d,
Whatever pause from cares, —
All flourish at thy smile divine ;
The spring of loveliness is thine.
And every joy that warms our hearts
With thee approaches and departs.
XVI. RICHES. * p. 122.
BY TIMOCREON OF RHODES t : H.
(Classed by Suidas, but apparently without reason, among
the writers of the old comedy ; wliile he is mentioned by
Atheneeus and Plutarch as a victor in atliletic games, and at
the same time as a lyric poet and a satirist ; in which last ca-
pacity he is said to have made both Tliemistocles and Simo-
nides the objects of his ridicule, and to have undergone for
that off'ence the poetical chastisement of an epitaph inflict-
ed on him by one of the ofi'ended parties. See ante, p. 69.)
Blinded Plutus ! didst thou dwell
Nor in land, nor fathom'd sea.
But only in the depths of hell —
God of riches ! safe from thee,
Man himself might happy be.
f Jacobs, vol. i. p. 80. Brunck, i. p. 148.
SCOLIA OF VARIOUS POETS. 91
XVII. HYMN TO VIRTUE.
BY ARISTOTLE, t F.
(This remarkable poem, ■\vliich there is every reason to be-
lieve the genuine composition of the great philosopher
whose name it bears, is here inserted on account of its
resemblance in character to some of the preceding ScoHa,
and as completing our present series of Lyric Remains.
Its authenticity ajipears to be confirmed by the story, which
is connected with it, as related by Diogenes Laertius, — that
the philosopher underwent an accusation on the charge of
impiety, for composing and daily reciting a hymn or paean
in honour of his patron Hermias, t}Tant of Atarnse, an
eunuch, and originally a slave. (See Bentley, Phileleuth.
Lips. §. 47.)
It remains only to be noticed that Aristotle was born
B. C. 384, and died B. C. 322, twenty-five years after the
death of Plato, who was born B. C. 429.)
O SOUGHT with ton and mortal strife
By those of human birth.
Virtue, thou noblest end of life.
Thou goodliest gain on earth !
Thee, Maid, to win, our youth would bear.
Unwearied, fiery pains ; and dare
Death for thy beauty's worth ;
So bright thy proff'er'd honours shine.
Like clusters of a fruit divine.
f Jacobs, vol. i. p. 110. Brunck, i. p. 177.
92 SCOLIA OF VARIOUS POETS.
Sweeter than slumber's boasted joys,
And more desir'd than gold,
Dearer than nature's dearest ties : —
For thee those heroes old,
Herculean son of highest Jove,
And the twin-birth of Leda, strove
By perUs manifold :
Pehdes' son with like desire.
And Ajax, sought the Stygian fire.
Tlie bard shall crown with lasting bay,
And age immortal make
Atarna's sovereign, 'reft of day
For thy dear beauty's sake :
Him therefore the recording Nine
In songs extol to heights divine,
And every chord awake ;
Promoting still, with reverence due.
The meed of friendship, tried and true.
END OF PART I.
PART II.
CONTAINING SPECIMENS OF THE POETS COMPRISED IN
MELEAGER'S GARLAND.
^SCHYLUS.f
A NAME more illustrious, "with which to commence this se-
4
cond division, could not be found than that of ^schylus,
the date of whose birth (B. C. 525) corresponds with the
second year of the reign of Hipparchus at Athens ; the pe-
riod of the first arrival of Simonides and Anacreon in that
city. His first tragic exhibitions took place when he was
about twenty-five years of age (B. C. 499) ; and he lived, as
Mr. FyTies Clinton has been at considerable pains to prove,
till 456, when he had nearly attained that of seventy. At
the same time, however, that we adopt the two following
epigrams as having been ascribed to him, it must be ob-
served that the evidence in favour of their genuineness
is, at least, very equivocal. He appears to have died at the
court of Hiero, to which he had retired some years pre-
viously ; disgusted, says the tradition, by the triumph of
t Jacobs, vol. i. p. 81. Bruiick, ii. p. 523.
94 ^SCHYLUS.
Sophocles, to whom the first prize in tragedy was awarded,
when yet a young man, in preference to his veteran com-
petitor ; on which account also, he is said to have written,
or caused to be written, the Epitaph which forms the se-
cond of the two following pieces, " making mention only
of his share in the victory of Marathon, without any allu-
sion to his dramatic excellencies."
The Anthologia contains also an Epigram by each of his
great successors and rivals in tragedy, Sophocles and Euri-
pides, both at least equally questionable, and neither worthy
of preservation.
I. (1.)
ON THOSE WHO FELL AT THERMOPYL^. cm.
These, too, defenders of their country, fell, —
These mighty souls to gloomy death betray'd:
Immortal is their fame, who, suffering well.
Of Ossa's dust a glorious garment made.
n. (2.) EPITAPH FOR HLMSELF. c. m.
Athenian ^schylus, Euphorio's son,
Buried in Gela's fields, these lines declare :
His deeds are register'd at Marathon,
KnowTi to the deep-hair'd Mede who met him there.
EMPEDOCLES. 95
EMPEDOCLES.t
Two epigrams remain to us, bearing the name of this cele-
brated pliilosopher and naturalist, who was a native of Agri-
gentum, and flourished about the eighty-first Olympiad,
B. C. 455. Both are distinguished by the use of "the figure
Paronomasia, or Pun," — a peculiarity in which the gravest
sages of antiquity appear to have been very conversant,
and (with the illustrious Martin Scriblerus,) to have ranked
among the principal beauties of composition. The first is a
single couplet, abounding in graces of this description :
'AKpov iciTpov" AKpuiv , ' AKpayavr'ivov, iraTpos ctKpov,
KpvTrrei Kpt][ivb9 aKpos TruTpiSos aKporcirt]?.
The second presents us, in the name " Pausanias," with an
opportunit}'' of preserving in a translation one at least of the
brace of double meanings contained in the original. We
give it, not more on account of the celebrity of its author,
than as a specimen of this sort of punning epigram.
EPITAPH ON A PHYSICIAN. m.
Pavsakias — not so nam'd without a cause.
As one who oft has giv'n to pain a. pause —
Blest son of ^sculapius, good and wise,
Here, in his native Gela, buried lies ;
Who many a wretch once rescu'd by his charms
From dark Persephone's constraining arms.
f Jacobs, vol. i. p. 95. Brunck, i. p. 163.
96 EUENUS.
EUENUS.t
There were at least three poets of different ages, whose
remains are confounded together, under this name, in the
several editions of the Anthology, although, in all, they
amount to no more than sixteen in number. The first in date
of these several contributors was a native of Paros, and an
author of Elegies, of which it is possible that some of the
pieces now recognised as Ei^igrams are merely fragments.
The date assigned him on the authority of Eusebius is the
third year of the eighty- second Olympiad, B. C. 450 ; and
to lum must, it is conceived, be at all events attributed the
short moral and proverbial sentences (most of them single
lines, or couplets,) which constitute the first six in the col-
lection. To these we would willingly add, for its exquisite
grace and elegance, the thirteenth — -Ardi Kopa iiekidpen-e,
— of which a version is here attempted. Of the two later
poets of this name, the date of one is referred to the 138th
Olympiad (B. C. 228), of the other to a still more recent
period.
I. (3.) ON THE VICE OF CONTRADICTION, m.
In contradiction, wrong or right,
Do many place their sole delight.
•f- Jacobs, vol. i. p. 96. Brunck, i. p. 164.
EUENUS. 97
If right, 't is well — if wrong, why so —
But contradict whate'er you do.
Such reasoners desen'e, I hold,
No argument save that of old —
" You say 'tis black — / say, 'tis white —
And so, good Sir, you 're answer'd quite."
Far different is the aspect seen
Of modest Wisdom's quiet mien —
Patient, and soon to be persuaded.
When argument by truth is aided.
II. (7.)
THE VINE AND THE GOAT. m.
Though thou shouldst gnaw me to the root.
Destructive goat ! — enough of fruit
I bear, betwixt thy horns to shed,
When to the altar thou art led.
HI. (13.)
THE SWALLOW AND THE GRASSHOPPER, m.
Attic Maiden, breathing still
Of the fragrant flowers that blow
On Hymettus' purpled hiU,
Whence the streams of honey flow ;
Wherefore thus a captive bear
To your nest the grasshopper ?
Noisy prattler, cease to do
To your fellow-prattler wrong :
98 EUENUS.
Kind should not its kind pursue, —
Least of all the heirs of song.
Prattler ! seek some other food
For your noisy prattling hrood.
Both are ever on the wing,
Wanderers both in foreign bowers,
Both succeed the parting spring.
Both depart with summer hours.
— Those who love the minstrel lay
Should not on each other prey.
IV. (14.) ON THE RUINS OF TROY. c. m.
Time's ashes, on my turrets shed.
Have worn their pride away :
I was that Ilion of whom men have read
In Homer's living lay!
No more shall Argive sword and spear
My brazen bvilwark shake:
But in the voice of nations loud and clear
My monument I make.
V. (15.) " MIX WATER WITH YOUR WINE." cm.
Water your wine in moderation —
There 's grief, or madness, in a strong potation :
For 'tis young Bacchus' chiefest pleasure
To move with Naiads three in linked measure :
'T is then he is good company
For sports, and loves, and decent jollity.
But, when alone, avoid his breath !
He breathes not love, but sleep — a sleep like death.
SIMMIAS OF THEBES. 99
SIMMIAS OF THEBES.t
This author, distinguished from another of the same name,
who was a Rhodian, by that of his country, is supposed
to be the same that is mentioned among the intimate
friends of Socrates who were present at his death, B. C.
399 ; but whether to him, or to his namesake, is to be as-
signed the place in Meleager's Garland indicated by the
words (3p(o-))r a-xpaca liijifiieu) (Mel. i. 30.), " the wild pear
of Simmias," must be left to conjecture. There are only
two Epigrams ascribed to tliis Theban Simmias, both in
honour of Sojohocles. We give the best of the two in the
well-known version of the Spectator.
(2.) ON SOPHOCLES. * p. 298. anon.
Wind, gentle evergreen, to form a shade
Around the tomb where SoiDhocles is laid.
Sweet ivy, lend thine aid ; and intertwine
With blushing roses, and the clustering vine.
Thus shall thy lasting leaves, with beauties hung,
Prove grateful emblems of the lays he sung.
t Jacobs, i. p. 100. Brunck, i. p. 168.
F 2
100 PLATO.
PLATO.f
Tsal Lu)i> Kcii \pvaeiov del Oeioio YlXdrioi'os
KXiova, Toi' eg dperns -KavroOi Xaf.i7r6i-iepov. — Meleager, i. 47.
This emblem of the golden bougli resplendent on every side
with virtue, accompanied by the epithet "divine," suffici-
ently indicates that the greatest of heathen philosophers is
the Plato here intended, and consequently proves thatMelea-
ger's Anthology comprised some verses which were, or Avere
at least reputed to be, of his composition. Of the thirty
Epigrams printed in Jacobs's collection, one is elsewhere
ascribed to Asclepiades ; and some recent German commen-
tators have thrown doubts on the genuineness of several
others. But, if the ground of rejection be merely the
light and trivial nature of most of the subjects, as deemed
unworthy of so exalted a reputation, the reason will hardly
be admitted as entitled to any weight against the strong
probability arising out of Meleager's testimony ; while the
elegance in the turn of thought and expression of many
of the poems, seems to mark them as belonging to an age
not inferior in antiquity to that of the great philosopher ;
and the conceits with which they are interspersed are in
f Jacobs, i. p. 102. Brunck, i. p. 1C9.
PLATO. 101
accordance with the fanciful character impressed on some
of his most exalted conceptions.
I. (1.) A LOVER'S WISH. moore.
Why dost thou gaze upon the sky ?
Oh that I were yon spangled sphere !
Then every star should be an eye
To wander o'er thy beauties here.
II. (2.) THE KISS. M.
Oh ! on that kiss my soul,
As if in doubt to stay,
Linger'd awhile, on fluttering wing prepar'd
To soar away.
III. (5.) THE CHALLENGE. c. m.
I THROW an apple at my fair ;
And if she love me, love me truly.
She '11 guess aright the hidden prayer,
Accept it, and reward me duly.
But if — oh let it not be spoken ! —
She have no mind to be persuaded.
Still let her take the Lover's token.
And think how soon it will be faded.
102 PLATO.
IV. (7.) LAIS'S LOOKING-GLASS. * p. 425. b.
I WHO, erewhile, in fame and beauty proud,
Before my lattice drew an amorous crowd,
Lais the fair, my hateful glass resign.
An offering, heav'nly Venus, at thy shrine :
For what I am, 't is piteous to behold.
And Time has ruin'd what I was of old.
THE SAME. PRIOR.
Venus, take my votive glass !
Since I am not what I was.
What fi-om tliis day I shall be,
Venus ! let me never see.
V. (8.)
ON A BRONZE IMAGE OF A FROG. m.
Servant of the Nymphs who dwell
In the fountain's deepest cell,
Lover of shades — hoarse frog, that carol free,
Where streamlets run, my rustic minstrelsy —
Me the thirsty traveller
Hath in brass ensculptur'd here,
A grateful offering to the powers who gave.
To slake his burning thirst, the welcome wave.
Croaking minstrel — faithful guide —
I reveal'd the hidden tide
Of waters, bubbling from the reedy lake.
That agony of burning thirst to slake.
PLATO. 103
VI. (9.)
ON THE STATUE OF VENUS AT CNIDOS. m.
Bright Cytherea thought one day
To Cnidos she 'd repair,
Gliding across the waterj'^ way,
To ^dew her image there.
But when, an-iv'd, she cast around
Her eyes dixdnely bright,
And saw ujDon that holy ground
The gazing world's delight ;
Amaz'd, she cried, while blushes told
Tlie thoughts that swell'd her breast,
" Where did Praxiteles behold .....''
He could not, sure, have guess'd !
VII. (11.) ON ARISTOPHANES. m.
The Muses, seeking for a shrine
Whose glories ne'er should cease.
Found, as they stray'd, the soul divine
Of Aristophanes.
Vin. (14.)
ON A RURAL IMAGE OF PAN. * p. 3G9. m.
Sleep, ye rude winds ! be every murmur dead
On yonder oak-crown'd promontory's head !
Be stiU, ye bleating flocks ! your shepherd calls :
Hang silent on your rocks, ye waterfalls !
104 PLATO.
Pan on his oaten pipe awakes the strain.
And fills with dulcet sounds the pastoral plain,
Lur'd by his notes, the Nymphs their bowers forsake,
From every fountain, running stream, and lake.
From every hill and ancient grove around,
And to symphonious measures strike the ground.
IX. (15.)
ON THE IMAGES OF A SATYR AND CUPID.
*p. 368.
From mortal hands my being I derive ;
Mute marble once, from man I leam'd to live :
A Satyr now, with Nymphs I hold resort.
And guard the wateiy grottos where they sport.
In purple wine denied to revel more.
Sweet draughts of water from my urn I pour.
But, Stranger, softly tread, lest any sound
Awake yon boy, in rosy slumbers bound.
X. (19.) ON MUTABILITY. m.
Time bears the world away ; — a little date
Will change name, beauty, nature — aye, and Fate.
XI. (20.)
ON A WALNUT-TREE BY THE ROAD-SIDE. m.
By the road-side a mark I stand
For every passing school-boy's hand ;
PLATO. 105
A helpless butt, whereon to try
The skill of their rude archery.
My branches, erst so widely spread.
The leafy honours of my head,
Scatter'd around me, shent and broke
By many a pointed marble's stroke.
— Plants of the forest ! pray, that ne'er
Your boughs may fruit or blossom bear :
If to be barren be a curse.
Your fatal fruitfulness is worse.
XIT. (21.) MOORE.
In life thou wert my morning star ;
But now that death hath quench'd thy light,
Alas ! thou sliinest, dim and far.
Like the pale beam that weeps at night.
XIII. (22.) ON DION OF SYRACUSE. c m.
For Priam's queen and daughters at their birth
The Fates weav'd tears into the web of life :
But for thee, Dion, in thy hour of mirth.
When triumph crown'd thy honourable strife,
Thy gathering hopes were pour'd upon the sand :
Tliee, still, thy countrymen revere, and lay
In the broad jorecincts of thy native land.
But who the passion of my grief can stay ?
F 5
106 PLATO.
XIV. (23.)
ON TWO NEIGHBOURING TOMBS. h.
This is a sailor's — that a ploughman's tomb ; —
Thus sea and land abide one common doom.
XV. (26.) ON A STRANDED CORPSE. ji.
A shipwreck'd mariner you here behold.
From whose dead limbs ev'n Ocean rude relented
To strip the cloak that did those limbs enfold.
Unpitying man, more rude, that covering tore —
How little worth, to be so long repented ! —
So let him bear away his plunder'd store ;
And go to hell — he '11 wish the deed undone
When Minos sees him with my tatters on .
XVI. (29.)
ON A STATUE OF CUPID SLEEPING. * p. 368.
I pierc'd the grove ; and in its deepest gloom
Beheld sweet Love, of heav'nly form and bloom ;
Nor bow nor quiver at his back were slung.
But, harmless, on the neighbouring branches hung.
On rosebuds pillow'd lay the little cliild.
In glowing slumbers pleas'd, and sleeping smil'd,
While, all around, the bees dehghted sip
The fragrance of his smooth and balmy lip.
PLATO. 107
THE SAME. K.
Deep in the bosom of a shady grove
We found, conceal'd, the truant god of love.
The boy was sleeping ; and his smiling face
Glow'd like a ripe peach with a purple grace.
Unarm'd he lay — his bow and quiver hung
Upon the leafy boughs of trees ; among
Roses fresh-bloTATi his little head repos'd.
And round his laughing lips, that, half-unclos'd,
Invited kisses, dropping from on high,
A swarm of golden bees began to ply
Their busy task ; as if no hive could prove
So fit for honey as the mouth of Love.
XVII. (30.)
THE ANSWER OF THE MUSES TO \^ENUS.
* p. 115. M.
When Venus bade the Aonian maids obey,
Or her own son should vindicate her sway.
The virgins answer'd, "Threat your subjects thus !
That puny warrior has no arms for us."
THE SAME. PRIOR.
Thus to the Muses spoke the Cyprian dame :
Adore my altars, and revere my name ;
My son shall else assume his potent darts :
Twang goes the bow ; — my girls, have at your hearts ! "
108 SPEUSIPPUS.
The Muses answer'd Venus, " We deride
The vagrant's maUce, and his mother's pride :
Send him to njTnphs who sleep on Ida's shade,
To the loose dance and wanton masquerade :
" Our thoughts are settled, and intent we look
On the instructive verse and moral book :
On female idleness his power relies.
But when he finds us studying hard, he flies."
SPEUSIPPUS.t
The disciple of Plato, and his successor in the Academy.
Olymp. 108, B. C. 347.
EPITAPH ON PLATO. m.
Plato's dead form this earthy shroud invests :
His soul among the godlike heroes rests.
f Jacobs, i. p. 109. Brunck, i. p. 176.
ARISTOTLE. 109
ARISTOTLE.f
Of this philosopher, beside the Hymn to Virtue already
inserted, the Anthology contains a single Epigram, of no
value; and a long succession (forty-eight in number) of
equally worthless inscriptions, called Epitaphs, on the He-
roes of the Trojan War. Frcm among these, we have
selected the following, the only one which exceeds the
limits of a single distich, by way of introduction to the
Parody of Mnasalcus, which will be found under the head
of that poet. It is ascribed by some to Plato ; and, as it is
not in uniformity with the other inscriptions among which
it is here placed, it seems probable that Aristotle is, after
all, not entitled to it.
III. (6.) ON THE TOMB OF AJAX. m.
By Ajax' tomb, in solemn state,
I, Virtue, as a mourner wait.
With hair dishevell'd, sable vest.
Fast-streaming eyes, and heaving breast ;
Since in the Grecian tents I see
Fraud, hateful Fraud, preferr'd to me.
I Jacobs, i. p. 1 1 1. Biunck, i. p. 178.
1 10 MNASALCUS.
MNASALCUS.f
MvatraXKOv re /co/xas o'iviropov tt'itvos. — Meleager, i. IC.
The age of this author is unknown. Strabo, after Theo-
doridas, mentions him as one of the tribe of Platsese in
Sicyon ; and Athenseus (lib. iv. p. 1G3,) also calls him a
Sicyonian. However, as Theodoridas, whom Strabo fol-
lows, appears to have lived till about the 136th Olympiad
(B. C. 236), it is clear that the date of his death must be
sought at some earlier period ; nor does there appear
any reason for placing it, as Jacobs is disposed to do, at
a period either immediately, or very shortly, jDreceduig.
On the other hand, one of his Epigrams (the second in the
collection,) is an inscription on the dedication to Diana of
the Shield of Alexander — the Gi'eat, as Reiske conjectures
— whose death preceded that of Tlieodoridas by nearly a
century (B. C. 323). But Reiske's conjecture is unsup-
ported by evidence ; and its jjrobabiHty seems to be neither
increased nor diminished by the circumstance, that of the
two succeeding Epigrams, both on the dedication of shields
— the former refers to that of some other Alexander con-
tradistinguished by the appellation (tvWeos, and the latter
to that of CUtus, who may, or may not, be the same as the
celebrated friend and foster-brother of the Macedonian
madman, whom (as Captain FlueUen has it,) he killed " in
f Jacobs, i. p. 123. Brunck, i. p. 190.
MNASALCUS. Ill
his ates and his angers." The Epigrams of this author are
composed in a terse and manly style, meant perhaps to
be illustrated by Meleager's emblem of the shaip leaves of
the pine-tree, Tliose which remain to us are eighteen in
number ; but, notwithstanding the merit of simphcity and
a certain portion of elegance, they possess too little variety
to invite the labours of the translator.
I. (1.) ON A VINE. M.
Sweet Vine ! when howls the wintry hour,
Not now thy leafy honours shower ;
Nor strew them on the thankless plain —
Soon autumn will come round again.
Then, when with heat and wine ojiprest.
Beneath thy grateful bower, to rest,
Antileon lays his drooping head.
Oh then thy shadowy foUage shed
In heaps around the sleeping boy !
Thus Beauty should be crown'd by Joy.
II. (2.) ON THE SHIELI3 OF ALEXANDER.
A HOLY offering at Diana's shrine.
See Alexander's glorious shield recline ;
Whose golden orb, through many a bloody day
Triumphant, ne'er in dust dishonour'd lay.
M.
112 MNASALCUS.
III. (G.) ON A BOW AND QUIVER. m.
Phoebus ! to thee this cun^ed how and empty-sounding
qviiver
Are offer'd at thy sacred shrine by Promachus, the giver.
But ah ! the shafts thatus'd witliin that painted case to rattle.
Now in the foemen's hearts are sheath'd, whom he hath
slain in battle.
IV. (7.)
ON A PIPE IN THE TEMPLE OF VENUS. h.
Say, rustic Pipe ! in Cytherea's dome
Why sounds this echo of a shepherd's home ?
Nor rocks, nor valleys here invite the strain ;
But all is Love — go, seek thy hills again.
V. (8.)
ON A TEMPLE OF VENUS ON THE SEA-SHORE, m.
Here let us from the wave-wash'd beach behold
Sea-bom Cythera's venerable fane.
And fountains, fring'd with shady poplars old,
Where dip their wings the golden Halcyon train.
VI. (10.) ON A DEAD LOCUST. m.
No more shalt thou, by fruitful furrows sitting,
Make with resounding wings glad minstrelsy !
Nor with loud chirps, my merry mood befitting,
Soothe me reclin'd beneath the forest tree.
NOSSIS. 113
VII. (14.) PARODY. (See Aristotle, p. 109.) m.
Ix woeful guise, at Pleasure's gate,
I, Virtue, as a mourner wait.
With hair in loose disorder flowing.
And breast with fierce resentment glowing ;
Since, all the country round, I see
Base sensual joys preferr'd to me.
NOSSIS.f
2 1' J' S' dva/ii'^ TrXel'as jxvpoirvovv evavOeiiov Ipiv
"NoffffiSos, ris deXrois Krjpbv eTTj^ev "Epa»s. — Meleager, i. 9.
" To Nossis the Locrian, as Bentley first observed," (says
the author of an article in the Edinburgh Review already
cited,) "Meleager seems to attribute an amorous temper
and a warm imagination. But the twelve Epigrams from
her pen which have sur\'ived, display rather an attempt to
shine in that pointed style, which at least invaded this pro-
vince of Greek poetry, and which a woman hardly ever
attempts successfully." According to the evidence of her
own poems, as collected by Mr. Fj-nes Clinton (Fasti Helle-
nici, vol. ii. p. 486), she was a native of Locri in Italy ; the
name of her mother Theophilis, and that of her maternal
grandfather Cleochas ; she alludes in one of her pieces to a
war between her countrymen and the Bruttians — the esta-
blishment of whom as a distinct jieople is referred by Strabo
f Jacobs, i. 127. Brunck, i. 194.
114 NOSSIS.
to B. C. 356 ; and another is in commemoration of Rhin-
thon, a dramatic poet who flourished in the reign of Ptolemy
Soter. Jacobs very properly rejects the absurd conjecture of
Reiske, of two poetesses of the same name, founded on an
epigram in praise of Sappho, in which there seems no ground
for imagining that she is spoken of as a contemporar}^
I. (1.) IN PRAISE OF LOVE. m.
What in life is half so sweet
As the hour when lovers meet ?
Not the joys that Fortune pours ;
Not Hymettus' fi-agrant stores.
Thus says Nossis — Whosoe'er
Venus takes not to her care.
Never shall the roses know.
In her blooming bowers that grow.
II. (2.) ON AN IMAGE OF HER DAUGHTER, m.
In this lov'd stone Melinna's self I trace.
'Tis hers, that form — 'tis hers, that speaking face :
How like her mother's ! Oh what joy, to see
Ourselves reflected in our progeny !
III. (9.) ON THE PICTURE OF THYMARETE. m.
On yonder tablet grav'd I see
The form of my Tliymarete :
Her gracious smUe, her lofty air.
Warm as in life, are blended there.
ANYTE. 115
Her little fondled dog, that keeps
Still ^\-atch around her while she sleeps.
Would in that shape his mistress trace.
And fawning lick her honour'd face.
IV. (12.) ON RHINTHON,
THE INVENTOR OF TKAGI-COMEDY. M.
With hearty laughter pass this column by —
Just meed of praise to him who slumbers nigh.
Rhinthon my name — my home was Syracuse —
And though no tuneful darling of the Muse^
I first made Tragedy divert the town.
And wove — nay, doubt not — my own ivy crown.
ANYTE.
rioWd (lev efjbirXe^as 'AvvTrjs Kpiva. — Meleager, i. 5.
"Why this poetess was called by Antipater 'the female
Homer,' it is difficult to guess. We have rather more than
twenty of her compositions — Epigrams in the more ancient
acceptation of the term ; and a certain sweet simplicity,
rather than Homeric force, is their characteristic." (Edinb,
Rev. ubi supra.) She was a native of Tegea ; and the date
of her compositions appears to be fixed by reference to
one of them, which alludes to the irruption of the Gauls
into Asia (B. C. 278), coupled with the circumstance that
her statue is said to have been the work of Euthycrates
116 ANYTE.
and Cephisodotus, who, according to Pliny, worked in the
120th Olympiad, B. C. 300. Her Epigrams, collected by
Jacobs, are twenty-two in number ; and most possess a
delicacy and tenderness of style, which seem to entitle her
to the emblem of the White Lily above assigned her.
I. (.5.) ON A STATUE OF VENUS. * p. 371. b.
Cythera from this craggy steep
Looks downward on the glassy deep.
And hither calls the breathing gale.
Propitious to the venturous sail ;
While ocean flows beneath, serene,
Aw'd by the smile of Beauty's Queen.
II. (6.)
ON A LAUREL BY A FOUNTAIN'S SIDE. * p. 357. h.
Rest thee beneath yon laurel's ample shade,
And quaff the limpid stream that issues there ;
So thy worn frame, for summer's toil repaid.
May feel the freshness of the western air.
III. (7.) ON THE ENTRANCE TO A CAVERN, anon.
Stranger, beneath this rock thy limbs bestow —
Sweet, 'mid the green leaves, breezes whisper here :
Drink the cool wave, while noontide fervors glow ;
For such the rest to wearied pilgrim dear.
ANYTE. ir
IV. (12.) ON A DOLPHIN CAST ASHORE, i
No more exulting o'er the buoyant sea
High shall I raise my head in gambols free ;
Nor by some gallant ship breathe out the air,
Pleas'd with my o\ati bright image figur'd there.
The storm's black mist has forc'd me to the land,
And laid me lifeless on this couch of sand.
V. (17.) ON THE VIRGINS OF MILETUS, m.
Then let us hence, Miletus dear ! sweet native land, fare-
well !
Th' insulting wrongs of lawless Gauls we fear, whilst here
we dwell.
Three virgins of Milesian race, to this dire fate compell'd
By Celtic Mars — yet glad we die, that we have ne'er be-
held
'Spousals of blood, nor sunk to be vile handmaids to our foes.
But rather owe our thanks to Death, kind healer of our
woes.
VI. (18.) EPITAPH. * p. 285. m.
Poor Erato, when the cold hand of Death
Chok'd the faint struggles of her labouring breath.
And parting life scarce ghmmer'd in her face,
Strain'd her fond parent in a last embrace :
" O father, I 'm no more — dark clouds arise, —
The mists of death hang heavy o'er my eyes ! "
118 MYRO.
VII. (19.) ANOTHER. * p. 285. m.
In this sad tomb where CHno sleeps, sweet maid !
Her mother oft invokes the gentle shade,
And calls, in hopeless grief, on her who died
In the full bloom of youth and beauty's pride ;
Who left, a virgin, the bright realms of day.
On gloomy Acheron's pale coasts to stray.
VIII. (22.) ANOTHER. * (See p. 286.)
Drop o'er Antibia's grave a pious tear ;
For "\"irtue. Beauty, Wit, lie buried here.
Full many a suitor sought her father's hall.
To gain the Virgin's love ; but Death o'er all
Claim'd dire precedence : Who shall Death withstand
Their hopes were blasted by his ruthless hand.
MYRO.t
■TToXXcl! ^e Mvpovs
Aeipia Meleager, i. 5, 6.
" With M5T0, the last of our series, B. C. 280," (we again
quote the Edinburgh critic in his account of tliis lady,) " ths
literary glories of Byzantium began to dawn. She com-
f Jacobs, i. p. 135. Brunck, i. p. 202.
MYRO. 119
posed, in the taste of her age, the usual allowance of Epi-
grams, two of which are extant. But her most famous
work was one in heroic metre, called Mnemosyne, which
appears, from the fragments yet remaining, to have been
mythological. In another sense also she produced poetry,
ha^■ing given birth to Homer the younger, one of the Tragic
Pleiad, who shed their watery beams over the reign of
Ptolemy Philadelphus."
Tlie two Epigrams are subjoined : the fragment of the
AInemosyne contains a very common-place narrative of the
education of Jupiter in the Isle of Crete, and little Avorthy
preservation.
I. (1.) ON A GRAPE PRESENTED TO VENUS, m.
Beneath Cythera's golden porch thou liest,
Sweet Grape ! with Bacchus' richest nectar swelling.
Thy mother-plant, amid her leafy dwelling.
Mourns her lost child. Far off, sweet Grape, thou diest !
II. (2.) ON SOME STATUES OF HAMADRYADS, h.
Fair daughters of the stream, whose rosy feet
Within this deep ambrosial water shine.
Hail ! and preserve the youth whose worship meet
Rais'd your pure forms beneath the shady pine.
120 SIMMIAS OF RHODES.
SIMMIAS OF RHODES.!
This Simmias, who is distinguished as a grammarian, is
mentioned among the eminent men of Rhodes by Strabo,
xlv. p. 655, and is placed by Mr. Clinton (2 Fast. Hell.
487,) immediately after the three female poets, but without
any certain date. From Hephsestion it is proved that he
was anterior to the 120th Olympiad. Jacobs supjioses that
he, and not his namesake of Thebes (see before, p. 99),
is the poet inscribed by Meleager in his Wreath. His name
is associated, in the minds of all school-boy readers of the
Poetse Minores, with the figures of altars, wings, battle-
axes, and eggs, to which he was perhajis the earliest in-
ventor of the delectable and highly profitable art of subject-
ing the rebel Muse, being the first (at least upon record,) of
that illustrious tribe of dunces, who
" wings display, and altars raise,
And torture one poor word a thousand ways."
We shall neither endeavour to imitate any of these his
laudable exploits, nor fatigue our readers with either of the
five dull Epigrams which are ascribed to him, but, on ac-
count of his supposed insertion in Meleager's Anthology,
present them with a translation of the following remarkable
fragment of a poem in praise of Apollo, which may appear
to have deserved a somewhat higher rank in the Temple of
the Muses.
f Jacobs, i. p. 136. Brunck, i. p. 204.
ASCLEPIADES. 121
(5.) APOLLO.— A FRAGMENT. c. m.
I reach'd the distant Hj'perborean state, —
The wealthy race, — at whose high banquet sate
Perseus the hero. On those wide-stretch'd plains
Ride the Massagetae, (gi\ang the reins
To their fleet coursers,) skilful with the bow. —
And then I came to the stupendous flow
Of Campasus, who pours his mighty tide
To th' ocean sea, eternally supplied. —
Thence to islands, clad with olives green and young.
With many a tufted bulrush overhung.
A giant race, half-man, half-dog, live there :
Beneath their shoulders grow the heads they wear ;
Jaws long and lank, and grisly tusks they bear :
Much foreign tongues they learn, and can indite ;
But when they strive to speak, they bark outright.
ASCLEPIADES.t
2iKe\t^6w r' ave/xois avdea (pvofieva. — Meleager, i. 46.
Jacobs entertains a doubt whether the emblem of the ane-
mone (the flower begotten by the Winds), together with the
honours of insertion in the Garland of Meleager, be in this
verse assigned to the Sicilian Theocritus, or to Asclei:)iades
of Samos, who was the friend and preceptor of Theocritus,
and to whom the epithet Sicelides is also given by ancient
f Jacobs, i. p. 144. Brunck, i. p. 211.
G
122 ASCLEPIADES.
authors, as derived from his father. To this poet belong,
beyond all doubt, two of the Epigrams (the 32nd and 33rd)
which came under this title in the Anthology, on account
of their allusions to the Egyptian princesses Berenice and
Cleopatra, who were his contemporaries. With respect to
the remainder, we have no distinct evidence by which to
assign thera to this elder Asclepiades, in preference to a
later poet of the same name (who was of Adramyttus), or
to a third, or a fourth Asclepiades — both of whom were
natives of Myrlea, and included in the list of Greek authors
furnished by Mr. Clinton in the second volume of his Fasti
Hellenici. The greater part, however, are of such a stamp
as to render it very immaterial to whom the praise, or dis-
praise, of their authorship is attributable.
I. (4.) THE VOTIVE CHAPLET. * p. 7. b.
Curl, ye sweet flowers ! ye zephyrs softly breathe.
Nor shake from Helen's door my votive wreath !
Bedew'd with grief, your blooming honours keep,
(For those who love are ever known to weep,)
And when, beneath, my lovely maid appears.
Rain from your purple cups a lover's tears.
II. (8.) THE DESPAIRING LOVER. cm.
My years are not quite two-and-twenty.
And I would fain go die :
Ye Loves, why doth it so content ye
This cruel sport to ply .''
ASCLEPIADES. 123
Think, Loves, if mischief should beset me,
Would it not grieve you then ?
No — by my faith ! you 'd straight forget me.
And to your dice again.
III. (9.) LOVE AND WINE. * p. 81. h.
Drink, Asclepiades ! Why stream thine eyes ?
Art thou alone resistless Beauty's prize ?
Hast thou alone sustain'd the piercing darts
That sportive Love directs at human hearts ?
Why buried thus alive .'' The rosy ray
Of mom fades swiftly — Drink thy cares away !
Wait we again the lamps of drowsy night ?
With wine, with wine salute the dawning light !
A few short hours, and all our joys are o'er.
We sleep in darkness, and shall quaif no more.
IV. (13.) THE LOVER'S PRAYER. m.
All that is left me of my sovd.
That little all, O Love ! release ;
Release, kind Love, from thy controul,
And let me be at peace !
Or, if in vain for ease I pray.
Bid not thy shafts, but lightnings, fly ;
That so I may consume away
To ashes where I lie.
Strike then, kind Love ! — nay, do not spare !
And if aught worse thou hast in store,
I do not ask thee to forbear.
But rather strike the more !
c 2
124 ASCLEPIADES.
V. (18.) THE LOVER CHEATED. m.
Witness, Night ! — I ask no more —
What a fool Melissa made me.
When to be her paramour
First she lur'd and then betray'd me!
Not uncaU'd I sought her door,
I, her chosen paramour.
Witness, Night ! who saw me wait
All your long and dreary hours,
Sigliing, shivering at her gate.
Grant me this, ye amorous powers !
May she live herself to be
Cheated as she cheated me !
VI. (20.) THE ENJOYMENT OF LOVE. *p. 16. m.
Sweet is the goblet cool'd with winter snows
To him who pants in summer's scorching heat ;
And sweet to weary mariners repose
From ocean's tempests in some green retreat : —
But far more sweet than these, the conscious bower
Where lovers meet at Love's delighted hour.
VII. (21.) THE VIRGIN'S TRIUMPH. * p. 5. m.
Still glorying in thy virgin flower ?
Yet, in those gloomy shades below,
No lovers will adorn thy bower :
Youth's pleasures with the living glow. —
"\^irgin, we shall be dust alone.
On the sad shore of Acheron !
ASCLEPIADES. 125
VIII. (24.) THE BRUNETTE. m.
Young Didyme hath ravish'd me in my boyhood's flower,
And, alas ! I melt like wax before her beauty's power.
Say she be black — What then? The coals that on the hearth
lie dead —
Set them on fire — from black they soon will turn to rosy red.
IX. (26.) THE POWER OF WINE. * p. 82. m.
Sxow on ! hail on ! cast darkness all around me !
Let loose thy thunders ! with thy lightnings wound me !
— I care not, Jove, but thy worst rage defy ;
Nor will I cease to revel till I die.
Spare but my life — and, let thy thunders roar
And lightnings flash — I '11 only revel more.
Thunderer ! a God more potent far than thee —
To whom thou too hast yielded — maddens me.
X. (32.) ON THE PICTURE OF BERENICE, m.
This form is Cytherea's — Nay,
'T is Berenice's, I protest.
So like to both, you safely may
Give it to either you like best.
XI. (33.) ON CLEOPATRA'S AMETHYST. m.
The face that sculptur'd here you see
Is of the nymph Ebriety.
126 ASCLEPIADES.
The cunning artist, his design
Imbedded in no kindred shrine
— A pure and lucid amethyst —
Yet think not so his aim he miss'd.
— Pure to the pure are things divine-
In Cleopatra's royal hands.
Unconscious of the power of wine,
Sober'd, the tipsy goddess stands.
XII. (34.) ON HESIOD. haygarth.
Sweet bard of Ascra ! on thy youthful head
The Muses erst their laurel-branches spread.
When on the rugged summits of the rocks
They saw thee laid amidst thy sultry flocks.
Ev'n then to thee, o'er fair Castalia's wave,
Their sacred powers unbounded empire gave.
By this inspir'd, thy genius soar'd on high.
And rang'd the vaulted azure of the sky ;
With joy transported, view'd the blest abodes,
And sang th' extatic raptures of the gods.
LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM. 127
LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM. f
'Ev Se AetoviSeu 9aXepovs kutuoTo Kopvfi^ovs. — Meleager, i. 15.
This poet is generally supposed to have been contemporary
with Pyrrhus king of Epirus ; and it has been also con-
ject\u-ed (probablj'' from the Epitaph which he composed
for himself, and which describes him as an exile from his
native comitrj^) that he was carried away captive, or at
least as a hostage, by that celebrated leader, in the year
B. C. 278. The Epigram from which this connexion has
been chiefly inferred, and which purports to be an inscrip-
tion on certain spoils of war obtained by Pyrrhus in his
great victory over Antigonus and the Galatians, — is treated
by Mr. Fynes CUnton as having been ascribed to him with-
out sufficient evidence. The whole number of Epigrams to
which his name is prefixed exceeds a hundred ; but of these,
six are shown to be doubtful. The first thirty-four are of the
class of Dedicatory or Votive Inscriptions, the perpetually
recurring sameness of which is very uninviting to the trans-
lator. The subjects of the remainder are mostly descriptive,
relating to statues, trees, animals, &c., or commemorative
of divers accidents occurring in human life, particularly to
those conversant in maritime affairs. Many are distinguish-
ed by great tenderness and simplicity ; some attempt hu-
mour, but all are remarkably free from exception on the
ground of morality, in which resjoect the author is entitled
t Jacobs, i. p. 153. Brunck, i. p. 220.
128 LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM.
to the high praise of being one of the most blameless
writers in the Anthology.
I. (1.) AN OFFERING TO THE MUSES. m.
Melo and Satyra to the Muses these —
The tuneful race of Antigenides —
To the Pimpleian Muses, whom of late
Duteous they serv'd, — these offerings dedicate.
Melo, this flute, whose notes in silver chase
Her swift lips foUow'd — and this boxen case.
And amorous Satj^ra, this vocal reed.
Oft by her tuneful breath, with wanton heed,
Waken'd to song, while Comus' revellers round
Clapp'd loud their hands, responsive to the sound.
From festive eve, until the first faint ray
Broke through the portals of rejoicing day.
n. (7.) THE MOTHER'S OFFERING TO RHEA. m.
O HOLY Mother ! — on the peak
Of Dindyma, and on those summits bleak
That frown o'er Phrygia's scorched plain.
Holding thy throne, — with fav'ring aspect deign
To smile on Aristodice,
Silene's virgin child, that she
May grow in beauty, and her charms improve
To fulness, and invite connubial love.
For this thy porch she seeks with tributes rare.
And o'er thine altars strews her votive hair.
LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM. 129
III. (17.) PAN TO HIS WORSHIPERS. m.
" Go, rouse the deer with horn and hound.
And chase him o'er the mountains free ;
Or bid the hollow woods resound
The triumphs of your archery.
" Pan leads — and if you hail me right.
As guardian of the sylvan reign,
I '11 wing your arrows on their flight.
And speed your coursers o'er the plain."
IV. (19.)
THE OFFERING OF THREE BROTHER-SPORTS-
MEN. * p. 424. M.
Three brothers dedicate, O Pan I to thee
Their nets, the various emblems of their toil ; —
Pigres, who brings from realms of air his spoil ;
Damis from woods ; and Clitor from the sea :
So may the treasures of the deep be giv'n
To this ; to those the fruits of earth and heav'n.
V. (21.)
THE OFFERING OF PYRRHUS TO MINERVA, m.
MoLossiAN Pyrrhus to the Itonian power
These shields suspends, from fierce Galatians won.
Thus, in their age, as in their youthful flower,
The race of jEacus triuinphant shone.
G 5
130 LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM.
VI. (29.)
ON THE STATUES OF MERCURY AND HER-
CULES PLACED AS BOUNDARY-STONES BY
THE ROAD-SIDE. m.
(mercury speaks.)
" Wayfarers, who along this road your journey take.
Whether amidst the fields a holiday to make,
Or town- ward bending, to the fam'd Acropolis, —
We, rival gods, who guard the city's boundaries,
(I, who am Hermes hight, and th' other Hercules,)
Bid weary mortals peace, good- will, and lasting bliss.
But for ourselves, alas ! nor peace nor joy have we —
At least, I say so — I — unlucky Mercury.
If any swain bring pears or apples to our shrine,
Ev'n though unripe they be, not one of them is mine :
That glutton bolts them all. The same too with our grapes—
Not one, or sweet or sour, his greedy maw escapes.
— Community of goods I therefore can't abide :
Let him who means me well, my portion set aside.
And say — ' This, Hermes, is for thee — that for thy friend
Alcides.' — Thus, at least, our strife may have an end."
VII. (30.)
OFFERING TO THE RURAL DEITIES. * p. 422. m.
To Pan, the master of the woodland plain.
To young Lyseus and the azure train
Of nymphs that malve the pastoral life their care.
With offerings due old Bito forms his prayer.
To Pan a playful kid, in wars untried.
He vows, yet sporting by the mother's side ;
LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM. 131
And lays the creeping i\'y on the vine,
A grateful present to the God of Wine ;
And to the gentler deities who guide
Their winding streamlets o'er the mountain's side,
Each varied bud from Autumn's shady bowers,
Mix'd with the full-blown roses' purple flowers.
Therefore, ye Nymphs, enrich my narrow field
With the full stores your bounteous fountains yield ;
Pan, bid my luscious pails with mUk o'erflow.
And Bacchus, teach my mellow ^ines to glow.
VIII. (35.) ANOTHER. m.
Ye lowly huts ! thou sacred hill.
Heart of the Nymphs ! pure gushing rill,
That underneath the cold stone flowest !
Pine, that those clear streams o'ergrowest !
Thou, son of Maia, Mercury,
Squar'd in cunning statuary !
And thou, O Pan, whose wand' ring flocks
Frolic o'er the craggy rocks !
— Pleas'd, the rustic goblet take,
FUl'd with wine, and th' oaten cake,
Offer'd to your deities
By a true ^acides.
IX. (37.) ON A STATUE OF ANACREON. c. m.
Come, see your old Anacreon,
How, seated on his couch of stone.
With silvery temples garlanded.
He quaiFs the rich wine rosy-red ;
132 LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM.
How, with flush'd cheek and swimming eye,
In drunken fashion from his thigh
He lets his robe unheeded steal.
And drop and dangle o'er his heel.
One sandal 's off; one scarce can hide
The lean and shrivell'd foot inside.
Old Anacreon — hark ! he sings
Still of love to th' old harp strings !
Still, BathyUa, still, Megiste,
How he coax'd ye, how he kiss'd ye !
Gentle Bacchus, watch and wait.
You must watch and hold him straight ;
Hold him up ; for if he fall.
You lose your boldest Bacchanal !
X. (39.)
INSCRIPTION ON THE BANKS OF A RIVER.
* p. 355. B
Not here, O thirsty traveller, stoop to drink ;
The sun has warm'd and flocks disturb'd its brink ;
But climb yon upland where the heifers play.
Where that tall pine excludes the sultry day ;
There will you list a bubbling rill that flows
Down the smooth rock more cold than Thracian snows.
LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM. 133
XI. (41.)
OX THE STATUE OF VEXUS AXADYOMEXE. m.
From her mother's bosom flying,
Glistening with the salt sea foam.
Our Apelles, Venus spying.
Bade his daring pencil roam
O'er her beauties rapture-giving,
Xot to paint — but catch them living.
'T is thus her fingers small she weaves
In her long and dripping tresses ;
'T is thus her full round bosom heaves.
Like rich fhiit that Autumn blesses ;
While her goddess-rivals say —
" Mighty Jove ! we yield the day."
XII. (47.) MARS TO HIS VOTARIES.
Away with spoils like these ! They are not mine ;
Hateful to Mars, nor worthy of his shrine.
Uncleft the helm, unstain'd with blood the shield,
111' inglorious spear unbroken in the field.
Reddening with shame I felt the hot drops flow
In scorn for cowards from my blushing brow.
These let some lover range, in wanton pride,
Round nuptial haUs and chambers of the bride.
Hang in the temple of the god of fight
Arms dropping gore : — for such his soul delight.
134 LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM.
XIII. (48.) INSCRIPTION ON A BOAT. c. m.
They say that I am small and frail,
And cannot live in stormy seas : —
It may be so ; yet every sail
Makes sliipwreck in the swelling breeze :
Nor strength nor size can then hold fast.
But Fortune's favour, Heaven's decree ; —
Let others trust in oar and mast,
But may the gods take care of me !
XIV. (49.) ON HOMER. * p. 363. h.
Dim groM^ the planets when the God of Day
RoUs his swift chariot through the heav'nly way ;
The Moon's immortal round, no longer bright,
Shrinks in pale terror from the glorious light : —
Thus all eclips'd by Homer's wondrous blaze.
The crowd of poets hide their lessen' d rays.
XV. (50.)
ON THE STATUE OF VENUS AT SPARTA, m.
EuROTAs erst to Cypris said,
" Or clad in arms appear ;
Or hence depart ! The city raves
For buckler, sword, and spear."
LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM. 135
" Nay," faintly laugliing, she replied,
" Though I unarm'd remain.
Yet Lacedaemon shall no less
Be held my favour'd reign :
" Ne'er yet was Cytherea seen
Array' d in horrid mail ;
And shameless they who Sparta's name
Brand with so false a tale."
XVI. (55.) HOME. * p. 111. B.
Clixg to thy home ! If there the meanest shed
Afield thee a hearth and shelter for thy head,
And some poor plot with vegetables stor'd
Be all that Heaven allots thee for a board,
Unsavoury bread, and herbs that scatter'd grow
Wild on the river-brink or mountain-brow, —
Yet e'en this cheerless mansion shall provide
More heart's repose than all the world beside.
XVII. (57.)
THE RETURN OF SPRING TO SAILORS. * p. 352. b.
Haste to the port ! the twittering swallow calls.
Again retum'd, the wint'ry breezes sleep ;
The meadows laugh ; and warm the zei)hyr falls
On Ocean's breast, and calms the fearful deep.
ISG LEONJDAS OF TARP:NTUM.
Now spring your cables, loiterers ; spread your sails ;
O'er the smooth surface of the waters roam !
So shall your vessel glide with friendly gales.
And, fraught with foreign treasure, waft you home.
THE SAME ENLARGED. m.
"With rapid prow the buoyant vessels glide.
And cut the glassy surface of the tide, —
The glassy surface, white with foam no more.
But smoothly flowing to the level shore ;
Or, settled in a deep and calm repose.
Unruffled by the breeze that scarcely blows.
For now the swallow's voice, heard faintly clear,
Spring's gracious zephyr wafts along the air ;
Beneath the pent-house roof's embowering shade
The amorous bird her clay-built nest hath laid.
Securely guarded for her callow brood ;
The cricket has his merry song renew'd.
And early foliage burst through every grove.
And roses open to the touch of love.
Now set your anchors free ; spread every sail.
And loose your cordage to the friendly gale ;
Quit, quit the port, where the long winter's day
Has pass'd inglorious, unimprov'd, away !
Now tempt afresh the fortune of the wave,
Seek other shores, and new adventures brave !
So may the gods of trade reward your toil
With every bounty, shower'd from every soil ;
And guide your barks triumphant o'er the main.
Laden with plenty, to their homes again.
LEONID AS OF TARENTUM. 137
XVIII. (59.) DIOGENES TO CHARON. m.
Sad minister of Hades, who alone
With thy black boat canst pass o'er Acheron !
WHiat though that fearful boat nigh sunken be
With its full freight of souls, yet take in me,
The Dog Diogenes — 'tis all I ask.
Besides my comrade scrip and leathern flask.
This tatter'd cloak, and mite to pay the ferry —
AU I possess'd on earth to make me merry ;
And all I wish again in hell to find.
I have left nothing in the world behind.
XIX. (60.) ON A GRASSHOPPER,
SEATED ON A SPEAR IN THE TEMPLE OF MINERVA. M.
Not only on the tree-top do I sing.
When summer heat expands my vocal wing.
Sipping the dewy morning's virgin tear.
Sweet, unbought bard, to weary trav'llers dear :
But now you may behold me resting here,
Ev'n on the point of arm'd Minerva's spear !
Who love the Muses thus each other suit —
Theirs is our voice — and theirs her maiden flute.
XX. (63.) THE ROAD TO DEATH. c. m.
With courage seek the kingdom of the dead ;
The path before you lies :
It is not hard to find, nor tread ;
No rocks to climb, no lanes to thread ,
138 LEONID AS OF TARENTUM.
But broad, and straight, and even still,
And ever gently slopes downhill :
You cannot miss it, though you shut your eyes.
XXI. (69.) EPITAPH ON A RICH MAN. c. m.
I AM the tomb of Crethon : here you read
His name ; himself is number'd with the dead ;
Who once had wealth, not less than Gyges' gold ;
Who once was rich in stable, stall, and fold ;
Who once was blest above all living men —
With lands, how narrow now ! so ample then !
xxn. (71.)
AN EPITAPH, IN FORM OF DIALOGUE, u.
Q. Who, and from whom art thou, that sleep'st beneath
this Parian pile ?
A. Prexo — my sire, Calliteles. Q. And whence? ^. From
Samos' isle.
Q. By whom interr'd ? A. Theocritus — the spouse my
parents chose.
Q. What brought thee to the grave ? A. Alas ! I died in
childbed throes.
Q. By years how burthen'd ? A. Twenty-two. Q. And
childless all bereft ?
A. Ah, no! one child — Calliteles — of three years old I left.
Q. Long may he live, poor boy, and to an honour'd age
attain !
A. Ev'n so for thee may Fate, kind stranger, every joy
ordain !
LEONID AS OF TARENTUM. 139
XXIII. (75.) EPITAPH ON A DRUNKEN MAN. cm.
Stranger, the Syracusan Orthon prays
You walk not forth drunk in the night ; but says
That he by such misfortune was undone.
And sleeps in death beneath a foreign stone.
XXIV. (94.)
ON A MARINER DEVOURED BY A WOLF. m.
AxTHEUs, escap'd the terrors of the flood,
A wolf devour'd in Phthia's lonely wood :
Ill-fated mariner ! condemn'd to find
Dryads more curst than are the Nereids kind !
XXV. (97.) ON HIPPONAX. m.
Pass gently by this tomb — lest, while he dozes.
Ye wake the hornet that beneath reposes ;
Whose sting, that would not his o\vn parents spare.
Who wiU may risk — and touch it those who dare !
Take heed then — for his words, like fiery darts.
Have ev'n in Hell the power to pierce our hearts.
XXVI. (98.)
'J'HE DYING SHEPHERD TO HIS COMPANIONS.
HAYGARTH.
List, all ye swains, whose thirsty flocks
In silence wander o'er these rocks ;
140 LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM.
And, oh ! let my sad spirit share
Your constant love, your tender care.
In parching summer's fervid heat
May your young lambs a requiem bleat ;
Whilst on the rock the shepherd swain
In mournful murmurs svsrells his strain !
To my lone shade, in early spring.
Ye pilgrims ! grateful offerings bring ;
And o'er my solitary grave
With reverence pour the milky wave :
Then rifle every floweret's bloom
To deck the turf that forms my tomb.
For think not that, when life is fled.
No hopes or fears can reach the dead —
Ev'n then their shades your care approve,
And own with gratitude your love.
XXVII. (99.)
EPITAPH BY A MOTHER ON HER SON. * p. 286.
Unhappy child ! Unhappy I, who shed
A mother's sorrows o'er thy funeral bed !
Thou 'rt gone in youth, Amyntas ; I, in age,
Must wander through a lonely pilgrimage.
And sigh for regions of unchanging night,
And sicken at the day's repeated light.
O guide me hence, sweet spirit, to the bourn
Where in thy presence I shall cease to mourn.
NICIAS. 141
XXVIII. (100.) HIS OWN EPITAPH. * p. 300. m.
Far from Tarentum's native soil I lie.
Far from the dear land of my infancy.
'Tis dreadful to resign this mortal breath,
But in a stranger clime 'tis worse than death !
Call it not Hfe, to pass a fever'd age
In ceaseless wanderings o'er the world's wide stage.
But me the Muse has ever lov'd, and giv'n
Sweet joys to counterpoise the curse of Heav'n,
Nor lets my memory decay, but long
To distant times preserves my deathless song.
NICIAS. t
X^oepov re (jiavfi^pov
TsiKiov Meleager, i. 19.
Whether the emblem of Mint is here assigned to this
poet on account of its actual value in medicine, or its fan-
cied properties as an herb consecrated to Venus, and
worthy of insertion in the nuptial garland, must be left to
conjecture ; but there seems every reason for supposing
that this was the same Nicias to whom, in his character
both of friend and physician, Theocritus addresses his
eleventh Idyll beginning (as Polwhele renders it),
f Jacobs, i. p. 181. Brunck, i. p. 248.
142 NICIAS.
" Nicias ! how vain the labour, to remove
By drugs or healing herbs the fire of Love !"
and again, (IdyU 28. v. 7.)
" — That Nicias, by the sweet-ton'd Graces blest,
Their hallow'd offspring may with letter'd lore
And friendly converse charm his welcome guest."
If SO, the passages in question would fix Miletus as the
place of his nativity : and this fact, coupled with the infor-
mation that there are nine Epigrams in the Anthology
ascribed to him, of which the last (in ridicule of baldness,)
Jacobs prefers — but why, we know not, — to transfer from
him to a later Epigrammatist, named Nicarchus, constitutes
all that we have to say on the^subject of this Author.
I. (4.) ON THE TOMB OF AN INFANT, c. m.
Stay, weary traveller, stay !
Beneath these boughs repose !
A step out of the way.
My little fountain flows.
And never quite forget
The monumental urn.
Which Simus here hath set
His buried child to mourn.
II. (7.) THE BEE. a.
Many-colour'd, sunshine -loving, spring-betokening Bee !
Yellow Bee, so mad for love of early-blooming flowers !
DIOTIMUS. 143
Till thy waxen cell be full, fair fall thy work and thee.
Buzzing round the sweetly smelling garden-plots and
bowers !
III. (8.) THE GRASSHOPPER.
I SHALL never sing my pleasant ditty now.
Folded round by long leaves on the bough.
Under my shrUly-chirping wing :
For a child's hand seiz'd me in a luckless hour.
Sitting on the petals of a flower.
Looking for no such evil thing.
DIOTIMUS.t
^iiv S' ajjia Kai yXv/cii fiiiXov an' uKpefioviov ^lorifiov.
Meleager, i. 27.
There were several writers of this name — one, a rhetori-
cian of Athens, whose name is mentioned among those
delivered up as hostages by the Athenians to Antipater of
Macedon, the successor of Alexander ; — the second, also a
rhetorician, mentioned by Athenseus (lib. xiii. 603,) as au-
thor of a poem entitled " Heraclea," of which a fragment
consisting of three lines is preserved ; besides which Jacobs
refers to Jonsius (Script. Hist. Phil, ii, 15. 4.) as having
reckoned up a whole host of Diotimi — " plures Diotimos,"
f Jacobs, i. p. 183. Brunck, i. p. 250.
144 DIOTIMUS.
and among them Dlotimus the Stoic, who was contempo-
rary with Zeno. But, if the Diotimus of the Anthology be
the same on whom Aratus wrote a couplet, hereafter to be
noticed, then it appears that he must also be set doM'n as
identical with one who was a native of Adramyttus, and a
o-rammarian, whose melancholy office of teaching dunces to
read in the rural district of Mount Gargarus must have
sadly contrasted with the elegance of his poetical talent,
which is apparent in about a dozen Epigrams bearing his
name.
I. (1.) TO A DUENNA. m.
Guardian of yon blushing fair !
Reverend matron ! tell me why
You affect that churlish air.
Snarling as I pass you by.
I deserve not such rebuke :
All I ask is, but to look.
True, I on her steps attend —
True, I cannot choose but gaze ;
But I meant not to offend —
Common are the public ways ;
And I need not your rebuke.
When I follow but to look.
Are my eyes so much in fault
That they cannot choose but see .''
By the gods we 're homage taught —
Homage is idolatry.
Spare that undeserv'd rebuke !
Ev'n the gods permit to look.
DIOTIMUS. 145
II. (6.)
EPITAPH ON TWO AGED PRIESTESSES, c. m.
Two aged matrons, daughters of one sire.
Lie in one tomb, — twin-buried and twin-bom ;
Clino, the priestess of the Graces' quire,
Anaxo, unto Ceres' service sworn.
Nine suns were wanting to our eightieth year :
We died together — who would covet more ?
We held our husbands and our cliildren dear ;
Nor death unkind, to which we sped before.
III. (8.) EPITAPH ON A FLUTE-PLAYER, c. m.
Man's hopes are spirits with fast-fleeting wings.
See where in death our hopeful Lesbus hes !
Lesbus is dead, the favourite of kings !
Hail, light-wing'd Hopes, ye swiftest deities !
On his cold tomb we carve a voiceless flute ;
For Pluto hears not, and the grave is mute.
14(5 ARATUS.
ARATUS.f
"Aarpojv t 'iSpiv 'Aparov 6[iov (3a\ev ovpavoficiKevs
^oiviKOS Kcipas irpwroyovovs eXiKUS. — Meleager, i. 49.
The above lines sufficiently point out the writer of two
short Epigrams bearing tliis name as the same with the ce-
lebrated author of the " Pheenomena;" and the emblem of
the Palm-tree whose branches extend to Heaven is happily
typical of his devotion to the sublime science of astronomy.
"Among the works of Aratus," observes Mr. Clinton, (Fasti
Hell. ii. 499.) " Suidas enumerates eiriypaiifxaTa els $/\av
TYjv dvyarepa 'AprnraTpov yvvalKa 3e 'Ai'riyoyov, quoted
by Jacobs, torn. xiii. p. 856, without observation. But this
is an error. PhUa the wife of Antigonus was daughter of
Seleucus and Stratonice. Phila the daughter of Antipater
was wife of Demetrius and mother of Antigonus." "We
have only to add that he was a native of Soli in Cilicia,
and that his residence at the court of Antigonus Gonatas,
whose reign commenced B. C. 277, sufficiently marks his
sera. Of his only two remaining Epigrams (those stated to
have been ascribed to Phila are lost,) the first is an Epitaph
of no sort of interest, — the second, which is a single cou-
plet, alludes to the hard case of Diotimus, his brother bard,
and is as follows.
(2.) ON DIOTIMUS,
A POET AND SCHOOLMASTER. M.
I MOURN for Diotimus, who sits among the rocks.
Hammering aU day their A, B, C, on Gargara's infant blocks.
t Jacobs, i. p. 186. Brunck, i. p. 253.
HEGESIPPUS. 147
HEGESIPPUS.t
Tyffi S' ufi 'HyTjo-iTTTrov kveirXcKe, jiaivaSa ^orpvv. — Meleager,i. 25.
Of the poet here characterized by an emblem M^hich his
few remaining works do not at all justify, eight Epigrams
survive, marked by a degree of simplicity which vouches,
in the opuiion of Jacobs, for a higher antiquity than Reiske
has assigned them, in conjccturally ascribing them to one
of the same name who was a writer of the middle comedy.
But the truth seems to be that nothing can safely be predi-
cated concerning the date of his compositions beyond the
fact of their insertion in Meleager's Garland.
I. (1.)
ON A SPEAR DEDICATED TO HERCULES, c. m.
Receive me, Hercules, the good lance which
Archestratus in battle well has tried ;
That, waxing old in laurel-shaded niche.
The dance and song may echo by my side.
— Then farewell hateful war and martial pride.
n. (2.) ON A STATUE OF DIANA. c. m.
This statue, at the meeting of three ways,
A maiden, still beneath her father's roof,
Agelocheia, doth to Dian raise ;
Who, while her busy fingers plied the woof,
Appear'd before her in a sudden blaze.
t Jacobs, i. p. 187. Brunck, i. p. 254.
n2
148 EUPHORfON.
III. (7.) THE RIGHT-HAND ROAD TO HADES, m.
'T IS by yon road, which from the funeral pyre
Slopes to the right, that Hermes, it is said,
Leads to the seat of Rhadamanthus dire
The willing spirits of the virtuous dead.
That right-hand path thy pensive ghost pursued,
Lov'd Aristonous ! when it left behind
Those not unmindful of the great and good.
Eternal joys among the blest to find.
EUPHORION.f
AvxviSa. 5' ''Ev(pop!.(ovos. — Meleager, i. 23.
The author here noticed under the gaudy emblem of the
Piony, was a native of Chalcis, and a celebrated poet of the
age and court of Antiochus the Great, B. C. 274-221. His
works, which were very voluminous, are carefully enume-
rated by Mr. Clinton (Fasti Hell. tom. ii. p. 511); but,
with the exception of some inconsiderable fragments pre-
served by Athenseus and others, nothing remains of him
but two Epigrams, both which, for the sake as well of their
intrinsic merit, as of the exalted reputation of the author,
are here attempted.
f Jacobs, i. p. 189. Brunck, i. p. 256.
PHAENNUS. 1 40
I. (1.) AN OFFERING TO APOLLO. m.
The first bright honours of his youthful head,
PhcEbus ! to thee hath fair Eudoxus shed.
Grant him, instead, his temples to adorn
With greenest 1%^ on Acharnae born.
II. (2.) ON A CORPSE WASHED ASHORE. m.
Not rugged Trachis hides these whitening bones,
Nor that black isle, whose name its colour shows ;
But the wild beach, o'er which with ceaseless moans
The vex'd Icarian wave eternal flows.
Of Drepanus — ill-famed promontory —
And there, instead of hospitable rites.
The long grass sweeping tells his fate's sad story
To rude tribes gather'd from the neighbouring heights.
PHAENNUS.t
<Paevvov
Tepniveov Meleager, i. 29.
Of this author Jacobs fairly states, that besides the fact of
his insertion in the Garland of Meleager, and that of the
Anthology containing two Epigrams which bear his name,
nothing whatever is kno^\^l, or in any way discoverable.
f Jacobs, i. p. 190. Brunck, i. p. 257.
150 PAMPHILUS.
I. (1.) ON LEONIDAS. cm.
Most brave Leonidas ! Thou wouldst not bear.
After defeat, to Sparta to repair.
But at Thermopylfe didst nobly choose
Still to maintain your country's ancient use.
PAMPHILUS.t
BXaiffrjv re TrXaravKTTOV aneOpKre Jla/KpiXov. — Meleager, i. 17.
Jacobs mentions two authors of this name, — one, a gram-
marian, the disciple of Aristarchus, — the other, a phi-
losopher, and a native, according to some, of Amphipolis,
according to others, of Sicyon. Of these, the first only is
noticed by Mr. Clinton (Fasti HeU. p. 556), where he
is set down as posterior to the Christian sera, and conse-
quently not the Pamphilus inserted by Meleager in his
Garland, under the emblem of the Plane-tree.
I. (1.) TO THE SWALLOW. m.
Why, all day long, Pandion's hapless child.
Pour out thy sorrows in so sad a ditty ?
Is 't for that sweet flower lost — oh tale of pity ! —
By Tereus torn — the Thracian spoiler wild ?
t Jacobs, i. p. 190. Brunck, i. p. 257.
PANC RATES. 151
PANCRATES.t
iiypois
^vftTrXeKTOv Kapvr]s epveai UayKpdreos. — Meleager, i. 17.
Three Epigrams, which are all remaining to us of the
author here figured under the emblem of a branch of the
Walnut-tree, afford us no trace of the period at which he
flourished. Brunck supposes him to be the same with a
poet of that name whose Halieutics are extant in the first
book of Athenseus, and of whom a fragment is preserved in
the seventh book of the same author ; but Burette (Mem.
de I'Acad. des Inscr. torn. xix. p. 441,) disputes their iden-
tit>%
(1.) OFFERING OF A PRIESTESS OF DIANA, m.
Thy handmaid Clio, Artemis divme !
Her infant daughters offers at thy shrine.
O holy queen, the offer'd tribute grace !
And let two handmaids fill thy suppUant's place.
11. (2.) THE BLACKSMITH'S OFFERING. c. m.
These tongs and pincers, and this hammer stout,
Polycrates in Vulcan's temple lays ;
Toihng with which, he barr'd grim hunger out.
Nor vainly stro\'e his children's lot to raise.
t Jacobs, i. p. 191. Brunck, i. p. 259.
152 ANTAGORAS.
ANTAGORAS.f
' AvTuyopov T evcTTpo^ov ofxfia (ioos. — Meleager, i. 52.
This poet, another of the Uterary ornaments of the court
of Antigonus Gonatas, to whom Meleager assigns for em-
blem a flower designated in the Lexicon as " the twisted
ox-eyed daisy," is credited with only two Epigrams among
those now remaining in the Anthology, unless we ascribe
to him, on the authority of some MSS., that on the bridge
of Xenocles, usually assigned to Simonides, of which see a
translation, before, p. 70. He is said to have been a native
of Rhodes, and was, as Pausanias informs us, a familiar
friend of the accomplished sovereign at whose court he re-
sided, and whose favour he shared in common with Aratus
the author of the Phsenomena. To him is ascribed a heroic
poem under the title of the Thebais.
I. (1.) ON TWO CYNIC PHILOSOPHERS, m.
Here Polemo and pious Crates lie —
So speaks this column to the passers by —
In life unanimous, and join'd in death.
Who taught pure wisdom with inspired breath:
Whose acts, accordant with the truths severe
Their lips pronounc'd, bespoke the soul sincere.
t Jacobs, i. p. 191. Brunck, i. p. 260.
PH-EDIMUS. 153
II. (2.) CUPID'S GENEALOGY. cm.
Whither shall we go to prove
Tlie genealogy of Love ?
Shall we call him first created
Of the gods from chaos dated,
WTien Erebus and Night were mated ;
And their glorious progeny
Sprung from out the secret sea ?
Or will ^'enus claim Love's birth ?
Or the roving Winds, or Earth ?
For his temper varieth so.
And the gifts he doth bestow
(Like his form, which changeth still.
Taking either sex at will,)
Are now so good, and now so bad.
We know not whence his heart he had.
PHiEDIMUS.t
'Ev rpXoyi fli^as
^alSiHOV Meleager, i. 51.
Of this poet, here characterized by a punning allusion to
his name, as " the flame-coloured Iris," nothing is known
but that he is mentioned by Stephanus as a citizen of
Bisanthe, in Macedonia, and as a writer of elegies. There
are four Epigrams in the Anthology ascribed to him.
t Jacobs, i. p. 192. Bruiuk, i. p. 201.
H 5
154 HERMODORUS.
I. (1.) HEROIC LOVE. m.
This bow that erst that earth-born Dragon slew,
O mighty God of Day, restrain !
Not now those deadly shafts are due
That stretch the woodland tyrants on the plain.
Rather, O Phoebus ! bring thy nobler darts.
With which thou piercest gentle hearts —
Bid them Themistio's breast inspire
With Love 's bright flame, and Valour's holy fire :
Pure Valour, firm Heroic Love ;
Twin Deity, supreme o'er gods above ;
United in the sacred cause
Of his dear native land and freedom's laws.
So let him win the glorious crown
His fathers wore, bright meed of fair renowTi.
HERMODORUS. t
SWjOtjjy (TTaxvorpixa Oi^Karo t'ctpSov
'YfivoOerav, ''Epfiov Swpov dei56fj.6vov. — Meleager, i. 43.
This author, to whom one only Epigram is- ascribed
among those remaining in the Anthology, must also be re-
ferred to the constellation of poetical talent which adorned
the court of Antigonus ; at least if the conjecture be well
t Jacobs, i. p. 193. Brunck, i. p. 202.
THEOCRITUS. ] 55
founded which identifies him as the author of a fragment
preserved in Stobaeus under the name of Hermodotus.
But this appears to be very uncertain. The couplet whicli
assigns him the Syrian Spikenard, as an emblem of fra-
grance, contains also another example of a pun, invited
by his name.
A COMPARISON. c. m.
The Cnidian Venus is so passing fair.
That he who stands beneath her queenly ken
Shall say, " Her rule she rightfully doth bear
O'er gods and mortal men."
But whoso gazes on Minerva's face
Full arm'd in the Cecroi^ian citadel,
Shall cry, " Let Venus give to Pallas place ; —
The shepherd judg'd not well !"
THEOCRITUS. t
About twenty Epigrams of tliis poet — some of them above
the ordinary standard of merit — remain to us, besides his
Idyls: and it seems extremely difficult to find a reason
why he, together with his rival Bucolists, Bion and Mo-
schus, is excluded from any share in the honours of Me-
t Jacobs, i. p. 194. Brunck, i. p. 370.
156 THEOCRITUS.
leager's Garland. On account of this exclusion, however,
as well as because of the various translations already before
the public of the entire works of these poets, nothing has
at present been added to the translations published in the
former edition, and which are now reprinted, except a very-
few specimens of the Epigrams, — the only portion of these
works retained by Jacobs, — and except also a single Idyl
of Moschus, rendered by the Rev. W. Shepherd of Liver-
pool with a degree of felicity which generally characterizes
his versions from the Greek, and which, hud we been pre-
viously aware of the existence of a small volume of poems
published by him in the year 1829, would have superseded
many of those contained in the present volume. The date
assigned to Theocritus by Mr. Fynes Clinton is B. C. 272.
(Idyll. XI.) THE CYCLOPS. * p. 25. m.
Fob Love no potent medicine is known.
No true physician but the Muse alone ;
Lenient her balmy hand, and sweetly sure —
But few are they for whom she works the cure.
This truth my gentle Nicias holds divine,
Favour'd alike by Piean and the Nine ;
This truth, long since, within his rugged breast.
Torn with fierce passion, Polypheme confest.
'T was when advancing manhood first had shed
Tlie early pride of summer o'er his head.
His Galatea on these plains he wooed ;
Yet not, like other swains, the nymph pursued
THEOCRITUS. 15/
With fragrant flowers, or fruits, or garlands fair,
But with hot madness and abrupt despair :
And wliile his bleating flocks neglected sought,
"Without a shepherd's care, their fold self-taught,
He, wandering on the sea-beat shore all day,
Sang of his hopeless love, and pin'd away.
From morning's dawn he sang, till evening's close ;
Fierce were the pangs that robb'd him of repose ;
Tlie might}^ Queen of Love had barb'd the dart.
And deeply fix'd it rankling in his heart.
Then song assuag'd the tortures of his mind,
While, on a rock's commanding height reclin'd.
His eye wide stretching o'er the level main,
Tlius would he cheat the lingering hours of pain.
" Fair Galatea, why a lover scorn ?
Oh, whiter than the fleece on ^tna bom !
Coy, wild, and playfid as the mountain-roe,
Bright as the cluster'd vine's meridian glow !
You come when sleep has seal'd my eye in night.
Smile on my dreams, and rouse me to delight :
I wake — your image flies unkind away.
Or melts and fades before the coming day.
I lov'd thee, maid, from that delicious hour.
When with your mother first you sought my bower ;
I was the guide that led you on your way.
And show'd you where the fairest hyacinths lay.
I lov'd thee then, and, since those days are o'er.
Have never ceas'd to love thee and adore !
But you, fair virgin, care not for my pain —
I know you care not, and my prayers are vain.
'T is not this rugged front, this lowering brow,
(For ever haggard, but more haggard now,) —
158 THEOCRITUS.
'T is not this single eye of scorching fire
(More scorching with the pangs of hot desire,)
Can win a female heart, or hope to move
A virgin's young and tender hreast to love.
Yet, though so rude, a thousand sheep I feed.
Bounteous in miUc, and ^^lenteous in their breed ;
A still succeeding store my churns supply.
For ever yielding, and yet never dry.
Yet, rugged as I am, my breath can make
The simple reed to softest music wake.
None of my fellow swains can sing like me.
Tuning my vocal pipe, sweet maid, to thee.
How oft the listening hiUs have heard my song
Ascending from the vale the whole night long !
O come, dear maid, to me ! and thou shalt hear
The surgy biUow roar, and feel no fear ;
While safely guarded in my arms you lie.
Safe in this cavern from the inclement sky !
Oh come to me ! the verdant laurels wave
With lofty cedars o'er this quiet cave.
There amorous ivy creeps, and intertwines
With swelling clusters of the richest vines ; .
There crystal springs more cool than ^Etna's snow
Gush from the hills and round my arbours flow :
The limpid beverage from the fountain's brink
(Worthy of gods) shall Galatea drink.
— What if I seem uncouth ? this spreading wood,
Wlien winter strews the plain and binds the flood.
Is all my own — and through the evil days
Our cheerful hearth with constant fires shall blaze.
Oh, had my mother given me but to glide
With cutting fins beneath the billowy tide.
THEOCRITUS. 159
I then had sought thy coral cave, my fair.
And brought the sweetest presents of the year ;
The snowy lily from our summer's bowers.
And poppy, nurs'd by autumn's dying hours ;
Then might I Idss thy lovely hand, and sip
(Oh daring thought ?) the honey of thy lip.
— Then leave, fair nymph, those caverns where you play;
And, having left, forget your homeward way !
Come, tend my sheep Mith me, or for me squeeze
The hardening curd, and press the snow-white cheese.
Where are thy senses, Polypheme, oh where ?
She heeds not thy complaint, she mocks thy prayer.
Go to thy sheep agam ! 't were better bind
These ruin'd wattels, and keep out the wind.
Than thus pursue with unavailing pain
A scornful daughter of th' unpitying main.
Go to thy home, poor wretch ! In yonder grove
Are many nymphs, and some may heed thy love.
There are, (and those among the loveliest fair,)
Who bid me tend their flocks, their revels share :
I shunn'd their haunts and fled from them before ;
But now growTi wiser, I'U. refuse no more.
Oft have they laugh'd to see my passion burn ;
They 'U laugh no longer when I home return :
Then, haughty Galatea, shalt thou prove
That thou hast scorn'd what gentler virgins love !"
— Thus sang the uncouth swain where Etna's brow
Hangs awful, frowning o'er the deep below:
Thus would he feed his love, and with the strain
He calm'd his troubled heart and eas'd his pain.
160 THEOCRITUS.
EPIGRAMS.
I. (3.) TO DAPHNIS SLEEPING. polwhele.
While, Daphnis, on the leaf-strown ground you steep
Your weary body in the dews of sleep,
And on the green hill-top your snares are laid, —
With Pan, who hunts where erst your footsteps stray'd.
The rude Priapus hastens to your cave.
See on his brows the saffron ivy wave !
— But fly them, though the sultry noon-day glows —
Fly the wild revellers, and forgo repose !
II. (4.) A VOW TO PRIAPUS. elton.
Oh Goatherd ! wind adown that village road,
Where oaks are growing. Thou wUt find beyond
A new-carv'd fig-tree image. Though three-legg'd,
Bark'd with rough rind, and ear-less, know, the God,
Genial Priapus, speaks the soft designs
Of Venus. He is circled, where he stands.
With a fair chapel ; and a running brook.
As clear it sparkles from the rock, looks green
With myrtles, bays, and aromatic boughs
Of cypress-trees ; and there a branchy vine
Spreads broad its clusters. Blackbirds of the spring
Re-echo shriU their varied whistling pijDC ;
And tawny nightingales, perch'd opposite.
Strain their sweet throats, with soft, low-gurgled tone.
THEOCRITUS. 161
Sit, therefore, in that spot ; and pray the God,
Gracious Priapus, that I might abhor
ITie love for Daphne. Promise at my hand
A goodly kid ; but, if he still deny.
Three victims I devote in sacrifice ;
A heifer, and a shagged goat and lamb
Fed in the stall ; and may the God be kind !
III. (6.) THYRSIS HAS LOST HIS KID. c. m.
What boots it, hapless Thyrsis, though your eyes
Should waste in tears, your breast dissolve in sighs ?
Lost is the kid — for ever lost above —
Torn by the wolf's sharp fangs — the kid you love.
Hark ! how the dogs upbraid thy fruitless moans !
— He left not ev'n the ashes of his bones.
IV. (7.)
ON THE STATUE OF tESCULAPIUS. polwhele.
The son of Pseon to Miletus came
To met his Nicias, of illustrious name :
He, in deep reverence of his guest divine,
Deck'd with the daily sacrifice his shrine ;
And of the God tliis cedar statue bought —
A finish'd work, by skill'd Eetion wrought.
The sculptor, with a lavish sum repaid.
Here all the wonders of his art display'd.
162 THEOCRITUS.
V. (8.) ON A FRIEND DROWNED AT SEA. c. m.
Risk not your life upon the wintry sea;
With all his care man's life must fragile be :
My Cleonicus sped from Syria's shore
To wealthy Thasus, and rich cargo bore ; —
Ah ! passing rich : — but, as the Pleiad's light
In ocean set, he with them sank to night.
VI. (13.) EPITAPH ON EURYMEDON. m.
Thou art dead, Eurymedon,
And hast left thine infant son.
Thou, cut off in manhood's bloom,
Hast achiev'd a speaking tomb,
And a glorious seat on high
With the souls that never die.
He shaU live, a citizen,
Worship'd by his fellow men.
Who in him will glory take
For his honour'd father's sake.
VII. (15.) ON ANACREON. moore.
Steanger, who near this statue chance to roam,
Let it awhile your studious eyes engage ;
And you may say, returning to your home,
" I 've seen the image of the Teian sage —
Best of the bards M'ho grace the Muse's page."
Then, if you add, " Youth lov'd him passing well,"
You teU them all he was, and aptly tell.
ARTEMIDORUS. 163
AlII. (20.) ON HIPPONAX, THE SATIRIST, m.
Here lies Hipponax, to the Muses dear.
Traveller ! if conscience sting, approach not near !
But if sincere of heart, and free from guile.
Here boldly sit, and even sleep awhile.
ARTEMIDORUS. t
This poet, who is styled a grammarian, and supposed by
Jacobs to be the same mentioned in Athenseus, (lib. iv.
p. 182. ix. p. 387;) with the epithet Aristophaneus, is here
introduced only on account of the following Epitaph on
Theocritus, which has usually been ascribed to llieocritus
himself, and printed as his in most editions.
EPITAPH ON THEOCRITUS. polwhele.
Theocritus my name — of Syracuse —
I claim no kindred with the Chian Muse.
Praxagoras' and Philinna's son, I scorn
The foreign bays that others' brows adorn.
f Jacobs, i. p. 194. Brunck, i. p. 263.
164 BION.
BION.
Flourished B. C. 275.
I. (IdyU. 2.) WINGED LOVE. * p. 31.
Chasing his feather'd game within the grove
Young Thyrsis saw th' averted form of Love
Perch'd on a boxen bough ; with joy he cries,
" This giant-bird will prove a noble prize."
His shafts he cuUs, applies them to his bow,
And marks Love's frolic gambols to and fro ;
But vain his skill — his shafts, that miss their aim.
He spurns indignant, and with conscious shame
Hastes to the seer who taught him first the way
With certain aim to strike the winged prey.
He told his tale, and bade him " look, and see
The giant-bird stiU perch'd on yonder tree."
The seer attentive shook his prescient head.
And with a smile, — a parent's smile, — he said,
" Forbear the chase — fly from this bird, my child.
Away — the prey you seek is savage, -wild :
Blest wilt thou prove whilst he eludes thy snares,
Outwings thy shafts, and no return prepares.
To manhood grown, this bird, which now retires.
And shuns thy aim, and thwarts thy fierce desires,
WiU haste unsought, and, 'spite of bow and dart.
Play round thy head, and perch upon thy heart."
BION. 165
II. (IdyU. 11.)
HVAIN TO THE EVENING STAR. * p. 29. m.
Mild star of Eve, whose tranquil beams
Are grateful to the Queen of Love !
Fair planet, whose effulgence gleams
More bright than all the host above ;
And only to the moon's clear light
Yields the first honours of the night !
All hail, thou soft, thou holy star,
Thou glory of the midnight sky !
And when my steps are wandering far.
Leading the shepherd -minstrelsy.
Then, if the moon deny her raj.
Oh guide me, Hes23er, on my way !
No savage robber of the dark.
No foul assassin claims thy aid.
To guide his dagger to its mark.
Or light him on liis i^lund'ring trade ;
My gentler errand is to prove
Tlie transports of requited love.
III. (IdyU. 16.)
THE LAMENT OF THE CYCLOPS. *p. 29. b.
Yet will I go beside the sounding main.
And to yon solitary crags complain ;
Thence, onward wandering by the sounding shore.
The scorn of Galatea's brow deplore.
But oh, sweet Hope ! be present to my heart,
Nor with my latest, feeblest age depart.
166 BION.
IV. (Idyll. 5.)
THE SHORTNESS OF LIFE. * p. 188. m.
If any virtue my rude songs can claim.
Enough the Muse has given to build my fame ;
But if condemn' d ingloriously to die.
Why longer raise my mortal minstrelsy ?
Had Jove or Fate to life two seasons lent,
In toil and ease alternate to be spent,
Then well one portion labour might employ
In expectfition of the following joy.
But if one only age of Hfe is due
To man, and that so short and transient too,
How long (ah miserable race !) in care
And fruitless labour waste the vital air ?
How long with idle toil to wealth aspire.
And feed a never-satisfied desire ?
How long forget that, mortal from our birth,
Short is our troubled sojourn on the earth ?
MOSCHUS. 16/
MOSCHUS.
Flourished B. C. 154. He was of S}Tacuse.
(Idyll. 1.) CUPID PROCLAIMED, shepherd.
Oyez I cried Love's all-powerful queen.
If any man has lately seen
My scajoe-grace, tell me where he is ;
The sweet reward shall be a kiss : —
If further blisses you would rifle,
I shall not stand upon a trifle.
The boy 's so notable, no doubt,
Among a score you'll find liim out.
His slcin glows like the fiery gleam ;
His eyes flash like the hghtning's beam ;
His honied tongue distils with lies ;
His heart is wrapp'd in dark disguise ;
When passion rankles in his mind.
To savage deeds the elf 's inclin'd ;
And, under guise of harmless jest.
He stings the unsuspecting breast.
Innumerous curling tresses grace
His impudent and rakish face.
168 MOSCHUS.
His hands are tiny, but their power
Extends to Pluto's gloomy bower.
The peevish urchin carries wings,
With which from heart to heart he springs ;
As Uttle birds, in wanton play.
Fly carelessly from spray to spray.
A trinket-bow and shafts he wears.
Which cany to the furthest stars.
His golden quiver swings behind.
With numerous fatal weapons lined.
With which he deals sharp sorrows round,
And dares his mother's heart to wound.
His torch, with its portentous blaze.
Consumes the very solar rays.
If thou shalt catch tliis vagrant child,
Ah, be not b)^ his tears beguil'd ;
Bind fast his triclcful hands, nor heed
Those smiles that secret treachery breed ;
Drag him along, nor thoughtless stay
To fondle with him by the way.
Fly, — fly his kisses : — they inflame
With every poison thou canst name ;
And if he cry, " My arms I yield,"
Try not those deadly arms to wield :
Let prudence check this mad desire, —
They 're pregnant with celestial fire.
MOSCHUS. 169
II. (IdyU. 5.) THE CONTRAST. * p. 354. m.
O'er the smooth main when scarce a zephjT blows
To break the dark-blue ocean's deep reijose,
I seek the calmness of the breathing shore.
Delighted with the fields and woods no more.
But when, white-foaming, heave the deeps on high.
Swells the black storm, and mingles sea with sky,
Trembling I fly the wild tempestuous strand.
And seek the close recesses of the land.
Sweet are the sounds that murmur through the wood.
While roaring storms uplieave the dangerous flood ;
Then if the winds more fiercely howl, they rouse
But sweeter music in the pine's tall boughs.
Hard is the life the weary fisher finds
Who trusts his floating mansion to the winds ;
Whose daily food the fickle sea maintains.
Unchanging labour and uncertain gains.
Be mine soft sleep, beneath the sj^reading shade
Of some broad leafy plane inglorious laid,
LuU'd by a fountain's fall, that, murmuring near.
Soothes, not alarms, the toil-worn wanderer's ear.
III. (Idyll. 7.)
ALPHEUS AND ARETHUSA. * p. 30. m.
From where his silver waters glide.
Majestic, to the ocean-tide
Through fair Olympia's plain,
Still his dark course Al])heus keeps
Beneath the mantle of the deeps,
Nor mixes with the main.
I
170 MOSCHUS.
To grace his distant bride, lie pours
The sands of Pisa's sacred shores,
And flowers that deck her grove ;
Then, rising from th' unconscious brine.
On Arethusa's breast di\dne
Receives the meed of love.
'Tis thus with soft bewitching skill
The childish God deludes our will.
And triumphs o'er our pride ;
The mighty river owns his force,
Bends to the sway his winding course,
And dives beneath the tide.
EPIGRAM.
CUPID TURNED PLOUGHMAN. * p. 34. prior.
His lamp, his bow, and quiver laid aside,
A rustic wallet o'er his shoulders tied.
Sly Cupid, always on new mischiefs bent,
To the rich field and furrow'd tillage went.
Like any ploughman toil'd the little God ;
His tune he whistled, and his wheat he sow'd :
Then sat and laugh'd ; and, to the skies above
Raising his eye, he thus insulted Jove :
'• Lay by your hail, your hurtful storms restrain,
And, as I bid you, let it shine or rain :
Else you again beneath my yoke shall bow.
Feel the sharp goad, and draw the servile plough ; —
What once Europa was, Nanette is now."
NICJENETUS. 171
NIC.ENETUS.f
'2nvpvaiovs re KXadovs "SiKaiveTov. — Meleager, i. 2d.
This poet was a native of Samos, as Schneider has under-
taken to prove, — refuting the ^-ulgar error which, following
a false interpretation of the verse of Meleager above cited,
assigned to him the city of Smyrna for a birth-place, where-
as the epithet ^fivpyalovs refers not to himself, but to the
branch of ]M}Trh selected for his emblem. He is more
than once cited in Athenaeus, (lib. i. 673. xiii. 590. xv. G73.)
and it is thence to be collected that he was prior in date to
Phylarchus, who is knoAvn to have flourished under the
Ptolemies, Euergetes and Philopator.
I. (3.) THE FETE CHAMPETRE. c. m.
Not in the city be my banquet spread.
But in sweet meadows, where around my head
The zephjT may float freely : be my seat
The mossy platform of some green retreat.
Where shrubs and creepers, starting at my side.
May furnish cushion smooth and carpet wide.
Let wine be serv'd us, and the warbling lyre
Trill forth soft numbers of the Muses' choir.
-f Jacobs, i. p. 205. Brunck, i. p. 110.
I 2
172 NIC^NETUS.
That we, still drinking, and our hearts contenting,
Still to the dulcet tunes new hymns inventing,
May sing Jove's Bride, from whom those pleasures come.
The guardian Goddess of our island home.
II. (4.) THE PRECEPT OF CRATINUS. c m.
" Wine is the Pegasus whose wings
The pleasant poet plies :
But he that drinks pure element
Is pleasant in no wise."
Thus sang Cratinus, reeking with
The perfume of the cask.
When he had tried to his content
The strength of every flask.
And as he sate, his mansion walls
Festoon'd from side to side.
His temples ivy-garlanded
With purple Bacchus vied.
THE SAME TEXT, WITHOUT THE COMMENT.
MOORE.
If with water you fill up your glasses.
You '11 never write anything wise ;
For Wine is the Horse of Parnassus,
Which hurries a bard to the skies.
ALEXANDER .ETOLUS. 173
ALEXANDER ^TOLUS.f
'AXe^dvSpoio veovs opirtjKas eXa'ujs. — Meleager, i. 39.
"Alexander, an ^tolian," says Suidas, (torn. i. p. 105.)
" of the city of Pleuron, son of Satyrus and Stratoclea ; a
grammarian. He also A\Tote tragedies, and was counted
one of the seven tragic poets, who are known by the appel-
lation of the Pleiad." Mr. Fynes Clinton (vol. ii. p. 503,)
assigns to him the dates, B. C. 273, 269, and subjoins a
list of his works, principally on the authority' of Athenseus.
Of these, the most considerable appear to have been two,
— one entitled "Apollo," the other "The Muses"; of
both which some fragments are preserved, of sufficient im-
portance to create a favourable impression of the author's
merits, even independently of the high eulogies conferred
on him by several writers of antiquity. His Epigrams are
three in number. That now selected is remarkable, as ex-
liibiting the opinion entertained in the time of Alexander
on the disputed point of the birth and parentage of one
who has been styled the Father of Erotic poetry.
(3.) ON ALCMAN, THE LYRIC POET. m.
Sardis, my ancient Father-land !
Hadst thou, by Fate's supreme command,
f Jacobs, i. p. 207. Bruiick, i. p. 418.
174 CALLIMACHUS.
My helpless childhood nourished,
I must have begg'd my daily bread.
Or else, a beardless priest become.
Have toss'd Cybele's frantic drum.
Now Alcman I am call'd, — a name
Inscrib'd in Sparta's lists of Fame, —
Whose many tripods record bear
Of solemn wreaths and trophies rare
Achiev'd in worship at the shrine
Of th' Heliconian maids divine,
By whose great aid I 'm mounted higher
Than Gyges or his wealthy sire.
CALLIMACHUS.f
7)Sv re nvprov
KaXXiixaxov, aTV(pe\ov nedTov del jueXtros. — Meleager, i. 21.
It may be difficult altogether to justify the having set apart
so confined a space as is here assigned to a poet of such
celebrity, to whom the distinguished emblem of the Myrtle
has been ascribed in Meleager's poetical Garland, accompa-
nied by the odd characteristic — " steeped in bitter honey,"
— which is conjectured by Martin to have been bestowed
on him on account of a lost poem entitled " Ibis." Of
the sixty-three Epigrams, however, comprised in Jacobs, a
f Jacobs, i. p. 212. Brunck, i. p. 4C1.
CALLIMACHUS. 1/5
large proportion must, on account of the subjects, be either
passed over by a translator, or else so altered in meaning
as to bear no resemblance to the oricrinal. Tlie Hymns and
Fragments, together wdth most of the Epigrams here se-
lected, and some others, have already found Enghsh trans-
lators of established reputation. The date assigned to
this poet by Clinton is B. C. 256 ; which must be re-
garded as a late period in his career ; since he certainly
flourished under Ptolemy Philadelphus, B. C. 288—247 ;
and the meridian of his fame may probably be fixed at about
B. C. 280, by his lost poem on the Lock of Berenice's Hair,
which was afterwards, by some courtly astronomer, in-
scribed in the list of constellations.
I. (4.) THE DIVIDED SOUL. m.
Half of my soul yet breathes : the rest,
I know not whether
Cupid or Hades have possest;
'T is altogether
Vanish'd. Among the Virgin train
Perhaps 't is straying —
O ! send the wanderer home again.
Or chide its staying !
Perhaps on fair Cephisa's breast
'T is captive lying.
Of old it sought that haven of rest,
WTien almost dying.
176 CALLIMACHUS.
II. (11.) THE CHASE. m.
Mark, Epicycles, how the hunter bears
His honours in the chase — when timid hares
And nobler stags he tracks through frost and snow,
O'er mountains echoing to the vales below.
Then, if some clown halloos — " Here, master, here
Lies panting at your feet the stricken deer," —
He takes no heed, but starts for newer game.
Such is my love, and such his arrow's aim
That follows still with speed the flying fair.
But deems the yielding slave below his care.
III. (15.) THE SERENADE, m.
Such sleep, Conopion, on thine eyelids wait.
As sits on his now shivering at thy gate !
Such sleep, thou false one, as thou bidst him prove.
Who vainly sues thy stony breast to move !
Not ev'n a shade of pity thou 'It bestow :
Others may weep to see me suffer so ;
But thou — not ev'n a shade — O cruel fan- !
Be this remember' d with thy first gray hair !
IV. (16.) ON BERENICE, DAUGHTER OF PHI-
LADELPHUS. m.
Four are the Graces. With the Tliree of old
Be Berenice's heavenly form enroll'd.
Breathing fresh odours. — They no more would be
Gra es themselves, without her company.
CALLrMACHUS.
I//
V. (31.)
THE OFFERING OF A NAUTILUS. * p. 424. m.
QuEEx of the ZephjT's breezy cape ! to thee
This polish'd shell, the treasure of the sea.
Her earliest offspring, young Selena bears,
Join'd with the incense of her maiden prayers.
ErewhUe with motion, power and sense endued.
Alive it floated on the parent flood ;
When, if the gale more rudely breath'd, it gave
Its natural sail expanded to the wave ;
But while the biUows slept upon the shore.
And the tempestuous winds forgot to roar.
Like some proud galley, floated on the tide.
And busy feet the want of oars suj^plied.
Shipwreck'd at last upon the lulian strand.
It now, Arsinoe, asks thy favouring hand ; —
No more its vows the plaintive halcyon hail.
For the soft breathings of a western gale ;
But that, O mighty queen ! thy genial power
On young Selena every gift may shower,
That love with beauteous innocence can share :
For these, and only these, accept the prayer !
VI. (47.)
ON THE DEATH OF A FRIEND. * p. 288.
I HEARD thy fate, old comrade, not unmov'd :
A bitter tear my recollection prov'd,
I 5
178 CALLIMACHUS.
How oft conversing with my parted friend,
I scarce have seen the summer sun descend :
And thou, dear guest ! cold ashes art become.
In an unknown, a last, eternal home !
Yet, like sad Philomel's, thy tuneful breath
Survives, triumphant o'er the robber Death.
ANOTHER VERSION OF THE SAME. cm.
They told me of thy death, my Heraclite,
And much it griev'd me ; for it brought to mind
Our free and frequent converse — noon to night ; —
But thou art dust, far scatter'd by the wind.
Yet shall thy songs, like birds in tuneful flight,
Sail on, and leave the robber, Death, behind.
ANOTHER. H. N. c.
They told me, Heraclitus, thou wert dead ;
And then I thought, and tears thereon did shed.
How oft we two talk'd down the sun : but thou,
Halicarnassian guest ! art ashes now.
Yet live thy nightingales of song ; on those
Forgetfulness her hand shall ne'er impose.
VII. (49.) EPITAPH ON A GOOD MAN. * p. 294. h.
Beneath this tomb Acanthian Saon lies
In holy sleep : — the Good Man never dies.
CALLIMACHUS. 1/9
VIII. (57.)
ON A FRIEND DROWxNED AT SEA. * p. 2S7. b.
Oh ! had no venturous keel defied the deep.
Then had not Lycid floated on the brine !
For him, the youth belov'd, we pass and weep,
A name lamented, and an empty shrine.
IX. (59.) ON A BROTHER AND SISTER, m.
We buried him at dawn of day :
Ere set of sun his sister lay,
Self-slaughter'd, by his side.
Poor Basile ! she could not bear
Longer to breathe the vital air.
When Melanippus died.
Thus in one fatal hour was left,
Of both a parent's hopes bereft,
Their desolated sire ;
While all Cyrene mourn'd to see
The blossoms of her stateliest tree
By one fell blight expire.
X. (GO.)
" LONGING AFTER IMMORTALITY." * p. 113. m.
" O SUN, farewell !" — from the taU rampart's height,
Cleombrotus exclaiming, plung'd to night !
180 CALLIMACHUS.
Nor wasting care, nor fortune's adverse strife
Chill'd his young hopes with weariness of life ;
But Plato's godlike page had fix'd his eye.
And made him long for immortality.
XL (62.) EPITAPH ON HIS FATHER. m.
Know thou, this tomb Avho passest by,
At once both sire and son am I
To a name most dear to us,
Cyrenean Callimachus.
One of his country was the shield
In many a glorious battle-field ;
The other sang so sweet a strain.
That Envy listen' d with disdain.
But strove to vanquish him in vain.
For him on whom the Muses smil'd
Ev'n at his birth — their favourite child —
In age they never wlU forsake.
But his gray hairs their temple make.
XII. (63.) EPITAPH ON HIMSELF.
Beside the tomb where Battus' son is laid.
Thy heedless feet, O passenger! have stray'd.
Well skill'd in all the minstrel's lore was he.
Yet had his hour for sport and jollity.
M.
MENECRATES. 181
XIII. EPITAPH ON A DRINKER. * p. 459. u.
" Thee, too, Lysander, doth the grave compel !
Which of thy various wines hath vanquish'd thee }
Doubtless the same by which the Centaur fell."
" My hour was come ; and, friend, 't were quite as well
To spare good wine so foul a calumny."
MENECRATES.f
"Poi^s dvQ?] irpiora Meve/cpdreos. — Meleager, i. 28.
The poet thus designated by the first blossoms of the
Pomegranate, was a native of Smyrna, and may have been
the same with a comic poet of that name blunderingly no-
ticed by Vossius (De Poet. Gra?c. p. 227), and who is else-
where called an Ephesian, — but of tliis there is no certainty.
In Clinton (Fast. Hell. ii. p. 562), mention is made of Me-
necrates of Elsea, a disciple of Xenocrates. Only two Epi-
grams bearing that name are now extant in the Anthology.
I. (1.) THE DISTRACTED MOTHER. m.
Twice had the wretched mother to the tomb
Borne the sad produce of her teeming womb ;
A third in bitterness of soul she gave
To feed the fierce insatiable grave :
t Jacobs, i. p. 227. Bniiick, i. p. 170.
182 TxHIANUS.
But when a fourth time destin'd to sustain
That heavy load of ill-requited pain.
Then, madly desperate of a better fate,
The greedy flames she dar'd anticipate,
And to their rage her living fruit consign'd ;
Saying — " No longer shall this bosom find
Nurture for those whom Pluto claims his due.
— If I must mourn, I will not labour too."
IT. (2.) ON OLD AGE.
For age we pray, when at a distance seen ;
But when arriv'd, we loathe its hideous mien.
We spurn it ever, as a boon bestow'd.
And prize it most when as a debt 't is ow'd.
RHIANUS.t
M.
EafiTpvxov aip' ii^vwoio 'Viavov. — Meleager, i. 11.
" The Marjoram of the sweet-breathing Rhianus."
" Rhianus was a native of Bena in the Isle of Crete. He
was, originally, master of the Palaestra, or circus of gym-
nastic exercises, but was afterwards distinguished as a
poet and grammarian. He wrote a history of Messene in
t Jacobs, i. p. 229. Brunck, i. p. 479.
RHIANUS. 183
vei'se, of which the accuracy is praised by Pausanias ; and
composed similar historic poems on diiFerent Grecian states.
Suetonius relates that Tiberius was particularly partial to
the poems of Rhianus, and that he placed his bust in the
])ublic libraries, among those of the most eminent poets.
There is dignitj^ in his moral fragments ; but his Epigrams,
although elegant, are tainted with the depravity of the
times."
Nothing needs be added to this short statement by Mr.
Elton, from whom we take the further liberty of borrowing
a single specimen of the author. His date is fixed at B. C.
222, in the Fast. Hell, ii, p. 512, where a list of his works
will be found.
(6.) A LOVER'S WISH. elton.
Dexionica, with a limed thread.
Her snare beneath a verdant plane-tree spread.
And caught a blackbird by the quivering wing :
Tlie struggling bird's shrill outcries piping ring.
God of Love ! O Graces, blooming fair !
1 would that I a thrush, or blackbird, were ;
So, in her grasp, to breathe my murmur'd cries,
And shed a sweet tear from my silent eyes !
181 HEDYLUS.
HEDYLUS.f
'Ef ^6 Tloaeicnnrdv re kuI 'USvXov — aypi dpoupijs. — Meleager, i. 45.
Hedylus was a native, it is said, of Sicily, and a pastoral
poet, who lived in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, ahout
B. C. 260. To the seven Epigrams of his composition
contained in the Anthology of Planudes, Jacobs has added
four, taken from the Deipnosophistse of Athenseus, all illus-
trative of the noble science which it is the object of the
" Almanac des Gourmands " to refine and consecrate. In
one he invites his friends to hold pleasant and witty con-
verse amidst their cups. Another is addressed to a certain
Pasisocles, a strenuous wine-bibber and sweet composer of
verses. In a third,he celebrates a fish dinner, performed with
closed doors, for the purpose of excluding one Agis, who
was such a Helluo of this species of luxury, that the rest of
the party would have reason to fear a total monopoly of
their viands if he had been admitted to partake of them, —
a precaution which at the same time he seems to doubt
might prove ineffectual, when he considers that Agis was
capable of assuming as many forms as Proteus in order to
accomplish his purpose, and would scarcely use more cere •
mony in penetrating to their banquet-room for the attain-
ment of such an object, than Jove did in brealdng through
f Jacobs, i. p. 233. Brunck, ii. p. 526.
HEDYLUS. 185
the tower of brass to gain possession of Danae. Tliis is in
the true stj'le of Grecian hyperbole ; but the two here se-
lected are in somewhat better taste.
I. (1.) ANACREONTIC. m.
Drink we ! — 'midst our flowing wine
Something new, or something fine,
Something witty, something gay.
We shall ever find to say.
Flasks of Chian hither bring,
Sprinlding o'er me, whilst you sing,
" Jovial poet, sport and play !
Sober souls throw life away."
II. (6.) GOUT. * p. 437. m.
Whilst on soft beds your pillow'd limbs recline,
Dissolv'd by Bacchus and the Queen of Love,
Remember, Gout 's a daughter of that line —
And she '11 dissolve them soon, my friend — by Jove!
186 SAMIUS.
SAMIUS.f
^afiiov Sdcpvrjs K\wva fieXcifiTreraXov. — Meleager, i. 14.
This poet, to whom the proud distinction of the Laurel is
here assigned as an emblem, has only two Epigrams as-
cribed to him in the Anthology ; both on one courtly theme,
— a great hunting achievement by Philip King of Macedon
(son of Demetrius), who, it seems, had the glory of killing
a wild bull on the plain beneath Mount Orbelus in Thes"
saly. However illustrious the subject, our readers will
probably consider a single specimen sufficient.
I. (1.)
ON A WILD BULL SLAIN BY KING PHILIP, m.
The mighty bull's capacious hide.
And horns — the forest's stately pride —
Are ofFer'd, Hercules, to thee.
By a kingly votary ;
Who with jav'lin fierce aiTested
Tlie bellowing monster's mad career,
Braving the fury of his spear,
t Jacobs, i. p. 236. Brunck, i. p. 485.
alcjEUs of messene. 187
Beneath Orbelus' heights, where long
In verdant pastures unmolested,
He rang'd his subject herds among.
O blest ^mathia, to obey
A chief so fam'd for warlike sway !
ALC.EUS OF MESSENE. t
Of this author, — whose name is not included in Meleager's
Garland, unless we sujopose that to him, instead of his
much older namesake, is to be ascribed the emblem of the
tale-bearing Hyacinth,
Xd\i]6pov ev vfivoTToXois vaKivQov, —
the twentj^-two remaining Epigrams furnish a very copious
running commentary upon the life and actions. From them
we learn that he was an ardent partizan of the Romans,
who, under the command of Titus Flaminius, were at that
time hailed as the liberators of Greece ; nor was he less
ardent in his hostility to King Philip, whose defeat by the
Roman general at the battle of Cynoscephal* gave occasion
to the last of his Epigrams, which is the last also of those
contained in the present selection, and demands a brief ex-
planation. — The ^>tolians, who were then in alUance with
t Jacobs, i. p. 237. Brunck, i. p. 48C.
188 ALC^US OF MESSENE.
Rome, were, it seems, beyond measure elated with pride on
account of the share which they claimed in the acliieve-
ment of the victory above alluded to ; and our poet, who
had already reviled the Macedonian tyrant in more than
one Epigram, made this the foundation of a new lampoon.
Philip, stung to the quick, retorted the insult by giving
utterance to the following parody, in which he pretty
broadly insinuates the chastisement designed by him for
the poet in case he should ever have the good fortune to
catch him.
" Uiibark'd and leafless, passenger, you see,
Fix'd in this mound, Alcaeus' gallows-tree."
(See Jacobs, vol. i. p. 243.)
I. (7.) ON HOMER. hatgarth.
The visionary dream of life is o'er;
ITie bard of heroes sleeps on los' shore.
Fair los' sons their lamentations pay.
And wake the funeral dirge or solemn lay.
O'er his pale lifeless corse and drooping head
Ambrosial sweets the vv'eeping Nereids shed,
And on the shore their slumbering poet laid
Beneath the towering mountain's peaceful shade.
Nor undeserv'd their care — his tuneful tongue
Achilles' wrath and Thetis' sorrows sung ;
His strains Laertes' son in triumph bore.
Through woes unnumber'd, to his native shore.
Blest isle of los ! on thy rocky steeps
The Star of Song — the Grace of Graces — sleeps.
ALCEUS OF MESSENE. 189
II. (16.)
ON THE EXPEDITION OF FLAMINIUS. m.
Xerxes from Persia led his mighty host.
And Titus, his, from fair Italia's coast.
Both warr'd with Greece : but here the difference see —
That brought a yoke — this gives her liberty.
III. (18.) ON HIPPONAX. * p. 298. b.
Thy tomb no purple clusters rise to grace.
But thorns and briars choke the fearful place ;
These herbs malign, and bitter fruits supply.
Unwholesome juices to the passer-by ;
And as, Hipponax, near thy tomb he goes,
Shuddering he turns, and prays for thy repose.
IV. (22.) ON THE MACEDONIANS SLAIN AT
CYNOSCEPHALvE. m.
Unmourn'd, unburied, passenger, we lie.
Three myriad sons of fruitful Thessaly,
In this wide field of monumental clay.
./Etolian Mars had mark'd us for his prey ;
Or he, who bursting from th' Ausonian fold.
In Titus' form, the waves of battle roll'd ;
And taught ^mathia's boastful lord to run
So swift, that swiftest stags were by his speed outdone.
190 tlOSCORIDES.
DIOSCORIDES.f
t^' kv Movcraiffiv afxeivov
"Os Atos e/c Koupojv ecrxev eTVixJvvfxiav. — Meleager, i. 23.
The author whose name is played upon in the above pun-
ning distich, is supposed to be the same with the philoso-
pher Dioscorides, (mentioned by Diogenes Laertius,) who
flourished at Alexandria under Ptolemy Euergetes, about
B. C. 230, and is not to be confounded with Dioscorides
the physician, who lived in the time of Cleopatra. Of near
forty Epigrams, some are of a character very unbecoming
a philosopher, and others too trivial to be noticed ; but a
few are of superior quality, although, even of these, the
greater part are on subjects that have been better treated
by others.
I. (33.) SPARTAN VIRTUE. * p. 117. m.
When Thrasybulus from th' embattled field
Was breathless borne to Sparta on his shield.
His honour'd corse disfigur'd still with gore
From seven wide wounds, (but all receiv'd before,)
Upon the pyre his hoary father laid,
And to th' admiring crowd tiiumphant said,
■f Jacobs, i. p. 244. Brunck, i. p. 493.
TYMNEUS. 191
" Let slaves lament — while I without a tear
Lay mine and Sparta's son upon his bier."
IL (36.)
THE PERSIAN SLAVE TO HIS MASTER.
MASTER ! shroud my body, when I die.
In decent cerements, from the \ailgar eye.
But bum me not upon your funeral pyre.
Nor dare the gods and desecrate their fire :
1 am a Persian ; 't were a Persian's shame
To dip his body in the sacred flame.
Nor o'er my wortliless limbs your waters pour ;
For streams and fountains Persia's sons adore ; —
But give me to the clods which gave us birth.
For dust should go to dust, and man to earth.
C. M.
TYMNEUS.f
Tvfiveu) T evTTtToXov XevKTji'. — Melcager, i. 19.
Of this poet— the White Poplar of Meleager's Garland-
nothing whatever is known ; nor do any of his six remain-
ing Epigrams furnish materials for even conjecture. Reiske
supposes him to have been contemporary with Melcager,
t Jacobs, i. 2jG. Bruiick, i. 505.
192 TYMNEUS.
and a native of Crete, only because the Cretan city of Eleu-
themse is named in the Epitaph on Philsenis as the place
of her interment. But the name, Tymnes, or Tymneus,
would seem, from Herodotus, vii. 98, to be of Carian
origin.
I. (4.) SPARTAN VIRTUE. * p. 118. m.
Demetrius, when he basely fled the field,
A Spartan born, his Spartan mother kill'd ;
Then stretching forth the bloody sword, she cried,
(Her teeth fierce gnashing with disdainful pride,)
" Fly, cursed offspring, to the shades below.
Where proud Eurotas shall no longer flow
For timid hinds like thee! — Fly, trembling slave,
Abandon'd wretch, to Pluto's darkest cave !
This womb so vile a monster never bore ;
Disown' d by Sparta, thou 'rt my son no more."
II. (5.) EPITAPH. * p. 291. m.
Grieve not, Fhilsenis, though condemn'd to die
Far from thy parent soil and native sky ;
Though strangers' hands must raise thy funeral pile.
And lay thy ashes in a foreign isle :
To all on Death's last dreary journey bound
The road is equal, and alike the ground.
POLYSTRATUS. 193
POLYSTRATUS.t
Ev d' dp' CLjiapaKOV rjKe, TloXiffrparov, av9os aoiSuiv.
Meleager, i. 41.
The herb sweet marjoram, here designated as " the Flower
of Poets," (probably from the frequent use which was made
of it for the purposes of anointment,) would, as the emblem
selected for Polystratus, seem to indicate a high degree of
eminence in the estimation of the collector ; but what re-
mains to us of his %\Titings is too inconsiderable to enable
us to form any judgement how far the distinction was me-
rited. Of the two Epigrams wliich survive, — one, which is
here translated, serves, by its allusion, as a recent event, to
the destruction of Corinth (01. clviii. B. C. 146), to fix the
period at which he flourished.
(2.) ON THE DESTRUCTION OF CORINTH, cm.
AcH^AN Acrocorinth, the bright star
Of Hellas, with its narrow Isthmian bound,
Lucius o'ercame ; in one enormous mound
Piling the dead, conspicuous from afar.
Thus, to the Greeks denying funeral fires.
Have great Eneas' later progeny
Perform'd high Jove's retributive decree.
And well aveng'd the city of their sires.
t Jacobs, ii. p. 1. Briinck, ii. p. I.
K
194 PERSES.
PERSES.t
Tlepffov T 6vu)5t] axivov. — Meleager, i. 26.
Of this poet, to whom Meleager has also assigned an
odoriferous plant in his emblematic Garland, still less is
known than of the preceding; since none of the eight
Epigrams inscribed with his name afford any trace of the
period at which he may be supposed to have flourished.
The following has been selected by way of specimen, not
only as the most considerable in length, but the most
peculiar in subject, of his remaining compositions. Those
who have seen that exquisite work of sculpture, the group
executed by Chantrey for the monument of Miss Johnes of
Hafod, will not fail to be struck by the resemblance which it
bears, both in the subject and in the manner of treating it,
to that here commemorated, — so close that, with the excep-
tion of a single word in the original allusive to the immediate
cause of the calamity, the entire Greek epigram might with
propriety be inscribed on the tomb of the British sufferer.
(4.) ON THE MONUMENT OF A DAUGHTER, m.
Unblest Mnasylla ! — on this speaking tomb
What means the type of emblematic gloom ?
■\ Jacobs, ii. p. 3. Brunck, ii. p. 4.
DAMAGETES. 195
Thy lost Callirhoe we here sun-ey
Just as she moan'd her ebbing soul away.
Just as the death-mists o'er her eyelids fell,
In those maternal arms she lov'd so well.
There, too, the speechless father sculptur'd stands.
That cherish'd head supporting with his hands.
Alas ! alas ! — thus grief is made to flow
A ceaseless stream — eternity of woe.
DAMAGETES.t
'Ev 5' apa Aafiayrirov, lov fieXav. — Meleager, i. 21.
The emblem of the deep-purple — literally the black — violet,
here given to Damagetes, may be supposed to have been se-
lected on account of the mournful nature of the subjects
which he appears to have habitually chosen, and the tender
melancholy which characterizes the method of his treat-
ment. We have twelve of his Epigrams remaining, almost
all of a hke lugubrious character ; but the two here selected
will probably be regarded as worthy to have been distin-
guished from the rest by their peculiar merit. In another,
which is of a more common character, " Arsinoe daughter of
Ptolemy " is made to dedicate a lock of her hair to Diana;
which, if it refer to Arsinoe daughter of Ptolemy Euergetes,
t Jacobs, ii. p. 39. Brunck, ii. p. 38.
K 2
196 DAMAGETES.
who married her brother Philopator, and became the mother
of Ptolemy Epiphanes (B. C. 209), would fix him as having
flourished about that period.
I. (10.) EPITAPH ON TWO THEBAN BROTHERS
SLAIN IN THRACE. m.
By Jove, the God of strangers, we implore
Thee, gentle pilgrim, to the vEolian shore
(Our Theban home,) the tidings to convey,
That here we lie, to Thracian wolves a prey.
This to our father, old Charinus, tell ;
And, with it, this, — We mourn not that we fell
In early youth, of all our hopes bereft ;
But that lus darkening age is lonely left.
II. (11.) ON A WIFE DYING IN HER HUSBAND'S
ABSENCE. M.
These the last words Theano, swift descending
To the deep shades of night, was heard to say —
" Alas ! and is it thus my life is ending.
And thou, my husband, far o'er seas away ?
Ah ! could I but that dear hand press with mine
Once — once again ! — all else I 'd, pleas'd, resign.
THEODORIDES. 197
THEODORIDES.f
Tov T€ (pi\aKpT]TOV OeoOoipiSew veoOaXri
"EpirvWov. Meleagei, i. 53.
From the emblem here assigned to this poet, that of wild
ThjTne, " that loves the unadulterated juice of the grape,"
it might be suspected that he was of the school of Ana-
creon ; but there is nothing in any of the eighteen very
ordinary Epigrams which remain with his name attached
to them, either to bear out such a conjecture, or to lead to
any satisfactory conclusion as to his age and country.
I. (10.) EPITAPH ON AN USURER. m.
Without the aid of crutch — entire of limb —
Sen-ant of Mercury ! to hell thou goest :
Whose king will, pleas'd, receive thee, since to him
Thou freely renderest all the debt thou owest.
II. (18.) ON AN ANCIENT MONUMENT OF
HERACLITUS. m.
RovKDED by age, and, like some pebble-stone
O'er which the wild wave dashes, shapeless grown.
No letters speak — no graven image tells —
That here the dust of Herachtus dwells.
But still with Fame's loud trumpet I proclaim
The barking Cur's imperishable name.
t Jacobs, iu p. 42. Brunck, ii. p. 41.
198 posiDippus.
POSIDIPPUS.f
This author, whose name is coupled with that of Hedylus
in a line already quoted from Meleager's Garland, appears
to have been nearly contemporary with that collector,
although nothing can be traced with any certainty as to
his life or connexions. Of about twenty Epigrams remain-
ing to us, the greater part are of an amatory complexion,
and some possessing a degree of merit which might pos-
sibly be judged sufficient to demand translation, but that
they are little more than duplicates, both in subject and
expression, of others to be found scattered in the Antholo-
gy, some by later, and others by earlier authors. The well-
known contrast presented by the two rival pictures of hu-
man life inscribed with the names of this poet and his
parodist Metrodorus, has been so often exhibited in differ-
ent forms of translation, that another version might perhaps
have been spared, had not the former edition of these Col-
lections contained an attempt which, upon re-examination,
was found so defective as to call for correction. The age
of the laughing parodist was undoubtedly much posterior to
that of the crying philosopher ; but it would be absurd to
disjoin them upon a mere punctilio of chronological arrange-
ment ; and whether our " Jean qui rit " is to be referred,
with some authorities, to the age of Mithridates, or, with
others, to that of Constantine, — so uncertain are we as to the
t Jacobs, ii. p. 46. Brunck, ii. p. 46.
posiipippus. 199
true date to be assigned to him,— does not at all matter
with a view to placing him, on the present occasion, side
by side with his elder brother.
(16.) PICTURE OF HUMAN LIFE. * p. 105. m.
What path of life would man desire to keep ?
Wrangling and strife the forum yields : at home
Are cares ; abroad, incessant toils : the deep
Is vex'd with storms : an exile would'st thou roam ?
If wealthy, fears ; if needy, slights await.
Would'st seek to wed .'' Expect not so to shun
The general doom, Would'st choose a single state ?
In joyless gloom thy heavy hours will run.
Children are plagues ; a childless life 's accurst :
Folly 's in youth ; in age fresh infancy.
Never to have been bom, the mse man first
Would wish ; and next, as soon as born, to die.
PARODY OF THE PRECEDING.!
BY METRODORUS. * p. 106. M-
Whatever path of life you choose to tread,
Praise and wise deeds the active forum yields ;
At home is rest to crown your grateful bed.
And all the charms of Nature deck the fields.
t Jacobs, iii. p. 180. Brunck, ii. p. 476.
200 posiDippus.
Bright hopes of fortune waft us o'er the deep ;
And, should we chance in foreign climes to stray.
If rich, we 're honour'd ; and, if poor, may keep
Unmark'd the modest tenor of our way.
If married, blest and honour'd is your state ;
If single, stni you 're blest, because you 're free ;
The father joys ; no cares the childless wait ;
In youth is strength, in grey hairs dignity.
Then false the lay that bids men hate to live.
Since every form of life can pleasure give.
II. (19.) ON THE TOMB OF A SHIPWRECKED
MARINER. A. F. M.
Oh why, my brother mariners, so near the boist'rous wave
Of ocean have ye hollow'd out my solitary grave ?
'T were better that far hence a sailor's tomb should be.
For I dread my rude destroyer — I dread the roaring sea.
But may the smiles of fortune — may love and peace await
All you who shed a tear for poor Nicetas' hapless fate !
ANTI PATER OF SIDON. 201
ANTIPATER OF SIDON.f
4>oti/i(T(T«i' re veav Kvirpov an' 'AvriTrarpov. — Meleager, i. 42.
The plant here designated as the young purple Cyprus,
appears to be a species of Privet, known by the botanical
name of Lausonia inermis, and selected as a fit emblem for
this distinguished poet, rather perhaps on account of its
being indigenous to the Phoenician soil, than by reason of
any characteristic fitness in its nature or properties.
With regard to the chronology of Antipater, it is fixed
by a chain of circumstantial evidence with a very reason-
able degree of precision. From this it appears that he was
contemporary with Meleager, the first collector of the An-
thology, by whom he was not only included m the poetical
preface to his Collection, but also commemorated in an
Epitaph, which further establishes the fact of Meleager
having survived him. That he was certainly li\ang as late
as B. C. 127, and probably to a later period, is inferred from
a passage in Cicero (de Oratore, iii. 50), where he is men-
tioned as having been well known to Q. Catulus, the Con-
sul, — an acquaintance which, it is proved, could not have
taken place at any time earlier than the date above noticed.
Hence also it seems to be satisfactorily established, that
one of his Epigrams (the 99th in Jacobs's Collection), which
commemorates the loss of a son sustained by one of the
Ptolemies, kings of Egypt, has reference to Ptolemy Philo-
t Jacobs, ii. p. 5. Brunck, ii. p. 0.
K 5
202 ANTIPATER OF SIDON.
mater, who reigned from B. C. 164 to 146; and not (as
Reiske has hastily conjectured,) to Ptolemy Epiphanes, in
which case the Epigram must have been composed before
B. C. 1 81, that is, full fifty-four years before the earliest pos-
sible period that can be assigned to the date of his acquaint-
ance with Catulus. (See Clinton, Fast. Hell. ii. p. 527.)
Besides these particulars as to his history, we learn from
the Epitaph of Meleager already alluded to, that he was
descended from a wealthy and noble family in his native
town, where it is probable that he himself enjoyed a sta-
tion of considerable eminence. AccorcUng to the report of
Pliny (Hist. Nat. vii. 52), he hved to an advanced age ;
and, in the passage of Cicero already referred to, we have
the authority of that great critic as to his extraordinary
facihty in the art of pouring forth extempore verses, — a
facility to which may perhaps be ascribed a flatness and
insipidity, both in subject and expression, of most of the
Epigrams to which his name is annexed, below the ordi-
nary level of the Anthology, and unworthy the high repu-
tation which he appears to have enjoyed. It may be added
that the greater part, even of these, are mere rifaccimenti
of earher and better Epigrams by Leonidas and others;
but it must also be noticed that, of nearly one hundred and
twenty Epigrams printed under the head of the Sidonian
Antipater, only forty- three have the distinguishing epithet
Sidonius annexed to them in the early echtions of the An-
thology ; so that, of the remainder it is at least uncertain
whether they belong to this poet, or to his namesake An-
tipater of Thessalonica.
ANTI PATER OF SI DON. 203
I. (1.) WINE. * p. 80. B.
The wizards, at my first nativity,
Declar'd, with one accord, I soon should die :
What if — o'er all impends that certain fate —
I \'isit gloomy Minos soon or late ?
Wine, like a racer, brings me there with ease ;
The sober souls way walk it if they please.
II. (7.) AGAINST WATER-DRINKERS. m.
Bacchus found me yesterday.
As at my fvill length stretch'd I lay.
Sated with the crj'stal tide.
The God stood frowming at my side.
And said — " Such sleep upon thee waits
As those attends whom Venus hates.
Say, idiot ! didst thou never hear
Of one Hippolytus ? — Beware !
His destiny may else be thine."
He left me then — the God of Wine ;
But ever since this thing befell,
I 've loath'd the notion of a well.
III. (8.) " UNDER THE ROSE. * p. 80." m.
Not the planet that, sinking in ocean.
Foretells future storms to our tars ;
Not the sea when, in fearful commotion,
Its billows swell high as the stars ;
204 ANTIPATER OF SIDON.
Not the thunder that rolls in October
Is so hateful to each honest fellow,
As he who remembers, when sober,
The tales that were told him when mellow.
IV. (9.) THE WIDOW'S OFFERING. * p. 426. m.
To Pallas, Lysistrata ofFer'd her thimble
And distaff, of matronly prudence the symbol :
" Take this too," she said; " then, farewell, mighty queen !
I 'm a widow, and just forty winters have seen ;
So thy yoke I renounce, and henceforward decree
To live with Love's goddess, and jjrove that I 'm free."
V. (38.)
ON A VINE EMBRACING A PLANE. * p. 111.
See yonder blushing Aane-tree grow.
And clasp a dry and wither' d plane.
And round its youthful tendrUs throw,
A shelter fi-om the wind and rain.
That sapless trunk in former time
Gave covert from the noon-tide blaze.
And taught the infant shoot to climb.
That now the pious debt repays.
Ev'n so, kind Powers ! a partner give
To share in my prosperity ;
Hang on my strength while yet I live.
And do me honour when I die.
ANTIPATER OF SIDON. 205
VI. (45.) ON HOMER'S BIRTH-PLACE. m.
From Colophon some deem thee sprung ;
From Sm}TTia some, and some from Chios :
These noble Salamis have sung,
Wliile those proclaim thee bom in los ;
And others cry up Thessaly,
The mother of the Lapithae.
Thus each to Homer has assign'd
The birth-place just which suits his mind.
But, if I read the volume right
By Phcebus to his followers given,
I 'd say. They 're all mistaken quite,
And that his real country 's Heaven ;
WTiUe for his mother — she can be
No other can Calliope.
VII. (47.) ON ERINNA. * p. 299. h.
Few were thy notes, Erinna, short thy lay, —
But thy short lay the Muse herself has giv'n ;
Thus never shall thy memory decay,
Nor night obscure thy fame, which lives in Heav'n :
While we, th' unnumber'd bards of after times.
Sink in the melancholy grave unseen,
Unhonour'd reach Avernus' fabled climes.
And leave no record that we once have been.
206 ANTIPATER OF SIDON.
Sweet are the graceful swan's melodious lays,
Though but an instant heard, and then they die ;
But the long chattering of discordant jays
The winds of April scatter through the sky.
VIII. (48.) ON PINDAR. m.
As the loud trumpet to the goatherd's pipe.
So sounds thy lyre, all other sounds surpassing ;
Since round thy lips, in infant fulness ripe,
Swarm'd honey'd bees, their golden stores amassing.
Thine, Pindar ! be the palm — by him decreed
Who holds on Maenalus his royal sitting ;
Who for thy love forsook his simple reed.
And hymns thy lays in strains a God befitting.
IX. (50.)
ON THE DESTRUCTION OF CORINTH. * p. 119. b.
Where has thy grandeur, Corinth ! shrunk from sight,
Thy ancient treasures, and thy rampart's height.
Thy godlike fanes and palaces — O where
Thy mighty myriads and majestic fair }
Relentless war has pour'd around the waU,
And hardly spar'd the traces of thy fall.
We nymphs of Ocean deatldess yet remain.
And sad and silent sorrow near thy plain.
ANTI PATER OF SI DON. 207
X. (67.) ON ORPHEUS. * p. 297. b.
No more, sweet OqDheus ! shalt thou lead along
Oaks, rocks, and savage monsters with thy song.
Fetter the winds, the struggling hailstorm chain.
The sno-wy desert soothe, and sounding main ;
For thou art dead ; — the Muses o'er thy bier.
Sad as thy parent, pour the tuneful tear.
Weep we a child ? Not ev'n the gods can save
Their glorious offspring from the hated grave.
XI. (70.) ON SAPPHO. H.
Does Sappho, then, beneath thy bosom rest,
yEohan earth ! — that mortal Muse, confest
Inferior only to the choir above.
That foster-child of Venus and of Love,
Warm from whose lips divine Persuasion came
To ravish Greece and raise the Lesbian name ?
O ye I who ever twine the threefold thread.
Ye Fates, why number with the silent dead
That mighty songstress, whose unrivall'd powers
Weave for the Muse a crown of deathless flowers ?
THE SAME. c. ii.
Thou mortal sister of th' immortal Nine,
Whom Venus lov'd, and Venus' lovelier boy.
While soft Persuasion made thy strains divine.
With sweetest words, and tunes that never cloy.
208 ANTIPATER OF SIDON.
folia's pride, and Hellas' darling joy !
Sappho ! the Fates, that wanton as they choose.
Weaving the triple skein in curst employ.
For all thy fame, did length of years refuse ;
Nor car'd for thine eternal present to the Muse.
XII. (72.) ON ANACREON. * p. 297. b.
Grow, clustering ivy, where Anacreon lies ;
Tliere may soft buds from purple meadows rise :
Gush, milky springs, the poet's turf to lave.
And, fragrant wine, flow joyous from his grave !
Thus charm'd, his bones shall press their narrow bed.
If aught of i^leasure ever reach the dead.
In these delights he sooth'd his age above.
His life devoting to the lyre and love.
THE SAME, PARAPHRASED. moore.
Around the tomb, O Bard divine !
Where soft thy hallow' d brow reposes.
Long may the deathless ivy twine.
And Summer pour his waste of roses !
And many a fount shall there distil.
And many a rill refresh the flowers ;
But wine shall gush in every rill.
And every fount yield milky showers.
Thus — shade of him whom nature taught
To tune his lyre and soul to pleasure —
Who gave to love his warmest thought.
Who gave to love his fondest measure —
ANTIPATER OF SIDON. 209
Thus — after death, if spirits feel.
Thou may'st, from odours round thee streaming,
A pulse of past enjoyment steal,
And live again in bUssful dreaming.
XIII. (75.) ON THE SAME. moore.
At length thy golden hours have wing'd their flight,
And drowsy death thine eyelid steepeth ;
Thy harp, that whisper'd through each lingering night.
Now mutely in oblivion sleepeth.
She, too, for whom that heart profusely shed
The purest nectar of its numbers.
She — the young spring of thy desires — has fled.
And with her blest Anacreon slumbers.
Farewell ! thou hadst a pulse for every dart
That Love could scatter from his quiver ;
And every woman found in thee a heart.
Which thou, with all thy soul, didst give her !
XIV. (84.) EPITAPH ON A MOTHER AND
DAUGHTER. * p. 292. b.
Here sleeps a daughter by a mother's side ;
Nor slow disease nor war our fates allied :
When hostUe banners over Corinth wav'd.
Preferring death we left a land enslav'd ;
Pierc'd by a mother's steel, in youth I bled.
She nobly join'd me in my gory bed : —
In vain ye forge your fetters for the brave,
Who fly for sacred freedom to the grave,
2!0 MELEAGER.
XV. (Paralip. 86. Jacobs, xiii. p. 670.)
ON A POPLAR. * p. 357.
This plant is sacred. Passenger, beware !
From every wound a mortal pang I bear.
My tender limbs support a virgin rind,
Not the rude bark that shields the forest kind ;
And ev'n in these dark glens and pathless glades
Their parent sun protects his poplar maids.
M.
MELEAGER.t
Following the chronological order we have adopted, we
now arrive at the period of the first known collector of an
Anthology ; himself also a poet ; and, as a mere composer
of Epigrams, very far superior to any of those inserted in
his Garland, — so far, at least, as we are enabled to judge
of them from those specimens which have escaped the ra-
vages of time, and the yet more sweeping and indiscri-
minate havoc of ignorance and bigotry ; — an author whose
style, in a recent edition of his works, is characterized as
" purely Grecian, well adapted to the nature of his sub-
jects, bold in the composition of words, and capable of ex-
citing the most tender, as well as the most vehement, aifec-
f Jacobs, i. p. 1. Brunck, i. p. 1.
MELEAGER. 211
tions ; so distinguished, at the same time, for acuteness of
argument and plaj-fulness of amorous fancy, that the poet
may be said to have paid himself no unmerited compliment,
when he boasts of having united Love with the Muses, and
called in aid the Graces, to temper the severity of philo-
sophy."
His Epigrams, as first brought together by the industry
of Brunck, reprinted by Jacobs, and placed by them at
the head of all the poets comprised in their respective col-
lections, are one hundred and twenty-nine in number ; to
which the industry of the latter editor has added two from
the Vatican MS., one of wliich seems to connect so aptly
with another (the seventy-fifth in the printed series), as to
be thought by Jacobs to have originally formed a part of it
and only separated by accident, — a notion which has been
adopted in one of the ensuing translations.
It only remains to be noticed, that we are indebted to
the industry and acuteness of Mr. Fynes Clinton (Fast.
Hell. vol. il. p. 542,) for enabling us to correct a palpable
mistake of former editors, in having confounded the collector
of the Antholog)' (who sun'ived, as has been seen, his friend
Antipater, and was certainly yet living in the short reign
of the last Seleucus, B.C. 95 — 94,) vdth another Meleager,
who was a native of Gadara, the companion of the Cynic
Menippus, prior in date to B. C. 200 ; and to whom, there-
fore, and not to the collector, those Epigrams relate (Nos.
126 and 127,) which had been hitherto considered as com-
posed by the later Meleager for epitaphs on himself. It
results from this discovery, that we are in fact ignorant
both of the country and parentage of Meleager the collector;
but from his being of the same name, it seems not unrea-
212 MELEAGER.
sonable to suppose that he was the descendant — perhaps
the grandson — of tlie Gadarene. (See before, Bland's Pre-
face, and note on the passage.)
I. (9.) THE COMPARISON.
Take away from young Cupid his wings and his bow,
And give him sweet Antipho's bonnet and feather :
jSo Uke is your boy to the god, love, I vow
You'd not know your child if you saw them together.
II. (17.) THE SAME SUBJECT.
Lesbia ! thy child is so divinely fair.
That if beside him little Cupid stood
Without his quiver, bow, or wings, I swear
I should not know the mortal from the God.
III. (19.) THE SAILOR'S RETURN. m.
Help, help, my friends ! — ^just landed from the main —
New to its toils, and glad to feel again
The firm rebounding soil beneath my feet.
Love marks his prey, and with enforcement sweet.
Waving his torch before my dazzled eyes.
Drags me to where my queen of beauty lies.
Now on her steps I tread — and if in air
My fancy roves, I view her picture there,
MELEAGER. 213
Stretch my fond arms to fold her, and delight
With unsubstantial joys my ravish'd sprite.
Ah ! vainly 'scap'd the fearful ocean's roar,
To prove a fiercer hurricane on shore !
IV. (23.) THE GIFTS OF THE GRACES, k.
The Graces smiUng saw her opening charms.
And clasp'd Aristo in their lovely arms.
Hence her resistless beauty ; matchless sense ;
The music of her voice ; the eloquence.
That, ev'n in silence, flashes from her face ;
All strikes the ravish'd heart — for all is grace:
List to my vows, sweet maid ! or from my view
Far, far away, remove! — in vain I sue ;
For, as no space can check the bolts of Jove,
No distance shields me from the shafts of Love.
V. (28.) THE TYRANT LOVE.
Aye — tread on my neck, tyrant Cupid ! I swear.
Though so little, your weight is no trifle to bear :
But I laugh at your darts tipp'd with flaming desire.
Since my heart, burnt to ashes, is proof against fire.
VI. (32.) PRAYER TO CUPID.
Spare, Cupid ! spare me ! hear the suppliant Muse !
Avert thy bow — withdraw thy flaming dart !
Bid HeUodora listen, nor refuse
To soothe the piercing anguish of my heart !
214 MELEAGER.
But, if thou slay me, by that bow I swear —
That bow, thou seem'st to bend on me alone —
My dying accents shall my wrongs declare,
And leave this apt memorial for my stone : —
" Stranger, beware !" — thus from that drear abode
Tlie Muse shall speak — "Fly Cupid's murderous bow !
Nor vainly look for mercy from the God
Whose ruthless hand hath laid his poet low !"
VII. (33.) THE LIGHT OF LOVE. k.
Gazing on thee, sweet maid ! all things I see —
For thou art all the universe to me ;
And, when thou 'rt absent, to my vacant sight.
Though all things else be present, all is night.
Vin. (42.) CUPID WOUNDED. k.
Why weep'st thou, Cupid — thou who steal'st men's hearts.
And with their hearts their reason ? — Tell me why
Thou 'st flung away thy cruel bow and darts.
And doff'd thy radiant wings. Has Lesbia's eye.
Which beams on all, resistless, pierc'd thy breast ?
— 'T is so — thy cause of sorrow stands confest ;
And thou art doom'd to suffer in thy turn.
And feel what torture 't is with love to burn.
MELEAGER. 215
IX. (47.)
PAN'S LAMENTATION FOR DAPHNIS. m.
Farewell, ye straying herds, ye crystal fountains.
Ye solitary woods, and breezy mountains !
Goat-footed Pan will now no longer dwell
In the rude fastness of his sylvan cell.
What joy has he amidst the forests hoar,
And mountain summits ? — Daphnis is no more.
— No more ! no more ! — They all are lost to me !
The busy town must now my refuge be.
The chase let others follow ! — I resign
Whate'er of hope or rapture once was mine,
THE SAME. K.
Farewell, ye hills ! ye sylvan scenes, farewell.
Which once my shaggy feet rejoic'd to tread !
No more with goats on mountain tops I'll dwell.
Half- goat myself — no more the mazes thread
Of forest thicket, or of bosky dell :
Daphnis — lov'd partner of my sports — is dead ;
And with him all the joy he knew so well
To give my sylvan reign, for ever fled.
Scenes once belov'd ! I quit ye : to the chase
Let others hie — the town shall be Pan's dwelling-place.
X. (50.) CUPID'S PEDIGREE. m.
No wonder Love, the ravisher of hearts.
For slaughter raging, hurls fire-breathing darts ;
216 MELEAGER.
With bitter scorn envenoms every wound.
And laughs at every death he scatters round :
For Mars the homicide his mother vows
A lawless flame, while Vulcan is her spouse.
— Common to fire and sword — the daughter she
Of the wild, boisterous, tempest- scourged sea :
But who, or whence, his sire, can no man trace.
No wonder then, since such is Cupid's race,
His arrows Mars, hot Vulcan's forge supplied
His fire ; — his fury, the remorseless tide.
THE SAME.
Ask' ST thou why Love's eyes, ev'n in laughter, lower ?
Or whence his savage thirst for flames and sword ?
Was not fierce Mars his mother's paramour.
And Vulcan, God of Fire, her wedded lord }
The boy 's his mother's son : his pedigree
Explains too well his hate of human kind.
Who gave that mother birth ? — the foaming sea,
Whose surge rebellows to the lashing wind.
Who was his sire ? — if e'er he had a sire
Is doubtful ; — but for this the Muse wiU 'gage :
Mars gave him blood-stain'd arrows, Vulcan fire.
And Thetis fill'd him with her billowy rage.
XI. THE POWER OF LOVE. m.
Mighty is Love — most mighty — once again
I cry, most mighty ! wTitliing with my pain,
MELEAGER. 21/
And deeply groaning, — who, for mischief born.
Mocks at our woes, and laughs our wrongs to scorn.
— The cold blue wave from which thy mother came.
Proud boy ! should quench, not feed, that cruel flame.
XII. (52.) THE CAPTIVE. m.
Love ! by the Author of your race.
Of all your sweetest joys the giver,
I vow to bum before your face
Your arrows, bow, and Scythian quiver !
Yes — though you point your saucy chin.
And screw your nostrils like a satyr.
And show your teeth, and pout, and grin,
I 11 burn them, boy, for all your clatter.
I '11 clip your wings, boy, though they be
Heralds of joy ; your legs I '11 bind
With brazen bolts : you sha' n't get free —
Alas ! I have but caught the wind !
Oh ! what had I with Love to do, —
A wolf among the sheep-folds roaming !
There— take your wings — put on your shoe.
And teU your playmates you are coming.
XIII. (53.) THE DIN OF LOVE. m.
For ever in mine ear resound
Love's wanton pinions, fluttering round ;
While amorous wishes from mine eye
Melt in sweet tear-drops silently.
L
218 MELEAGER.
It is not night — the level ray-
Not yet proclaims the close of clay ;
Yet is one well-known form imprest.
As by enchantment, on my breast.
Ye winged boys, who know the art
Too well to reach th' unguarded heart.
Have ye no strength, ye flutterers, say.
To spread your plumes, and fly away ?
THE SAME. MOORE.
'T IS Love that murmurs in my breast.
And makes me shed the secret tear ;
Nor day nor night my heart has rest,
For night and day his voice I hear.
A wound within my heart I find.
And, oh ! 't is plain where Love has been ;
For still he leaves a wound behind,
Such as within my heart is seen.
O bird of Love ! with song so drear.
Make not my soul the nest of pain !
Oh ! let the wing which brought thee here.
In pity waft thee hence again !
XIV. (55.) THE TORTURES OF LOVE. m.
Unquiet soul, for ever doom'd to weep !
What need the wound which Time had 'gan assuage
Burst forth afresh from where it lay asleep,
And with new fury in my bosom rage ?
MELEAGER. 219
Daringlj' thoughtless ! cease, oh cease to move
The fire that slumbering in its ashes lay,
Warm, but innocuous — cease ! that fire is Love.
Ah ! too forgetful of thine evil day !
Let him but wake, he '11 claim thee for his right, -
And blows and tortures shall reward thy fhght.
XV. (56.) THE DEBATE. m.
The die is cast! — Boy, light the torch — I go — Away, away.
Untimely fears ! — Thou drunken fool, what art thou think-
ing ? — stay !
— I go to mix wdth Comus' band. — With Comus' band ? —
Beware !
— Intruding Reason, hence! your counsels Love would
gladly spare.
Boy, light the torch — be quick ! Oh, where has godlike
Reason fled ?
And Wisdom, where? — They prosti'ate lie among the
mighty dead.
But this I know — The same decree binds ev'n the gods
above ;
The strength of Jove himself has bent before all- conquer-
ing Love.
XVL (57.) TO BACCHUS. m.
Bacchus ! I yield me to thy sway ;
Master of revels, lead the way !
Conqueror of India's burning plain,
My heart obeys thy chariot rein.
L 2
220 MELEAGER.
In flames conceiv'd, thou sure wilt prove
Indulgent to the fire of Love ;
Nor count me rebel, if I own
Allegiance to a double throne.
Alas ! alas ! that power so high
Should stoop to treacherous perfidy !
The mysteries of thy hallow'd shrine
I ne'er profan'd — Why publish mine ?
XVII. (61.) THE LOVER'S MESSAGE. m.
Haste thee, Dorcas ! haste, and bear
This message to thy lady fair ;
And say besides — nay, pray begone —
Tell, tell her all — run, Dorcas, run !
Whither so fast ? a moment stay ;
Don't run with half your tale away ;
I 've more to tell — Ah me ! I rave —
I know not what I 'd do, or have.
Go ! teU her all — whate'er you know,
Whate'er you think — go, Dorcas, go !
But why a message send before.
When we 're together at the door ?
XVIII. (65.) VARIETY. m.
Ringlets, that with clustering shade
The snow-white brows of Demo braid !
MELEAGKR. 221
Sandals, that with strict embrace
Heliodora's ancles grace !
Portal of Timarion's bower.
Besprent with many a fragrant shower !
Lovely smiles, that lurking lie
In Anticlea's sun-bright eye !
Roses, fresh in earliest bloom.
That Dorothea's breast perfume !
— No more Love's golden quivers hold
Tlieir plum'd artillery, as of old ;
But every sharp and winged dart
Hath found a quiver in my heart-
XIX. (71.) THE VOW. CM.
In holy night we made the vow ;
And the same lamp that long before
Had seen our early passion grow
Was witness to the faith we swore-
Did I not swear to love her ever ?
And have I ever dar'd to rove ?
Did she not vow a rival never
Should shake her faith, or steal her love ?
Yet now she says those words were air.
Those vows were written in the water ;
And, by the lamp that heard her swear.
Hath yielded to the first that sought her.
222 MELEAGER.
XX. (73.) LOVE, THE DICE-PLAYER.
As Infant Love one morning lay
Upon his mother's breast at play.
He found my soul, that stood hard by,
And, laugliing, stak'd it on the die.
XXI. (74.) TO THE MORNING STAR. m.
Farewell, bright Phosphor, herald of the mom !
Yet soon, in Hesper's name again be born —
By stealth restoring, with thy later ray.
The charms thine early radiance drove away !
THE SAME. c. M.
Thou latest of the host of Heav'n,
Pale morning star ! that driv'st away
My Phanion thus, at break of day ;
Thou too art first to shine at ev'n : —
O hither, then, at twilight gray
Guide her with thy furtive ray !
XXII. (75.) THE KISS. m.
Timarion's kiss like bird-lime clings
About the happy lips it blesses ;
Her eye its sun-like radiance flings
Beneath her dark o'ershadowing tresses.
ME LE ACER. 223
One look, fond lover, and you 're burn'd ;
One touch, and all your strength is nought ;
And Love himself this lesson learn'd,
Late in her nets a captive caught.
XXIII. (SO.) THE LOVER'S ERRAND. * p. 1.
Sea-wandering barks, that o'er the ^gean sail
With pennants streaming to the northern gale,
If in your course the Coan strand ye reach.
And see my Phanion musing on the beach,
With eye intent upon the placid sea.
And constant heart that only beats for me, —
Tell my sweet mistress, that for her I haste.
To greet her, landing from the w^atery waste.
Go, heralds of my soul ! to Phanion's ear
On all your shrouds the tender accents bear !
So Jove shall calm with smiles the wave below.
And bid for you his softest breezes blow.
THE SAME. SHEPHERD.
Ye gallant ships, that jilough the briny wave
Where beauteous Hella found a watery grave !
As near the Coiin strand the northern gales
With steady impulse fiU your swelling sails.
Should you behold, upon some dizzy steep.
My Phanion gazing on the azure deep, —
TeU the dear maid that, mindful of her charms.
Her lover hastens to her longing arms.
224 MELEAGER.
So, while you scud along the dashing spray.
May prosperous breezes speed you on your way !
XXIV. (87.) TO A GIRL PLAYING THE FLUTE, m.
By Pan, Arcadia's God, I swear.
Sweet are the notes thy fingers move ;
Most sweet, Zenophila, the air
Thou hymn'st — it speaks of love.
How shall I fly ! On every side
The wanton Cupids round me throng,
Nor give me space to breathe, while tied
A listener to thy song.
Whether her beauty wakes desire.
Her tuneful voice, her winning art —
—What shaU I say ? All— all. The fire
Is kindled in my heart.
XXV. (88.) TO HIS MISTRESS SLEEPING. m.
Thotj sleep'st, soft silken flower ! Would I were Sleep,
For ever on those lids my watch to keep !
So should I have thee all mine own — nor he
Who seals Jove's wakeful eyes my rival be.
XXVI. (89.) THE GIFTS OF THE GRACES, m.
The Sister- Graces for my fair
A triple garland wove.
When with each other they to make
A perfect mistress strove.
ME LE ACER. 225
A tint, to mock the rose's bloom ;
A form, like young Desire ;
A voice, whose melody out-breathes
The sweetness of the lyre.
Thrice-happy fair ! whom Venus arm'd
With Joy's extatic power,
Persuasion with soft Eloquence,
And Love with Beauty's flower !
XXVII. (91.) LOVE PROCLAIMED. m.
Love I proclaim — the vagrant child.
Who, even now, at da^vn of day.
Stole from liis bed, and flew away.
He 's wont to weep, as though he smil'd ;
For ever prattling, swift and daring ;
Laughs with wide mouth and wrinkled nose ;
Vv^ing'd on the back, and always bearing
A quiver rattling as he goes :
Unknown the author of his birth —
For Air, 'tis certain, ne'er begot
The saucy boy : and as for Earth
And Sea, both swear they own him not :
To all, and everywhere, a foe.
But you must look, and keep good watch.
Lest he should still around him throw
Fresh nets, unwary souls to catch.
Stay ! — while I yet am speaking, lo !
There, there he sits, like one forbidden —
And did you hope to 'scape me so, —
In Lesbia's eyes, you truant, hidden ?
L 5
226 MELBAGKR.
THE SAME. K.
Oyez ! Take notice. Love the runaway
Fled from his bed-chamber at break of day.
The boy is an adept at wheedhng, crying ;
Talks much, is swift of foot, and giv'n to lying ;
Audacious, cunning, and with malice fraught.
He laughs at mischief liis own wiles have WTOught :
With wings for flight equipp'd, and for attack
With darts, he bears a quiver at his back.
Who is his father I could ne'er discover —
Earth, Sea, and Air, alike disown the rover.
He 's ever^'body's foe — Ah maids, beware !
Youths, too, take heed ! for you he spreads his snare.
But look ! — can I be wrong ? — No ; there I spy
The truant archer, hid in Lesbia's eye.
XXVIII. (92.) THE COMPARISON. * p. 12. m.
Now are the vernal hours —
The white-rob'd violet blooms.
And hyacinth, glad with showers.
The breathing air perfumes ;
And, scatter'd o'er the mountain's side.
The fragrant lily gleams in virgin pride.
Now are the vernal hours —
Zenoi:)hila the fair,
The lovehest flower of flowers.
The sweet beyond compare.
Doth on her opening lips disclose
Divine Persuasion's never-fading rose.
MELEAGER, 227
Meadows ! why do ye wreathe
In smiles your sunny tresses ?
Ye no such odours breathe,
Tliough Spring your wardrobe dresses ;
Ye no such glorious charms display.
As she, the maiden that inspires my lay.
THE SAME. SHEPHEKD.
The snowdrop peeps from every glade,
The gay narcissus proudly glows,
The lily decks the mountain shade,
Where blooms my fair — a blushing rose.
Ye meads ! why vainly thus display
Tlie buds that grace your vernal hour ?
For see ye not my Zoe stray
Amidst your sweets, a sweeter flower ?
XXIX. (94.) A KISS WITHIN THE CUP. * p. 23. m.
Blest is the goblet — oh how blest !
Which Heliodora's lips have prest.
Oh ! might those lips but meet with mine,
My soul should melt away in thine.
XXX. (95.) THE AUCTION. m.
A PRIZE to sell ! — a prize ! a prize !
You may take it as it lies
228 MELEAGER.
In its mother's arms asleep.
'T is too fierce for me to keep.
You may mark it by its grin —
Wrinkled nose, and saucy chin —
By the wings its shoulders shade —
By its nails, for tickling made —
By its laughing through its tears—
And, for aught that else appears.
Rude in manners, chattering ever,
Keen-sightedj restless, yielding never.
Or through love or piety —
In short, an infant prodigy !
Let him be sold, then— Buy ! who '11 buy ?
If any merchant should be nigh.
Just come on shore, who wants a slave
Of all- work, here a prize he '11 have.
— But see, he weeps ! he trembhng sues —
Poor boy ! be bold ; I cannot choose
But relent — So let it be !
Stay, and live with Rhodope.
THE SAME. SHEPHERD.
Sell him ! whilst on his mother's breast
He gently sinks in placid rest i
Sell him ! — Why should I keep a child
So bold, so graceless, and so wild ?
How broad his nose ! how keen his eyes !
And now he laughs, and now he cries :
With fluttering wings and active nails
He every mortal wight assails :
MELEAGER. 229
Tlie prattling rogue 's so bent on riot.
His mother cannot keep him quiet.
Sell him ! ^A•ho '11 buy the infant slave.
And bear him 'cross the wintry wave ?
— But see ! he prays "^-ith flowing tears : —
I wUl not sell thee — calm thy fears !
With me, dear boy ! thou still shalt stay.
And with my lovely mistress play.
XXXI. (97.) LOVE, THE TENNIS-PLAYER, elton.
Love acts the tennis-player's part.
And throws to thee my panting heart :
Heliodora ! ere it fall.
Let Desire catch swift the ball ;
Let her in the ball-court move.
Fellow in the game with Love :
If thou throw me back again,
I shall of fovil play complain.
XXXII. (98.) THE TOAST. m.
Fill high the goblet ! fill it up !
With Lesbia's name divine,
Thrice utter'd, crown the sparkling cup,
And sweeten all the wine !
Tie round my brows the rosy wreath
That yesterday ye wove.
With flowers that yet of odours breathe.
In memory of ray Love !
230 MELEAGER.
See how yon Rose in tears is drest.
Her lovely form to see.
No longer folded on my breast.
As it was wont to be.
XXXII. (105.) THE GARLAND. m.
I 'll WTeathe white violets — with the myrtle shade
Bind soft narcissus — and amidst them braid
The laughing lily ; with whose virgin hue
Shall blend bright crocus, and the hyacinth blue.
There many a rose shall, interwoven, shed
Its blushing grace on Heliodora's head.
And add fresh fragrance, amorously entwining
Her cluster'd locks, with spicy ointments shining.
XXXIII. (108.) TO THE BEE. m.
Wandering Bee, who lov'st to dwell
In the vernal rose-bud's cell.
Wherefore leave thy place of rest.
To light on Heliodora's breast ?
Is it thus you mean to show.
When flies the shaft fi-om Cupid's bow,
What a sweet and bitter smart
It leaves witliin the woimded heart ?
Yes, thou friend to lovers, yes —
I thy meaning well can guess —
'T is a truth too soon we learn,
— Go ! with thy lesson home return !
MELEAGER. 231
XXXIII. (109.)
EPITAPH ON HELIODORA. * p. 283. b.
Tears o'er my Heliodora's grave I shed.
Affection's fondest tribute to the dead.
Oh flow, my bitter sorrows, o'er her shrine,
Pledge of the love that bound her soul to mine !
Break, break my heart, o'ercharg'd with bursting woe.
An empty offering to the shades below !
Ah, plant regretted ! Death's remorseless power
With dust unfruitful chok'd thy full-blown flower.
Take, Earth, the gentle inmate to thy breast.
And, soft entomb'd, bid Heliodora rest !
THE SAME. M.
Tears, Heliodora! on thy tomb I shed.
Love's last libation to the shades below ;
Tears, bitter tears, by fond remembrance fed.
Are all that Fate now leaves me to bestow.
Vain sorrows ! vain regrets ! — yet, loveliest ! thee.
Thee still they follow in the silent urn.
Retracing hours of social converse free.
And soft endearments never to return.
Now thou art torn, sweet flower that smil'd so fair !
Tom — and thy honour'd bloom with dust defil'd :
Yet, holy Earth, accept my suppliant prayer.
And in a mother's arms enfold thy child !
232 MELEAGER.
XXXIV. (110.) SPRING. An Idyl. * p. 351. b.
Hush'd is the howl of wintry breezes wild ;
The purple hour of youthful Spring has smil'd :
A liveher verdure clothes the teeming earth ;
Buds press to life, rejoicing in their birth ;
The laughing naeadows drink the dews of night.
And, fresh with opening roses, glad the sight :
In song the joyous swains responsive \de ;
Wild music floats, and mountain melody.
Adventurous seamen spread th' embosom'd sail,
O'er waves light-hea'sdng to the western gale ;
While \'iUage youths their brows with ivy twine.
And hail with song the promise of the vine.
In curious cells the bees digest their spoil,
When vernal sunshine animates their toil ;
And little birds with warblings sweet and clear
Salute thee, Maio ! loveliest of the year :
Tliee, on their deeps, the tuneful Halcyons hail.
In streams the swan, in woods the nightingale.
If Earth rejoices, with new verdure gay.
And shepherds pipe, and flocks exulting play.
And sailors roam, and Bacchus leads his throng.
And bees to toil, and birds awalie to song, —
Shall the glad bard be mute in tuneful spring.
And, warm -with love and joy, forget to sing ?
THE SAME. SHEPHERD.
Whex wintry winds no longer sweep
The surface of the troubled deep,
See, smihng Sjiring, in vestment sheen,
Arrays the earth in grateful green.
MELEAGER.
233
The budding plants their leaves renew ;
The meadows drink the morning dew ;
The flowers their thousand hues disclose ;
Blooms on the spray the blushing rose ;
Whilst every hill and valley gay
Re-echoes to the rustic lay,
And, swelUng to the tepid gale.
Bounds o'er the waves the whit'ning sail.
The sturdy hinds, A\'ith i\^^ crown' d.
To Bacchus dance in tipsy round ;
Tlie bees flit fast on active wing.
As home the nectar'd juice they bring ;
The birds confess the power of love,
And warble in the leafy grove ;
The halcyon floats on Ocean's breast ;
The twittering swallow builds her nest ;
The white-plum' d swan in graceful pride
Stems the broad river's rapid tide ;
Whilst nightly breezes still prolong
Tlie nightingale's mellifluous song.
If then the earth— the groves rejoice
To hear the swain's untutor'd voice.
The seaman's whistle, and the glee
Of rustic rout and revelry.
Who shall forbid the bard to sing
The praises of the flowery Spring ?
XXXV. (111.) TO THE CICADA. m.
Noisy insect ! drunken still
With dew-drops like the stars in number, —
234 MELEAGER.
Voice of the desert, loud and shrill,
That wakest Echo from her slumber.
And, sitting on the bloomy spray,
Carol' st at ease thy merry lay ;
Dusky bard ! whose jagged feet
Still on your hollow sides rebounding
With frequent pause, and measur'd beat.
Like minstrel notes are ever sounding ;
Lov'd of the Muses, come ! essay
The wood-nymphs with some newer lay !
— Such as Pan might please to hear.
And, answering, tune his vocal reed ;
And Love himself a whUe forbear
His cruel sport to see me bleed ;
Wliilst I in noontide sleep am laid
Secure beneath the plane-tree's shade.
XXXVI. (113.)
" MIX WATER WITH YOUR WINE." m.
When infant Bacchus from encircling flame
Leap'd into life, the Nymphs in pity came.
Caught him amidst the ashes as he fell,
And bath'd with water from their sacred well.
Their union hence, — and whoso would decline
To mix his bowl, may swallow fire for wine.
THE SAME, PARAPHRASED. prior.
Great Bacchus, bom in Thunder and in Fire,
By native heat asserts his dreadful sire :
MELEAGER. 235
Nourish'd near shady rills and cooling streams,
He to the Nymphs avows his amorous flames : —
To all the brethren at the Bell and Vine,
The moral says, "Mix water with your wine."
M.
XXXVII. (116.) THE VICTIM.
The suppHant Bull, to Jove's high altar led.
Bellows a prayer for his devoted head.
Spare him, Saturnius ! — His the form you wore
When fair Europa through the waves you bore.
XXXVIII. (119.)
THE DAUGHTERS OF LYCAMBES. m.
Bt Pluto's hand we swear — an awful sign —
And the dark bed of gloomy Proserpine,
Pure went we to our graves, whate'er of shame
And vile reproach against our virgin fame
That bitter bard pour'd forth, in strains refin'd
Cloaking the foulness of his slanderous mind.
Muses, in our despite why favour thus
The false Iambics of Archilochus ?
XXXIX. (121.)
EPITAPH ON ^SIGENES. * p. 294.
Hail, universal Mother ! lightly rest
On that dead form,
Which, when with hfe invested, ne'er oppress'd
Its fellow- worm.
M.
236
MELEAGER.
XL. (124.) EPITAPH ON CHARIXENUS. m.
Thee, poor Charixenus ! in youth's first bloom,
Thy mother's hands — an offering to the tomb —
Deck'd with the martial stole. The very stone
Made to thy moaning friends responsive moan.
As with the houseless corpse they sorrowing went
— No hymeneal strain, but loud lament.
" Ah me ! that gentle bosom's bounteous store.
How ill repaid ! — how vain the pangs she bore !"
O Fate unfruitful ! Maid of ruthless mind !
That giv'st a mother's yearnings to the wind I
Here, friends can only wish, and parents weep.
And pitying strangers sanctify thy sleep.
XLI. (125.)
EPITAPH ON A YOUNG BRIDE. * p. 283. m.
Cle^ra, when she loos'd her virgin zone.
Found in the nuptial bed an early grave :
Death claim'd the bridegroom's right ; to Death alone
The treasure guarded for her spouse she gave.
To sweetest sounds the happy evening fled,
The flute's soft strain and hymeneal choir ;
At mom sad bowlings echo round the bed.
And the glad hymns on quivering lips expire.
The very torches that at fall of night
Shed their bright radiance o'er the bridal room,
Those very torches with the morning's light
Conduct the victim to her silent tomb.
MELEAGER. 23/
XLII. (127.)
EPITAPH ON MELEAGER OF GADARA. m.
Tyre was my Island-nurse — an Attic race
I boast, though Gadara my native j^lace, —
Herself an Athens. Eucrates I claim
For sire, and Meleager is my name.
From childhood, in the Muse was all my pride :
I sang ; and with Menippus, side by side,
Urg'd my poetic chariot to the goal.
And why not Syrian ? — to the free-born soul
Our country is. The World ; and all on earth
One universal chaos brought to birth.
Now old, and heedful of th' approaching doom.
These lines, in memory of my parted bloom,
I on my picture trace, as on my tomb.
[ 238 ]
EPIGRAMS OMITTED.
[The two following were omitted to be inserted in the
proper places.]
HEGESIPPUS.f
IV. (6.) ON A SHIPWRECKED PERSON, h.
Perish the hour — that dark and starless hour —
Perish the roaring main's tempestuous power —
That whelm'd the ship where lov'd Abdera's son
Pray'd to unheeding Heaven, and was undone !
Yes — all were wreck'd ; and, by the stormy wave
To rough Seriphos borne, he found a grave, —
Found, from kind stranger hands, funereal fires.
Yet reach'd, inum'd, the countr\' of his sires.
ANTIPATER OF SIDON.:|:
XVI. (94.) THE CURE FOR MISERY. h.
One fleecy ewe, one heifer, were the store
That drove dire Want from Aristides' door.
He lost them both : his teeming heifer died ;
His single ewe the ravening wolf descried.
And bore away : thus all he had was gone.
Retiring to his silent hut alone.
The belt that bound his empty scrip he takes.
Fastens the noose, and wretched life forsakes.
t See before, p. 147. + See before, p. 201.
[ 239 ]
APPENDIX.
EPIGRAMS BY UNCERTAIN AUTHORS.f
[The Epigrams here selected from among the 'A^eo-Trdra
printed at the end of Brunck's and Jacobs's Collections, are
principally such as, from internal evidence, would seem to
belong to the earlier and better ages of Grecian poetry, or,
from their resemblance in subject to some of the preceding,
appear to solicit insertion in the present portion of our
work.]
I. (58.) THE LOVER'S WISH. * p. 14. m.
Oh, that I were some gentle air,
Tliat, when the heats of summer glow.
And lay thy panting bosom bare,
I might upon that bosom blow !
Oh, that I were yon blushing flower.
Which even now thy hands have press'd,
To live, though but for one short hour,
Upon the Elysium of thy breast !
t Jacobs, iv. p. 118. Hnuick, iii. p. I.jI.
240 EPIGRAMS BY
II. (62.)
LOVE NOT EXTINGUISHED BY AGE. * p. 4. m.
Whether thy locks with jetty radiance shine,
Or golden ringlets o'er thy shoulder stray,
Still in those locks the Loves and Graces twine.
And stiU shall twine there, though those locks be gray.
III. (80.) ON LIFE AND DEATH. c. m.
Whence was I born, and how ?
How was I born, and why ?
Alas ! I nothing know.
But, born, that I must die.
From nothing I was born,
To nought must I return.
The end and the beginning
Of life is nothingness ;
Of losing or of winning.
Of pleasure or distress.
Then give me wine at least,
Tliere 's nought for 't but to feast.
IV. (81.) EXHORTATION TO PLEASURE, r. b.
Drink, and rejoice ! who knows, tomorrow.
Whether 't will bring us joy or sorrow }
Now, while you may, life's blessings share
With the jovial and the fair :
Shortly may thy flickering breath
Be tainted by the blast of death.
UNCERTAIN AUTHORS. 241
Such is life — a moment's space.
And it leaves an empty place :
Seize it, ere the silent tomb,
Engulphing thee, gives others room.
V. (177.) THE GARDENER'S OFFERING. *p.423. b.
To Pan, the guardian of my narrow soil,
Who gave my fruits to grow, and bless'd my toil.
Pure water and a votive fig I bear,
A scant oblation from the teeming year.
The fruit ambrosial in thy garden blush'd.
And from thy rock the living water rush'd ;
Receive the tribute from my niggard urn.
Nor with thy bounty weigh my poor return.
VI. (247.)
ON THE VENUS OF PRAXITELES. * p. 372. m.
My naked charms ! The Prince of Troy —
The Dardan swain — the hunter boy —
To those, and only those, I 've shown them —
How should Praxiteles have Icnown them ?
VII. (249.)
ON THE STATUE OF VENUS ARMED. * p. 373. m.
Pallas met Beauty's Queen array'd in arms, —
And ask'd — " Dost thou too venture to the field ?"
Smiling she answer' d — " If my naked charms
Such victories gain, what will my spear and shield .''"
M
242 EPIGRAMS BY
VIII. (214.) ON A STATUE OF NIOBE. *p. 371. b.
This female, so the poets sing,
Was chang'd to stone by Dian's curse.
The sculptor did a better thing —
He did exactly the reverse.
IX. (325.) INSCRIPTION ON A BATH. * p. 359. b.
Or from this fount, a joj^ous birth.
The Queen of Beauty rose to earth ;
Or heavenly Venus, bathing, gave
Her own quintessence to the wave.
X. (381.) THE OLIVE TO THE VINE. * p. 356. m.
I AM Minerva's sacred plant.
Press me no more, intruding vine !
UnvvTeathe your wanton arms ! Avaunt !
A modest maiden loves not wine.
XL (241.)
ON A SHE-GOAT SUCKLING A WOLF. * p. 367. b.
A WOLF, reluctant, with my milk I feed,
Obedient to a cruel master's will ;
By him I nourish'd soon condemn'd to bleed,
For stubborn Nature Avill be Nature still.
XII. (409.) " BIS DAT QUI CITO." h.
Swift favours charm ; but when too long they stay.
They lose the name of kindness by delay.
UNCERTAIN AUTHORS. 243
XIII. (435.) ON A POOR MAN BECOMING RICH
IN HIS OLD AGE. g. n.
I WAS poor — but I was twenty —
Now at threescore I have plenty.
What a miserable lot !
Now that I have hoarded treasure,
I no more can taste of pleasure :
When I could, I had it not.
. XIV. (443.) ON DEATH. * p. 108. b.
The Bath, obsequious Beauty's smile.
Wine, Fragrance, Music's heavenly breath,
Can but our hastening hours beguile.
And slope the path that leads to death.
XV. (444.) THE SAME SUBJECT. * p. 108. a.
Straight is our passage to the grave.
Whether from Meroe's burning wave.
Or Attic groves we roam.
Grieve not in distant lands to die !
Our vessels seek from every sky
Death's universal home.
XVI. (458.) DIOGENES TO CRCESUS. n.
When now the Cynic in dark Pluto's reign
His earthly task of snarling wisdom clos'd ;
Laugliing he heard the Lydian king complain.
And spread his cloak, and near the prince repos'd.
M 2
244 EPIGRAMS BY
" Drainer," he cried, " of streams that flow'd with gold.
My higher dignity in hell behold !
For all I had on earth this nether sphere
Receives with me, — but thou hast nothing here."
XVII. (476.) ON A MURDERED CORPSE, h.
Though here you laid my corpse, when none were nigh.
One saw thee, murderer ! — one aU-seeing eye.
XVIII. (463.) DIVINATION. h.b.
Three damsels once essay'd, in mirthful vein.
Who first should visit Pluto's gloomy reign ;
And thrice with anxious hearts they threw the die.
That should decide their future destiny.
The lot on one was cast, but no alarm
Excited — she but mock'd the idle charm ;
Yet unawares her destiny fulfill'd,
Slipp'd from the roof, and by the fall was kill'd.
True are the Fates when hovering evils brood :
Forbear to trust them when they promise good !
XIX. (519.)
ON THE NINE LYRIC POETS. * p. 362. m.
O SACRED voice of the Pierian choir.
Immortal Pindar ! O enchanting air
Of sweet Bacchylides ! O rapturous lyre.
Majestic graces, of the Lesbian fair !
UNCERTAIN AUTHORS. 245
Muse of Anacreon, the gay, the young !
Stesichorus, thy full Homeric stream !
Soft elegies by Csea's poet sung !
Persuasive Ibycus, thy glowing theme !
Sword of Alcaeus, that, with tyrants' gore
Gloriously painted, lift'st thy point so high !
Ye tuneful nightingales that still deplore
Your Alcman, prince of amorous poesy ! —
Oh yet impart some breath of heavenly fire
To him who venerates the Grecian lyre !
XX. (521.) ON SAPPHO. * p. 363. m.
Come, Lesbian maids ! to Juno's royal dome !
With steps that hardly press the pavement, come !
Let your own Sappho lead the lovely choir.
And to the altar bear her golden lyre.
Then first, in graceful order slow advance,
Weaving light mazes of the joyous dance :
Herself the while her heaven-taught strains shall pour ;
Such strains as sang Calliope of yore.
XXL (560.) ON MENANDER. shepherd.
The bees, Menander ! who with active wing
Sport 'midst the flowers that deck the Muse's spring,
Around thy lips in thick'ning clusters hung,
And tipp'd with honey-drops thy infant tongue.
The Graces, too, on thee their gifts bestow,
And teach thy strains with elegance to flow.
246 EPIGRAMS BY
Celestial bard ! — immortal as thy lays,
Thy native Athens shares thy meed of praise.
XXII. (561.) ON THE SAME. * p. 365.
Menandkr, sweet Tlialia's pride !
Well art thou placed by Cujiid's side.
Priest to the god of soft delights.
Thou spreadst on earth his joyous rites ;
And, sure, the boy himself we see
To smile, and please, and breathe in thee ;
For, musing on yon imag'd stone.
To see thee, and to love, are one.
XXIII. (562.) ON THE SAME. * p. 365.
Behold Menander, syren of the stage,
Who charm'd, with Love allied, a happier age !
Light wanton wreaths, that never shall be dead.
Are curled luxuriant round the poet's head.
Who dress'd the same in colours bright and gay.
And breath'd enchantment o'er the hving lay.
XXIV. (633.)
ON ONE WHO SLEW HIS MOTHER. h.
O BURY not the dead, but let him lie
A prey for dogs beneath th' unpitying sky !
Our common mother Earth would grieve to hide
The hateful body of the matricide.
UNCERTAIN AUTHORS. 247
XXV. (637.) THE CERTAINTY OF DEATH, r. b.
Consigned to dust, which whilom gave me birth,
I care not what convulsions shake the earth.
XXVI. (638.) EPITAPH. r. b.
My lot was meagre fare, disease, and shame
At length I died — you all must do the same
XXVII. (639.) ANOTHER. m.
Fortune and Ho2:)e, farewell ! I 've found the port :
You 've done with me — Go now, with others sport !
THE SAME PARAPHRASED. moore.
At length to Fortune and to you.
Delusive Hope, a last adieu !
The charm that once beguil'd is o'er.
And I have reach'd my destin'd shore.
Away, away ! your flattering arts
May now betray some simpler hearts ;
And you will smile at their believing.
And they shall weep at yovir deceiving.
XXVIII. (642.) EPITAPH ON A FRIEND. * p. 288. m.
How often, Lycid, shall I bathe with tears
This little stone which our great love endears !
Tliou too, in memory of the vows we made.
Drink not of Lethe in the realms of shade !
248 EPIGRAMS BY
XXIX. (650.)
ON A HAPPY OLD MAN. * p. 293. h. and b.
Take old Amyntor to thy breast, dear soil.
In kind remembrance of his former toil.
Who first enriched and ornamented thee
With many a lovely shrub and branching tree.
And lured the stream to fall in artful showers
Upon thy thirsting herbs and fainting flowers.
First in the spring he knew the rose to rear,
First in the autumn cull the ripen'd pear ;
His vines were envied all the vUlage round,
And favouring Heaven shower'd j^lenty on his ground.
Therefore, kind Earth, reward him in thy breast
With a green covering and an easy rest.
XXX. (679.)
ON A MISERABLE OLD MAN. * p. 292. b.
By years and misery worn, no hand to save
With some poor pittance from a desperate grave.
With the small strength my wretched age supplied,
I crawl'd beneath this lonely pile, and died.
Screen'd from the scofF of Pride, and Grandeur's frown.
In this sad spot I laid my sufferings down,
Revers'd the doom of nature, and instead
Of dead and buried, was entomb'd and dead.
XXXI. (711.) EPITAPH ON AN INFANT, r. b.
Too soon, grim Monarch, with unholy hand,
You snatch'd this infant to your dreary land.
UNCERTAIN AUTHORS. 249
Like some fair rose-bud, pluck'd from mortal sight
Ere all its beauties open into light.
Cease, wretched parents ! cease your wailings wild.
Nor mourn for ever your departed child !
Her youthful graces, and her form so fair.
Deserved a dwelUng in the realms of air.
As H3'las once — believe the soothing lay ! —
The Nymphs — not Death — have borne your child away.
XXXII. (712.) ANOTHER. sHEPHERn.
Five years I lived, with lightsome heart and gay,
Tlien, tranquil, mingled with my fellow clay.
Mourn not my fate ! my days of life were few ;
My pleasures brief — but brief my sorrows too.
XXXIII. (78.) FUNERAL HONOURS. * p. 295. m.
Seek not to glad these senseless stones
With fragrant ointments, rosy wreaths ;
No warmth can reach our mouldering bones
From lustral fire, that vainly breathes.
Now let me revel whilst I may :
The wine that o'er my grave is shed
Mixes with earth and turns to clay —
No honours can delight the dead.
XXXIY. THE SAME SUBJECT. b
Oh, think not that with garlands crown'd.
Inhuman near thy grave we tread ;
M 5
250 EPIGRAMS BY UNCERTAIN AUTHORS.
Or blushing roses scatter round
To mock the paleness of the dead !
What though we drain the fragrant bowl,
In flowers adorn'd and silken vest.
Oh, think not, brave departed soul.
We revel to disturb thy rest !
Feign'd is the pleasure that appears,
And false the triumph of our eyes ;
Our draughts of joy are dash'd with tears,
Our songs imperfect and in sighs.
We inly mourn ; o'er flowery plains
To roam in joyous trance, is thine ;
And pleasures, unallied to pains.
Unfading sweets, immortal wine.
XXXV. (738.) EPITAPH. * p. 296. m.
Thou art not dead, my Prote ! though no more
A sojourner on earth's tempestuous shore ;
Fled to the peaceful islands of the blest.
Where Youth and Love, for ever beaming, rest ;
Or joyful wandering o'er Elysian ground.
Among sweet flowers where not a thorn is found !
No winter freezes there, no summer fires.
No sickness weakens, and no labour tires ;
No longer poverty nor thirst oppress.
Nor envy of man's boasted happiness ;
But spring for ever glows serenely bright.
And bUss immortal hails the heavenly light !
NOTES.
ARCHILOCHUS. Page 1.
I. Kijdea fiev irrovoevTa, Ilepii^Xees'
The three fragments here brought together, and which are
believed to be unconnected portions of a single Elegy, are pre-
served respectively by Stoba^us (Flor. cxxiii. p. 615. Gesn.) and
by Plutarch (De Aud. Poet. torn. ii. pp. 23,33). Commentators
are divided as to the subject to which the poem maybe supposed
to have had reference ; but there seems enough in the expressions
made use of to render at least very plausible the conjecture of
Schneider, that they allude to an actual tempest, in which the
brother-in-law of the poet, among other citizens of distinction,
suffered shipwreck, — an interpretation accordingly followed in
the version here offered in substitution for that in the former
edition, which was founded on a different apprehension of the
meaning of the original. From our brief memorials of the poet's
life we learn, that the Pericles here addressed as a friend, became
afterwards a bitter enemy of the poet, and, as such, fell under
the severest lash of his formidable iambics.
II. 'AfTTTiCu [X€y 2aiwj' Tts uyaWerai'
This Epigram, for such we may consider it, is compounded
of two dibtichs, one preserved by Aristophanes {Eiqyii//i, 1298),
252 NOTES.
and assigned by the Scholiast on that passage to its right owner ;
— the other, though in a broken state, by Plutarch (torn. ii.
p. 239). The " Foe-man," in the original, is 2«iW rtg — A cer-
tain Man of the Sa'i'ans, — the ancient, perhaps aboriginal, inha-
bitants of the island of Samothrace, in an expedition against
whom the accident here alluded to is supposed to have hap-
pened. It may be doubtful whether it is to this circumstance,
or to that of a similar occurrence in the life of Alcaeus, that Ho-
race makes the remarkable comparison of an event in his own
history —
" Tecum Philippos, et celerem fugam
Sensi, relicta non bene parmula." — II. Od. 7-
Both FalstafF and Hudibras, it is probable, benefited by the
threefold example of these warrior-poets.
III. Ou Toi TToXX' CTTt To'^a TuvvaaeTaC
From Plutarch, in his life of Theseus, where he calls Archilo-
chus as a witness to the introduction of the mode of fighting
hand to hand by the Abantes, the ancient inhabitants of Euboea,
whom Homer also thus notices (Iliad. B. 542.) — ra> S' oi^ " hZau-
Tis ivovro.
" Eubcea next her martial sons prepares.
And sends the brave Abantes to the wars ; —
Down their broad shoulders falls a length of hair :
Their hands dismiss not the long lance in air ;
But with protended spears, in fighting fields.
Pierce the tough corslets and the brazen shields." (Pope.)
IV. *AX\' ctye, aw KwQiori.
From Athenaeus, lib. xi. p. 483 ; where the Reader will find
abundance of learned dissertation as to the shape and uses of
the peculiar species of drinking-vessel here named, which, it
seems, was of Spartan invention, and suited to the purposes of
naval and military expeditions. Jacobs supposes the words to
ARCHILOCHUS. 253
be addressed to an attendant cup-bearer ; but there is nothing in
the original to support the conjecture.
V. Ow (piXeu) fiiyat' orparj/yov ovce BiaTreirXeyfiiyov.
This long mutilated and disjointed fragment, restored by
Brunck upon collation of various passages in the works of Die
Chrysostom and Galen, and the old Scholiast on Theocritus,
presents a curious picture of the martial character and habits of
that early age, although liable, in some respects, to be diversely
interpreted. The meaning here adopted seems to be borne out
by several passages in Homer — as, for instance, his picture of
the boaster Othryoneus — t6u /3«>i£* v-^pi fii^xi/rx. (Iliad, xiii.)
" Proud of himself and of th' imagin'd bride.
The field he measur'd with a larger stride.
Him, as he stalk'd, the Cretan javelin found — " (Pope.)
and of the fair-haired Euphorbus — Kofixi xo^^iTiaaiy of^oloci.
(II. xvii.)
"The shining circlets of his golden hair.
Which ev'n the Graces might be proud to wear — "
whilst, on the other hand, the portrait of Tydeus —
"Whose little body lodg'd a mighty mind — "
may be regarded as constituting a resemblance to the reverse of
the medal. It seems, after all, more than probable that the
portraits presented were meant as individual likenesses ; and, if
so, they afford no unfavourable specimen of the author's talent
for personal satire.
VI. Ov fioL TO. Tv-yeoj rov TroXvy^pvaov fxiXei. (Pre-
served by Plutarch, de Anim. tranq. ii. 470.)
The wealth of Gyges, like that of Croesus, appears to have
very early passed into a proverb. It will be recollected that the
poet was contemporary with the former monarch.
254 NOTES.
The third verse of the original — fiiy»h.Yii; ovx, i^a rvqxuuiloi —
is commended by the Scholiast on ^schylus (Prom. 224), who
remarks that the term "tyranny," as applied to kingly govern-
ment, was unknown to the Homeric age, and may very proba-
bly have been first introduced by Archilochus himself in this
passage.
VII. ToTos dydpwTTOitn dvfios, YXavke AcTrr/i ew ttciI
•ytVerat dvarols okoitjv Zeus c^' i]fxepr]v uyei.
(Preserved by Stobaeus.)
Archilochus is classed by Suidas among the ancient Sceptics
on account of this couplet. It is, however, only borrowed by him
from Homer (Od. xviii. 135.), and is again imitated in a Latin
couplet attributed to Cicero by St. Augustin (De Civit. Dei, v. 8.)
" Sunt hominum mentes, quali pater ipse Deorum
Jupiter auctiferas lustrabat lampade terras."
VIII. rXav/ce vpa. (Heraclides Ponticus, de AUeg.
Homer, c. iv. p. 12. Schow.)
The same verses, with the omission of the last hemistich,
maybe read in Plutarch (De Superstit. t. ii. p. 169). Their pre-
sent amended form is due to the successive labours of Pierson,
Brunck, and Wakefield.
IX. Ovfie, Bvfi dfirj^avoiai Kij^eaiv (cv/cwytteje.
Ibid. Tots Qeols ridei tci TravTct. ttoWcikis fxev e^ Kcawt'.
X. Xprffxarwi' deXirTOv ovZev ktJTLV ovS' dirwu.OTOv.
These, which are severally preserved by Stobseus as three de-
tached fragments, have been conjectured, from the style and mat-
ter, to belong to the same poem, the general design and tendency
of Avhich may be inferred from them. To the first and second
may securely be traced the " ^Equam memento " and " Permitte
Divis cjetera " of Horace. The principle of imitation may also be
ARCHILOCHUS. 255
discerned on comparison of Horace's second Ode with the third
of these fragments, which is yet more remarkable as containing
the most ancient classical allusion extant to the phscnomenon of
a solar eclipse — the frequent occasion of superstitious fear and
wonder even to much later ages.
XI. 'il Zeii, (7oy fity ovpayov icpuTOS, av B' epya
ctt' ardpbJTTOvs pets Xeojpya re KaQe^icr-a.
Ibid. Oi) yap kaQXii tcnrOarovffi, KepToyieiv ctt' avcpdair.
Ibid. Oil ris alcolos ^er (kttiov Kanrep elcpij^os dai'ivy
yiverai, xdpiv ce BfidWov tov i^ojov BiwKOfj.ev
^wo\ dydpwTTioy. cacKTra ce rw dayvyri ycyerdi.
This also is composed of three separate fragments, which may,
like the preceding, be supposed to have been originally united,
or at least incorporated in a single poem. The apparently im-
pious ascription to the Supreme Deit^^ of all the portentous evils
with which human nature is afflicted, is noticed by Clemens
Alexandrinus (Strom, v. p. 725.), and made the subject of com-
parison with a passage in the remains of the Pseudo-Orpheus —
He out of good can bring
Evil to man — dread battle — tearful woes —
He, and no other. (Elton.)
All. Hde c WOT ovov pcix^s
earrjKey vXrjs dypius eniOTe^iis.
Oh yap Ti icaXos ^uipos uvo' t<pifiepos,
ou3' epaTOSf olos dfxcpl ^iptos pods.
Upon the occasion of the Parians sending a colony to the Isle
of Thasos, Archilochus is recorded to have transferred himself
thither with the remains of his fortune, wrecked in the civil
commotions of his native city; and the picturesque though
gloomy picture of the island presented in these fragments, is
256 NOTES.
conjectured to have formed part of a poetical narrative of his
adventures, tinctured no doubt by the prejudices of a wanderer
and an exile.
SAPPHO. Page 12.
I. TlotKi\6dpoi'' aSftvar' 'A<ppo^ira.
The authenticity of this celebrated poem is vouched by Dio -
nysius of Halicarnassus, and there seems no reason for question-
ing the security of the foundation on which it rests. To what
has already been said in justification of attempting " another
new version " nothing shall here be added ; but an apolog)' is
perhaps due to Bishop Blomfield, as well as to other recent
critics, for presuming to avow a preference of the old TotKi'Kod^ov,
over the comparatively flat and tautologous reading which they
have substituted in place of it. At the commencement of the
fifth stanza, xJ'^ax I' UvUouro' we have wnllingly availed our-
selves of the correction of an error into which Philips and other
translators had fallen, in making Sappho (like a lady, says the
writer in the Edinburgh Review, paying a long morning visit,)
send away her chariot, while she remains behind to bestow ad-
vice and consolation on the love-sick poetess.
II. ^aiyerai juui KJjios "laos Qedlaiv,
This exquisite fragment needs no new praises, and can derive
no advantage from any comments in addition to those with which
it has been already so often and so abundantly illustrated. The
object of the present translator has been to avail himself both of
the faults and beauties of his several predecessors, by endeavour-
ing to correct the former, and by freely adopting the latter
wherever it was consistent with the frame and measure of his
verse. Thus he has not hesitated to borrow the first line from
Philips's translation, and the epithet "grassy pale" from that
of the Edinburgh critic, as not knowing how to substitute any
better representation of the original in either instance.
SAPPHO. 257
Fragments.
I. 'Aorepes fiev afnrl KaXav aeXuiay
UTTS airoKpviTTOVTi <j)a€vp6i' el^os,
OTTTTOTav TrXy'idoiffa fidXiara Xa'/ixjj
apyvpia ydy. (Eustatli. in Iliad, 6, p. 729.)
The epithet agyvgeot is here inserted, following the happy con-
jecture of Blomfield, derived from a passage in the Emperor Ju-
lian's Epistles.
II. afi<pi ^' vdwp
.... ■7ri7V)(p6y KeXa^el h' vadojv
fiaXivwp' alOvffffOfxeytJv Se (pvXXuv
KiJUfxa tcarappei.
There can be little doubt that Horace had this passage in
view, when he wrote, (Epod. ii. 27.)
" Labuntur altis interim ripis aquae ;
Queruntur in sylvis aves ;
Frondesque lymphis obstrepunt manantibus,
Somnos quod invitet leves — "
according to a fortunate conjecture of Markland, who proposes
the substitution of Frondes for Forties (the old reading), on the
authority of a parallel passage in Propertius,
"Multaque nativis obstrepit arbor aquis ; — " iv. 4. 4.
a conjecture which this fragment of Sappho serves strongly to
fortify.
III. IXde, KvTrpi,
j^pvaeaiaiv ev KvXiKecrtriv uftpais
avfj.yitiiiyix€vov daXiaiai vcKrup
oh'u-^^oolaa
rotdS* eralpois rolfriv tfxols re ical aoJs,
Restored to its present form by Volger. " What shall we say
258 NOTES.
to the hearty out-break of her chanson a boire, preserved by Athe-
nseus ? " — Edinb. Rev. in the article already cited. Moore has
exhibited a paraphrase of the same fragment in his notes to
Anacreon.
IV. KarQaj'otffa Be Kela' ovSeTrora fj.vaf.io(7vya neQev
eacrer ovheiroT els vcfrepov. oh yap Trecexeis (5p6d(i)v
T(Sv €K liiepias. a'W dfavrjs Kijv 'Aida BofioLS
(^oiTaaets ttcS' d^avptSv veKvwv kKTreirorafxeia.
" Non Famae memoris post obitum penna superstitem
Te sublime vehet, Pieriis cui caput est rosis
Intactum : sed iners in Stygio nunc quoque carcere
Umbra ignota lates, vilia nee deseris agmina." (Grotius.)
It is somewhat extraordinary that this very remarkable frag-
ment should have failed to attract the notice of the lively Edin-
burgh critic.
"The fire and enthusiasm," observes Mr. Bland, in the note
annexed in the former edition of these Collections, p. 173,
" v^'hich so strongly mark the writings and pourtray the cha-
racter of Sappho, appear in none of her works more unequivo-
cally than in this little fragment. It has the appearance of a
burst of indignation at some homespun, mighty good sort of
woman, who had neither a soul susceptible of poetry herself,
nor the sense to admire, nor the candour to allow of it in others.
Tliis is a description of persons which has always been severely
handled by poets ; and the stigma of contempt with which they
are branded by Sappho, is a luxury to what they are sentenced
to undergo by Dante — ' Questi sciaurati, che mai non fur vivi,
&c."'
" Those miserables, who never truly lived.
« « » « «-
No record of their names is left on high ;
Mercy and Justice spurn them, and refuse.
Take we no note of them — Look, and pass by ! "
SAPPHO. 259
V. 'A^/Jt'iTov Xdyor, u) 'ralpe, fxadioy, rovs dyddovs (piXei,
Twv hei\b)V h' diT€\ov, yvoiis on ^etXwv oXiyrj ydpis.
A Scolion, preserved by Athenaeus(xv. p. 695,) and attributed
by some to Alcseus, by others (as by Brunck,) to Praxilla of Si-
cyon ; but claimed for Sappho. Whatever was the origin, this
" Saying of Admetus" had early passed into a proverb.
VI. Su Ze are^avois wBiKa Trapdead' eparcns ^opalffiv,
vpiraKas avi]TU) avveppais airaXaiai ■^epaiv.
evnvQea yap TreXerat, Koi Xapires fiaKCiipai
yuaXXoc Trporeprjy aarrefctyujTOKTi Z' dirvffTpefoi'Tai.
Blomfield contents himself with settling the metre of this
much contested passage, leaving the question of its interpretation
to be adjusted by others. That which appeared most easy and
natural has been adopted in the present translation. A French
versifier proposes the following. " Elle engage Atthis a se cou-
ronner de fleurs, a I'exemple desvictimes pretes aetre sacrifices.
Tu sais que la jeune victime,
Le front pare de fleurs, en est plus chere aux Dieux."
But he fails to assign any motive for so extraordinary- a request.
VII. nop0€v/a, TIapdevia, iroi fie Xiirova d-Koiyri ;
OVKETL i'll,lD TTpOS T€, OVK€TI. ?/^W.
VIII. 'Eyw 2e (piXrifi dftpoavvav, Kal fioi ro XafiTrpov
epos deXio) Kal ro kuXop XeXoyKe.
The passage in Athenaeus, introductory of this fragment, is
thus rendered by the French translator, Lefebvre de Villebrune,
tom. V. p. 422.
" Penseriez-vous done que cette delicatesse puisse avoir
quelque chose de flatteur sans la vertu ? Sapho, qui etoit vrai-
ment femme, et qui faisoit de si bons vers, regardoit comme un
devoir agreable de toujours distinguer I'honnetet^ d'une moUe
delicatesse. Voici ce qu'elle disolt : —
260 NOTES.
" J'aime la Volupte ; mais j'ai toujours eu en partage Tamour
de I'Honnetete, en meme terns que celui de I'eclat, ou du beau ;"
— Montrant ainsi a tout le monde, que, desirant de vivre a
son gre, elle a cependant toujours aussi aime Thonnetete en
meme temps que I'eclat. Voila ce qui caracterise la vertu."
IX. TXvKcla fidrep, ovroi Bvyafxai KpeKeiv rbv laroy,
TTodb) ^afieiaa irai^os, (^padtvap Bi 'A^po^tVaf.
" Oh, my sweet mother — 't is in vain —
I cannot weave, as once I wove.
So 'wilder'd is my heart and brain
With thinking of that youth I love."
I have attempted, in these four lines, to give some idea of that
beautiful fragment of Sappho, which represents so truly (as
Warton remarks,) " the languor and listlessness of a person
deeply in love." — (Moore's Evenings in Greece, p. 18.)
X. Ae^i//ce fiev a "SicXara kuI IlXr}'iaBes' fieirai Be
vvKT€S' Trapa ^' epj^er' wpa* eyw Be fiovn KctdevBu),
XL UXuvTOS dyev aperas ouk dcriyTjs irdpoiKos'
a Be KpdtTis evBainoyias e^et to uKpov.
XII. "EcTTrejOe, "kcivtci (pepeis oaa (paiyoXis efftceBacr' avuis.
(pepeis oh', <pepeis aiya, <pep€is fxurepi TTctiBa.
This appears to have belonged to one of the Epithalamia, or
Nuptial Songs, of Sappho, to which Catullus was indebted for
those which he familiarized to us under that title. Thus,
" Hespere, qui coelo lucet jucundior ignis," &c.
XIII. 'EoTt fiOL KaXrj ttciVs yjpvrreoimv dyOe/JOKTiy
e^fepi] ijopfay e^ovaa, KXeis fxev dycnraTd.'
dvTi Tus kyw ovBe XvBiav irdaar, ovB' kparvdv,
XIV. 'O fxey yap KaXos, ocraov lBe7v TreXerai,
ce Kayadbs avriKa Koi koXos eorai.
SAPPHO. 261
Epitaphs. Page 20.
I. Ucucyt) aipojyos eoiaa. (Vat. Cod. p. 193. Jacobs
i. 49.)
As corrected by Bentley, it implies merely what the present
version expresses. But Brunck's emendation, which is that
adopted by Blomfield, would convert it into a votive inscription,
on the offering to Lucina, by a mother, of the image of her new-
born infant. In either sense, it may be regarded as the proto-
type of many similar Epigrams in the Anthology.
II. Tw yptTTti U€\dyu)vi. (Vat. Cod. 286. Steph. 196.)
The tombs, even of persons in the most humble conditions of
life, were usually ornamented with devices — probably, in such
instances, of the rudest description, emblematic of the trade or
profession of their inmates, — a custom of which the Anthology
furnishes us with numberless examples. So Virgil —
" At plus ^neas ingenti mole sepulcrura
Imponit, suaque arma viro, remumque tubamque."
III. Tt^cioos iice Koris. (Vat. Cod. 285. Steph. 333.)
This also may be considered as the precursor of many similar
inscriptions, both as allusive to the premature fate of the victim,
and to the custom of friends depositing locks of their hair as
oflFerings at the tomb of the departed. The bridal chamber of
Proserpine — an image, which ought not to have been omitted
in the translation — is one also of frequent occurrence among
successive imitators. (See, for example, Simonides, 103.)
Poems ascribed to Sappho. Page 21.
I. Et rots aydetTiv yjdeXet'.
"The following," says Moore, in one of his notes on Ana-
creon, " is a fragment of the Lesbian poetess. It is cited in
the romance of Achilles Tatius, who appears to have resolved
262 NOTES.
the numbers into prose ;" and he then subjoins a version, which,
though full of poetical beauty, is neither so near the original, nor
so simple in expression, as one by Elton, who nevertheless has
borrowed from, while he improved on, his predecessor. The
following is the version of a French poet, who, after ascribing
the superiority to Anacreon, adds, in the language of compa-
rison, " Mais, si Ton ne trouve pas dans Sapho un ton aussi
leger, une imagination aussi fleurie, du moins y remarque-t-on
toujours une maniere plus touchante et plus vraie, et souvent un
sentiment profond."
" S'il falloit une reine aux filles du printems,
Jupiter eut choisi la rose :
Voyez-la qui sourit, vermeille, et demi-close ;
C'est I'oeil des pres fleuris, c'est I'amour de nos champs.
Son sein epanoui perfume le zephire.
Son charme s'insinue au fond de notre coeur;
II y repand une douce langueur ;
C'est la volupte qu'on respire.
After all, upon reference to the Romance from which it is taken,
(The Loves of Clitophon andLeucippe, lib. ii. cap. 1.) it will be
found that Tatius does not even pretend to call it Sappho's, — an
ascription which, it seems, is purely owing to the lively inven-
tion of Henry Stephens.
II. Ki'jvoi' d) ')(pva6dpove MoTcr' eriarTres.
" This fragment," observes Mr. Moore, speaking of the first
of the two included in this imaginary correspondence, " is sup-
posed, on the authority of Chameleon (Athen. xiii. 599.), to have
been addressed to Sappho. We have also a stanza attributed to
her, which some romancers have supposed to be her answer to
Anacreon. ' Mais, par malheur, (as Bayle says,) Sapho vint au
monde environ cent ou six vingt ans avant Anacreon.' "
Blomfield has, somewhat inconsistently, admitted this last-
ERINNA. 263
mentioned stanza into his collection of Sappho's Remains (No. 9)
at the same time that he exposes the anachronism, and ridicules
Volger for his attempt to support its genuineness.
III. GeXets tl etTreTv. ciWa yue KioXvei
a'i^(i)s ....
This morsel, of at least doubtful authenticity, rests on a pas-
sage in Aristotle's Rhetoric (lib. i. cap. 9.) from which Bayle and
others have inferred that " Alcseus was desirous of being on a
tenderer footing with his celebrated countrywoman than she
chose to permit." (See Edinb. Rev., from which the translation
in the text is taken.)
ERINNA. Page 23.
I. 'E^ uraXdt' ^(eipwv race ypujjLj.KiTa'
(Vat. Cod. 206. Steph. 301.)
The conceit of this epigram seems to demand for it a date
more recent than that assigned to Erinna as contemporary with
Sappho ; for, though nothing is now more trite and hackneyed
than to talk of a picture breathing, or speaking, we have no au-
thorit}- for the use of so bold a metaphor in an age of such re-
mote simplicity. The thought of Prometheus admitting him-
self to be vanquished seems to have been subsequently adopted
as a common- place compliment to painters and sculptors. (See
Antipater Sid. 55, on Myron's Cow.)
II. l.-dXai Kcu rreiprjies ejjial. (Vat. Cod. p. 319.)
This poem is perhaps chiefly valuable for the picture it exhi-
bits of a Grecian tomb, and of the emblematic devices which
were often sculptured or graven upon it. In the former edition,
p. 308, is a note illustrative of these customary emljcliishments;
but the Reader may find the subject more fully treated in I'otter's
Antiquities, and other works of familiar reference. For Baucis,
264 NOTES.
the name of the beloved companion whose death Erinna laments
in this and the succeeding epigram, that of Ida was substituted
in the edition of 1813, and is here retained, eiipJionice gratia.
III. Nvfifas BavKiSos efxfxl (Vat. Cod. 319.)
Both the right reading, and the true interpretation, of this
epigram have been much disputed ; but for the particulars of
the contest we must refer to the note in Jacobs. Whatever merit
this and the former epigram may intrinsically possess, is greatly
enhanced by the resemblance between the event which they are
designed to commemorate, and the circumstances attending the
fate of their reputed author.
" Scarce nineteen summer suns had shed
Youth's roses o'er the virgin's head.
While by a guardian mother's side
Her customary task she plied.
Bade the rich silks her loom prepare.
Or plied the distaff's humbler care.
Her modest worth the Muses knew.
Brought her bright Genius forth to view.
And — ah ! too soon from mortal eyes —
Bore her, their handmaid, to the skies." m.
(Edit. 1813. p. 300).
ALC^US. Page 27.
I. "Yet ^ei' o 2Cei)s. (Athen. x. p. 430.)
This fragment, as restored by the Commentators, consists of
two stanzas in Alcaic metre, wanting the two last verses of the
first stanza, which have been conjecturally supplied. Horace
is supposed by these critics to have been indebted to the poem
of which thisYragment is a part, for his Ode, " Vides ut alta stet
nive candidum," I. 9 ; but, if so, he has at least avoided the odd
inconsistency of making Jove descend in rain, at the same time
ALC^us. 265
that he binds his rivers in ice ; a circumstance which leads us
to suspect some now incurable error in the transcribers.
II. To fiey yap erdev KVfxa KvXiyderai.
This also is a broken fragment, preserved in an imperfect
state by Heraclides, the hiatus in which has been filled up by-
conjecture, Horace again being called in to furnish the mate-
rials.
" Nonne vides ut
Nudum remigio latus,
Et malus celeri saucius Africo,
AntenuEeque gemant, ac sine funibus
Vix durare carinas
Possint imperiosius
iEquor? non tibi sunt Integra linea." (Carm. i. 14.)
The incident of the third wave threatening to overwhelm the
vessel, already endangered by the violence of its two immediate
precursors, is in conformity with popular opinion, as confirmed
by various passages in ancient Greek authors.
III. Ov \p)i KUKoTffiv dvjuoy f.TriTpiirrjv'
npoKvxpoiies yap ovceu daafieyoi,
w Bi/(>.)^i' (papfxatcop o' apiuTOV
oivov kveiKafiivoLS luiedvadrjv.
This stanza is preserved in Athenseus, lib. x. p. 430.
IV. NiJv ■)(pi) fxedv(Tdr]v Kai j^Qova Trpos ftiav
Trairjv, eTreiSfj Kcirdape MvptnXos.
A song of triumph on the death of Myrsilus, tyrant of Mity-
lene. Hence Horace:
Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libcro
Pulsanda tellus.
N
26G NOTES.
V. Teyye Trtevi-iova oh'O)' to yap iiarpuv TrepiTeWerai
a c' wpa y(^a\€7Ta, ttcivtu ce ^i^prj vtto Kavfxuros,
d^el c €K TrerdXwi' race dp rerri^
dvdet Kai (TKoXvfios' vvv le yvvaiKes ^lapwraTai,
The two last verses are supplied by Proclus, the Commen-
tator on Hesiod. The whole is a close imitation of a passage
in " The Works and Days " of that poet.
" When the green artichoke ascending flowers.
When, in the sultry season's toilsome hours,
Perch'd on a branch, beneath his veiling wings.
The loud Cicada shrill and frequent sings ;
Then plump the goat, then best the wine, and then
Are women sprightliest found, and feeblest men."
(Elton.)
VI. Wivwfxev' tI ret \v\v dfiervoiiev ; BctKTvXos djiepa.
Blomfield has arranged this fragment according to a conjec-
ture of Porson (Eurip. Medea. 494.) The phrase Aix,x.TvMg
cijiii^x, here rendered " the day invites," means perhaps no more
than to express the swiftness of time by reference to the shortest
standard of space. The three preceding fragments are found in
Athenseus, lib. x.
^'^II. Mapficilpei ce ^eyas cofxos j^aX/cw.
(Athen. xiv. p. 627.)
It is not easy to see why this spirited poem has been inter-
preted as a description of the ornaments of the poet's own house.
At least such a meaning is not clearly deducible from the words
of Athenaeus in the passage where it is cited. It seems never-
theless to have been so considered, both by Casaubon, and by
the French translator, M. de Villebrune, and is so consonant
ALCiEUS. 207
with poetical tradition, as perhaps to justify not merely our ad-
herence, but even a liberty taken with the concluding verses, by
giving to them a sense conformable to the same supposition,
without violence to the original, although not strictly warranted
by it.
VIII. 'ApyaXeov Trei'ta KciKoy ciffKeroy' a jueyoi/
These two fragments have been joined together from similarity
of subject. They are both in Stobseus, Tit. 96.
IX. Ou Xidui, ol^e ^vX', ovie
r6j^v7; reKTOftJV a^ iroXeis eleriv,
ctAA oTTOu TTor av (omv avcpes
avTct (Tb)'C€LV elZoTes,
kvravQa Tei\r] Kcil TroXeis.
This passage, metrically arranged in the volume of Sir Wil-
liam Jones's Works which contains his well-known paraphrase,
is cited in pi'ose by the rhetorist Aristides, who professes to
give rather the sense than the express words of the poet. On
this account, probably, and perhaps also from despair of reducing
the passage, even conjectural! y, to any form of regular metre, it
is altogether omitted by Blomfield ; and, in a more recent Ger-
man edition, it is inserted in prose, as it is found in Aristides.
It needs scarcely be remarked that the lines above given from Sir
W. Jones constitute only a small portion of the poem to which
they belong, the remainder being the application of the sense of
the original to the circumstances of the British empire.
N -J
268 NOTKS.
STESICHORUS. Page 33.
I. 'AeXtos S' 'YnepioviSas denas
eaKarefjaive ypixreov,
• o^pa 2i' wKcavoTo Trepdaas
d(piKOid' lepds ttotI /3er6ea
VVKTOS €p€j.Lra.s,
TTori /xr/repa, KOvpiUav t aknyov,
vai^as re <l)iXovs' 6 c' es ciXaos ej3a ^d-
(f>vai(n KardaKiov
TTOfffft nais Aios.
It would perhaps require no great exertion of critical inge-
nuity to reduce this and the following fragments (preserved by
Atheneeus, lib. xi.) to the form of hexameter verse. There is no
reason for supposing that all the poems of Stesichorus were
written in the strophic form.
In the first, Hercules is represented as parting from his com-
panion, the Sun, after they had crossed the ocean together in a
golden cup. This mythological conveyance for the Sun was
adopted by several early poets, according to Athenteus. Has it
any connexion with the amphora in which Hercules is also
made to traverse the ocean on another occasion, for the libera-
tion of Prometheus ?
With respect to the remaining fragments, there is little to be
said in the way of illustration. They all, more or less, bear
witness to the romantic spirit which seems to have animated
the author, and which would induce us, from what liitle is left,
to style him the Ariosto of Greece, rather than, with some of
the epigrammatists, to dignify him with the appellation of her
Second Homer. The second, in the present series, might have
been expected to come from the " Morgante Maggiore," or from
a metrical chronicle of Richard Coeur de Lion. We are else-
where informed by Atheneeus, that Stesichorus was the first
iBycus.
209
-xN-riter who represented Hercules " in the costume of a robber "
with his club and lion's hide,— the traditional garb with which
painters and sculptors have ever since invested him. Before his
time, the hero had always been imaged bj' poets as the " mighty
hunter" of the Odyssey, with bent bow and embroidered bal-
dric, atn ^ai'hioVTt lotKug.
II. ZKVTTcptioi' U Xaj-)ojy deiras efifierpov ws TpiXayrfvor,
TTtev €Ti(Tx6fi€vos, TO po. oj TrapedrjKe ^6\os Kepatras.
(Athen. xi. p. 499.)
III. OvveKa Tvrcapews
pe^(.)v TTtto-t OeoltTi, fiids KvTrpi^os Xdder' -nTTioCuipoV
Kciva TvySdpeu) Kovpaiai yoXiiytraixkva Itya-
fiovs rpiydfxovs re riQuai,
Kai XnreTijropas.
(From the Scholiast on Euripides, Orest. 249.)
IV. UoXXa Kv^wi'ia /nd\a Troreppi-
TTTOVV TCOTi Cl<ppOV CU'ttfCTI,
TToXXa ^€ fxvppiva (pvXXa
Kai podivovs arecpdi'ovs
'i<j)v re Kopojvicas ovXas. (From Athen. iii. p. 81.)
V. Fragments put together from Stobseus, 123, 124.
' ATshBarecTec yocq kxI dfixxmvx,
Toiij ^ecvouTXi KhetUtv.
IBYCUS. Page 37.
I. EupvaXe, yXaukewj' yap'iTWV BdXXos
KnXXitcofiwy /ieXf;2>j/xa* ae fiev
Kvnpis a T dyayoj-jXicpapos
IletGw poceoicriy ty dyOeai
6pe\pay.
2/0 NOTES.
II, ^HjOi juej' u'lTE Kvcwi'tai.
See note, p. 377 of the former edition. The version there
published was founded on a misconception of the original, which
it has been sought to correct in that now substituted.
ALCMAN. Page 39.
" Concerning Megalostrata, whom he loved with an honour-
able passion, a woman skilled in the art of versification, and
well qualified to retain lovers by the charms of her discourse,
he thus speaks :
fiUKCCt^a TTX^Shu ot,^xv&x
MiyxhoaT^otrx," (Athen. loc. cit.)
MELANIPPIDES. Page 40.
'A /uej/ 'A0ava
opyav eppL-tpev 6' lepos cnro xeipos
eiTre r opper ct'tcj^ea. (tw/j-citl \vfxa
i] fie rah^ eyw KuKorari didwfn.
Having referred above to the passage in Athenaeus, where this
singular fragment occurs, we have only now to remark that we
have here the original of that pretty mythological conceit which
Moore has recently revived in music and poetry of equal beauty.
(See Evenings in Greece, p. 156.)
" As Love, one summer eve, was straying.
Who should he see, at that soft hour.
But young Minerva, gravely playing
Her flute within an olive bower ?" &c.
AXACREOX. — CLEOBULUS. 2/1
" Quick from the lips it made so odious.
That graceless flute the Goddess took.
And, while yet till'd with breath melodious.
Flung it into the glassy brook ;
Where, as its vocal life was fleeting
Adown the current, faint and shrill.
At distance long 'twas heard repeating,
' Woman, alas ! vain Woman still !' "
ANACREON. Page 41.
We may be excused for passing over these well-known compo-
sitions without any additional commentary, and without even
further references than those made by the numbers prefixed to
each ode. The epigrams which have been selected are also on
subjects requiring no illustration, and are to be found in almost
every one of the numberless editions of the author's works.
CLEOBULUS. Page 53.
Xa\K€t] TrapQefos eifxl (Cod. Vat. p. 228. Not in Pla-
nudes.)
" Lmposita erat," says the Commentator, " tumulo Midse senea
pueilae statua, cui Epigrammatis auctor aeternitatem quandara
promittit." Virgil seems to have had this inscription in his
eye, when he wrote,
" In frcta dura fluvii current, dura raontibus umbrae
Lustrabunt convexa, polus dum sidera pascet.
Semper honos, nomenque tuura, laudesque manebunt."
272 NOTES.
SIMONIDES. Page 54.
" Simonides, whose fame, through years
And ages past, still bright appears.
Like Hesperus, a star of tears."
(Moore's Evenings in Greece, p. 70.)
Lyric Fragments.
L Ov^e yap oi Trporepoy iror kniXoiTO. (Stob. Flor.
Tit. 96.)
" Ne Deorum quidem filios, priscos illos heroas, vitam molestiis
et periculis immunem egisse." (Jacobs.) So, in the fragment of an
Elegy ascribed to Callinus, (as rendered by H. N. Coleridge) —
" Once to die is man's doom — inish, rush on to the fight !
He cannot escape, though his blood were Jove's own.
For a while let him cheat the shrill arrow by flight.
Fate will catch him at last in his chamber alone."
n. " AvBpwiros ewy, fit'iTrore <pt]<7r}s
OTTi yevt](T€Tai,
yur;3' cirSpa t^wv, oaaov eaaeiTaL
yjpovov, wk'cTa yap ovhk TarvnTCpvyov /^vlas
ovTws a fxeraaTams. (Stob. Tit. 93.)
Part of a Threne, or Dirge, according to the Commentator,
composed on the occasion of the death of Scopas, a noble Thes-
salian, alluded to by Cicero (De Oratore, ii. 86.) and Quintilian
(xi. 2.)
Compare with this passage, Theognis, v. 963. Al-^a yap,
UdTi i/6rif*cf
" Swift as a thought the flowing moments roll.
Swift as a racer speeds to reach the goal."
(Bland, p. 186.)
SIMONIDES. 2/3
III. ITaira yap fiiau iKieTTai ^acnrXrJTa Xapvl3diy,
al /xeyaAat dperal Kal 6 irXovros,
(Stob. Flor. Tit. 117.)
IV^. IIoXXos yap >///«»' els redyavai )(^p6yos'
TTuvpa KttKuis eVeo. (Id. Tit. 122.)
Bior^s /jLef yap
■)^p6yos iaTi j^puKvs' Kpv<j)d€\s S' utto yijs
Kelrai dyrjros tup dVayra ■)(p6yoy. (Id. Tit. 120.)
V. 'Ore \apyai:i kv lailaXeri cij e/xos.
We owe the preservation of this exquisite fragment to Diony-
sius of Halicarnassus. The mythological incident to which it
refers is too well known to need illustration.
VI. Tou Koi. direipefnoi
TTwrtaJcr' opyides vwep KepaXds, dvd 3'
t-)(dv€s opdol Kvavkov €l, vSaros dXXoyTO ;
KoX^ avv doica. (Tzetzes, Chil. i. 310.)
Compare ApoUonius Rhodius, i, 569.
Toht Be (po^fii^uu, &c.
" From the deep
The fishes upward sprang ; the small and vast
Of all the scaly tribe leap'd from beneath
In bounds, and followed through the liquid track." (Elton.)
VII. Os dovpl iraiTUS yiKUtre liovs
OLvdevTU ftaXioy 'Ayavpoy VTrep,
iroXvftoTpvos cs 'IwXk'ov.
ovTut yap 'Ofxripos r/ie ^TTjcri^ppos
cteiffe Xaols. (Athen. iv. p. 172.)
N 5
2/4 NOTES.
There is a small fragment of Stesichorus which appears to be
alluded to in this passage —
UKOvTi Oe vtKxaiv 'MiTiixy^Oi, —
which a Commentator on that fragment supposes to have refer-
ence to the funeral games celebrated by the Argonauts in honour
of Pelias. Anauros is the name of a river near the city of lolcos,
mentioned by Apollonius Rhodius as connected with an incident
in the life of Jason.
^si/^eQioio pii^QX Kiay Otx Troaaiu ' Avxv^ov. (i. 9-)
" What time adventurous Jason, brave and bold,
Anauros pass'd, high swoln with winter's flood.
He left one sandal rooted in the mud." (Fawkes.)
VIII. T('s Kev ah'i'jffeie v<3 Triffvt'os
Aipdov vairay KXeuj3ovXor, &c.
(Diog. Laert. i. 56.)
A parody on Cleobulus. (See before, p. 53.)
IX. 'Yyiaiveir fiey apiffrov av^pl dyrjTip.
(Stob. Flor. ci. 550.)
This is also cited by Athenseus (lib. xv. p. 694.) among the
ancient Scolia of uncertain authors. Some have ascribed it to
Epicharmus; but Clemens Alexandrinus (Strom, iv. p. 573.) and,
after him, Theodoret (Serm. ii. p. 63.) claim it for Simonides.
X. T/s yap aCoyds arep
dyariSy l^ios Tro&eivos ;
)) 7ro7a Tvpavvis ;
QeiSv i^aXwTos aiMV. (Athen. xii. p. 512.)
XL 'Aydpojnwy oXiyay fxey Kapros. (Plutarch, t. ii. p. 107.)
SIMOXIDES. 275
XII. 'Effri rts \6yos rav 'Aperav va'ieiv. (Clem. Alex.
Strom, iv. 585.)
Compare the sublime passage in Hesiod (Works and Days,
Book i.)
" WTiere Virtue dwells, the Gods have plac'd before
The dropping sweat that springs from every pore ;
And, ere the feet can reach her bright abode.
Long, rugged, steep th' ascent, and rough the road :
The ridge once gain'd, the path so hard of late
Runs easy on, and level to the gate." (Elton.)
So Spenser, F. Q.
" Before her throne high Jove doth sweat ordain.
And weary watchings ever to abide ; " &c.
And so again the author of the Tablet of Cebes, as followed
by Dr. Lowth in the Judgement of Hercules.
" Honour rewards the brave and bold alone ;
She scorns the timorous, indolent, and base :
Danger and toil stand stern before her throne.
And guard — so Jove commands — the fatal place.
Who seek her must the mighty cost sustain.
And pay the price of Fame — Labour, and Care, and Pain."
XIII. Twj/ €i> QepfxoirvXais davoi'Twy. (Died. Sic.
xi. 11.)
The fragment of a Hymn to the memory of the Spartans who
perished at Thcrmopyltc ; and the first in a long series of the
remains of this patriotic poet, expressly consecrated to the cause
of Grecian freedom and independence. His imitators in the
same strain are numerous ; and almost to the latest hour of
Grecian poetry, the glorious incidents of the Persian war were
the frequent and favourite subjects of celebration, with very
little variety either of expression or mode of treatment. It may
276 NOTES.
be worth remarking, that Simonides, to the writers of the Au-
gustan sera, stood, in point of date, at about the same distance
as Chaucer to ourselves. His Hymn on Thermopylae may be
regarded as the Chevy Chacc of Grecian poetry.
Epigrams.
I. Twv ce hi' dyOpwnutr. (Cod. Vat. 288. Steph. 204.)
The following title is prefixed to this Epigram in the Vatican
Copy. " Upon the Greeks who made Tegea free." It was their
valour that saved the city from being burned by the enemy, and
its smoke ascending to the clouds. It is not very certain to what
particular occasion, in history, the poem has relation.
II. O'lce TpirjKOfTioi.
In the collection of Planudes (Steph. 205.) without the name
of an author. In the Vatican MS. inscribed, "The author un-
certain ; some say, Simonides." The event to which it alludes
is one of those most strikingly characteristic of an age of border
chivalry. See Herodotus, i. 82, and compare with this the ac-
count given by Sallust of the death of the soldiers of Catiline :
" Nam fere, quem quisque pugnando locum ceperat, eum amissa
anima corpore tegebat." Adrastus was king of Argos, and the
only one of the seven confederate princes who escaped — and
that by a disgraceful flight — from the Theban slaughter. The
sarcasm of this allusion must have been keenly felt by the Ar-
give nation.
III. 'H i-iey Wdrjyaloiai (p6u}S y€V€d\ ryi't\' 'Ajotoro-
•yeiTwv 'iTTTrapj^or /creire, Koi 'Apuv^Los.
(Hephsest. Enchir. 40.)
IV. Tbv TpayoTTOvv e^kWdra,Tov ApKaca, roi' caraMj/^wKj
Tov fier 'Adrjraiwy, (TTrjaaro MiXriaSijs.
(Steph. 336.)
See Herodotus, vi. 105. p. 486.
SIMOXIDES. 277
V. 'ii $€t>' dyyeXeu' AaKedai/ioylois on rrj^e
KeifieQa, rols Kcivwy pijfinffi -KeiBv^evoi.
(Cod. Vat. 244.)
See Herodotus, vii. p. 612. And Cicero, Tusc. Qusest. i. 42,
where it is to be found thus rendered —
" Die, hospes, Spartae, nos te hie vidisse jacentes,
Dum Sanctis patriae legibus obsequimur."
W. ^Iriiiia Tole KKeiroio Meyifrrla. (Cod. Vat. 31.3.
Steph. 511.)
On Megistias the Soothsayer, who, after having predicted the
event of the conflict at Thermopylae, refused to accept his dis-
mission, and died fighting by the side of Leonidas. (See again
Herodotus, vii. 221.) ,
VII. El TO KaXws di'WKeir. (Cod. Vat. 244. Steph. 200.)
Compare Herodotus, i. 30.
VIII. "Arr[3e<7Toy kUos oUe. (Cod. Vat. 244. Steph. 200.)
Compare Horace, III. ii. 21. "Virtus recludens," &c.
" To him who not deserves to die.
She shows the paths which heroes trod.
Then bids him boldly tempt the sky.
Spurn off his mortal clay, and rise a God."
IX. Al^' virep'EXXarwy. (Steph. 512.)
From Athenaeus, xiii. p. 573, who relates, on the authority of
Theopompus and Timaeus, that, during the Persian war, the
courtesans of Corinth offered supplications to Venus for the
safety of Greece, in remembrance of which, at the termination
of the war, the Corinthians dedicated to the goddess a painted
tablet with this inscription.
X. A»j/Joicpiros rplros i^p^e.
From Plutarch, ii. 8G9, who inveighs against Herodotus, for
278 NOTES.
having (viii. 46.) made mention of this brave action of Democri-
tus the Naxian admiral, without subjoining this Epigram.
XI. 'O ^eij'' evv^puv.
Also from Plutarch, ii. 870, where it is given without the
name of an author, which is supplied by an allusion to it in Dio
Chrysostom, Or. xxxvii. p. 459. See the account of this great
battle, Herodotus, vii. 89.
XII. OvTOS ' Aleijidi'TOv Keivov Tacfios, ov cm /3ouXo$
'EWtts ekevdeplas clfxtp^dero (yTeiparoi'.
(Cod. Vat. 257.)
From Plutarch, t. ii. p. 870, where it is cited anonymously,
but ascribed to Simonides by Dio Chrysostom, Or. xxxvii. p. 459.
See the Commentators on Herodotus, 662, with respect to the
influence here supposed to have been attached to the counsels
of the Athenian admiral.
XIII. 'E^ ov y' EvpujTrav 'Aaias B/)(a tto'jtos eVetjLie. (Cod.
Vat. 250.)
From Diodorus Siculus, xi. 62, and Aristides, iii. 260, in
which places it is exhibited with many variations, happily re-
conciled by Dorville (Chariton, 628.). It records the victory ob-
tained by Cimon the Athenian on the coast of Cyprus over the
entire naval force of the Persians, which enabled him to pene-
trate into Pamphylia, and effect a second conquest over their
land forces assembled on the banks of the Eurymedon. But, as
these events took place after the death of the elder Simonides, it
follows that, if the name of the author be rightly assigned to the
verses in which they are severally recorded, they must belong
to the nephew.
From the remarkable expression used in the first verse of the
Epigram above cited, it has been supposed, that the author meant
to allude to the tradition of a deluge by which the continents
of Asia and Europe were torn asunder, having been previously
SIMONIDES. 279
united ; but the words may mean to imply no more than (peri-
phrastically) "from the commencement of the world," or "from
time immemorial." As in the following example from the An-
thologia Latina, t. i. p. 122.
" A sole exoriente supra Mseoti' paludes
Nemo est, qui factis me sequiparare queat."
XIV. O'lceTrapEvpyjue^oi'Ti. (Cod.Vat.245.Steph.201.)
This Epigram is the sequel of the former. The Sepulchre of
the Athenians who perished on the occasion here referred to,
was still to be seen outside the walls of Athens in the time of
Pausanias.
XV. Twt'Ee TTore arepvoicn, (Cod. Vat. 275.)
XVI. To^a ra'^e irrdXe/zoto. (Cod. Vat. 141. Steph. 441 .)
XVII. OvTU) Toi fieXla. (Cod. Vat. 150. Steph. 442.)
" It was the common opinion that Jupiter was the first cause
of all sorts of divination ; it was he that had the books of fate,
and out of them revealed either more or less, as he pleased, to
inferior djemons ; for which reason he was surnamed Panom-
phceus, as Eustathius tells us in his comment on Homer, Iliad,
(f , 250.
" there, at the holy fane.
To mighty Jove was the glad victim slain —
To Jove, from whom all divination comes.
And oracles inspir'd unriddle future dooms."
(Potter's Antiq. i. 309.)
XVIII. Xaiper apiffrrjes TroXefiov. (Cod. Vat. 244.
Steph. 201.)
Supposed to have been written on the Athenian youth who
perished at the commencement of the Peloponncsian war. If so,
it must be ascribed to the younger Simonides.
280 NOTES.
XIX. ^Ipcjjvos e^fi{]dr]fi€v viru ittv)(J. (Steph. 205.)
The revolt of Euboea from the Athenian yoke took place about
sixteen years before the commencement of the Peloponnesian
war. If the present Epigram be supposed to have reference to
that period, the elder Simonides may be entitled to its author-
ship ; but this is doubtful.
XX. 'Av^pos api(7T€u(TarTos. (Steph. 511.)
From Thucydides, lib. vi. 59 ; where he relates that Hippias
gave his daughter Archedice in marriage to J^antides, son of
Hippoclus, tyrant of Lampsacus, where was her monument
bearing the above inscription.
XXI. 'Hn€pnrar9e\KT€ipa. (Cod. Vat.211. Steph. 276.)
XXII. OvTos ' AvaKpelorra. (Cod. Vat. 211. Steph. 276.)
No ancient poet was ever so much cherished by the Epigram-
matists as Anacreon ; and it must be admitted that there is very
little variety in the mode of treatment of the subject.
XXIII. Ot jJiey eyue Kretuavres ojdolcjv aprirv^oiey,
Zev, Seri' ol h' inro ydv Qkvres^ovaivTO ftiov.
This Epigram, in the Vat. MS. p. 219, is inscribed, " Simo-
nides, having discovered a naked corpse lying in a certain island,
and having interred it, wrote as follows." The epithet given to
Jupiter, Sivios (which ought perhaps to have been preserved in
the translation,) is supposed to imply that the murder was com-
mitted by the hands of those who ought rather to have per-
formed the rites of hospitality.
XXIV. OvTos 6 rov Keioio ^ifi(ori^ov eart aaiortip,
OS KUi Tedi'Tjios ^uirr uTre^toice yjiipiv.
Concerning the incident to which this Epigram bears allusion,
Cicero writes (De Divinatione, i. 27) : " Simonides, having found
the body of some unknown person washed up by the sea, and
SIMONIDES. 281
buried it, and being afterwards about to embark, was warned, by
a vision of the dead man appearing to him, to postpone his in-
tention, lest he should suffer shipwreck. He returned in obe-
dience to the warning, and those who sailed without him pe-
rished as was foretold." The same story is related by Valerius
Maximus, with the addition, that he composed this Epigram in
commemoration of his rescue.
XXV. IloWa 0aywj', Kai ttoXXci ttiwj', Kai TroXXct kok
Av6p(l)Trovs, Kelfxat TifxoKpeuji' 'Polios.
Athenseus, lib. x. p. 415, mentions Timocreon, a poet and
athleta of Rhodes, among the great eaters and drinkers of his
day, and gives this Epigram as his authority. Diogenes Laertius
entertains us with the account of a dispute between him and Si-
monides, which probably gave rise to this stroke of satire at his
expense.
XXVI. 'a-'ire M]}xriTpos. (Cod. Vat. 379. Steph. 373.)
In the Vatican MS. this Epigram is ascribed to Antagoras of
Rhodes. The circumstance of Xenocles, of whom nothing else
is recorded, being himself mentioned as a Rhodian, may seem to
strengthen this testimony. The road on which this bridge was
built was probably that leading to Eleusis.
XXVII. Bote tor I'l vXrirph. (Cod. Vat. 1 10. Steph. 450.)
This, and the following Epigram, are also of doubtful parent-
age. Some ascribe them to Iledylus ; others to Asclepiades, in-
stead of Simonides. The allusions they present are obvious.
XXVIII. -Evippib Kal Qals. (Cod. Vat. 1 10. Steph. 104.)
XXIX. 'H arev ku'l 09(^eras. (Steph. 512.)
The Anthology contains abundance of Epigrams on dogs and
other animals, as well as on the various implements of the chase.
282 NOTES.
They are frequently tiresome from repetition, but sometimes ex-
hibit points of diversity which render them deserving of note.
XXX. ^TTCtjorcts fxev l^aaiXfjes cjxol Tzarepes kcu a.Se\^oi.
(Cod. Vat. 610.)
The name of this victorious lady was Cynisca, who obtained
the prize in the chariot race, Olymp. 87, after the death of her
father Achidamus, king of Sparta. From this date it is evident
that the poem is falsely ascribed to Simonides. Her brother
was the renowned Agesilaus. Xenophon, Plutarch, and Pausa-
nias, severally bear witness to the occurrence.
XXXI. npct^ireXj/s 0)' eVaffxe. (Stejih. 331.)
The first line should have been printed,
"Well has the sculptor what he felt express'd."
Athenaeus (lib. xiii. p. 591.), speaking of the celebrated Phryne,
records that Apelles painted her in the character of Venus
emerging out of the sea ; and that Praxiteles the sculptor, who
was a favoured lover, made her the model of his statue of the
goddess at Cnidos, and also caused these verses to be inscribed
to her honour on the base of his statue of Cupid in the theatre ;
not, as it seems, meaning to imply that Praxiteles was himself
the author of the Epigram, though the dates of history are in-
consistent with its being ascribed to Simonides.
XXXII. 'lUpir] Tepdyeia. (Cod. Vat. 286.)
Geraneia is the name of a rock or promontory, situated on the
coast between Megara and Corinth, whence Ino, in the fable,
precipitated herself into the sea, together with her infant Meli-
certa, when flying from the madness of Athamas. It seems to
have been a place of evil repute to seamen.
XXXIII. Sw>a juev dWo^aTT*}. (Cod. Vat. 288. Steph.
256.)
SIMONIDES. 283
An Epitaph on one Clisthenes, who perished by shipwreck in
the Euxine on his passage to Chios.
XXXIV. Aigws k-ai KXeocoyuoj/. (Cod. Vat. 288.)
The person here celebrated appears to have fallen into an am-
buscade of hostileThracians,and to have preferred death to flight,
which was in his power.
XXX\ . Tovs K aVo Tvpprivuiv tiKpodli'ia (polfia ayovras
ey TreXayos, fiia vavs, els rdcpos eKTepitre.
Supposed, by Schneider, to have been inscribed to the memory
of some young Messenians, who, being sent to Rhegium with spoils
of war, as an offering so Apollo, were wrecked on the voyage.
XXXVI. AX at t'od<T€ fyapela. (Cod.Vat.289. Steph.261.)
f^fj TTore Tifxapxos. (Cod. Vat. 288. Steph.256.)
XXXVII. Ov^h kv upeptoTrolm. (Stob. Flor. xcvi. 528.)
This fragment of an Elegy, which there seems no reason for
hesitating to believe the work of Simonides, would perhaps have
been more properly left to be placed by the side of a still more
considerable fragment, a translation of which by Mr. Bland
was inserted, p. 184 of the former edition, but is now reserved
for the series intended to embrace the Gnomic and larger Ele-
giac pieces. Jacobs, who has omitted the one and retained the
other, without assigning a reason, is the only authority for pur-
suing the same course in the present instance, Tlie melancholy
reflexions which the verses are calculated to inspire need no
comment ; but they are themselves a commentary on a trans-
cendcntly beautiful passage in Homer — the speech of Glaucus
to Diomed, Iliad, vi. the first line of which is incorporated in
them. Compare also Horace, Ars Poet. 60. " Ut sylvae foliis — "
" As when the forest, with the bending year.
First sheds the leaves which earliest appear.
284 NOTES.
So an old age of words maturely dies.
Others new-born in youth and vigour rise.
We, and our noblest works, to Fate must yield."
XXXVIII. Ty ^d TTOT OvXvuTToio. (Athcn. iii. 125.)
Athenaeus, in the passage above cited, commenting on the
custom of mixing snow with wine, (the ancient substitute for
icing it,) relates that Simonides, one hot summer's day, being
at a banquet where the attendant happened to assign to him, in
distributing it among the guests, too small a portion of the
commodity, uttered these verses as an impromptu. The conclud-
ing couplet does not sufficiently express the occasion.
XXXIX. Xei/xepnjv vt^eroTo. (Cod. Vat. 180.)
This singular poem is ascribed by Reiske to the younger Si-
monides ; but the dates will not accord even with this supposi-
tion, as the sacred rites of the Galli, or Priests of Cybele, did
not penetrate into Greece before the 125th Olympiad. There
was another Simonides, of Magnesia, who lived under Antio-
chus the Great (Olymp. 139.), and wrote a history of the acts
of that sovereign, who may very possibly have been the author ;
and the same subject has been treated in subsequent epigrams
by Alcseus the Messenian, Dioscorides, and Antipater of Sidon.
BACCHYLIDES.
I. QvrjTols ovK avduiperoL
ovr oXJDOs, OUT uKctfinros" Apr}Si
ovT€ Trafi(j}dep(Tis orafTis'
dW €in\pi jXTTTei ve(j)OS
aWor ctt' ciWai' ydv
d Trdj'^wpos Alffa. (Stobseus, Eel. Phys. i. 9.)
BACCHYLIDES. 285
Thus rendered by Grotius :
" Non affluentis magna vis pecunicC,
Non Martis incerti alea,
Non civium tumultus implacabilis
Sunt spontis in nostra manu.
Sed parca nubes, nunc in banc terram, suas,
Et nunc in illam depluit."
II. Els opos, fiia ftpoTo'iaiv eartv evrvx^as o^os. (Stob.
Flor. 106.)
Thus Grotius :
" Unum iter felicitatis, unus hoinini terminus,
Tristibus curis soluto corde vitam ducere.
At quibus raentem perurunt mille sollicitudines
Anxise semper futuri, nee quiescunt noctibus.
His gravi labore pectus flagrat, et nil proficit."
Compare Horace, ii. 16. " Lsetus in prsesens animus," —
" He who would happy live to-day.
Must laugh the present ills away.
Nor think of woes to come ;
For come they will, or soon or late.
Since mix'd at best is man's estate
By Heaven's eternal doom." (Warren Hastings.)
III. Avcla fiey yap \idos. (Stob. xi. 136.)
" Aurum Lydius indicat
Signo non dubio lapis :
Humanam sapientiam,
Virtutenque notat simul
Victrix inclita Veritas." (Grotius.)
These words of Bacchylides were found by Cayley engraven
on an ancient stone. (Recueil d'Antiq. tom. v. 134.).
286 NOTES.
IV. Qi'urolffL ^)) (j)vrai (j)€piarT0i', &c. (Stob. xcvi. 528.
Grotius, 405.)
V. "OXfiios J Tin deos. (Stob. ci. 549.)
Felix cui sors ista bonorum
Contigit abno munere divum,
Florentem opibus degere vitam ;
Nam nihil orani ex parte beutura est. (Grotius, 424.)
VI. T/k'rei ^e re Qvuto'ktiv TLlpi'irr) yueyaXa. (Stob. liii.
369. Grotius, 209.)
Many passages of ancient authors readily occur to the mind as
analogous to this beautiful fragment ; but the images it presents
are perhaps nowhere else so closely assembled as by Shakspeare,
in the opening of Richard the Third.
" Now are our brows crown'd with victorious wreaths," &c.
Elton also has published a translation of this fragment in his
Specimens of the Classic Poets.
VII. At ai re/cos ajj-erepor, j-ie'ii^or J) Trevdeiv
efdrri kctvoi', dipQeyroiaLV "laov, (Stob. cxxi. 610.)
" Majus luctu venit nobis
O nate, malum ; farique vetat." (Grotius, 503.)
Nothing can exceed the exquisite simplicity of this short Epi-
taph. But has not Grotius missed its meaning ?
VIII. TXvKei avajKa (Tevoyieva KvkiKm'. (Athen. ii. 39.)
Here again Mr. Elton has preceded us —
" The goblet's sweet compulsion moves
The soften'd mind to melting loves," &c.
This " sweet compulsion " — the necessity of drinking — appears
to have been invested — like Pitho, the Goddess Persuasion —
with the attributes of a divinity. Thus Plautus (Rudens ii. 3.) —
BACCHYLIDES. 28/
" Perit potando opinor.
Neptunus magnis poculis hac nocte eum invitavit.
Credo, Hercle, Anaacaeo datum hoc quod biberet."
Ovid—
" Vina parant animos, faciuntque celeribus aptos."
Horace —
" Spes donare novas largus, amaraque
Curarum eluere efficax " —
and again, still more remarkably, "Quid non Ebrietas designatr"
besides many others among the ancient poets, — may well be
cited in illustration of the passage ; but none who comes nearer
to it, in the true spirit of lyric enthusiasm, than Captain Morris,
when he points to those
" Rich worlds, that bright in prospect lie
To him that's half-seas over."
IX. 'EaTii o' cTTi \aV)'oj' ovdai: (Athen. iv. 178.)
This fragment embodies a proverbial expression, of which the
sense, peculiar to an age of simple hospitality, is that a good
man need no invitation to a good man's feast. Here, Hercules
is addressing himself, on his arrival, to Ceyx, king of Trachis —
a city of Thessaly, which afterwards witnessed the hero's death,
on the neighbouring mountain CEta.
X. Ov j3odiy TTupetTTi (TojfxaT. (Athen. xi. 500.)
XI. Ovx ecpas epyor, ouc' ajdftuXds. (Dion. Hal. torn. v.
J). 30. Reiske.)
Itonia was an appellation given to Minerva among the Boe-
otians.
XII. ^uffMnev TTioTOV Kvoos excLV aperav'
TrXovros oe kcu ^eiXo'iffii' ardpwTriav ofxiXel.
(Plutarch, ii. 36.)
288 NOTES.
XIII. O'l jJLef (xd[jirJT€S aeiKeXiwp vovatov eltri
KoX avaiTioi, ovhkv ardpwTrois iKeXoi.
^ (Clem. Alex. Strom, v. 715.)
Bacchylides had probably in sight that passage of Homer
concerning the Gods —
Ov ycip tnrav i^ova , ov %ivov(r aidoTrx oivou'
Tovvsx duxifiovit; slat x.ot.1 ddccvoiTOi KoyhkourKi. (II. v. 341.)
And Jacobs accordingly proposes the substitution of the word
dvxifioi for duxirtoi, in the principal fragment. Anacreon, also,
comparing the Cicada to the Gods, uses the same expression —
d'TTxdvis, dvxifioaxQyci,
" Free from nature's woes and pains.
Free from flesh, or blood-fiU'd veins,
Happy thing ! thou seem'st to me
Almost a little God to be ! " (Bourne.)
See, before, Cowley's imitation of the same passage.
XIV. 'FjTepos h' e^ erepov (ro(pbs
TO 76 TTttXai TO T€ vvv. ovZe ycip pdarov
appiiTMv ewewi' TrvXas e^eupeti'.
(Clem. Alex. Strom, v. 687.)
This is also proverbial, and has its parallel in the Wisdom of
Solomon.
XV. Kovpa UdXXarros. (Cod. Vat. 201.)
The Goddess N/x^, Victory, is named by Hesiod as the daughter
of Pallas (Pallantis) by Styx, who likewise bore to him Zelus,
Cratos and Bia.
" Styx, Ocean Nymph, with Pallas blending love.
Bare Victory, whose feet are beautiful
scoLiA. 289
In palaces ; and Zeal, and Strength, and Force,
Illustrious children. Not apart from Jove
Their mansion is ; nor is there seat nor way
But he before them in his glory sits
Or passes forth : and where the Thunderer is
Tlieir place is found for ever." (Elton.)
XVI. Evg/?/^os Toy vr]hv Itt' aypov. (Cod. Vat. 150.
Steph. 419.)
The Westerly Winds — Zephyr and Favonius — were accounted
(as we are told by Columella, ii. 20.) peculiarly favourable to
the swelling of the grain.
SCOLIA. Page 81.
By way of Appendix to what has been said in the text as to
the meaning and origin of this much-canvassed term, let us be
allowed to borrow a few words from the learned author of a
recent article in the Edinburgh Review (No. CXII.) on " Greek
Banquets."
"The origin of that name (Scolia), which is at least as old as
the time of Pindar, is one of the most curious of these questions.
Without entering, however, into an examination of all the strange
etymologies that have been proposed, we declare for the opinion
of Dicajarchus, the pupil of Aristotle, who, living at a time when
the amusement was still in vogue, and having probably joined
in many a bout of it in his day, speaks from the first impression
of a current belief with more authority than can ever be assigned
to etymological guesses. According to him this species of catch
was called Scolion, 'crooked' or 'oblique', from the irregular
and interrupted order in which it was sung by those of the com-
pany, wherever they might be placed, who were skilful enough
to take a part, and who had cither their memories stored with
the favourite pieces, or readiness enough to strike in with ex-
o
y
290 NOTES.
temporaneous effusions of similar argument to tlie ditty of the
first performer. To preserve an agreement in the sense — and, if
possible, likewise in the measure — throughout each series, was
accounted a trial of ability Some of the noblest breathings
of impassioned minstrelsy, of which the Greek language can
boast, appeared under this convivial form. We know no poetry,
for instance, in any tongue, that excels in glorious strength and
simplicity, the celebrated lines in honour of the slayers of Hip-
parchus. Their author, who deserved to be immortal, is not
certainly known ; but though chronology laughs at the error of
those who have ascribed them to Alcseus, they are not unworthy
of his 'golden plectrum' and 'threatening strings.' "
Without indulging ourselves in any greater length of quota-
tion, we willingly refer to the latter pages of the article in ques-
tion for much valuable information and suggestion on the same
subject, together with very spirited versions of three of the princi-
pal Scolia, of which different versions have already been printed
in this collection.
I. ^Y^yovTa eel r6'E,oy koX IoIokov (jjciperpay
(TTeij^ew iroTi ^wra kukov.
•KitfTOV yap ov^ey yXiZaaa SiU (TTOfiaTOS \a\eT,
^tj^OjUvOoi' e-^ovffa Kpacir} vorjixa,
(Diog. Laert. i. 49.)
II. ^vverwv eortv apdpiSv
Trplv yevecrdaL ret Sv(T-)^€pr},
■TTpovorjaaL oirws /jl}) yevrjTat.'
av^peiujy te, yevofiera ev deadai,
(Diog. Laert. i. 48.)
III. A(TroT(TLV cipetTKe -Kdrnv, ev TcoXei atKe ^errjs'
TrXeiffrav yap e^ei j^apiv. avddSrjs Se rpoTros
TToWciKi j3\aj3epay e^eXai^xpev iirav.
(Diog. Laert. i. 85.)
SCOLIA, 291
" If the city offend you, leave it ; but, if you wish to remain
in it, make it your study to please all men, and conform your
life to the habits of the citizens;" — a precept which, though
Theognis disputes the possibility of complying with it, saying,
'A(TTo7(nv 2' oinro) Trcicny a^ely Cvrafiai —
ovSe yap 6 Zeiis ovd' vu)v TrdvTas avBdvcL
ovr dvi^^ioy,
Euripides adopts, by putting in the mouth of Medea — (v. 222.)
" A stranger with peculiar heed
Should form him to the temper of the state ;
Nor -would I praise the native, who, through pride,
And shallow thought, is to his citizens
Wayward and insolent." (Potter.)
That the precept, however difficult of strict performance, was
one not unworthy of a sage politician, having reference to the
condition of Greece parcelled out into so many hostile interests,
is manifest to any one who considers its history.
IV. Ec y^s \pri Karicelv TrXoov,
ei Tis hvvaiTO, /cat TraXafirfv ^ypc
CTrei 2e k ev ttovt-w yevjjrat,
rw irapeovTi rpex^eif dvdyKrj. (Athen. xv. 694.)
The reference to the " Suave mari magno " of Lucretius from
this passage is too obvious to require to be noticed.
V. Et6' e^^v b-Kolos Tis rjv c/caoros,
Ti) (TTrjdos BieXvvT, ejretra roy vovv
elfftcovra, KXeiaavTU tzuXlv
dvcpa (j)iXov vofiil^eiv dcuX^ (^pevi. (Ibid.)
This little piece, which is here exhibited according to the
metrical arrangement suggested by Hermann, contains the sen-
timent which is conveyed in the well-known apologue of Momus
o 2
292 NOTES.
reprehending Prometheus for not having placed a door of en-
trance to every human breast.
VI. At cu A€i\pvcpioy Trpodotreraipoy,
o'tovs dySpas cncwXearas, fia^ecrdai
uyadovs re, Kai evTrarpi^as,
o'l TOT eSei^av, o'lwv Trarepwv Kvpr](Tay.
(Athen.xv. 695.)
Leipsydrion was seated on Mount Parnethus, where the tribe
of AlcniBeonidse, with some other Athenian exiles, took refuge
during the reign of Hippias, and where they were routed with
a signal slaughter.
VII. '¥jy fxvpTov KXaSl to ^fos (j)op{]ar(iJ. (Ibid.)
" Amid the doubts and contradictions of historians and phi-
losophers—Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, — it is difficult not to
believe that the action thus commemorated, though prompted,
perhaps, like the revolt of Tell, by private injury, was an example
of that rude justice, whose ambiguous morality is forgiven for its
signal public benefits. Something of greatness'and true splendour
there must have been about a deed of which the memory was
cherished as an heir-loom by the whole Athenian community of
freemen, and made familiar as household words by constant
convivial celebration. Not until the decline of Attic liberty,
and the approach of universal degradation, did a comic writer
presume to sneer at the lay of Harmodius as wearing out of
fashion. It was an ill sign of the poet to indulge in such a sneer ;
it was a worse sign of the people to endure it." (From the
Edinburgh Review, in the Article last noticed.)
VIII. Iw XlctJ^ ApKci^ias
fxel^wv icKeeyyas. (Ibid. 694.)
Brunck supposes this to have been a song of triumph for a
scoLiA. 293
victory obtained in the Panathenaic games, the reward of which
was a wreath of olive plucked from the trees which surrounded
the temple of Pandrosos ; and, in favour of this hypothesis, he
contends against Schneider, who had been at some pains to esta-
blish a claim to its authorship on the part of Pindar, supposing
it to have been composed in honour of Pan for having aided the
Athenians on the field of Marathon. Hermann proposes the
following metrical arrangement, which is in accordance with
his general theory on the subject of Scolia.
6o)CY!<rrx, B^o/nt'xig ovrx^i t/vfitpecig,
yiKxaiixg, u Yixv, stt ifixi;
iV(p^O(TVUXIS CCOllxii KS^^Xq/lfiivOi.
IX. IlaWas TpiToyifeia, avaaa AQavd.
(Athen. xv, 694.)
X. Ytto Travrl Xt0w aKopirios,
(o 'ralp', vTrodverai' (ppct^ev firf ae (3d\r].
Tw ^' a<j)aye2 ttus eTrerat doXos. (Ibid. 695.)
" Ilgen, in the Preface to his edition of Scolia (Jense, 1798,)
discovers no less than nine different classes into which the ex-
tant poems of this sort may be distributed : the Satirical — the
Amator\' — the Historical — the Mythic — the Precatory — the Ethi-
cal — the Political — the Eulogistic — the Potatory. Under the
sixth, and most numerous, division (the Ethical,) he includes
one which we may cite, to show how the Greeks contrived to
give, in the shape of an apologue, the spirit of our well-known,
vernacular, objurgatory criticism of Pot ujion Kettle.
'O KXQKIVO; ilS i<pYl
X*^^ TOJ/ o(ptv T^x/iaV
iv6iiu TO!/ irx^ov ifiiv,
)cx\ f4,vi 7Kohioi (Pqovuu. (Jacobs, 14.)
294 NOTES.
" With his claw the snake surprising.
Thus the crab kept moralizing : —
' Out upon sidelong turns and graces:
Straight 's the word for honest paces !' "
(From the Edinb. Rev. as before.)
XL 'OffTis drdpa <pi\ov fiij TrpoSi^wiriv,
ixeyd\r]v eyei tijulciv, er re (jpoTols
ey re Qeoiaiv, kut cfxoy voov. (Athen. XV. 695.)
This is another specimen of the Ethical class. The next be-
longs to the Potatory.
XII. 2uj' fioi TTij'e, avv^fia, avvepa, (TV(TT€^avr) cpopei'
avv fioi fiaiyofiiy^ fxaiveo, avv (xuxppopi (TU)(l>p6pei.
(Ibid.)
This is given according to Hermann's metrical system.
XIII. E'tfle \vpa KaXrj
yeroljJLav eXecpairivr]
Kai fie KuXol irai^es (^npoiev
Aiovvaiov els ')^op6v.
€10 airvpov KaKov
yevoijxriv fxiya j^pv(Tiov
Kal fxe KaXt) yvrrj (^opolrj
KaQapov defxtyt] voov. (Ibid.)
This may be considered as the original of many similar
" wishes " among the amatory poets, at least, if the ode ascribed
to Anacreon (See before, XX.) be of subsequent date. Compare
with this No. I. of our Specimens of Uncertain Authors, and
Shakspeare's sonnet,
" Air, quoth he, thy cheeks may blow !
Air ! would I might triumph so !"
scoLiA. 295
XIV. 'Eff-i fiot ttXovtos fiiyas Zopv, kiu t,i(pos. (Ibid.)
We cannot omit the opportunity of paying our tribute to the
decided superiority of the following version over that whicli has
been inserted in our own pages.
" My wealth is here — the sword, the spear, the breast-defending
shield ;
With this I plough, with this I sow, with this I reap the field ;
With this I tread the luscious grape, and drink the blood-red
wine;
And slaves around in order wait, and all are counted mine !
But he that will not rear the lance upon the battle-field.
Nor sway the sword, nor stand behind the breast-defending
shield.
On lowly knee must worship me, with servile kiss ador'd.
And peal the cry of homage high, and hail me mighty lord !"
" Many," observes the translator, " as they read these stanzas,
will have their thoughts recalled with melancholy pleasure to
the ' Allan-a-dale ' of our own great departed minstrel, whose
strains — free as they are of all conscious imitation — so often,
through the force of kindred genius, seem to echo the bold and
vigorous expression of the finest Grecian poetry." (Edinb. Rev.
as before.)
It must, however, be noticed that the last-cited version is
founded on a different metrical construction, involving a repe-
tition of the first couplet in the way of burden, from that ob-
served by Jacobs.
XV. Yyicia, TrpeajolffTa ^laKupwv. (Athen. XV. 702.)
We are here also met by another version from the same pen
that dictated the preceding, but cannot afford room at present
to furnish the means of a comparison, which may be easily made
by reference to the Article in the Review already so largely
drawn upon. The author justly remarks, that the original bears
296 NOTES.
evidence of a later date than the fragment (See before. No. IX.)
of Simonides from which it is manifestly taken.
XVI. 'Q-cpeXes w rvcfXe TrXovre.
(Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. v. 532.)
XVII. Ajoera iroKvixoyfie.
(Diog. Laert. Vit. Aristot. v. p. 272.)
In Jacobs's Commentary on this celebrated composition is a
long discourse on the metrical arrangement, and true reading,
of the words, into which this is not the place to enter. Her-
mias, in whose honour it is said to have been written, affords a
striking, because an early example of elevation to power among
an unfortunate class of persons whom the customs of Oriental
despotism have furnished many subsequent instances of exalting
by similar caprices of fortune. He was, like Mahomed Shah
of Persia, an eunuch, and at first the slave of Eubulus, whom
by his cunning counsels he aided in ascending to tyrannic sway
over the cities of Atarnse and Assus, and whom he afterwards
succeeded in the same domination. It is recorded of him, that,
in remembrance of his early misfortune, he never could endure
that mention should be made in his presence of knives or other
cutting instruments.
-ESCHYLUS. EMPEDOCLES. 297
PART II.
^SCHYLUS. Page 93.
I. KuareT? kcu roixrBe. (Cod. Vat. 24.5. Steph. 201.)
The authenticity of the two Epigrams ascribed to this great
poet has ahxady been said to be very questionable. With regard
to the present, it is not only doubted whether it relates to the
warriors of Marathon or those of Thermopylte, but it has even
been conjectured that it belongs to some event of a much more
recent date, even so low doAvn as the reign of the last Philip of
Macedon.
II. Al^xy^oi/ Ev(poplu)yos. (From the Life of ^schylus,
by an unknowTi ancient writer, prefixed to his Works.)
It is also alluded to by Athenajus, xiv. 627, and by Plutarch,
De Exilio, tom. ii. p. G04.
EMPEDOCLES. Page 95.
Uav (Tai lay larpov cttwj'v^oj', Ay^tVov v'lai',
(^lUJT AaK\r]7ria.dr]i/ Trarpls eQuxpe I'eAo,
'Os TToWovs fjiuyepolffi fxapaivofiivovs KajjiaTOLcrt
(puirus HTrerTTpexpei' Ilepae(poras OuXayuwj/.
We give the entire Epigram for the purpose of doing justice to
the pun, which consists in the derivation of the name 'I'ausanias'
<«3-o T8 vctviiv T«f cii/ioc;. Diogenes Laertius claims it for Em-
pedocles, contrary to the authority of the Vatican MS., in which
it is ascribed (greatly to his prejudice) to Siraonides.
298 NOTES.
EUENUS. Page 96.
I. noXXots avriXeyeij' fxev edos. (Atlien. ix. 367. J
It is also to be found in Stobseus, Tit. 82, whence Grotius has
rendered it thus —
" Sunt quibus is mos est, nullo ut discrimine contra
Dicere, non etiam dicere recta velint.
His ego censuerim vetus hoc debere reponi :
Ilia tibi placeant, dum magis ista mihi.
Rem bene si dicas, prudentes flectere paucis
Est tibi ; sunt etenim ductilis ingenii."
II. Kijv fie (payrjs errt pi^av, ofiws en i:apTro(pop}'i(T(jj,
b(Taov eiTKnrelaai aoi, rpaye, dvofievio.
This distich, preserved by the Scholiast on Aristophanes
(Plut. 1130.), is ascribed in the Vatican MS. to Euenus of As-
calon. Everybody knows Ovid's version — (Fast. i. 357-)
" Rode, caper vitem : tamen huic, cum stabis ad aram.
In tua quod spargi cornua possit, erit."
Suetonius tells us that Domitian was persuaded to revoke his
barbarous edict for rooting up the vineyards, chiefly in conse-
quence of the popular odium excited by the dissemination of the
following ominous parody.
" Though thou should'st gnaw me to the root.
Great Csesar ! still enough of fruit
I bear to sprinkle on thy head.
When victim to the altar led."
III. Arfft Kopa, neXidpeTTTe. (Cod.Vat.375. Steph.86.)
The difficulty of finding an appropriate version for this very
pretty and fanciful Epigram consists in the mythologic identity
of the Bird (the swallow) and the "Attic Maiden" (Progne)
EUENUS. 299
who was metamorphosed into that animal. Tliis fable was so
familiar to Grecian ears that they suffered no violence in the
human appellation being transferred to the brute representative;
but the transfusion into the English idiom is unavoidably at-
tended with a degree of harshness, unless accompanied by an
explanation which destroys its effect. It might indeed have been
converted to "Attic Songstress/' or "Attic Minstrel;" but
this would have been entirely to abandon the allusion. On the
other hand, the single epithet (A.if^i&^i'Tm, which Broda-us ren-
ders, paraphrasticallj', "delicatis nutritam cibi.s," and which
Jacobs conjectures to have reference merely to the sweetness of
voice of the bird which is thus addressed, we have ventured
rather to ascribe to the diet on which it may be supposed to be
nourished — namely, the wild thyme of Mount Hymettus, so ce-
lebrated as the material from which its honey was gathered.
The tone of the swallow's voice is surely anything but sweet or
musical ; and accordingly it is fitly designated as noisy, or prat-
tling, rather than praised as melodious. Its domestic qualities
were, probably, those which so endeared this bird to the an-
cients ; and the attachment which they constantly appear to bear
towards it, tends to excite a reciprocity of feeling in our minds
towards themselves.
IV. Selvoi, Tijy TrepiftujTov. (Cod. Vat. 367. Steph. 97.)
We do not understand why the allusion to the immortality of
Homer's divine poem, conveyed by the epithet ^cct'hKiiuu, as ap-
plied to the gates of Troy, should be designated by Jacobs as
" satis frigide." It rather appears to us to be poetically just
and forcible.
V. BiiKxov fierpov apiarov. (Cod. Vat. 514. Steph. 180.)
The proportion of water with which the more moderate among
the Grecian sages recommended that wine should be diluted, was
as three parts in four, a recommendation here ingeniously typi-
fied by linking Bacchus with three Water-nymphs in the dance.
300 NOTES.
SIMMIAS. Page 99.
(Cod. Vat. 211. Steph. 274.)
PLATO. Page 100.
I. 'Aorepas elcradpe'is 'Acrri/p efios' eide yevoinrji'.
OvpavoSy ws TToXXoTs hfi[xa<TLV eis (re /jXcttw.
(Cod. Vat. 313. Steph. 210.)
We do not see that the context affords any reason for supposing
the word 'Ao-rojg to be the name of the person addressed. If so^
the first line might be rendered,
"Why gaze, Asteria, on the sky ?"
Or, if Latinized,
" Why gaze, my Stella, on the sky?"
But Apuleius certainly did not so consider, when he thus treat-
ed it;
"Astra vides : utinam fiam, mi sidus, Olympus !
Ut multis sic te luminibus videam."
We are here forcibly reminded of the yet more fanciful allusion
of Shakspeare, —
"Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven.
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head ?
The brightness of her check would shame those stars.
As day-light doth a lamp : her eye in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright.
That birds would sing, and think it were not night."
PLATO. 301
So says the passionate Romeo ; and the romantic Juliet, not to
be out-done, —
" Come, loving, black-brow'd night!
Give me my Romeo : and, when he shall die.
Take him and cut him out in little stars.
And he will make the face of heaven so fine.
That all the -world will be in love with night.
And pay no worship to the garish sun."
II. Tqv ■"Pv^z/v, Aya0w)'a (piXwp, eni j^eiXeffiv effj^ov*
i']\de yap ?/ rXyfiwi', ws cutfiijaofxeiT],
(Cod. Vat. 99. Steph. 526.)
Aulus Gellius speaks of the celebrity which this couplet, in his
time, enjoyed : — " Celebrantur duo isti Groeci versiculi, multo-
rumque hominum memoria dignantur, quod sint lepidissimi et
venustissimse brevitatis." And he adds, that many ancient
writers affirmed it to be the genuine composition of Plato the
philosopher, " quibus ille adolescens luserit, cum tragcediis
quoque eodem tempore faciendis prseluderet." The amatory
writers, both in prose and in poetry, are frequent in their imita-
tions, — Aristrenetus, Achilles Tatius, Propertius. " Et cupere
optatis animam deponere labris."
• It has been copied, in French, by Fontenelle :
" Lorsqu' Agathis, par un baiser de flamme.
Consent a me payer des maux que j'ai sentis,
Sur mes levres soudain je sens venir mon ame.
Qui veut passer sur celles d'Agathis — "
And, in Italian, by Guarini :
" Su queste labbra, Ergasto,
Tutta sen' venne allor 1' anima mia ;
E la mia vita, chiusa
In cosi breve spatio,
Non era altro die un bacio."
302 NOTES.
III. TJ fxi]\o) /3aX\w ae' (Cod. Vat. 99. Steph. 486.)
" Malo me Galatea petit, lasciva puella,
Et fugit ad salices, et se cupit ante videri — "
is but the counterpart of the mode of courtship pointed out in
this Epigram, in illustration of which we need not refer to the
story of Acontius and Cydippe, or that of Hippomenes and
Atalanta.
IV. 'K (Toftapbf yeXdrratrn. (Cod. Vat. 141. Steph. 421.)
The imitation of this Epigram by Julian, Prsefect of Egypt
(Brunck, ii. 494.) is too close to be here omitted, notwithstand-
ing the anachronism.
" Lais, when time had spoil'd her wonted grace,
Abhorr'd the look of age that plough'd her face.
Her glass, the monitor of charms decay'd.
Before the queen of lasting bloom she laid —
' The sweet companion of my youthful years
Be thine! (she said,) — no change thy beauty fears.' " (Ogle.)
The influence attained and exercised by this most celebrated
of courtezans over all ranks and classes of society in Greece, has
been well expressed in her Epitaph, as preserved by Athenseus,
lib. XV.
" Greece, once the nurse of generous hearts.
Mistress of nations, queen of arts.
No longer great — no longer free —
Yields to a willing slavery.
A girl of Corinth holds the chain
Which girded once th' Ionian main." m.
The version by Ausonius of the thought expressed in the above
verses of Plato, is too familiar to be here cited. The following
is by Voltaire.
PLATO. 303
" Je le donne a Venus, puisqu'elle est toujours belle ;
II redouble trop mes ennuis.
Je ne saurois me voir dans ce miroir fidele,
Ni telle que j'etais, ni telle que je suis."
V. Toy Nv^^iJk depciTTOiTa, <pi\6iii3pioi', vypoy aoiloy.
(Cod. Vat. 148. Steph. 437.)
" A traveller, who, when nearly exhausted by thirst, was
guided by the croaking of a frog to a spring of water, dedicates
to the Nymphs a bronze image of his preserver." This pleasing
inscription needs no further explanation.
VI. 'II Tla<j)iT] Kvdepeia ^i o'tdnaros is Kyidoy rjXde.
(Cod. Vat. 1. Steph. 323.)
This Epigram consists, in the original, of three couplets ; but
the sense and point are perfect in the two first — the last being,
apparently, a clumsy addition by some later hand. It is accord-
ingly disregarded in the present version. The subject was a fa-
vourite one among the epigrammatists, both Greek and Roman.
Ausonius (Ep. 57.) has it thus, embodying the conceit of the
rejected couplet —
" Vera Venus Cnidiam quum vidit Cyprida, dixit :
Vidisti nudam me, puto, Praxitele.
Non vidi, nee fas : sed ferro opus omne polimus.
Ferrum Gradivi Martis in arbitrio.
Qualera igitur domino scierant placuisse Cytheren,
Talem fecerunt ferrea ccela Deam."
VII. At Xupires re/Jievus tl \u(ieiv, oirep ovy(l Tretrelrai,
^rjTOVffai, ■ipv)(^t)y evpov 'AjOtoro^ttvovy.
(From the Life of Plato, subjoined to Diog. Lacirt. p. 58.5.)
Jacobs cites a sublime passage of Lactantius (De Falsa Reli-
gione, i. 20.) embodying the same thought — of the human breast
being the true temple of the Deity. " Firmius et incorruptius
304 NOTES.
templum est pectus humanum : hoc potius ornetur ; hoc veris
illis luminibus impleatur." The idea is every way worthy of
the divine philosopher to whom this Epigram is ascribed, and
who is recorded to have been an enthusiastic admirer of that
extraordinary man whose ribaldry and buffoonery were but the
cloak of his exalted genius.
VIII. Styarw Xacriov t^pva^wv Xeiras.
(Cod. Vat. 488. Steph. 335.)
The rural deity is here represented playing on his own pecu-
liar instrument, the syrinx. Lucretius is thought to have had
this Epigram in view when he wrote —
" Unco ssepe labro calamos percurrit hiantes.
Fistula sylvestrem ne cesset fundere musam ! " — iv. 592.
IX. Toj. Bpo^tov Sctrupoj'. (Cod. Vat.48S. Steph.339.)
This poem, of which there are many imitations among the
works of the later writers in the Anthology, may be supposed
to represent a scene in the interior of a Grecian garden — a spot
equally favoured by art and nature, like Shenstone's Leasowes,
or like Stour-head, where the following inscription, borrowed
from the Latin Anthology, and translated by Pope with peculiar
felicity, appears as an admirable adaptation of theGreek original.
"on the statue of a water-nymph in a grotto.
" Hujus nympha loci, sacri custodia fontis,
Dormio, dum blandfe sentio murmur aquse.
Parce meum, quisquis tangis cava marmora, somnum
Rumpere. Sive bibas, sive lavere, tace ! "
" Nymph of the grot, these sacred springs I keep.
And to the murmur of these waters sleep.
O spare my slumbers ! gently tread the cave !
Or drinh in silence, or in silence lave."
PLATO, 305
Well worthy of being compared with these is the following
poetical fancy of an old English poet, who probably knew no-
thing of Plato's Epigram.
" Come shepherds, follow me!
Run up apace the mountain !
See ! loe beside the fountain
Love laid to rest — how sweetly sleepeth he !
O take heed, come not nigh him !
But haste we hence, and fly him.
And, lovers, dance with gladness —
For, while Love sleeps, is truce with care and sadness."
(See Bland's Collections, p. 400.)
X. Alwu TTurra <j)epei. SoXix^us ^poyos oi^ev afieil^eiv
ovvof.i.a, Kcil jjLop(j)})v, Kcd (pvair, 7/oe Tvyr]r.
XI. Wiv6cir,v Kcipvr]v. (Cod. Vat. 358. Steph. 25.)
The subject of this Epigram forms the argument of Ovid's
Elegy, entitled " Nux"—
" Sponte mea facilis contemto nascor in agro,
Parsque loci, qua sto, publica poena via est — " &c.
XII. AoT»/f) Trpiv fiev e\(if.nr€s evi (loolcnv linos'
vvv ce davtoy Xi'tfjiTreis effirepos ev {pdlfievois.
So Apuleius —
" Lucifer ante mens rutilans mortalibus Aster,
Hesperus a fato manibus ecce nites."
And so Ausonius —
" Stella prius supcris fulgebas Lucifer : at nunc
Exstinctus, cassis lumine Vesper eris."
XIII. AaK-pvai^ikyEmlSr,. (Cod. Vat.222. Stci)h.28Gi'.)
- Diogenes Laertius relates that this was the inscription on the
monument of Dion, the patriot and deliverer of Syracuse. Ja-
306
NOTES.
cobs remarks, aptly enough, that the antithesis is neither very
obvious nor very just; and the warmth of expression with which,
in the concluding couplet, the poet speaks of the intensity of
his passion, is rather in the tone of a lover than of a friend, and
only to be justified by the enthusiasm which marked his cha-
racter. Apuleius (Apolog. 418.) gives the following version —
" Civibus ingenti in patria laudate jaces nunc.
Qui insanum me animi reddis amore, Dion ! "
The original is,
d> sf60» iHfiYjuxg ^vfcov 'i^uri Aiau.
Perhaps it should rather have been rendered above,
" But who the phrensy of my love can stay ? "
XIV. l^avrjyov Tcicpos elfii' 6 ^' avTiov eari yeojpyov.
(jjs aXi Kal yah] L,vi'6s vizear A'i^-qs.
See Petronius, where, after reckoning up the various kinds of
accidents to which human life is liable, both by sea and land, he
concludes — " Si bene calculum ponas, ubique naufragium est."
XV. Navjjyov jue UdopKas. (Cod. Vat. 246. Steph.245.)
XVI. 'AXffos c" ws cKOfierrda (oa6v(TKiou.
(Cod. Vat. post Tit. Steph. 3.32.)
" These lines may have been suggested either by the casual
circumstance of finding a child carelessly stretched after the fa-
tigue of archery under a tree, and sleeping, or by a statue placed
in a retired spot, to suprise those who might happen to pass that
way. I have preferred that interpretation which seems to me
most consonant with the general spirit of the Greek Epigram ;
and which appears to be justified by the occurrence of a similar
image in the Latin Anthology.
" ' Forte jacebat Amor, victus puer alite somno,
Myrti inter frutices, pallentis roris in herba.' " (Bland, p. 403.)
SPEUSIPPUS. ARISTOTLK. 307
And again —
"Lata coliors apium subito per rura jacentis
Labra favis texit, dulces fusura loquelas."
XVII. 'A KvTTpis Mo/<rfU(Tt.
(Cod. Vat. 364. Steph. 11. From Stobseus.)
SPEUSIPPUS. Page 108.
2(J^a i-iev €v koXttois KaTe')(^ei ro^e yala YlXaroivos'
ARISTOTLE. Page 109.
'A3' eyw d TKafxwv 'Apera irapa ruBe KaQr]fxaL
A'iavTOS rvfxj3o) Keipafxeva irXoKc'i^ovs,
Qvjiov fxyei yueyaXw i3ej3o\i}fiei'a, oiipeK A)(aio2s
a So\6(l>pu)v AnciTa Kp^rjaaov k^iov Ketcpirai,
The Parody of which, by Mnasalcus, (p. 113,) is as follows :
'Ao' eyw d rXafiwv 'Apera irapa. rrjSe KaBrjuat
'Yicovi] aleT^tarojs Ketpafieya irXoKUfiovs
dvfJLOv «X^' fieyaXo) fie(3oXr}jieva, eiirep aTcaaiv
a KUKOfpuyy Tepipis Kpeiaaov kyuiv KeKpirai.
The former of these Epigrams is amplified by Ausonius, in
that beginning —
" Ajacis tumulo pariter tegor obruta Virtus — "
The second is taken from Athenseus, lib. iv. p. 163, and praised
by Eustathius (ad Iliad. /3. 216). Its object is to expose the sen-
sual princijjles of the Cyrenaic sect of philosophers, of which
Cicero (De Finibus) — " Omnescjue simplices sententias eorum
308
NOTES.
in quibus nulla inest virtutis adjunctio, omnino a philosophia
semovendas putabo : primum Aristippi Cyrenaicorumque om-
nium ; quos non est veritum, in ea voluptate, quae maxime dul-
cedine sensum moveret, sunimum bonum ponere, comtemnentes
istani vacuitatem doloris."
MNASALCUS. Page 110.
I. 'AjuTTcX', eTreiTOL <pvX\a. (Cod. Vat. 590.)
Upon revision, we suspect a misconception of the meaning
of the original. The request to the vine is, merely, that it will
not be in such haste to shed its leaves on the bare earth, but
wait until the beautiful Antileon goes to rest himself under its
shade. Claudian has a similar image, (xxxi. 1.)
" Venus qusesitum frigore somnos
Vitibus intexti gremio successerat antri :
Densaque sidereos per gramina fuderat artus,
Acelinis florum cumulo. Crispatur opaca
Pampinus, et mites undatim ventilat avas."
II. 11(70 KciT j'lyciOeoy roc' avaKTopov, iltttI (paevpa.
(Cod. Vat. 163.)
III. 2oi i^er Ka/UTrvXa T6L,a, icai lo^eaipa (paperpa.
(Cod. Vat. 142. Steph. 442.)
I V . 'A aupiyL,, Ti rot wte Trajo' 'Acppoyeteiav upovctas ;
(Cod. Vat. 411. Steph. 3.)
" I do not sufficiently see," says Jacobs, " why the poet con-
siders this rustic instrument as so unworthy of Venus, seeing
that the far greater part of Bucolic poetry is of an amatory de-
scription. Perhaps there is some hidden meaning which we
cannot take upon ourselves to explain."
XOSSIS. AXYTE. 309
V. 'L-iZjxev aXippat'TOio Trapa ^dafiaXay ■)(^96i>a ttui'tov.
(Cod. Vat. 412.)
A I. OvK€Ti ci) TT-epvyeaai Xiyvcftdoyyonriv aeicreis.
(Cod. Vat. 235. Steph. 71.)
NOSSIS. Page 113.
I. 'Aciov vvcei' epwTOi. (Cod. Vat. 112.)
II. AiroyueXtj'j'a rerv/c-at. (Cod. Vat. 206.)
Printed by mistake as No. 2 — it is No. 7 — in Jacobs. The
term Avrofiiy^tuvcc is a true Graecism, which Jacobs renders
" Ipsissima Melinna." So Lucian, Av-oSxiaot.
III. Qvp.apeTas jiopcphv o TTiya^ e-^ei. (Cod. Vat. 460.)
" In hujus mulieris vultu nobilis quasdam superbia, cum sua-
vitate et amoenitate mixta, videbatur Haec tabula vel canem
fallat. Suavis imago." (Jacobs.)
IV. Kn« KUTTvpov yeXacras ■Kapnneil:}eo.
(Cod. Vat. 260. Steph. 208.)
Concerning this alleged inventor of mirthful tragedy, consult
Suidas and others.
ANYTE. Page 115.
I. KvTrpiSos uvTos 6 j^wpos. (Cod. Vat. 379. Steph. 56.)
Tnis epigram is thus inscribed in the Vat. MS. "On an Image
of Venus standing on the Sea-shore, and looking towards the
Sea."
From another by Posidippus we learn, that to Venus Zephy-
ritis, whose temple stood on the promontory Zephyrion, near
310 NOTES.
Alexandria, was ascribed the power of calming tlie sea, and
giving a prosperous navigation to sailors. So Love is termed
by Plato as " He who gives peace to man, and to the ocean
calm, who bids the winds to cease, and bestows rest on the
miserable" —
" Who sets the mind of man at peace.
Who smoothes the billows of the main.
Who bids the raging tempest cease.
And gives delicious rest to pain." m.
So also in an Epigram by Apollonides we find the following
couplet :
dip^ov VTre^ vurov kvxvsqv yeT^ufrcs-
Whence, it is more than probable, came the exquisite picture of
Venus by Lucretius —
" Te, Dea, te fugiant venti, te nubila coeli,
Adventumque tuum ; tibi rident eequora ponti."
And this leads us irresistibly to one more quotation, — the
TlovTiuv Zs xvfteiruu dvvi^idfiov yihuafioi,,
of iEschylus, — thus admirably rendered by Potter :
" Ye waves
That o'er th' interminable ocean wreathe
Your crisped smiles." (^sch. Prom.)
(See Bland, p. 410.)
Let us conclude with the invocation of the Mediterranean
seamen, which is remarkable as being at the same time perfect
Latin and perfect Italian, and which may, very probably, have
been addressed by their Roman ancestors to Venus with the
same fervour of devotion as now by themselves to the Virgin —
" In mare irato, in subita procella,
Invoco te, nostra benigna stella."
(See Forsyth's Italy.)
ANXTE. 31 1
II. I^ev iiiras vtto rdale latpvas evdaXea ^ii,\\o.
(Cod. A'at. 40S. Stej^h. 27.)
The present version is gladly substituted for the paraphrastic
one in the former edition.
III. Seiy VTTO tUv Trerpav. (Steph. 336.)
" In locum amoenura et subfrigidum." — Jacobs.
For the version here copied, we are indebted to the author of
the often -cited Article on Female Poetry in the Edinburgh Review.
IV. OvKeri ci) TzXiiiTOiaLV ayaWofxeyos TreXayefffny.
(Cod. Vat. 239.)
Compare the hymn of Arion,
V. 'Q,,K6fX€Q\ tJ MtXrjre, (plXr] Trorpi.
(Cod. Vat. 285. Steph. 263.)
Thus inscribed, " By Anyte the Mitylenasan on the Milesian
Virgins who suffered violence from the Gauls (or Galatians)."
This inscription might, from the equivocal sense of the term
(itxadiidcti, lead to a false conclusion, unless corrected by the
historical fact, or tradition, as given by St. Jerome (lib. i. ad-
vers. Jovian, p. 186.) — " Quis valeat silentio prseterirc septem
Milesias virgines, quae, Gallorum impetu cuncta vastante, ne quid
indecens ah hostibus sustinerent, turpitudinem morte fugerunt."
The number seven is reduced to three in this Epigram of a con-
temporary, who was likely to be acquainted with the fact.
VI. Aoiadia ci} race Trarpt (piXu).
(Cod. Vat. 309. Steph. 288.")
VII. IloWaKt r^c 6Xo(pvhya.
(Cod. Vat. 257. Steph. 288.")
" Moris erat, mortui nomen repetita voce pronuntiare, ut si
fieri posset, vocantium voce audita, in vitam rediret. Hoc erat
conclamare."
312 NOTES.
So in the Odyssey, ix. 65.
■7r(iiu Ttv» rav ^itT^av irecpuu Tgij f^acTov xvaxi'
and in the yEneid III. 68.
" Animamque sepulcro
Condimus, et magna supremum voce cieraus."
VIII. HapOerov Ayrljoiai' Kara^vpofini.
(Cod. Vat. 185. Steph. 263.)
We here also gladly substitute a far closer version in the room
of that in the former edition, which received a merited castiga-
tion by the author of a review in the Museum Criticum ascribed
to Bishop Blomfield ; trusting that the Right Reverend critic —
if indeed it was himself to whom we are indebted for it — will
pardon us for not inserting the specimen, which he proposes as
an example of literal translation, for the reason of no less than
four instances, occurring in so many lines, of departure from the
sense of the original ; as, first, the total omission of the word
'TTXQ^iuou, — that on which the whole distinctive force of the
thought depends ; secondly, the metaphorical word " gate "
being placed in the room of the vital expression do/aov ; thirdly,
the use of the vague and hyperbolical term "unnumbered" in-
stead of the modest and probable ttoT^'Koi, as ascribed to the
Virgin's suitors ; and, fourthly, the epithet " wise " used as
synonymous with -n-ivvrx., (in the original, 'Trivvrocrog,) which,
with great submission, we venture to think applicable rather to
the intellectual than the moral qualities of the person to whom
it is attributed. Our apology for this piece of counter-criticism,
which might else appear trifling, must be found in our wish to
show the real difficulties of the task undertaken by a translator,
especially of Greek Epigrams.
MYRO. SIMMIAS OF RHODES. 313
MYRO. Page 118.
I. Ketaai h) )(pv(Teav vko Traoraca rav 'Acppohiras.
(Cod. Vat. 162.)
II. l^ivufni 'Afia^pvales, Trorafiov Kopai.
(Cod. Vat. 174. Stepli. 411.)
" N}Tnphis precatur, ut Cleonymofaveant, qui ipsis simulacra
sub pinu ponenda curaverit." (Jacobs.) The Hamadryads are
called 7roT5<,Mot/ y.oocn on account of the trees standing on the
margin of rivers and fed by their waters.
SIMMIAS OF RHODES. Page 120.
TrjXvyeTtjy c' a(pi'ei6y Yirepf^cpiojy aya ^rjfioy.
In this remarkable fragment, preserved by Tzetzes (Chil. vii.
690.), Apollo is supposed to be himself speaking, whose wor-
ship was observed with peculiar honour by the Hyperborean
nations. Concerning the Massagetse, consult Herodotus i. 215.
What river is intended by the name KctfiTrdtaos seems to be
doubtful. Of the Cynoscephali, Ctesias has written diflFusely.
Our Translator defends the assertion that
" Much foreign tongues they learn and can indite,"
by the expression in the concluding couplet which seems to im-
ply that, although they barked like dogs, there was no language
spoken by mortals which they were not capable of under-
standing —
TZu fiiV .^' COTTl X.VVUV v7\0e.KYi Vi'Kli, ovdi 71 Tt^yi
314 NOTES.
ASCLEPIADES. Page 121.
I. AvTov fioL aT€(j)avoL. (Cod. Vat. 108. Steph. 472.)
" These," says Jacobs, " are the words of a lover, who sus-
pends a garland besprinkled with tears at the gate of his mis-
tress." There seems no necessity to explain the allusion further
or to multiply instances in illustration of a very obvious custom.
II. OvK eljj.' ohS' erecjy Svo k e'itcocri' (Cod. Vat. 575.)
The poet here imagines the Loves to be playing at dice {xar^u-
y«>vo;f), and so intent on their game as to care little what may
become of their victim.
III. IITj'' ^AffKKrjTTiaor}' ri to. cdi^pva ravra ; ri Tzaayjets'
(Cod. Vat. 576.)
In the former edition, the fifth and sixth verses ran thus —
" the day —
The day 's our signal — drink thy cares away !"
The expression in the original is SaJCTtiTioj due — the same that
is used by Alcseus in a fragment already before us, in observing
on which it has been noticed, that the true interpretation appears
to be that which is now substituted.
IV. Toi/6' 6 TL fxoL \onTov xpv^rjs, b rt cj'y ttot, 'Epwres.
(Cod. Vat. 594.)
Compare Propertius (lib. ii. El, vii. 75.)
" Tela, precor, pueri, promite acuta magis,
Figite, certantes, atque hanc mihi solvite vitam :
Sanguis erit vobis maxima palma meus."
V. Nu^, ffe yap, ovk aXX»j)^ fxupTvpofiai, (Cod, Vat, 111 .)
So Ovid, (Ars Amat. iii. 69.) —
ASCLEPIADES. 315
" Tempus erit, quo tu, quee nunc excludis amantem,
Frigida deserta nocte jacebis anus."
For a further illustration, read the tale of the Student In
Boccaccio.
VI. 'llSu depos Bfij/uiyTi j(iw»^ Troror. (Cod. Vat. 1 11 .
Steph. 487.)
We are here bidden to compare the artful speech in which
Clytsemnestra is made to anticipate the return of her lord ;
when, instead of modestly awaiting his arrival, as the retiring
simplicity of ancient manners would have required of her, she
ostentatiously leads forth the Chorus to meet him, and thereby
betrays the real purpose of her soul. " Welcome," she says, —
" Welcome as land, which the tost mariner
Beyond his hope descries — Welcome as day
After a night of storms, with fairer beam
Returning — Welcome as the liquid lapse
Of fountain to the thirsty traveller !"
(Potter's J^schylus.)
WTio can fail to be struck by the resemblance to Lady Mac-
beth at the approach of Duncan, and by the coincidence of
thought between two such accurate observers of human nature
as the two great tragedians of Athens and England !
" See, see ! our honour'd hostess !
The love that follows us, sometime is our trouble.
Which still we thank as love."
VII. *e% Trapderiris- (Cod. Vat. 100. Steph. 486.)
VIII. Tw daWel ^icufirj fxt avvYipiratrev. (Cod. Vat.
119. Steph. 452.)
" In Didymen, fuscara puellam, cujus amore poeta flagrabat."
(Jacobs.)
p 2
316 notp:s.
IX. N7(^e, xo>'a^o/3oXet. (Cod. Vat. 97. Steph. 473.)
On his way to join a party of revellers, the poet is assailed
by a furious tempest, on which occasion he thus blasphemously
apostrophizes Jupiter. The Epigram was possibly intended
as a parody on a passage in the Prometheus, (v. 1000.)
" Not all his tortures, all his arts, shall move me
T' unlock my lips till this curs'd chain be loos'd.
No — let him hurl his flaming lightnings, wing
His whitening snows, and with his thunders shake
The rocking earth — they move me not to say
What force shall wrest the sceptre from his hand."
(Potter's ^schylus.)
X. Kv7rpi?os ah' eIkwp' (pep' i^w^efla ju)) Bepe«»Kr?j.
EiaTai^u) TTOTepa (prj ris ofioiorepai'. (Steph. 298.)
" Elegans epigramma et urbanum." — Jacobs.
XL Ki/dl Medr] TO yXv^ifjia (Tuf!]s xepos. (Cod. Vat. 479.
Steph. 350.)
That Ebriety — Mid/i — was a personified nymph, or goddess,
we have the authority of Pausanias, who describes her as a
picture, the work of Pausias, at Epidaurus, and as a statue, in
the temple of Silenus at Elis. The property of the amethyst
was purity, or temperance ; and the opportunity is selected of
paying a skilful compliment to Cleopatra, the sister of Ptolemy
Philadelphus.
XII. Aurai TTOi/xau'ojTa. (Cod. Vat. 367. Steph. 368.)
Asclepiades seems to have founded this Epigram on a passage
in Hesiod's own Theogony.
iuivuivatx.v "hi [^01 ccllioiv
hiYiv, udTS Kkvotf^i rot, r laaofituot,, 'ttqo t iouroe,
X,xi f^i X,ihOV& Vy>VitV fiXKOi^UV yiUOS U-liV iOUTUU.
LEONIDAS. 317
LEONIDAS. Paffe 127.
'b^
I. M/j\w Kcu ^arvpa raj'vt'jXitces. (Cod. Vat. 118.)
Antigenides appears to have been the name of more than one
famous flute-player. The first and most celebrated was one
of whom Aulus Gellius relates that Pericles employed him to
teach Alcibiades music ; who was still living in the time of Epa-
minondas, and present at the marriage of Iphicrates with the
daughter of Cotys — (Anaxandrides apad Athen. iv. 131.) Plu-
tarch relates of another Antigenides, what Dryden has attri-
buted to Timotheus, in his Ode on St. Cecilia's Day ; and it is
not perhaps inconsistent with chronology to suppose, that the
daughters of Alexander's Antigenides might have been retiring
from ofBce in the time of Leonidas. The double duty of play-
ing the flute and regulating the dance at banquets appears to
have been frequently performed by these female minstrels ; as
in the following lines of a poem ascribed to Virgil : —
" Copa Syrisca, caput Graia redimita mitella,
Crispum sub crotalo docta movere latus,
Ebria fumoso saltat lasciva taberna.
Ad cubitum raucos excutiens calamos."
II. AiVcuyua Kal t&puy/jjs. (Cod. Vat. 195.)
The region watered by the Meander was peculiarly subject
to subterranean fires, as indicated by the epithet ttv^ikxIso;.
(See Strabo xii.)
III. I^vaypei XayoOrjpa. (Cod. Vat. 413.)
The thought of this spirited Epigram has been followed by,
Propertius, (lib. iii. El. xi. 41.)
" Dique, deseque oranes, quibus est tutela par agros,
Me, Pana tibi comitem de rupe vocato,
Sive petas calamo pra;mia, sive cane."
318 NOTES.
The scenery is well selected for the sports of the Fowler, — a
deep recess between the two summits of a mountain. " Gla-
bros montium apices non quserunt aucupes, ubi calamos suos
struant, sed in umbrosis locis, et ad aquse rivos capturam esse
sciunt." (Brunck.)
IV. Ot rpiffffoi Toi ravTa ra Siktvci dfJKuy ofiaiuot. (Cod.
Vat. 142. Steph. 431.)
This version, which appeared in the former edition, was con-
demned by some of the critics on account of the worthlessness
of the original ; notwithstanding which it is here retained, since,
however insignificant it may seem to the English reader, it was
thought worthy of imitation by various successive writers, who,
says Jacobs, " hoc argumentum usque ad fastidium repetive-
runt." It may here be observed that few poets have been so
often and so servilely copied as Leonidas — a convincing testi-
mony to the degree of his merit in the eyes of those who could
best appreciate it.
V. Tovs dvpeovs 6 MoXoirabs 'Irwr/Ct Bwpoy 'Afl//)'^.
(Cod. Vat. 1 65 . Steph. 443 .)
It has been before stated that the genuineness of this inscrip-
tion is doubted, and consequently that any chronological infe-
rence to be drawn from it is extremely uncertain. The temple
of Itonian Minerva in which these spoils were suspended,
was, according to the testimony of Pausanias, situate between
Pherse and Larissa.
VI. 'i^ Tcir^e (TTelxoyres arapirirop. (Cod. Vat. 409.
Steph. 56.)
" Mercurius in eadem ara cum Hercule positus, de assessoris
sui iniquitate conqueritur, quod quae utrique fuissent apposita,
solus devorare soleat." The juxta-position of the statues of
LEONIDAS. 319
these two rival deities afforded abundant cause of mirth to the
irreverent vulgar, of which this is doubtless a specimen. Jacobs
has a long and learned note on the subject, which amounts to
no more than this. Something like a parallel may be found in
the dispute between Trinculo and Stephano, the two kings of
the island, or in the kicks and cuffs of the rival clowns in a
pantomime.
VII. 'AypoyofiMradeUaul. (Cod. Vat. 167. Steph. 420.)
The offerings of the Greeks to their rural deities seem to
have partaken of the same pure and primitive simplicity as that
which, by the institutes of Menu, characterized the Hindoo
sacrifices. " The divine manes are always pleased with obla-
tions in empty glades, naturally clean, on the banks of rivers,
and in solitary spots." So Southey, in his Kehama —
" And here did Kailyal, each returning day.
Pour forth libations from the brook, to pay
The spirits of her sires the grateful rite :
In such libations, pour'd in open glades.
Beside clear streams, in solitary shades.
The spirits of the virtuous dead delight."
VIII. AvXlu Kul ^vfifeojv lepos izdyos. (Cod, Vat. 203.
Steph. 4.)
IX. llpetriivv WvuKpe'iovTa. (Steph. 367.)
This Epigram, and that which immediately follows it in
Brunck's collection, were composed on a statue of the poet
placed in the citadel of Athens. They have the merit, at least,
of a very lively portraiture. The permitting a robe to dangle
over the heels of the wearer was esteemed one of the most un-
equivocal tokens of ebriety.
320 NOTES,
X. M/) (TV y en'' olovufioio. (Steph. 336.)
" The merit of these lines consists wholly in their descriptiv
character. We are pleased with anything in poetry, however
trifling, which lays before us a clear and distinct image of na-
ture. Thus Pope, in one of his pastorals —
" I'll stake yon lamb, that near the fountain plays.
And from the brink his dancing shade surveys."
But in a hot and thirsty region of the earth, a wholesome
spring of water is an inestimable pleasure ; and an inscription
merely guiding the traveller or wandering shepherd to so wel-
come a spot, must have been a work of extensive public utility."
(Bland.)
XI. Tcu' €K<f)vyovffav juorpos €k koXttojv erC (Cod. Vat.
in princ. Stejih. 326.)
These verses, said by mistake to have been inscribed on the
statue, are evidently descriptive of a picture of the goddess —
the celebrated work of Apelles, which Augustus purchased of
the people of Cos, and placed in the temple of Venus Genetrix,
(Pliny, XXXV. 36.) There would be no end of comparisons be-
tween this and the many similar effusions of ancient poetry de-
voted to the same alluring object.
XII. OvK eficiradTaXclfvpa' (Cod. Vat. 410. Steph. 3.)
Compare the Anthologia Latina, ii. 231.
" Grandia qui exiguis deducit facta figuris.
Ad Venerem abeat ; nos tuba sreva juvat.
Sanguine quae rubeant Gradivum carmina placent."
XIII. Tiiv ixLKpjjv ixeXiyovai' (Cod. Vat. 374. Steph. 80.)
" Parvum navigium, deorum praesidio et favore tutum, magnas
se naves eequare ait," (Jacobs.)
LEOMDAS. 321
XIV. 'Aorpa fi€P I'jfiavpiotre. (Cod. Vat. 362. Steph. 90.)
XV. TLlire ttok' 'EvpwTas iroTTav Kvirpiv. (Cod. Vat. 410.
Steph. 57.)
The commentators are not agreed as to the trae application or
meaning of this Epigram, which, on the face of it, appears to
be the vindication of the people of Sparta from a charge of
clothing the statue of Venus which adorned their city in martial
habiliments. Plutarch relates, as a Spartan tradition, that the
goddess, on crossing the Eurotas, exchanged her cestus for
the sword and spear before she went to visit Lycurgus. This
is an obvious and not an inelegant allegory ; and it is, per-
haps, by way of corollary, that the poet, in the present instance,
means to pass a censure on those who, in their condemnation of
the severity of Spartan discipline, made use of this popular le-
gend as implying that their institutions were hostile to the
graces and pleasures of social life — a charge which he sportively
denies to be true.
XVI. M/") (j^delpev <1) 'vBpwTze. (Cod. Vat. 324.)
The sentiment of these verses is rather freely transposed, than
literally rendered, from the original. It would be no unpleasing
task to collect the many passages of ancient and modern poetry
which tend to illustrate that most natural and disinterested of
all human passions and propensities, local attachment — a feel-
ing, the influence of which alike tends to soften the character of
the patriot, and to ennoble that of the voluptuary. We must
not here indulge in any length of quotation, but maybe excused
the insertion from the former edition, p. 141, of the following
examples from Catullus and Ovid, in aid of our remark.
" O quid solutis est beatius curis !"
" What blessedness hath heaven on man bestow'd.
Pure as the hour when care and sorrow cease,
p 5
322 NOTES.
"When the freed soul shakes off her weary load.
And faint and tired, strangers to home and peace.
With lingering toil in foreign land opprest.
At length Ave sink again, in sweetest rest.
On our accustom 'd bed, so oft in vain
Remember'd, and so oft in vain desired.
When, by our native air again inspired,
A soft oblivion steals o'er all our pain !" m.
" Non haec in nostris, ut quondam, scribimus hortis."
" I write not now as in those happier hours.
When pleasure wooed me in her Latian bowers.
When night descending shrouded o'er my head.
Laid in sweet sleep on my accustom'd bed." m.
" Tam procul, ignotis igitur moriemur in oris ?"
" Forgotten and alone your bard shall die
On distant shores, beneath a foreign sky ;
And his last wretched hour of parting breath
Be made more fearful by his place of death.
On the accustom'd bed he shall not lay
His languid limbs, and gently die away.
While weeping friends attend his life's sad close.
And smooth the pillow for his long repose !" m.
Among the Italian poets, Flaminius has described the same
feeling, in a little poem addressed to his father.
" Venuste agelle, tuque pulcra villula."
" Dear fields, and thou delightful seat.
My honour'd parent's loved retreat.
Again your haunts shall I explore.
Again my feet shall wander o'er
The winding paths his taste has plann'd.
And forests planted by his hand !
LEOMDAS. 323
Again, upon the well-known bed.
My native air shall fan my head.
And gentlest sleep bring imag'd joys
That will not vanish when I rise.
Bright streams of Albula rejoice.
And murmur with a clearer voice !
His much-Iov'd son in joy returns.
To bless the tribute of your urns.
And from his oaten pipe to pour
Soft strains along your mazy shore." m.
XVII. 'O ttXoos (ItpaTos. (Cod. Vat. 489. Steph. 75.)
This alluring subject, so natural to the imagination of a Gre-
cian poet, was eagerly seized by many writers subsequent to
Leonidas ; each of whom, besides varying the expressions of
his predecessor, added some natural image to those already pre-
sented. The translator's object, in the second of the two pieces
here exhibited, has been to throw together all the most striking
circumstances in the several successive poems of Antipater, Ar-
gentarius, Archias, Paul, and Agathias. (Bland's Collections,
p. 377.)
XVIII. 'Ai^eu) XvTrripe ^crjKore.
(Cod. Vat. 217. Steph. 284.)
" Praeclarum epigramma," says Jacobs, " quo Diogenes ad
Charontcm verba faciens inducitur." Compare Ovid, Heroid.
ii. 68.—
" Non ego sum classi sarcina magna tuse."
XIX. Oh fxovoy v'^rfKols vtto ceicpecriy,
(Cod.Vat.163. Steph. 437.)
" Cicada gloriatur quod in Palladis hasta collocata sit."
We have here again an allusion to Minerva as inventress of
the " odious flute." See before, "Melanippides."
324 NOTES.
XX. 'Evdvfxos uiv epeffcre t))v e7r'"A(2os
'ArapTrbv epirwy' ov yap eart hvafiaros,
OvZk aKuXjjros, ov^eros nXews irXayrfs,
'ISeia 0)7 /ictXiora, (cat KaTaK\ivt)s
" Airaaa, KijKjxefxvKOTiov oceverai. (Stobaeus.)
which Grotius has rendered thus —
" Ad inferorum regna deducens iter
Securus intra : quippe non concsedibus,
Non tortuosis impedita anfractibus,
Sed tota recta, tota declivis via est,
Et inveniri prona vel cseco gradu." (p. 493.)
XXI. Aura em KprjdcJios cyw Xidos.
(Cod. Vat. 324. Stepli. 216.)
" In Crethonis olim divitis et beati tumulum." (Jacobs.)
Compare Ovid. xii. 615.
" Jam cinis est, et de tam magno restat Achille
Nescio quid, parvam quod non bene compleat urnara."
And Shakspeare (Henry IV.)
" When that this body did contain a spirit,
A kingdom for it was too small a bound ;
But now two paces of the vilest earth
Is room enough."
See also Pliny, H. N. ii. 68.
XXII. Tis, Tii'os ovcra, yvvai, IIapir]y viro dova Ketaai ;
(Cod. Vat. 230. Steph. 223.)
This is given merely as a specimen of a form of epitaph not
unusual among the Greek inscriptions — that by question and
answer.
LEON IDAS. 325
XXIII. iE^elve ^vpaKoaios toi arijp.
(Cod. Vat. 311. Steph. 517.)
This has been usually printed among the Epigrams of Theo-
critus. The Vat. MS. ascribes it to Leonidas. Martial has
somewhat amplified the thought suggested by a similar occa-
sion, lib. xi. Ep. 83.
. " A Sinuessanis conviva Philostratus undis
Conductum repetens nocte jubente larem.
Poena imitatus obit ssevis Elpenora fatis,
Prseceps per longos dum ruit usque gradus.
Non esset, Nymphae, tam magna pericula passus.
Si potius vestras ille bibisset aquas."
XXIV. Nauj/yos yKavKoio <pvyu)v Tpircji'os aneiXas,
(Cod. Vat. 294. Steph. 250.)
This is merely an exemplification of the proverb,
" Incidit in Scyllam cupiens vitare Charybdin."
XXV. 'Arpe/ia rur rvj^ijooy Trapa^ef/jere.
(Cod. Vat. 267. Steph. 272.)
" The reputation of Hipponax principally rests on a copy of
verses, which he is recorded to have composed in revenge for an
insult offered him by two unhappy sculptors, who had ridiculed
the shortness of his stature and the deformity of his person. It
is further related by some ancient authors, although denied by
Pliny, that the severity of his retort so stung the miserable cul-
prits as to drive them (like the daughters of Lycambes,) to the
commission of suicide ; and Bayle has made this story the foun-
dation of a long and instructive note, to illustrate his position
that " il ne seroit ni le premier, ni le seul, qui auroit fait raourir
des gens par des invectives." (See Bland's Coll. p. 335.)
326 NOTES.
XXVI. TloifJLeyes, v7 tuvttjv opeos pnx"' oiOTroXeXre.
(Cod. Vat. 3 1 1 . Steph. 283^)
" Pastor Clitagoras sibi ab aliis pastoribus inferias fieri optat."
(Jacobs.)
This pastoral Epigram forcibly suggests a comparison with
" Fair Fidele's grassy tomb."
XXVII. 'A helX 'ArrlKXets'
(Cod. Vat. 280. Steph. 287^)
" Matris quereliie de filio immatura morte vita erepto. Veri
affectus plenum carmen." (Jacobs.)
XXVIII. IIoWov ott' 'IraXtTjs Kelfxai •yQovos.
(Cod. Vat. 320. Steph. 282.)
" Tlie dread of exile is greater among all nations, in proportion
to the sentiments of patriotism which the spirit of laws and go-
vernment is calculated to encourage. Among the Greeks it was
excessive : it aggravated the fear of death, and deepened the hor-
ror of the grave. Nor was the impression confined to the idea of
dying in a foreign land, in w^hich many among ourselves would
sympathize Avith them, but it extended to many of their rites
and ceremonies, and their daily customs. A sacrifice in a foreign
city, and an unaccustomed temple, was not attended by half the
beneficial consequences, not rewarded with half the divine favour
which was bestowed in recompense of those pious cares and at-
tentions at their own homes.
"Jocasta, in Euripides, speaks with horror of the marriage of
her son at Argos. In a dialogue which afterwards takes place
between her and that son, when he has returned in disguise to
his native city, she strives to console him under the necessary
NICfAS. 327
evil of banishment. She tells him that hope is ever present to
the mind of the exile :
A/ 0' sAtt/Sjj ^6<fx,ovffi <pvy»bxt; ug Xoyof-
To which he answers, in a tone of most natural pathos,
K«e7to<V Qj^iTroviTiu Ufii^xcri!>' ^AXhwai Se."
(Bland's Coll. p. 340.)
NICIAS. Page 141.
I. 'I^ev W alyeipoKTiv. (Cod. Vat. 409. Steph. 364.)
The nymph of the fountain by the side of which Simus had
erected a monument to his child is supposed to utter this address
to the passer-by. ITie spot appears to have been selected on ac-
count of the shade of trees which surrounded it, and which ren-
dered it a favourite resort of travellers. Such places were fre-
quently selected by the ancients for the purpose of interment.
Thus Daphnis in Virgil (Eel. v. 40.)
" Spargite humum foliis, inducite fontibus umbras,
Pastores : mandat fieri sibi talia Daphnis.
Et tumulura facite, et tumulo superaddite carmen."
II. A'ioXe, yf-iepcdaXes eap (pnivovaa, fueXlaffa,
^ov6a, e^' lopaiois ui'de^i fiaivoixira,
yQpov t0' i^cvirroov Trwrw^ei'a, epya TiOetrao,
CKppu reos nXijOi] (C//po7ray>)s daXafxos.
III. OvKeri 3») rafvcfivXXoy vtto TrXa/ca KXo)r<)s eXi^Oets
repypon', airo paCivuii' (pduyyoy lels irrepvywi'.
^e7p« yap els apeav vrai^us irecTOP, as jxe XuOpaiujs
jjupypei', tTTt yXoepuiv li^ofxeroy TreraXwy.
328 NOTES.
DIOTIMUS. Page 143.
I. TpaTa, <j)l\rj dpewTeipa, tI /.lov Trpoaiovros vXaKreis ;
(Cod. Vat. 102. Steph. 483.)
"AccEDENTEM amantem vetula allatrat ; id quod ejus dolores
vehementer accendit." (Jacobs.)
"Pray, Goody, please to moderate the rancour of your tongue! "
(Midas.)
II. At vomnoL Suo ypijes ofui'iXtKes rji-ier.
(Cod. Vat. 323. Reiske.)
Tliis Epigram serves to illustrate a point which appears to be
contrary to the generally received opinion, namely, that a priest-
ess of Ceres might be a married woman and a mother. The
fact which it records is remarkable ; and it affords a pleasing
instance of familiar sentiment.
III. 'EXTTt'^es aydpojTTWP, eXafpai deal.
(Cod. Vat. 270. Steph. 208.)
" In tumulum Lesbi, tibicinis et gratiosi olim hominis. ' Nisi
levissimse essetis, Orcus Lesbum non sic rapuisset.' Hinc colligi
debet, Lesbum in medio vitse curriculo concidisse, multa ei spe,
quam animo conceperat, inopinata morte prsecisa." (Jacobs.)
ARATUS. Page 146.
I. Alai^u) AioTifiov, OS fv Trerpatffi KciOtjrai,
Tapyapewy Traial Hfjia kuI 'A\(pa Xeyuiv.
HEGESIPPUS. EUPHORION. 329
HEGESIPPUS. Page 147.
I. AcsOi fi HpaicXeis, 'Ap-^^^ecrrparov lepov vTrXof.
(Cod. Vat. 172. Reiske.)
II. TaV^e irapa rpio^ots rav" Aprefiiv 'AyeXd)(^eta.
(Cod. Vat. 192. Reiske.)
It seems to admit of a question, whether this refers to the dedi-
cation of a statue, or merely to the investment of a robe, in
token of recognition of the Deity who had deigned to appear to
her votary in a flash of light.
III. Tnv kivX TTvpKaiiis. (Cod.Vat. 293. Steph. 193.)
" In Virum bonum Aristonoiim " — Jacobs ; to which the
commentator adds, that this Epigram presents a single instance,
within the compass of his investigations, of the supposition of
two roads to the infernal regions, — one on the right hand, for
the descent of the good ; the other on the left, for that of the
wicked.
EUPHORION. Page 148.
I. npwras biriruT eire^e KnXas Ey^osos edet'pas.
(Cod.Vat. 194. Reiske.)
The custom here alluded to is that of the consecration, by
young men just entering into life, of their hair to Apollo,
II. Ov Tprjjfjis Xidialos ctt' vtrrea cctva KaXinrrei.
(Cod.Vat. 310. Reiske.)
" Scriptum in cenotaphium naufragi in Dryopum agro ex-
atructum." (Jacobs.) The unfortunate subject of this inscrip-
ion had, it seems, suffered shipwreck in the Icarian Sea near
the notorious promontory of Drepanus,
330 NOTES.
PHAENNUS. Page 149.
I. OvK erXas & 'piare Aewv/^a.
(Cod. Vat. 274. " Steph. 202.)
PAMPHILUS. Page 150.
I. TiTrre Trarr/juepios, Uapciovl Ka^nope Kovpa
fxvpofieva KeXace'is TpavXa Bia (ttoholtidv ;
r]TOL Uapdei'ias Trodos 'Iketo, rdv tol aTrr]vpa
QprjiKios Trjpevs aha (Sitjcdnevos ;
This Epigram is here printed entire, in order to correct a mis-
take into which the Translator was led by Jacobs, who explains
it by saying, "Hirundinem poeta querularum causam rogat ; "
when it is evident, from the context, that Philomela (the night-
ingale) and not her sister Progne, is the mythological personage
here addressed. Both were Pandion's daughters ; but it was
the former who suffered violence from Tereus. So Grotius —
" An te quam rapuit Thracis violentia Terei,
Amissus stimulat virginitatis honos ? "
PANCRATES. Page 151.
I. KXetous al ^vo Traldes 'ApLffTOOtKrj kcu " AjxeLVW.
(Cod. Vat. 206. Reiske.)
" Clio, Dianse seditua, filiarum suarum imagines in templo de-
dicat, precibus pro earum incolumitate adjectis." — Jacobs; who
adds, that we have here an instance of a married priestess of
Diana, as before of Ceres. Reiske imagines that the girls them-
ANTAGORAS. PH^DIMUS. 331
selves, and not merely images of them, were thie subjects of de-
dication,
II. 'Ek 7rvp6s 6 i^alarijp. (Cod. Vat. 163. Steph. 447.)
The Blacksmith needs no commentary. He is introduced only
for the sake of varietj'.
ANTAGORAS. Page 152.
I. Mvt'inaTi T(S?e KpaVjjra deov^ea Kai TloXe^uwja.
(Cod. Vat. 222. Steph. 526.)
"ScRtPTUM est in Cratetem et Polemonem philosophos, qui,
cum in magna familiaritate vixissent, eodem tumulo conditi
sunt." (Jacobs.) They were, what Horace describes himself to
be, while following the dictates of the Stoics —
" Virtutis verse custos, rigidusque satelles."
" As the tempest drives, I shape my way ;
Now Virtue's precepts rigidly defend.
Nor to the world — the world to me shall bend." (Epist. i.)
II. 'Ey coi^ fioi dvjjos. (Diog. Laert. iv. 26.)
PH^DIMUS. Page 153.
I. Tolov fxev w TiyavTos (oXetras adevos
'iffxe ftit]s, €Kdepy "AiroXKoy. (Cod. Vat. 611.)
" Apollinem poeta precatur, ut Melistionem patriae et virtutis
amore incendat." (Jacobs.) The poet ascribes to the far-darting
God of Day a double set of arrows ; the first for the destruction
of men and beasts of prey, the other for inciting the breasts of
youth to virtuous and heroic actions — " ilia) timcnda; et pesti-
332 NOTES.
ferae, hse exoptandae et salutiferse." " Agitur autem hoc loco de
sancta ilia poederastia, in qua Lacedsemonii, Cretenses, Thebani
virtutis et victorias cardinem verti arbitrabantur." Melistio
was, it seems, a youth of Boeotia, who had probably been ad-
mitted a member of the Sacred Cohort.
HERMODORUS. Page 154.
I. Tav KrjEiav Kvdepetap t^wj-, ^ere, rovro Key eiTrois'
avra ical dvarwv cipxe k'ai adardrcji'.
Tciv 3' ei't KeKpOTTidcus dopvOapaea UuWdda Xevffawy,
avBdireis' ovtws JjovkvXos ?))' u Ildpis,
THEOCRITUS. Page 155.
For the reason already expressed with regard to Anacreon,
namely, the multitude of translations and commentaries already
existing, and in the hands, or within the reach, of every class o
readers, no notes are here appended to the specimens in the tex
of Theocritus, Bion and Moschus. With respect to the two last-
named poets, however, the present opportunity is gladly em-
braced of drawing attention to a small volume of Translations,
published in the year 1825, comprising, together Avith all the
Idyls and other extant poems of Bion and Moschus, the fable of
Narcissus and Rape of Proserpine by Ovid, and the Pervigilium
Veneris of Catullus, and illustrated by a preface and notes of
great classical merit. The author, whose name is not announced
in the title-page, is understood to have been the late Mr. Charles
Dickson of Montrose.
If this volume had been sooner known to the Editor of the
present Collection, he would have taken the liberty of availing
THEOCRITUS. 333
himself of some of its contents, as he now does of the following
Italian imitation of the Eighth Idyl of Bion, given by the
Translator, as cited by M. Longepierre :
" Vaga, amorosa stella,
A cui null' altra pari in ciel risplende,
Ne si leggiadra il suo bel lume accende,
Mentre ch' al sen della mia donna torno
AI soave ricetto
Scorgendomi ti mostra fida duce ! "
and as he does also of the version byTasso of the First of Mos-
chus, entitled " Amore Fugitivo :" —
"Ditemi, ov'e'l mio figlio?
Chi di vol me 1' insegna,
Vo, che, per guiderdone.
Da queste labbra prenda
Un bacio quanto posso
Conderlo piii soave :
Ma chi me '1 riconduce
Dal volontario esilio,
Altro premio n' attenda !"
and by Guarini, of the fable of Alpheus and Arethusa, which
forms the subject of the Seventh Idyl of the same poet : —
" Se per antica e forse
Da voi negletta e non creduta fama,
Avete mai d'innamorato fiunie
Le maraviglie udite, "-
Che per seguir 1' onde fugace e schiva
Deir amata Aretusa,
Corse (o forza d' Amor !) le piu profonde
Viscere della terra
E del mar — quel son io ! "
334 NOTES.
NIC^NETUS. Page 171.
I. OvK edeXo), ^i\60)]pe, Kara vroktv. (Steph. 523.)
From Athenseus, lib. xv. 673. It might sei-ve for an inscription
on any of Watteau's pictures, or on a representation of the feast
at Camacho's wedding. The favourite abode of Juno was in the
island of Samos, where was also her most ancient temple, and
which must therefore be regarded as the scene of this piece.
II. OTpos TOi ')(apievTL TreXei ra^^vs 'iinros aoi^w.
(Cod. Vat. 613. Steph. 83.)
Horace also alludes to the favourite precept of this jovial phi-
losopher, when he says,
" Prisco si credis, Mecsenas docte, Cratino,
Nulla placere diu nee vivere carmina possunt,
Quee scribuntur aquae potoribus."
" To old Cratinus if you credit give.
No water-drinker's verses long shall live."
Aristophanes, it is well known, acquaints us that he died of
vexation at seeing a jar of good wine broken. Of course we
must presume that he had no money to lay in a fresh stock.
ALEXANDER ^TOLUS. Page 173.
I. 2a'pSiej, cip-^alos Trarkpwv vofios.
(Cod. Vat. 319. Reiske.)
See our account of Alcman, the reputed Father of Amatory
Poetry, before, p. 39.
CALLIMACHUS. 335
CALLIMACHUS. Page 174.
The translations of this poet by Dodd and by Tytler, are neither
of them perhaps so generally known as to justify a reference to
them as superseding the necessity of any further illustration.
But, on the other hand, the Works of Callimachus form part of
the library of every scholar ; and it is therefore altogether su-
perfluous to refer to the original of each Epigram, by citing its
first words, and noting its place in the Vatican MS. or in the
Planudean Collection. The subjects also are such as to stand
little in need of illustration. The First ('H,«/o-y //.iv \pvxiis in
TO -TTviov') claims our regard, no less for the exquisite and ut-
terly untranslateable beauty of its expression, than for the fol-
lowing happy imitation by an old Roman poet :
" Aufugit mi animus. Credo, ut solet, ad Theotimum
Devenit. Sic est. Perfugium illud habet.
Quid si non interdicem ne illud fugitivum
Mitteret ad se intro ; sed magis ejiceret ?
Ibimu' qugesitum. Verumne ipsi teneamur,
Formido. Quid ago ? Da Venu' consilium."
With reference to the Second in this Collection, beginning in
the original 'D. 'yqevT'^i, "ETrUvlig, we are desired to compare
the close imitation of Horace (I. Sat. ii. 105.)
" Leporem venator ut alta
In nive sectatur, positum sic tangerc nolit :
Cantat et apponit : — meus est amor huic similis ; nam
Transvolat in medio posita, et fugientia captat."
On "The Offering of a Nautilus," p. 177, it has been re-
marked, in the former edition, that " it was a general custom
among the ancients, for girls, when arrived at a marriageable
age, to consecrate to Venus the favourite toys of their childish
years. To form collections of shells and marine curiosities was
336 NOTES.
a fashionable pursuit of the Grecian ladies, and some rare and
valuable specimen of the treasures of their cabinet was consi-
dered as the most acceptable offering to be made on so impor-
tant an occasion. In the original, the Nautilus itself is the
speaker. — " I do not ask of thee, O Venus ! that which when
alive I was accustomed to implore, that the mournful Halcyon
might build her nest in the ocean for me, but only that thou
wouldst deign to shower blessings on the amiable daughter of
Clinias, born in ^olian Smyrna." The " Venus Zephyritis/'
to whom the Epigram is inscribed, was also known by the ap-
pellations of Chloris, and Arsinoe, the latter of which betrays
at once her earthly origin. She was, in fact, no other than the
deified wife of Ptolemy Philadelphus." (Bland's Coll. 1813,
p. 421.)
The Sixth Epigram in the present Collection — 'EItti n;, 'Hg«-
KKfiTi, nou f4,6^ov — is another of those instances which most
strikingly illustrate the extreme difficulty of doing anything like
justice to the exquisite grace and simplicity of the genuine Greek
Epigram. Three versions are accordingly presented ; of each of
which we fear it must be said, that it affords but a faint resem-
blance to the original, however far superior one may be thought
to the rest, or all to either of the older translations.
On the subject of the remarkable and affecting incident re-
corded in the Ninth — 'Hioi 'MsT^stviTrirov idxTrrof^sv — it may be
remarked, that intermarriages between brothers and sisters
were not accounted incestuous in Egypt, any more than those
between uncles and nieces at this day in Portugal ; being
sanctioned by the frequent example of their sovereigns. It
might therefore have been more than the impulse of mere na-
tural affection w^hich led poor Basilo in this Epigram to commit
suicide when frantic with grief for the loss of Melanippus.
But the most remarkable, on account of its subject, of all
these pieces is that which is printed as Tenth in the present
Collection, with some alterations from the former edition — con-
CALLIMACHUS. 337
cerning which we refer to the note in that volume. "That
this Epigram is ascribed to its right author we have the opi-
nion of Cicero, who says (Tusc. Disp. i. 34.): ' Callimachi
quidem Epigramma in Ambraciotam Cleombrotum est, quem
ait, cum ei nihil accidisset adversi, e muro se in marc ab-
jecisse, lecto Platonis libro.' The learning of modern commen-
tators has been employed to prove that the wall which sur-
rounded the port of Ambracia, and not that of the city itself,
distant from the sea eighty stadia, was the scene of this exploit.
But, as the assigning to the enthusiast a watery grave appears
to be an addition of Cicero's not warranted by the original,
which merely saj^s,
"HTvxt cif)' v^Yi'Koii T£i)cio; el;' Ai'dyju —
we may safely place this among the numerous instances of use-
less labour afforded by critical industry.
"Tlie speech of the Spartan Cleomenes, preserved by Plu-
tarch, in answer to the advice of a follower to put a period to
his existence, is marked by the noblest elevation of soul. Ba-
nished his country, which he had spent his life in the vain en-
deavour to save from destruction ; torn from his tenderest con-
nexions — a wife and a mother whom he passionately loved ;
proscribed by enemies ; deserted by friends ; hunted down by all
Greece, without one reasonable ground for hoping a restoration
to any of those cherished objects, he was still supported by the
principles of a sublime philosophy, and by the truly religious
persuasion that nothing is impossible to the Deity, who will re-
ceive back the life he has bestowed, then, and then only, when
he himself judges than it can no longer be useful either to the
possessor, or to mankind.
" Hardly an instance has occurred to us of so strange a cause
for suicide as that of this enthusiastic Arabraciot. At the same
time, it affords strong testimony to the importance of the sacred
doctrine which occasioned it, and to the ardour with which the
338 NOTES.
soul of man must have caught the first faint glimmerings of so
glorious a hope as that of its own immortality." (Ed. 1813,
p. 151.)
MENECRATES. Page 181.
I. Ilaifftv eiri npoTepois >/2jj rpiTOv ev wpi firjrrjp.
(Cod. Vat. 425. Steph. 120.)
" MuLiER qusedam, cum tres liberos morte immatura amisisset,
quartum infantem simul atque enixa esset, rogo imposuit."
(Jacobs.)
There is something to the imagination like the fidelity of a
Diary or old Chronicle in these short records of domestic acci-
dents and transactions, whether of horror or of merriment.
II. Trjpcis kirhv fxev cnrrj, Trds ev^erai' *]v 2e ttot eXdr],
HejjKperai' eart S' aei Kpetrraov 6(peiX6fxerov.
" Senectutis, quamvis ab omnibus desideratse, exspectatio longe
melior tamen et jucundior, quam ejusdem prsesentia. Earn no-
bis a natura deberi cupimus, persolvi non volumus." (Jacobs.)
RHIANUS. Page 182.
'I^w AeifWyiKOs vtto yXtjpfj TrXaravitrroK (Cod. Vat. 591.)
HEDYLUS. Page 184.
I. Tlip(i)fjiev' Kal yap ri reov, Kai yap ri Trap' oivoy
evpoifiev XcTrroi' fcat ri fie\i)(p6y cttos.
f'tXXa Kci^ois Xlov fie Karaf^peyjE, /cat Xeye, IIAIZE,
HAYAE. jiuiTw ^riv els Kerov, oh fxcQviov.
From Athenseus, lib. xi. p. 472.
SAMIUS. ALCiEUS MESSEMUS. 339
In the next Epigram (the 2nd in Jacobs,) we have the un-
questionable origin of " Fi'om night till morn I take my glass" —
'E| iiQv; si; uvktx, kuI tx. vvuro; TiotaiauicK^g
ii; via TTii/ii rsr^xxooiai x«5o/f.
II. AvffLjdeXovs Ba/v)^ou, Kal XytrifieXovs 'AippodiTrjS
yevydrai dvyuTrjp XviTifi€\t)s Ilodaypa.
SAMIUS. Page 18G.
Aepjxa /cat opyvtala. (Cod. Vat. 162.)
ALGOUS MESSENIUS. Page 187.
I. llpwcov Tov aoicov 'Iw eVi TraiSes "Ofirjpop.
(Cod. Vat. 207. Steph. 268.)
II "Ayaye kuI Sep^7JS Uepaav arparbv EWct^os es ydv.
(Steph. 10.)
" Elegans Epigramma, in quo Titus Flaminius, Grsecia; libera-
tor, cum Xerxe comparatur. Scriptum videtur circa Olymp.
cxLvi . 1 ,, postquam Imperator Romanus in ludis Isthmicis Grsecos
liberos immunesque esse jusserat ; quo prseconio audito, majus
hominum gaudium fuisse quam quod universum capcrent, Li-
vius narrat, lib. xxxiii. 32." (Jacobs.)
III. Ovce 0a) wj' 6 Trpeaftvi tw cTrirerpo^e TVfxfii^.
(Cod. Vat. 291. Steph. 272.)
IV. " .\KXav(TTOi KaX (iOaTTTOi, o^onrope, T^h' enl rv^ftu).
(Cod. Vat. 244. Steph. 200.)
See what is said of this Epigram, before, p. 187.
a2
340 NOTES.
DIOSCORIDES. Page 190.
I. Tav Hirdi^av QpaarvjJovXos Itt' acnridos ijXvdey airrovs.
(Cod. Vat. 241. Steph. 198.)
Thus turned by Ausonius.
" Excipis adverse quod pectore vulnera septem,
Arma super veheris quod, Thrasybule, tua ;
Non dolor hie patris ; Pitanse sed gloria major,
Rarum tam pulcro funere posse frui.
Quern postquam mcesto socii posuere feretro,
Talia magnanimus edidit orsa pater —
' Flete alios ; lacrymis natus non indiget uUis,
Et meus, et talis, et Lacedsemonius.' "
II. ^vcppciTrjif fit) Kcue, (biXwiv/je.
(Cod. Vat. 230. Steph. 235.)
" Servus Persa dominum rogat, ne eum defunctum igne con-
cremet, neque aqua abluat. Utrumque enim Persis nefas.
Quanta religione ignem Perste coluerint, nemo ignorat. De
aqua docet Herodotus, i. 138." (Jacobs.)
TYMNEUS. Page 191.
I. Tor 7ra(3o/3aiTa vojjlovs Aajdarpioi' eicraye fidrrjp.
(Cod. Vat. 274. Steph. 201 .)
This is the precise converse of the first of Dioscorides.
II. M>/ croi TOVTO, <f>t\ai)'l. \lj]v €TriKi]pioi' earu).
(Cod. Vat. 257. Steph. 229.)
"In mulierem JEgyptiara, a fato in Greta oppijessam. Poeta
earn consolatur quod non in patria sepulturam nacta sit."
(Jacobs.)
POLYSTRATUS. PERSES. 341
Of the dread, common to the Greeks with other nations, of
dying in a foreign country, enough has been said in a note on
Leonidas.
POLYSTRATUS. Page 193.
T6v fieyav WKpoKvpirdov 'A-)(^auKuv, 'EWdios aarpoy.
(Cod. Vat. 250. Steph. 203.)
The date of the destruction of Corinth by Lucius Mummius is
already referred to in the text, on the authority of Mr. Fynes
Clinton, who appears to have settled this point of chronology, by
fixing it about September in the third year of the 158th Olym-
piad—two months after the fall of Carthage, and five years earlier
than the date mistakenly assigned by Jacobs, 01. clix. 4.
The description of this celebrated city by Livy (lib. 45) is in
close accordance with the representation here given : " Urbs
erat tunc prseclara ante excidium. Arx quoque et Isthmus prte-
buere spectaculum : arx inter omnia in immanem altitudinem
edita, scatens fontibus : Isthmus duo maria, ab occasu et ortu
solis finitima arctis faucibus dirimens." It is a fine poetical
sentiment by which the Romans, the reputed progeny of Troy,
are here made the avengers of their parent city, — or, as Jacobs
has it, "Mummii crudelitatem ita excusat poeta, ut Romanes
ab Achseis Trojse eversae pcenas sumsisse dicat."
(See Note at the end of the volume.)
PERSES. Page 194.
AetXam MvaavWa. (Cod. Vat. 322. Reiske.)
" ScRiPTUM carmen in imagincm sepulcro impositam, in qua
Neotiraaconspiciebatur, in matris Mnasylhc ulnis animumagens.
342 NOTES.
et Aristoteles, Neotimse pater, fili^ caput tenens." The name
Callirhoe has been substituted, for the sake of the metre.
DAMAGETES. Page 195.
I. Upas ae Aios Seylov yovvovfieQa.
(Cod. Vat. 292. Steph.209.)
" Duo Charini filii, Thebani, aThracibus interemti, rogant prse-
tereuntes, ut patri nuntium de morte sua ferre velint." (Jacobs.)
II. "YcJTaTOV, W ^ijKUia, KkvTrj TTokl.
(Cod. Vat. 323. Steph. 231.)
" Theano, Apellichi conjux, moribunda, absentem maritum
desiderat." (Jacobs.) Compare Tibullus, i. GO.
" Te spectem, suprema mihi cum venerit hora,
Te teneam moriens deficiente manu ! "
" And when the last, the dreaded hour draws nigh.
Do thou, ev'n then, before me, Delia ! stand :
May I yet see thee with my closing eye !
May 1 yet hold thee with my dying hand !" m.
THEODORIDES. Page 197.
I. "Qii^eo aaKiTTwy, Kiyrjcria, 'Ep/xov Xarpis.
(Cod. Vat. 323. Reiske.)
" ScRiPTUM in Cinesiam, foeneratorem ; qui cum membris inte-
gris obiisset, Justus vocatur debitor, quippe qui morti omnia rite
persolverit." (Jacobs.)
posjDiPPus. 343
II. Hirpos eyw to TraXai yvpi), kuI arpiTTTOS e7n/3\»)s.
(Cod. Vat. 283. Steph. 215.)
" De Heracliti philosophi sepulcro prope viam." (Jacobs.)
Whether the epithet v'Axx.T/iTviv — latratorem — in the above ver-
sion rendered " barking cur," be well applied to the weeping
philosopher, is, however, so questionable, that Brodaeus seems
to have been not without reason in supposing that some other
Heraclitus — a Cynic — was the person for whom this Epitaph
was intended.
POSIDIPPUS. Page 198.
I. UoiTjp Tis j3i6toio TUfxy rpiftoy ;
(Cod. Vat. 416. Steph. 16.)
This Epigram, ascribed in the Vatican MS., in the alternative,
to Posidippus or Plato, and in the Planudean Collection, to Po-
sidippus or Crates, is, together with its parody, by Metrodorus,
so familiar even to school -boy readers, as to require no com-
ment. The imitation too by Ausonius is sufficiently notorious ;
as also tte practical exposition of their respective tenets in the
lively French comedy of "Jean qui pleura et Jean qui rit." It
must be added, that the gloomy view of life taken by the ori-
ginal writer is the most consonant to the usual spirit of Greek
Poetry.
II. NavrtXoi, eyyvs aXos ri /ieOaVrere ;
(Cod. Vat. 246. Steph. 245.)
" Naufragus se prope mare sepultum esse conqueritur ; nihilo-
minus tamen iis qui ipsura sepeliverint, gratias agit." (Jacobs.)
344 NOTES.
ANTIPATER. Page 201.
I. 'QiKvixopov fxe XeyovcTi Sarjfioi'es arepes ciaTpwu'
(Cod. Vat. 510. Steph. 179.)
This is one of the Epigrams marked with the name of Antipater,
but without the distinctive adjunct ; by that of Seleucus, how-
ever, to whom, in the original, it is addressed, it would appear
that it is rightly given to him of Sidon. The comparison of
wine to a race-horse speeding to reach the goal is not original.
We have already seen it in an Epigram of Nicsenetus.
II. "YSutos aKpijTOv KeKOpr]fiev<o ay\i TrapaaTcis.
(Cod. Vat. 407. Steph. 82.)
The authorship of this lively Epigram is in like manner am-
biguous. The wrath of Bacchus against water-drinkers is easily
intelligible. The antipathy of Venus towards the same class
of mortals may be somewhat more questionable, although we
remember that —
" Sine Cerere et Baccho friget Venus."
III. Oil fxoi nXrjVct^ojj' (pofjep)) Svais'
(Cod. Vat. 511. Steph. 174.)
The above version was printed in the former edition, and is
therefore re-inserted in the present ; but it must be confessed
that there is no authority in the original for thunder rolling in
October.
IV. "KepKiCa Triv (ptXaoi^ov ^AQi]vairi Oero Btrrw.
(Cod. Vat. 149. Steph. 422.)
" Bitto, mulier fere quadragenaria, ex Minervse castris ad Ve-
ncrem transiens, textricum Dese radium textorium dedicat."
(Jacobs.) This also is reprinted from the former edition.
ANTIPATER. 345
V. Airiv [J.e TrXardviaTov cipepTTv^ovffa Ka\vTrrei.
(Cod.Yat. 393. Steph. 10.)
" Platanus, qua? Tonga senectute exaruit, felicitatem suam prse-
dicet, quod vitis ipsam viridentibus pampinis ambiat. Suave
carmen." (Jacobs.) This is, indeed, by far the most tender and
poetical of all the Epigrams distinctly marked as belonging to
the Bard of Sidon. " In every stage of civilized society, how-
ever dissolute the manners, and depraved the taste of the peo-
ple, there were never wanting poets who have sung, and philo-
sophers who have inculcated, the laws of wedded love, of pure
and undivided affection." (Edit. 1813, p. 138.)
VI. 01 fxey aev KoXo^wra. (Steph. 366.)
VII. IlavpoeTn)s"ilpivva, kcu, ov TroXvfivdos aot^ah.
(Cod. Vat. 320. Steph. 280.)
Nothing remains to be added in this place to what has been
already said of the interesting subject of this Epigram. The last
couplet has been thus turned by Lucretius (lib. iv. 182.) —
" Parvus ut est cycni melior canor, ille gruiim quam
Clamor, in setheriis dispersus nubibus austri."
VIII. Nej3p€i(i)v birCcfov aaKiriyl, virepia'^ev avXcJjy.
(Steph. 506.)
We have much learned commentary on this Epigram with
respect to the particular species of musical instrument denoted
by the terms NiQ^etuv uvT^au — literally " pipes made of the shin
bones of young fawns." Athenseus informs us, that they were
of Theban invention ; and Plutarch, that the ass's bones were
afterwards substituted. The clustering of bees on the lips of
the infant Pindar is a highly poetical image, borrowed perhaps
from Plato, (See before, p. 106, No. 16,) and since imitated by
many later poets.
ft 5
346 NOTE?.
IX. Uov TO irepipXeizTOv kclWos aeo, Awp) KopivBe ;
(Cod. Vat. 380. Steph. 100.)
" Nereides Corinthi, a Romanis eversse, fata lugent." (Jacobs.)
See before, note on Polystratus, p. 193.)
X. OvK eVi QeXyofxivas, 'Opcpev, Ipvas.
(Cod. Vat. 280. Steph. 269.)
. " Orphei mortem poeta luget." (Jacobs.) Borrowed by Aa-
tipater from Leonidas.
XI. SaTT^W TOl KEvdeiS, ■)^^^b)P Ai'oXJ.
(Cod. Vat. 209. Reiske.)
" Sappbo poetriam laudans, Parcas accusat, quod ei non im-
mortalem vitam tribuerint." (Jacobs.) " Sapphus, qua nemo
amores suavius cecinit, ingenium Venus et Amor nutrivisse di-
cuntur." Compare the fragment of Ibycus (before, p. 370 he-
ginning, ' Sweetest flower, Euryale !' "
XII. Ga'Wot rerpaivO|0i;jLt/3os, 'Araicpeov, ct^u^i ae KKTtros.
(Cod. Vat. 211. Steph. 275.)
Propertius, iv. El. vi. 33.
" Si quid adhuc manes, cineres atque ossa sepulta."
XIII. Ey^eis ev (pdifieroitTiv, 'AvaKpeov, eirdXd irovriaas.
(Cod. Vat. 212. Steph. 277.)
Another, on the same inexhaustible theme, the praises of the
Teian Bard. The present is obviously borrowed from Simonides.
XIV. Ov rovffb) PoBoTra re Kal a yevireipa JioiaKa.
(Cod. Vat. 285. Steph. 263.)
Another instance of voluntary death inflicted for the purpose
of escape from captivity and its abhorred consequences. So Po-
lyxena, in Euripides —
ME LE ACER. 347
" You give me to the Gods — then give me free !
Free let me die ; nor let a royal maid
Blush, 'mongst the dead, to hear the name of Slave! "
(Potter.)
XV. Aiydpeov lepuu elfxi.
" Scriptum in populum arborem, juxta viam prtetereuntium
injuriis obnoxiam." (Jacobs.) The Epigram is not to be found
either in Brunck or Stephens.
MELEAGER. Page 210.
I. Ef yXaixv}} etj^e»'"£jows, /cat /ii) Trrepa.
(Cod. Vat. 580. Schneider. J
II. Et /jLi) rosO>'"Epws, firj^e Trrepa, iJijce (paperpay,
(Cod. Vat. 580, &c.)
These two Epigrams, which are merely two different versions
of the same thesis, need no illustration. In the second, the epi-
thet 55-£g//3A^Toyj, which is the reading of all the MSS., has been
proposed to be changed for ^rvg/ /i'hvjTov; — a reading which de-
stroys the simplicity, without improving the effect, of the ori-
ginal.
III. *i2 VQpwTTOt ftojdelre' tov Ik weXayovs tTrt ycuav.
(Cod. Vat. 581. Reiske.)
" Hominum auxilium iraplorat poeta, qui e longa navigatione
rediens, vix — dum pedc in terra posito, amore in nova pericula
conjicitur." (Jacobs.) The image of the God of Love, waving
his torch before him, appears to be taken from the custom of
being preceded by a torch-bearer, when going at night from one
house to another. So Propertius, iii. El. xiv. 16.
" Ipse Amor accensas prsecutit ante faces."
348 NOTES.
The air-formed image of the original — the rt/^o? yvoaTog of a
subsequent Epigram — may be illustrated by a comparison with
Petrarch —
" Ove porge ombra un pino alto od un colle,
lo r ho piu volte
Neir acqua chiara, e sopra 1' herba verde
Veduto viva, e nel troncon d' un faggio,
E 'n bianca nube, si fatta, che Leda
Avria ben detto che sua figlia perde."
IV. 'li Xctptres, Tvv kqXov ' Apifrrayopip' eai^ovaai,
(Cod. Vat. 587.)
" Gratiarum concilio et choro dignus est Aristagoras. Eum
fugere me oportet, ait poeta, quippe potentior vibrat ab oculis
fulmina, quam Jupiter ab Olympo." (Meineke.)
V. KeT/xcti. Xcts €TTij3aiv€ Kar avy^evos aypie Anlixoy.
(Cod. Vat. 575.)
" Cupido, gravius quam hactenus fecisset, urgere eum et
cruciare posse, negat poeta." (Meineke). So Ovid, Remed.
Amor. 529.
" Mollior es, nee abire potes, vinctusque teneris,
Et tua ssevus Amor sub pede colla premit."
VI. AtCCTOju', 'Epws, Tov aypvTTvov kfioi iroQov 'HXtoBwjOas.
(Cod. Vat. 119.)
In the Planudean Collection (Steph. 452)_this is inserted un-
der the name of Posidippus,
VII. 'Hv e(Ttdw Qt'ipoipa, ra napd' opijj' ijv oe to. Travra
pXexpu), TOV Zk ye fii), rovfXTraXiv ovZeu opiS,
(Cod. Vat. 577. Steph. 485.)
MKLEAQER. 349
V III. Tt KXaieis, ^pevoXjjorct, ti 2' aypia ro^a Kal 'lovs.
(Cod. Vat. 591.)
A similar picture is presented by Ovid in his description of
the funeral of Tibullus, (iii. Amor. ix. 7.)
" Ecce puer Veneris fert eversamque pharetram,
Et fractos arcus, et sine luce facem.
Adspice, demissis ut eat miserabilis alis,
Pectoraque infesta tundat aperta manu."
IX. OvKtd' bfiovxif-idpoLaip' (Cod. Vat. 291. Steph. 217.)
The occasion of this Epigram seems to have been furnished
by a statue of the God, erected in a public place of some city.
X. Ti ^evov el (ipoToXoLjos. (Cod. Vat. 114. Steph. 471.)
This poem, observes the commentator, is descriptive of the
manners and attributes of Cupid, and shows whence they derive
their source. The epithet Trv^i-xvoot (fire-breathing) applied to
his arrows is a metaphor derived from customary warfare. Ap-
pian, in his account of the war with Mithridates ; Thucydides
(ii. 750 ; and others ; bear testimony to the use of simdar wea-
pons. There would be no end of quoting passages in allusion
to the fabulous origin of Venus from the sea. The want of an
acknowledged paternity forms a remarkable feature in the poeti-
cal character of Cupid.
XI. Aetvos"Epws.
This also is descriptive of the poetical character assigned to
Cupid, who is nourished by contumelies, and rejoices in in-
juries. So Propertius, i. Eleg. xii. 15.
" Felix qui potuit praesenti flere puella :
Nonnihil adspersis gaudet Amor lacrymis."
The thought has been drained to the dregs by imitator after
350 NOTES.
imitator ; and Meleager himself appears to have been indebted
for it to Antipater.
XII. NairaVKv7rp(i',"E/5ws. (Cod. Vat. 113. Steph.471.)
"Poeta, dum iraincensus Cupidini vincula miratur, mox peri-
culi, quod sibi paraturus sit, memor, eidem vagandi libertatem
permittit." (Jacobs.) Compare Tibullus, ii. vi. 15.
" Acer Amor, fractas utinam, tua tela, sagittas
Ilicet extinctas adspiciamque faces ! "
The Kci\ue7ou kqccto; is a -vvell-known proverbial expression,
which may be aptly illustrated by our modern phrase of " Catch-
ing a Tartar.*'
XIII. Alei fiot ^vrei. (Cod. Vat. 119. Steph. 471.)
The eternal noise of v^rhich the poet here complains, the ^;<jo;
"E^uro;, is supposed by a commentator, who has been here fol-
lowed, to be no other than that produced by the rustling of his
wings, " Multa scilicet poetis audiuntur et cernuntur quae sen-
sibus fere objecta non sint." Propertius, with this Epigram
probably in his sight, merely says, (i. Eleg. xii. 5.),
" Nee mihi consuetos amplexu carpit amores
Cynthia, nee nostra dulcis in aure sonat."
XIV. ^ux') ^vtrSciKpvre. (Cod. Vat. 580.)
The author has here been charged, perhaps justly, with a
confusion of metaphor, which is preserved in the present ver-
sion.
" Recte Manso monuit, vituperandam esse poetse inconstan-
tiam, qui animam primo disticho ut telo Amoris sauciam, altero
igne combustam, tertio denique ut ancillam fugitivam compella-
verit."
Dorville, however, in his edition of Chariton (where the ori-
ginal Epigram first made its appearance in print, being among
the many which that elegant critic produced from the stores of
MELEAGER. 351
the Vatican,) calls it " Epigiamma longe suavissimum et rotun-
dum," citing it as a beautiful example of poetical iteration.
XV. Bf/3\//(T0a; kv/Sos. (Cod. Vat. 586.)
Having cast away (says the commentator) all that more pru-
dent counsel by which he had just before proposed to be diiected,
the poet here surrenders himself to the charms of revelry.
" Egregium carmen, propter vim cupiditatis vivide expressam."
The poet now addresses his attendant torch-bearer, now reasons
with his own mind ; to the one issuing orders, with the other
debating the cause between Madness and Wisdom. It is need-
less to add that the former wins.
XVI. O'ltTO) red fjid (76 BaVxe. (Cod. Vat. 587.)
The consortium, or fellowship, of Cupid with Bacchus is a fre-
quent subject of celebration among the poets both Greek and
Latin. Ion of Chios (a poet cited by Athenseus,) terms the last-
named deity by a figure of speech which is utterly untrans-
lateable, ^liarov TgoVoXoi/ (ix^v/^ovTrcjv l^uruv. So Ovid (Ars
Amat. iii. 762.),
" Cum Veneris puero non male Bacche facis."
And an anonymous poet (Anth. Lat. i. 23.),
" Ardenti Baccho succenditur ignis Amoris ;
Nam sunt unanimis Bacchus Amorque deus."
XVII. "AyyeiXoj' ra7e Ao/)K-as. (Cod. Vat. 114. Reiske.)
The poet sends the maid, Dorcas, to his mistress with mes-
sages : but, while he goes on adding one topic of remembrance
to another, he follows on her footsteps ; so that, without his
perceiving it, they reach the door together, and he becomes
himself his own message-bearer.
" In toto carmine," observes Reiske, " rcgnat consilii inopia
et inconstantia, et quasi sestus. Imperat, vetat, per vices, eadcm,
et ssepius."
352 NOTES.
XVIII. ■'il TrXomjuov A»;juovs. (Cod. Vat. 117. Reiske.)
Love emptying his quiver of arrovs^s to transfix the heart of
this universal adorer was too happy an image to be overlooked
by subsequent imitators ; and we find it accordingly in the Epi-
grams of Archias and Paul the Silentiary.
XIX. NO^ lepri Kcil \vxre. (Cod. Vat. 89. Steph. 467.)
By Planudes this Epigram is assigned to Philodemus. The
Vatican MS. gives it to Meleager. " Nox et faces," observes
the Commentator, " semper amorum mysteriorum conscise, igi-
tur et juramenti testes et foederis," &c.
" Veneris perjuria venti
Irrita per terras et freta summa ferant."
(Tibullus, i. 4. 21.)
XX. Marpos eV ev KoXTroiffLV.
(Cod. Vat. 575. Steph. 484.)
The phrase ■7n/ivf<,x Kv/3evsiv has passed into a proverb as ap-
plicable to those who exclaim with Richard,
" Slave ! I have set my life upon a cast.
And I will stand the hazard of the die."
(Shaksp. Rich. III. act v. sc. 4.)
XXI. 'Hovs nyyeXe xa'pe- (Cod. Vat. 586.)
This is a single distich in the original, and justly designated
as one of great elegance, which Brunck was the first to produce
from the Vatican. The same planet is addressed as exercising
alternately the functions of the morning and evening star.
XXII. 'Uov e'xeis to fiXiJixa.
(Cod. Vat. 586. Steph. 472.)
The two distichs of which the above is a version have usually
been printed as two distinct Epigrams. Jacobs ingeniously con-
MELEAGER.
353
jectures that they originally formed one, and his supposition has
been here adopted. Bird-lime is a favourite metaphor with our
poet. In another Epigram he admonishes his soul to beware
lest she be caught by it : which reminds us of two well-known
passages in Shakspeare ; one, where Cardinal Beaufort, in the
terrible agonies of his death-bed, exclaims,
" Comb down his hair. Look ! look ! it stands upright,
Like lime-twigs set to catch ray winged soul."
And again where the king, in Hamlet, ejaculates, in the midst
of his fearful orison,
" O limed soul, that, struggling to be free.
Art more engaged !"
XXIII. Ev(popToi rdes ireXayirices. (Cod. Vat. 576.)
" The poet may here be supposed walking on the shores of the
Hellespont. He sees numberless vessels passing and repassing,
and bids them to bear tidings from him to the lady of his aflfec-
tions, whom he is expecting shortly to visit. The sixth line in
the original has caused much dispute. Literally interpreted, it
is thus — ' Expect me not as a sailor, but as one who travels on
post to behold you ;' a hyperbolical expression, signifying that
the desire of meeting was of strength sufficient to support him
in his passage across the seas, even without the aid of a ship."
Ed. 1813, p. 41.
XXIV. 'Acv [.leXos, val Udia tov 'ApKaCa.
(Cod. Vat. 107. Steph.448.)
This version has been substituted for that in the former edi-
tion, p. 15, as more simple, and closer to the original. The
subject needs no illustration.
XXV. Ei/Cets, Zr]yo(piXa, rpvfepoy OciXos.
(Cod. Vat, 112. Reiske.)
354 NOTES.
This is one of those exquisite fancies which cannot but lose
more than half their charms in the process of transfusion. The
same sentiment occurs to the empassioned Romeo —
" Sleep dwell upon thine eyes. Peace in thy breast !
— ^Would I were Sleep and Peace, so sweet to rest !"
XXVI. Al Tpiacrai Xdpires. (Cod. Vat. 116. Reiske.)
This version may perhaps be censured for amplification. The
original needs no comment.
XXVII. Kt]pvaau) 7-oi'"Epa;ra.
(Cod. Vat. 113. Steph. 450.)
For the original of this Epigram the reader is referred to the
third Idyl of Moschus. We have here, as in many other places
descriptive of the person and attributes of the God of Love, the
gipsy laugh, the o-/,«« yi'Axv, so illustrative of all existing images
of fauns and satyrs, which have been kept in sight in this ver-
sion ; and the circumstance of Cupid's not being possessed of
that species of wisdom which the proverb assigns to the child
that knows its own father, is supposed to be derived from Plato's
Symposium.
XXVIII. "nh XevKOV 'iov edXXei.
(Cod. Vat. 108. Steph. 448.)
The foregoing paraphrase is substituted for that in the former
" Collections," which was wider from the sense of the original.
You must suppose the poet (observes Jacobs) to be prompted
to this lively train of comparison by the actual inspiration of a
morning in spring ; and though there may be a doubt as to the
exact botanical signification of some of the names employed to
designate particular flowers, there is none to suspect that the
poet has fallen into the error so ingeniously detected by Dr.
Aikin (in his " Essay on the Application of Natural History to
MELEAGER. 355
Poetry"), where he censures Pope for having in his pastorals
represented two flowers as blowing at the same time, when
some months in reality intervene between the periods of their
flowering.
" Here the bright crocus and blue violet grow ;
Here western winds on breathing roses blow."
" Every flowery versifier," observes the same pleasing writer,
" has materials at hand for a lover's bower ; but a botanist
alone could have culled and sorted the plants which compose
the bower of Eve."
XXIX. To ffKv<pos ?;2u yeyrjOe.
(Cod. Vat. 112. Steph. 450.)
This is but the same thought a thousand times repeated,
which, in the dress given to it by the sophist Philostratus, sug-
gested to Ben Jonson his popular song —
" Drink to me only with thine eyes," &c.
Cumberland (Observer, No. 74,) was the first to detect this
piece of honest plagiarism.
XXX. nwXetVew. (Cod. Vat. 113. Steph. 451.)
This must be esteemed a palpable imitation of the tenth ode
of Anacreon, unless (which there seems to be some ground for
suspecting,) the poem which is so designated be in fact a com-
paratively modern production ; and in that case the present may
be the original from which the other was but derived. It seems
unnecessary to intimate that the poet alludes throughout to the
customary mode of slave-dealing.
XXXI. ^(j)aipifTTay rov'Epwra rpefoj.
(Cod. Vat. 119. Reiske.)
This is a fanciful, perhaps an original, conceit. " Cor suum
(says Jacobs,) cupiditate palpitans, ab amore ad Heliodoram
pilee ad instar mitti ait. Tarn puellam, ne id rejiciat, prccatur." ^
356 NOTES.
XXXII. "Eyxei-KalvuXiyelTrL (Cod. Vat. 107. Reiske.)
This Epigram is imitated from the 31st of Callimachus. The
convivial custom to which it alludes was the origin of our mo-
dem "toasts," so prevalent in the two last centuries. The Scho-
liast on "ITieocritus (Idyll. 14. 18.) thus describes it: " It is a
custom in the Symposium to take a cup of unmixed wine, and,
after naming some friend or mistress, to make a libation of the
contents, loudly proclaiming the name of the beloved object."
Another custom to which it also refers, of crowning the head
with the garland of yesterday, in memory of departed joys, is
touched by Propertius (n. El. xxiii. 59),
" Me juvat hesternis positum languere corollis."
The beautiful idea of the odours still dropping from the chap-
let being the tears of the rose, shed in pity of his amorous com-
plaints, may probably belong to the poet himself.
XXXIII. nXe^w XevKolov. (Cod. Vat. 108. Steph. 449.)
What has already been said, on the subject of the 92nd
Epigram, will apply with still more force to the present. The
materials for a garland could not have been better selected.
The beautiful compound epithet, ^v^oQor^vg, imperfectly ren-
dered even by the lengthened paraphrase " cujus comae comtae
unguentis redolent," has been attempted in the last line of the
above version, with how much better success others may judge.
Cicero, in his Oration against Piso, describes the voluptuary
Gabinius, by a similar mode of head-dress. " Erant illi comti
capilli, et madentes cincinnorum fimbriae." Coins, gems and
statues innumerable may be cited to illustrate the fashion, of
which our modern drawing-rooms have witnessed the revival.
XXXIV. 'AidodiaiTe fueXiffna.
(Cod. Vat. 110. Steph. 450.)
Of the exquisite compound epithet difSohiuirs, different inter-
MELEAGER. 357
pretations ha^'^e been given by the commentators : " Egregium
apis epitheton, quae floribus vescitur," says one; " vitam floribus
agens," says another. The latter hashere been preferred.
XXXV. AaKpvd aoL /cat repde Sui ^doi'us.
(Cod. Vat. 282. Steph. 228.)
The subject of this highly tender inscription is by some sup-
posed to be the wife, by others the daughter, and by others
again the mistress, of the poet. A comparison with some of the
preceding epigrams would strongly incline to the third hj^po-
thesis ; while those who maintain that the person in question
was the daughter, rest upon the word aTogysj, which more pe-
culiarly seems to imply Natural affection ; but this supposition,
again, is contradicted by the unequivocal application of the
same word to a mistress in another of these very Epigrams.
XXXVI. Xeifxaros yrej-ioeyros uw aWepoa.
(Cod. Vat. 418. Steph. 124.)
The Greeks in general, and particularly the Athenians, ap-
pear to have been most sensitively alive to the beauties of na-
ture. The Romans too, in imitating them, have caught some-
thing of their spirit. The ode falsely ascribed to Petronius Ar-
biter, which is probably a far more modern translation of some
Greek original, is a beautiful specimen of the generally unsus-
pected capabilities both of their language and their genius : —
" Ver novum, ver jam canorum, vere natus orbis est,
Vere concordant amores, vere nubunt alites,
Et ncmus comam resolvit de maritis imbribus
Cras amet, qui nunquam amavit ; quique amavit, eras amet."
TTie moral feeling with which the poem in the text concludes
is eminently beautiful ; but it fades before the devotional spirit
of Oriental poetry, of which the following passage of the Gu-
listan (Gladwin's Transl. p. 93.) is a striking example :
358 NOTES.
"I recollect that once I had travelled the whole night with
the caravan, and in the morning had gone to sleep by the side
of the desert. A distracted man, who had accompanied us on
the journey, set up a cry, tooTc the road of the desert, and did not
enjoy a moment's repose. When it was day I asked him what
w-as the matter. He replied, ' I heard the nightingales in the
trees, the partridges in the mountains, and the brutes in the de-
sert, uttering their plaintive notes and doleful lamentations : I
reflected that it did not become a human being to be asleep
whilst all other creatures were celebrating the praises of God.' "
XXXVII. 'llxh^ts rernl (Cod. Vat.418. Steph. 124.)
The insect here apostrophized is the sort of grasshopper called
by the Greeks rirrt^, and is described by the writers on ento-
mology in terms which show the accuracy of the poet's obser-
vation. "The males of the perfect insect, in general, chirp like
the cricket ; and some of the larger kinds of the Tettigonia family
possess two peculiar drum-like organs, which emit a loud and
incessant noise, at the pleasure of the insect." "The membrane
of the thorax is large, inflated ; on each side seven black dots ;
body yellowish ; wing-cases hyaline, and dusky on the inner
margin." Another peculiarity, which I have transferred to this
Epigram from that immediately following, belongs to an animal
of a diff'erent genus, of the Hemiptera species (according to Lin-
naeus), the locust, and is thus designated : "Thighs membraneous,
and toothed beneath." In other respects the turn of thought and
expression in the two Epigrams is so much the same, that they
have not been considered as deserving of separate versions.
XXXVIII. At rvfifat Tov ^aKyov.
(Cod. Vat. 412. Steph. 82.)
The well-known fable to which this Epigram contains so
witty an allusion is illustrated by reference to Euripides,
(Bacch. 520.)
MELEAGER. 359
XXXIX. Aires 6 (5ovs iKerrjs.
(Cod. Vat. 436. Steph. 33.)
The mythological turn of thought contained in this Epi-
gram is borrowed from Moschus, (See before, p. 170.) " Cupid
turned Ploughman."
XL. Ae'^irepuv'Ai^ao. (Cod. Vat. 258. Steph. 227.)
The daughters of Lycambes, driven to the commission of sui-
cide by the iambics of Archilochus, attest the falsity of whatever
the malicious poet had laid to their charge ; and at the same
time complain of the assistance which the Muses had rendered
him in his base design of blasting their maiden reputation.
" Done to death by slanderous tongues
Was the Hero that here lies —
Death, in guerdon of her wrongs.
Gives her fame that never dies."
XLI. nai-ifiiJTop yij, xa'ipe. (Cod. Vat. 279. Steph. 193.)
This is the epitaph of a good and humane person, by name
iEsigenes, of whom nothing is known but what is here recorded ;
and it is scarcely possible to desire, after death, a more grate-
ful memorial.
XLII. OlkirpoTaTOv fiaTrip ce Xap/^f > e.
(Cod. Vat. 281. Steph. 287a.)
The x^ajuvf — chlarays, or martial habit — was assumed by
young men on their first entrance to manhood, about the age of
eighteen, which is stated in the Epitaph as that at which the ill-
fated subject of it had just arrived. The epithet Kx^Trxo^n/s,
applied to Moiqx, or Fate, is one of those extraordinary com-
pounds so peculiar to the genius of the poet, and the frequent
adoption of which deservedly places him so high in the inventive
scale of poetry.
360 NOTES.
XLIII. Ov ydnov, dXy 'A^^av kinvvjX(^iliov KXeapiaTCi.
(Cod. Vat. 233. Steph. 224.)
It is thus, to say nothing of more ancient parallels, that we
find Capulet relating the death of Juliet —
" Oh son, the night before thy wedding day.
Hath Death lain with thy bride : see, there she lies.
Flower as she was, deflowered by him.
Death is my son in law ; Death is my heir ;
My daughter he hath wedded."
*****
" All things that we ordained festival
Turn from their office to black funeral —
Our instruments to melancholy bells ;
Our wedding cheer to a sad burial feast ;
Our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change ;
And bridal flowers serve for a buried corse."
— To which example, cited from our former edition, p. 306, may
be added the following from Herrick's " Hesperides " —
" UPON A MAID THAT DYED THE DAY SHE WAS MARRIED.
" That morne which saw me made a bride.
The evening witnest that I dy'd.
Those holy lights, wherewith they guide
Unto the bed the bashful bride,
Serv'd but as tapers for to burne
And light my reliques to their urne.
This Epitaph, which here you see,
Supply'd the Epithalamie."
Compare with these, Apuleius, iv. 86. "Cantusquelictus Hy-
mensei lugubri finitur ululatu, et puella nuptura detergit lacrymas
ipso suo flammeo."
So Cj'dippe, in Ovid (Ep. xxi. ITl.)
" Nostraque plorantes video super ora parentes,
Et face pro thalami fax mihi mortis adest."
UNCERTAIN AUTHORS. 361
XLIV. Ndffos €fia dpiirreipa Tvpos.
(Cod. Vat. 269. Steph. 208.)
See what has already been said, in our preface to Meleager,
on the subject of this commonly mistaken Epigram.
EPIGRAMS OF UNCERTAIN AUTHORS. Page 237.
I. Eie' cirejuos yej'o^jji'. (Steph. 478.)
By Planudes this Epigram is ascribed to Dionysius the Sophist,
who was appointed to the charge of the Alexandrian Library by
the Emperor Hadrian. But there seems to be no sufficient rea-
son for this attribution. Compare Dumain's sonnet in "Love's
Labour lost."
" On a day — alack the day !" &c.
II. Etrece Kvareyaiy airotrriXlSovirav edelpais.
(Cod. Vat. 92. Steph. 482.)
To this Epigram may well be applied the delightful corre-
spondence between the Due de Nivernois and Madame de Mire-
poix, given in Bland's Collections, (former edition, p. 43,) as
illustrative of a similar thought preserved in an Epigram by
Paul the Silentiary.
III. IIws yev6nr]v ; nodey elpi ;
(Cod.Vat.505. Steph. 179.)
IV. Ulie i:a\ evfpaivov. (Cod. Vat. 515.)
So Horace— IV. Od. vii. 18.
" Quis scit, an adjiciant," &c.
" Swift circling moons the waning heavens repair —
We, soon as pass'd to where
B.
362 NOTKS.
Our sire ^neas, and those monarchs old,
Ancus and Tullus, hold.
Are but thin ashes and impassive air.
" Who knows if Heaven, that counts his days, will give
Another hour to live ?
The wealth you 've freely spent, your gaping heir
Shall look in vain to share —
That wealth is your's — your sole prerogative." m.
V. 'A\KifJ.eyT}s 6 Treyixpos. (Cod. Vat. 148. Steph. 430.)
VI. Vvfivr/v ei^e Hdpis [xe, kcu ^Ay^iarjs, (cat'A^wj'ts.
Tovs rpels oiSa fiorovs. TJpa^iriXris 3e irodey ;
A friend, to whom I am also indebted for the 13th Epigram
in this division, suggests the following :
" Adonis, Paris, and Anchises
I have given these charms to view —
Those three only — my surprise is.
Where, Praxiteles, did you ?
VII. TlaXXhs Tciv Ys-vdepeiav. (Steph. 325.)
This Epigram was judged worthy, by Ausonius, of a double
version. Compare Leonidas, 50.
VIII. 'Ek: l^(>)rjs fie deoi rev^ay Xidoy' e/c ^e Xldoio
i^u)))y Ilpai,iT€X7is efXTraXiv elpyaaaro.
IX. "H ToEe TTjy Kvdepeiav i/2wp reKev, j) Kvdepeia
Tolov ereu^ev v^wp, oy XPoa Xovaafxevt).
X. IlaXXa^os el fit (pvroy' ^pofxiov ri fxe dXijSere KXtovet;
aipere tovs (iorpvas' Trapdeyos ov fieQvu).
XI. TvvXvKoy e^ Idiojy fiai^uiy. (Cod. Vat. 365. Steph. 40.)
This Epigram is numbered wrong in the text. It should be 422.
XII. 'HKelai ■)(^apiTes yXviceptl)Tepai' yv ^e jSpaSvyr),
irdaa xdpis Keyefi, fjirjde Xeyoiro X*^'P'**
UNCERTAIN AUTHORS. 363
XIII. 'Hy rios, ctWa Triyris- (Cod. Vat. 378. Steph. 89.)
XIV. Ejs 'A'iStjv Wela KaTt)\v(Tis.
(Cod. Vat. 489. Steph. 54.)
Compare Leonidas, 63.
XV. Oij'os /cat ra Xokrpa Kal )'/ Trept KuTrptr epw»)
o^vTeprff Tre/iTret r»)v b^ov els ""AiBtji'.
XVI. 'EXdwy elsWUtji'. (Cod.Vat. 379. Steph. 1.5.)
Ausonius has imitated this Epigram.
" EflSgiem, rex Croese, tuam, ditissime regum," &c.
XVII. KctJ' jU€ KaraKpvTTTTjs, (5s ov^eios aycpos vpuiyrus,
o/x/xa AfKJjs Kadop(i wdyra to. yivv^eva.
XVIIL 'At rpLffaai irore iralces.
(Cod.Vat. 381. Steph. 32.)
" Historia de tribus puellis, sortera de morte sua exploranti-
bus." — " Sortes, ubi malum portendunt, semper certse sunt ; at
bonamortales neque precibus nequemanibus aDiis impetrant."
(Jacobs.)
XIX. n/i'^ape, MovaaLjy lepoy crrufxa.
(Cod.Vat. 216. Steph. 283.)
XX. "EXdere irpos refieyos. (Cod. Vat. 38G. Steph. 92.)
XXI. AvTui(7oi(TToiJ.aTecr(Tiv. (Cod. Vat. 386. Steph. 93.)
XXII. 'Expn^ f^^y (TTTJaai avv"Epu}TL (j)i\(^ ae, Meyaycpe,
XXIII. ^air.puy eTa'ipoy"EpWTOS.
These two last Epigrams, not to be found in the Planudean
Anthology, have been preserved by Gruter, and other collectors
of inscriptions. They are supposed to bear allusion to the
subjects of some of the lost Comedies — perhaps also to some
personal traditions respecting the life of the poet.
b2
364
NOTKS.
XXIV. M., Oa\pr)s rov aQmrTov, ea Kvdi Kvpfia ycveaBac
yfj fi7]Trjp TTcu'Tior i.ir)Tpo(j)06poi' hv ^e'xer' a.vdpa.
XXV. 'Ejuou QarovTos, yam fiiyQi]r()) Trvpi'
oifSkp fxeXei jjlol' rufia yap kuXws c'^^et.
It must be observed that the version here given, although in
the spirit, is not according to the letter, of the original couplet,
which distinctly specifies the destruction contemplated as being
by fire, in ^rhich sense only it accords with the barbarous wit-
ticism attributed by Suetonius to Nero ; — " Diceute quodani
in sermone convivii, Ifiov ^oiuovrog yuHa (4.ix,d'yiTai ttv^i, imo, in-
quit, i/iiov ^Zuros, planeque ita fecit." Cicero alludes to the
same, as a common proverbial expression, when he says, in the
language of a liberal and humane philosophy — " Quoniam ilia
vox inhumana et scelerata ducitur eorum, qui negant se recu-
sare, quo minus, ipsis mortuis, terrarum omnium deflagratio
consequatur; quod vulgari quodam versu Grjeco pronuntiari
solet." (De Fin. iii. 19.)
XXVI. Bcua (paywi', /cot ftaia ttiwij /cat iroXXa roffi'iaas,
oxpe fiey, dXX edaiop' eppere Trdrres ofxov.
This is but a parody of the Epitaph by Simonides on his
Rhodian antagonist (see before, p. 69, No. XXV.) ; but it is
strikingly melancholy.
XXVII. 'EXtj-is kcu (TV T^VXV) /^eytt xaipeTe' tov Xi^iey
tvpoy.
ov^ey efiol ^ vfJ-^v, Tra/^ere tovs fxer efie.
So Gil Bias and Roderick Random, at the conclusion of their
respective adventures, severally exclaim,
" Inveni portum — Spes et Fortuna, valete !
Sat me lusistis — ludite nunc alios."
•XXVIII. TovTO TOi }]^i€T€pr]s iJ.}r]fir]'ioy.
(Cod. Vat. 257. Steph. 194.)
UNCERTAIN AUTHORS. 365
Jacobs says ■well — " Tenerrimi amicitias sensus significatio in
hoc carmine inest." It is well worthy of comparison with
that exquisitely simple address to his friend Heraclitus by Cal-
limachus (see before, p. 177-)) or with the still more affecting
lines of Jortin —
" Quae te sub tenera rapuerunt, Poeta, juventa, &c.
" O had the Fate that cut thy tender age
Made me companion of thy pilgrimage ;
That I might say, Farewell ! to earth and sky.
And once again beside my Poeta lie !
Thee will I follow — on the darksome road
Love lights me onward to thy calm abode.
But oh ! refrain from that oblivious wave.
And think of him who hastens to thy grave." e.
XXIX. Fata 0/X>/ roy irpeaftvi' W^ivvTiypv eydeo koXttois.
(Cod. Vat. 253. Steph. 210.)
" In Amyntichum, hortulanum et agricolam." (Jacobs.)
XXX. Tijpa'i Kal Treycrj rcTpv^evos.
(Cod. Vat. 255. Steph. 222.)
This Epigram is assigned by Ernesti to Callimachus. The
Vat. MS., according to Salmasius, describes it as doubtful
whether it belongs to Callimachus or Simonides ; but Jacobs
says that there is no trace in the Palatine Transcript of any
such expression being discernible on the face of the original
MS. The poetical nature of the subject, and the mournful pic-
ture which it exhibits of the extreme of human misery and in-
firmity occupied in the miserable office of digging the grave for
its own reception, render it worthy of either of its reputed pa-
rents. The concluding couplet is substituted, as nearer to the
epigrammatic sense of the original —
^ ii'h'h ex. )(,6yi i'^' if^oi viKVUv I/O/no;, ov yoc^ il^umnov
ir^arov, tVe/r fcT«^*!f ccMid ru<pii; 'idxuov —
R 3
366 NOTES.
than the scarcely intelligible version in the former edition —
" Revers'd the laws of Death — the common doom —
And, while my life-blood flow'd, suborn'd my tomb."
XXXI. Ouj( 6ai(i)i ijpTra^as virb ■)(dui'a, Kolpare XlXovrev.
(Dorvill. Chariton. 260.)
The turn of thought in the last verse of this Epigram, which
has sustained the crucible of various readings, is, as it seems
now to be settled, at once unexpected and pleasing.
Antipater (of Thessalonica) has in one of his Epigrams a
similar idea —
EirTOit fiviv yi ttxI:; ku Oufixai H(pae(povsioii
TTXiyviov.
The child, whom you mourn as dead, shall yet live to be a toy,
or a play-thing, in the house of Proserpine,"
XXXII. "ApTi /jie yevo/JLevoy ^uds (^pe(j)os rjpTraae Sni/uwr,
ov/c Old' e'lT ayadioy cutws, e'tre KaKtHy.
'A7rX>'/pwr' 'A'lhix, ri fie rZ/Trior ijpTrcKTcis ci^j'w ;
Ti cnrev^eis ; ov (tol Trcivres ot^eiXofieda ;
This affecting inscription (which is also taken from Gruter)
suggests a comparison by way of contrast with the following,
which may be met with in more than one Christian burying-
place.
" Beneath, a sleeping infant lies — to earth her body 's lent ;
More glorious she '11 hereafter rise, but not more innocent.
So when th' Archangel's trump shall blow, and souls to bodies
join.
Millions may wish, their stay below had been as short as thine."
UNCERTAIN AUTHORS. 367
" Hie Infans infra dorinit, confisa sepulcro
Splendidior surget, non magis innocua.
Cum tuba summa sonans aniraas in corpora reddet,
Velient quam multi vitam habuisse tuam ! " g. r.
XXXIII. M»/ fxvpa, 111] (rT€(pdvovs.
(Cod. Vat. 508. Steph. 172.)
The stanzas " On the same Subject," which immediately fol-
low, were freely imitated from a passage, cited by Potter (An-
tiquities, vol. ii. p. 186,) as the fragment of an old poet in Sto-
bseus, but which 1 have been unable to find among that writer's
collections, and know" not where else they are to be met with —
Ov f/,i'j yoi^ o'vra; oLsi ttot' loTitpxvufiivoi,
E/ iM'/j Koirx,3ci.'jrec; si/dtu; Trlvsiv ihn.
Aid Txvrx ydo toi kuI x,a,y^ovvTXi fistKci^iot,
TLccg yd^ "htyst ri^, 6 fiXKX^iTYig o/'p^ffa/.
There may appear, at first sight, some contradiction in the
half- weeping, half-smiling eyes of those who celebrated the fu-
neral of a hero. The immediate relatives might have been
wholly absorbed in sorrow for a private loss ; but his country-
men, to whom he was known only as their champion, w^ept not
for the man, but for the patriot : their sorrow, therefore, was
forgotten, or alleviated by their pride. His death was glorious,
and his funeral a pageant. The parents of those Spartan heroes
who had died in fight, were congratulated by their intimates,
and returned thanks in their temples to the God of Battles. By
this it is not implied that they were destitute of the feelings of
parents. The funeral solemnities were grand and gloomy. The
real feelings were suppressed, and smothered in the sound of in-
struments, and the apparatus of banqueting.
The deep and solemn sadness attending our Gothic burials,
the black shades of yews and cypresses, the dreary charnel-
368 NOTES.
house, and the vaulted sepulchre, the terrific appendages of
mouldering bones and winding-sheets,
" The knell, the shroud, the mattock, and the grave.
The deep damp vault, the darkness, and the worm,"
which, from custom, form so great a part of the horror we feel
at the thoughts of death, were to them unknown. The corse
consumed by funeral fires, and the ashes inclosed in urns and
deposited in the earth, presented no offensive object or idea.
Besides, to dissipate the sorrows of the living, or perhaps with
a desire to gratify the spirit of the dead, wines were poured, and
flowers scattered over the grave. These last pious offices were
called "Enures, " the grateful tributes of love and veneration."
The manes of the deceased, still wandering about the place of
interment, might perhaps partake of the libation or enjoy the
odour. At least, his memory would be honoured, and his ghost
delighted.
It seems to have been a prevailing notion among many na-
tions besides the Greeks, that men after death retain the same
passions and appetites that distinguished them when living.
Thus Virgil—
" Quae gratia currus
Armorumque fuit vivis, quae cura nitentes
Pascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos."
" They who, alive, delighted in the car.
Or lov'd to train the glossy steed to war.
When now transported to a happier plain.
Their former pleasures after death retain." m.
The truth is, that, in their thoughts and reflections on the grave,
mankind have ever had in view some idea of a consciousness
that remains and lingers yet around the " pleasing anxious "
solicitudes and scenes of the existence that is past. They have
ever imagined to themselves a spirit after death, that busied it-
self in protecting the fame and character of their lives, that was
UNCERTAIN AUTHORS. 369
yet sensible of slights or honours paid to the grosser mass from
which it had escaped : and the delicate Tibullus suffers himself
to be so far led away by these ideas, that he has prescribed the
very mode of burial, and the persons whom he wishes to appear
as mourners at his funeral pile —
" And when, a slender shade, I shall aspire
From smouldering embers and the funeral fire.
May sad Nesera to my pile repair.
With tears (how precious !) and unbraided hair,
Mix'd with a mother's sighs her sorrows pour.
And one a husband, one a child deplore ;
With words of fond regret and broken sigh
Please the poor shade that hov'ring lingers nigh.
With pious rites my cherish'd bones adorn,
(The last sad remnant of the man they mourn,)
Nor spare my thirsting ashes to enshrine.
With purest milk bedew'd and purple wine ;
And dry the shower by soft affection shed.
Or ere they place them in their marble bed.
In that sad house may every fragrance stor'd.
That warm Assyria's perfum'd meads afford.
And grief, from memory's tearful fount that flows.
Soothe my charm'd spirit, and my bones compose!" b.
May we be pardoned the introduction of one more passage,
although from an English poet, in illustration of the same sub-
ject ? It is from Herrick's " Hesperides," and breathes the ge-
nuine spirit of a mind'stored with classical imagery.
" 'T will not be long, Perilla, after this
That I must give thee the supremest kisse :
Dead when I am, first cast in salt, and bring
Part of the creamc from that religious spring ;
With which, Perilla, wash my hands and feet ;
That done, then wind me in that very sheet
3/0 NOTES.
Which wrapt thy smooth limbs, when thou didst implore
The Gods' protection, but the night before.
Follow me weeping, to my turfe, and there
Let fall a primrose, and with it a teare :
Then lastly let some weekly strewings be
Devoted to the memory of me :
So shall my ghost not walk about, but keep
Still in the coole and silent shades of sleep."
XXXIV. OvK edaves Upwrr], fierej3r)S h' ksufielvova -^^oipoy.
From Gruter's Inscriptions, 703 ; where it may be found
elegantly rendered into Latin by Salvini —
" Mortua non es. Prima ; loca in meliora migrasti " &c.
Most of the reliques of Grecian poetry, which we possess, are
of a cast of thought the most melancholy, whenever they touch
on the mournful subjects of death and the grave. There are,
nevertheless, a few (and this poem is among the number,)
which present us with brighter prospects, and bring us nearer
to the Elysium described by the more cheerful poets of Italy ;
particularly by Virgil, in his 6th book, and by TibuUus, in that
exquisitely beautiful passage, which our old traveller Sandys has
thus, not unpoetically, rendered :
" Love shall conduct me to the Elysian fields.
There songs and dances revel ; choice birds fly
From tree to tree, warbling sweet melody.
The wild shrubs bring forth cassia ; every where
The bounteous soyle doth fragrant roses bear ;
Youths intermixt with maydes disport at ease.
Encountering still in love's sweet skirmishes."
But the peculiar turn of expression reminds us more closely
of a passage in Shakspeare's " Titus Andronicus."
" In peace and honour rest you here, my sons !
Rome's readiest champions, repose you here.
UNCERTAIN AUTHORS. 371
Secure from worldly chances and mishaps !
Here lurks no treason ; here no envy swells ;
Here grow no damned grudges ; here no storms.
No noise ; but silence and eternal sleep.
In peace and honour rest you here, my sons !"
Nor has a more true and sublime Theology disdained to em-
ploy the same glowing imagery in describing the unseen and
ineffable joys of the Christian Heaven. So Massinger's Virgin
Martyr —
"There 's a perpetual spring, perpetual youth ;
Nor joint-benumbing cold, nor scorching heat.
Famine, nor age, have any being there.
Forget, for shame, your Tempe ; bury in
Oblivion your feign'd Hesperian orchards : —
The golden fruit, kept by the watchful dragon.
Which did require a Hercules to get it,
Compar'd with what grows in all plenty there.
Deserves not to be nam'd. The Power I serve.
Laughs at your happy Araby, or the
Elysian shades ; for he hath made his bowers
Better in deed, than you can fancy yours."
THE END.
372
FROM BYRON'S SIEGE OF CORINTH.
(See note, p. 341. On Polystatus.)
Many a vanisli'd year and age.
And tempest's breath, and battle's rage.
Have swept o'er Corinth ; yet she stands
A fortress form'd to Freedom's hands.
The wliirlwind's wrath, the earthquake's shock.
Have left untouch'd her hoary rock.
The keystone of a land, which still.
Though fall'n, looks proudly on that hill.
The land-mark to the double tide
That purpling rolls on either side.
As if their waters chaf'd to meet.
Yet pause and crouch beneath her feet.
But could the blood before her shed
Since first Timoleon's brother bled.
Or baffled Persia's despot fled.
Arise from out the earth which drank
The stream of slaughter as it sank.
That sanguine Ocean would o'erflow
Her Isthmus idly spread below :
Or could the bones of all the slain.
Who perish'd there, be pil'd again.
That rival pyramid would rise
More mountain-like, through those clear skies.
Than yon tower-capt Acropolis
Which seems the very clouds to kiss."
RICHARD TAYLOR, PRINTER.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
Los Angeles
REC'D ID-upc
APR 2 1 1986
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