ODE 1. ΑΝΑΚΡΕΩΝ ιδων με 2. Δοτε μοι λυρην Όμηρου 3. Αγε, ζωγραφων αριστε 4. Τον αργυρον τορεύων 5. Καλλιτεχνα μοι τορευσον 6. Στεφος πλεκων ποθ ̓ εὗρον 7. Λεγουσιν αἱ γυναικες 8. Ου μοι μελει τα Γύγου 9. Αφες με τους θεους σοι 10. Τι σοι θελεις ποιήσω 11. Ερωτα κηρινον τις 12. Οἱ μεν καλην Κυβήβην 13. Θέλω, θελω φιλησαι 14. Ει φυλλα παντα δενδρων 15. Ερασμιη πέλεια 16. Αγε, ζωγραφων αριστε 17. Γραφε μοι Βαθυλλον οὕτω 18. Δοτε μοι, δοτε γυναίκες 19. Παρα την σκιην, Βαθυλλε 20. Αἱ Μουσαι τον Ερωτα 21. Η γη μελαινα πινει 22. Η Τανταλου ποτ' εστη 23. Θελω λεγειν Ατρείδας 24. Φυσις κέρατα ταύροις 25. Συ μεν φιλη χελίδων 18. 59. 26. Συ μεν λεγεις τα Θηβης 36. Ο πλουτος είγε χρυσον 43. Στεφανους μεν κροταφοισι 50. Οτ' εγω πιω τον οινον AN ODE BY THE TRANSLATOR. ΕΠΙ ῥυδίνοις ταπησι, Κ' ουκ εμοι κρατειν έδωκας; Αιει γ' ετρύφησας αδών, Μετα των καλων γυναικων Φιλέων μαλιστα παντων, Ου σοφος μελωδος ειμι ; Τις σοφώτερος μεν εστι ; 19 } Αμφι αυτον οἱ δ' Έρωτες Απαλοι συνέχορευσαν Εποιει, ψυχης οἴστους Η δε θέλων ανασσα Υπομειδιασσάς είπε Τοῖς Ερωσι, τῳ Λυαίῳ Σόφ ̓,—ἐπεὶ βροτῶν σὲ τοῦτο Τῶν σοφωτατὸν ἅπαντων καλέουσι φύλα πάντα, καλέουσιν οἱ σοφισταί, — τί, γέρων, μάτην ὁδεύεις βιότου τρίβον τεοῦ μὲν μετὰ τῶν καλῶν Ἐρώτων, μετὰ τοῦ καλοῦ Λυαίου, ἐμὲ δ ̓ ὧδε λὰξ ἀτίζεις; 25 τί φίλημα τῆς Κυθήρης, τί κύπελλα τοῦ Λυαίου, ἐσαεὶ τρυφῶν ἀείδεις, ἐμὰ θέσμι' οὐ διδάσκων, ἐμὸν οὐ λαχὼν άωτον; 30 ὁ δὲ Τήλος μελῳδὸς, Σὺ παρὲκ νόον γε μή μοι χαλέπαινε, φήσ', ἄνευθε ὅτι σεῦ σοφὸς καλοῦμαι παρὰ τῶν σοφῶν ἁπάντων. φιλέω, πίω, λυρίζω, μετὰ τῶν καλῶν γυναικῶν, ἀφελῶς δὲ τερπνὰ παίζω κιθάρη γὰρ, ὡς κέαρ μεῦ, ἀναπνεῖ μόνους Ερωτας. 36 5 Tmesis pro άμπεχόρευον. } Αἰεῖ γ' ετρύφησας αδων Ούκ εμους νόμους διδασκων Οὐκ εμον λαχων αυτόν Μῆτε δυσχεραινε, φησι Ότι, θέα, σου γ' ανευ μεν Ὁ σοφωτατὸς ἁπάντων Ως λυρη γαρ, εμον ητορ Theocr. Id. vi. 142. πωτῶντο ξευθαι περί είδακας ἀμφὶ μέλισσαι, h. e. ἀμφιτωτώντο. 6. Pseud.Anacr. Od. LII. 12. τρομεροῖς ποσὶν χορεύει. 7. 10, ὁ μὲν, hic — ὁ δὲ ille. Bion. Id. 1. 82. χὼ μὲν διστὼς, | ὃς δ ̓ ἐπὶ τόξον ἔξαιν', κ. τ. λ. itidem de Amoribus. 8. 9. ἐποίει – ἐκ κεραυνού. Pseud-Anacr. Od. xxvΙΙ, 18. τὸ δε βλέμμα νῦν ἀληθῶς | ἀπὸ τοῦ πυρὸς ποίησον. THERE is but little known with certainty of the life of Anacreon. Chamæleon Heracleotes 1, who wrote upon the subject, has been lost in the general wreck of ancient literature. The editors of the poet have collected the few trifling anecdotes which are scattered through the extant authors of antiquity, and, supplying the deficiency of materials by fictions of their own imagination, have arranged, what they call, a life of Anacreon. These specious fabrications are intended to indulge | that interest which we naturally feel in the biography of illustrious men; but it is rather a dangerous kind of illusion, as it confounds the limits of history and romance, and is too often supported by unfaithful citation.3 Our poet was born in the city of Téos, in the delicious region of Ionia, and the time of his birth appears to have been in the sixth century before Christ. He flourished at that remarkable period, | when, under the polished tyrants Hipparchus and Polycrates, Athens and Samos were become the rival asylums of genius. There is nothing certain known about his family, and those who pretend to discover in Plato that he was a descendant of the monarch Codrus, show much more of zeal than of either accuracy or judgment." Mademoiselle Scuderi, from whom he borrowed the idea, pretend to historical veracity in her account of Anacreon and Sappho. These, then, are allowable. But how can Barnes be forgiven, who, with all the confidence of a biographer, traces every wandering of the poet, and settles him at last, in his old age, at a country villa near Téos? 3 The learned Bayle has detected some infidelities of quotation in Le Fevre. (Dictionnaire Historique, &c.) Madame Dacier is not more accurate than her father: they have almost made Anacreon prime minister to the monarch of Samos. 4 The Asiatics were as remarkable for genius as for luxury. Ingenia Asiatica inclyta per gentes fecère Poetæ, Anacreon, inde Mimnermus et Antimachus,” &c. - Solinus. 5 I have not attempted to define the particular Olympiad, but have adopted the idea of Bayle, who says, "Je n'ai point 25. Ficb. Eumen. 533. μηδί νιν, | κέρδος ἰδὼν, ἀθέῳ ποδι λαξ marqué d' Olympiade; car pour un homme qui a vécu 85 ans, ατί σης. 32. παρὶκ νέου γε μή μοι χαλέπαινε, ne prater rationem in mae saevi. 11. Υ. 133. Ηρη, μὴ χαλέπαινε παρὶκ νόον. Similem positionem particularum μή μοι exhibet Pseud-Anacr. Od. XXVIII. 13. 1 He is quoted by Athenaus εν τω περι του Ανακρέοντος. * The History of Anacreon, by Gaçon (le Poète sans fard, as he styles himself), is professedly a romance; nor does il me semble que l'on ne doit point s'enfermer dans des bornes si étroites." 6 This mistake is founded on a false interpretation of a very obvious passage in Plato's Dialogue on Temperance; it originated with Madame Dacier, and has been received implicitly by many. Gail, a late editor of Anacreon, seems to claim to himself the merit of detecting this error; but Bayle had observed it before him. The disposition and talents of Anacreon recommended him to the monarch of Samos, and he was formed to be the friend of such a prince as Polycrates. Susceptible only to the pleasures, he felt not the corruptions of the court; and, while Pythagoras fled from the tyrant, Anacreon was celebrating his praises on the lyre. We are told too by Maximus Tyrius, that, by the influence of his amatory songs, he softened the mind of Polycrates into a spirit of benevolence towards his subjects.1 The amours of the poet, and the rivalship of the tyrant, I shall pass over in silence; and there are few, I presume, who will regret the omission of most of those anecdotes, which the industry of some editors has not only promulged, but discussed. Whatever is repugnant to modesty and virtue is considered in ethical science, by a supposition very favourable to humanity, as impossible; and this amiable persuasion should be much more strongly entertained, where the transgression wars with nature as well as virtue. But why are we not allowed to indulge in the presumption? Why are we officiously reminded that there have been really such instances of depravity? Hipparchus, who now maintained at Athens the power which his father Pisistratus had usurped, was one of those princes who may be said to have polished the fetters of their subjects. He was the first, according to Plato, who edited the poems of Homer, and commanded them to be sung by the rhapsodists at the celebration of the Panathenæa. From his court, which was a sort of galaxy of genius, Anacreon could not long be absent. Hipparchus sent a barge for him; the poet readily embraced the invitation, and the Muses and the Loves were wafted with him to Athens.3 The manner of Anacreon's death was singular. 1 Ανακρέων Σαμίοις Πολυκράτην ημερωσε. Maxim. Τyr. 3 21. Maximus Tyrius mentions this among other instances of the influence of poetry. If Gail had read Maximus Tyrius, how could he ridicule this idea in Moutonnet, as unauthenticated? 2 In the romance of Clelia, the anecdote to which I allude is told of a young girl, with whom Anacreon fell in love while she personated the god Apollo in a mask. But here Mademoiselle Scuderi consulted nature more than truth. 3 There is a very interesting French poem founded upon this anecdote, imputed to Desy vetaux, and called "Anacreon Citoyen." 4 Fabricius appears not to trust very implicitly in this story. "Uvæ passæ acino tandem suffocatus, si credimus Suidæ in oveToTY; alii enim hoc mortis genere periise tradunt Sophoclem."- Fabricii Bibliothec. Græc. lib. ii, cap. 15. It must be confessed that Lucian, who tells us that Sophocles was ch ked by a grape-stone, in the very same treatise mentions the longevity of Anacreon, and yet is silent on the manner of his death. Could he have been ignorant of such a remarkable coincidence, or, knowing, could he have neg. lected to remark it? See Regnier's introduction to his Anacreon. We are told that in the eighty-fifth year of his age ne was choked by a grape-stone; and, however we may smile at their enthusiastic partiality, who see in this easy and characteristic death a peculiar indulgence of Heaven, we cannot help admiring that his fate should have been so emblematic of his disposition. Cælius Calcagninus alludes to this catastrophe in the following epitaph on our poet : Those lips, then, hallow'd sage, which pour'd along The grape hath clos'd for ever! But far be thou, oh! far, unholy vine, Thy God himself now blushes to confess, Since poor Anacreon's death. It has been supposed by some writers that Anacreon and Sappho were contemporaries; and the very thought of an intercourse between persons so congenial, both in warmth of passion and delicacy of genius, gives such play to the imagination, that the mind loves to indulge in it. But the vision dissolves before historical truth; and Chamæleon and Hermesianax, who are the source of the supposition, are considered as having merely indulged in a poetical anachronism.6 To infer the moral dispositions of a poet from the tone of sentiment which pervades his works, is sometimes a very fallacious analogy; but the soul of Anacreon speaks so unequivocally through his odes, that we may safely consult them as the faithful mirrors of his heart.7 We find him there the elegant voluptuary, diffusing the seductive charm of sentiment over passions and propensities 5 At te, sancte senex, acinus sub Tartara misit; Vos, hederæ, tumulum, tumulum vos cingite, lauri, At vitis procul hinc, procul hinc odiosa facessat, The author of this epitaph, Cælius Calcagninus, has translated or imitated the epigrams THY Mugavas Bour, which are given under the name of Anacreon. 6 Barnes is convinced (but very gratuitously) of the synchronism of Anacreon and Sappho. In citing his authorities, he has strangely neglected the line quoted by Fulvius Ursinus, as from Anacreon, among the testimonies to Sappho : Ειμι λαβων εισαρας Σαπφω παρθένον ἀλύφωνον. Fabricius thinks that they might have been contemporary, but considers their amour as a tale of imagination. Vossius rejects the idea entirely; as do also Olaus Borrichius and others. 7 An Italian poet, in some verses on Belleau's translation : at which rigid morality must frown. His heart, devoted to indolence, seems to have thought that there is wealth enough in happiness, but seldom happiness in mere wealth. The cheerfulness, indeed, with which he brightens his old age is interesting and endearing like his own rose, he is fragrant even in decay. But the most peculiar feature of his mind is that love of simplicity, which he attributes to himself so feelingly, and which breathes characteristically throughout all that he has sung. In truth, if we omit those few vices in our estimate which religion, at that time, not only connived at, but consecrated, we shall be inclined to say that the disposition of our poet was amiable; that his morality was relaxed, but not abandoned; and that Virtue, with her zone loosened, may be an apt emblem of the character of Ana creon. Of his person and physiognomy time has preserved such uncertain memorials, that it were better, perhaps, to leave the pencil to fancy; and few can read the Odes of Anacreon without imagining to themselves the form of the animated old bard, crowned with roses, and singing cheerfully to his lyre. But the head of Anacreon, prefixed to this work, has been considered so authentic, that we scarcely could be justified in the omission of it; and some have even thought that it is by no means deficient in that benevolent suavity of expression which should characterise the countenance of such a poet. After the very enthusiastic eulogiums bestowed both by ancients and moderns upon the poems of Anacreon, we need not be diffident in expressing our raptures at their beauty, nor hesitate to pronounce them the most polished remains of antiquity. They are, indeed, all beauty, all enchantment.5 He steals us so insensibly along with him, that we sympathise even in his excesses. In his amatory odes there is a delicacy of compliment not to be found in any other ancient poet. Love at that period was rather an unrefined emotion: and the intercourse of the sexes was animated more by passion than by sentiment. They knew of Anacreon, pretends to imagine that our bard did not feel right hand, and a dolphin, with the word TIANON inscribed, as he wrote: Lyæum, Venerem, Cupidinemque Senex lusit Anacreon poeta. Sed quo tempore nec capaciores Nor fill'd his bowl to Bacchus higher. But never, never, reach'd his heart. in the left; "volendoci denotare (says Canini) che quelle cittadini la coniassero in honore del suo compatriota poeta." There is also among the coins of De Wilde one, which though it bears no effigy, was probably struck to the memory of Anacreon. It has the word THION, encircled with an ivy crown. "At quidni respicit hæc corona Anacreontem, nobilem lyricum?" - De Wilde. 3 Besides those which are extant, he wrote hymns, elegies, epigrams, &c. Some of the epigrams still exist. Horace, in addition to the mention of him (lib. iv. od. 9.), alludes also to a poem of his upon the rivalry of Circe and Penelope in the affections of Ulysses, lib. i. od. 17.; and the scholiast upon Nicander cites a fragment from a poem upon Sleep by Anacreon, and attributes to him likewise a medicinal treatise. Fulgentius mentions a work of his upon the war between Jupiter and the Titans, and the origin of the consecration of the eagle. 4 See Horace, Maximus Tyrius, &c. "His style (says Scaliger) is sweeter than the juice of the Indian reed."— Pöet. lib. i. cap. 44. "From the softness of his verses (says Olaus Borrichius) the ancients bestowed on him the epithets sweet, delicate, graceful, &c."-Dissertationes Academicæ, de Poetis, diss. 2. Scaliger again praises him thus in a pun; speaking of the shes, or ode, “Anacreon autem non solum dedit hac 1 Anacreon's character has been variously coloured. Barnes lingers on it with enthusiastic admiration; but he is always extravagant, if not sometimes also a little profane. Baillet runs too much into the opposite extreme, exaggerating also the testimonies which he has consulted; and we cannot surely agree with him when he cites such a compiler as Athenæus, as "un des plus savans critiques de l'antiquité."usan sed etiam in ipsis mella." See the passage of Rapin, -Jugement des Sçavans, M. CV. Barnes could hardly have read the passage to which he refers, when he accuses Le Fevre of having censured our poet's character in a note on Longinus; the note in question being manifest irony, in allusion to some censure passed upon Le Fevre for his Anacreon. It is clear, indeed, that praise rather Ithan censure is intimated See Johannes Vulpius (de UtiliLate Poetices), who vindicates our poet's reputation. 2 It is taken from the Bibliotheca of Fulvius Ursinus. Bellori has copied the same head into his Imagines. Johannes Faber, in his description of the coin of Ursinus, mentions another head on a very beautiful cornelian, which he supposes was worn in a ring by some admirer of the poet. In the Iconographia of Canini there is a youthful head of Anacreon from a Grecian medal, with the letters TEIOZ around it; on the reverse there is a Neptune, holding a spear in his quoted by all the editors. I cannot omit citing also the following very spirited apostrophe of the author of the Commentary prefixed to the Parma edition: "O vos sublimes animæ, vos Apollinis alumni, qui post unum Alemanem in totâ Hellade lyricam poesim exsuscitastis, coluistis, amplificastis, quæso vos an ullus unquam fuerit vates qui Teio cantori vel naturæ candore vel metri suavitate palmam præripuerit." See likewise Vincenzo Gravini della Rag. Poetic. libro primo, p. 97. Among the Ritratti of Marino, there is one of Anacreon beginning "Cingetemi la fronte," &c. &c. "We may perceive," says Vossius, "that the iteration of his words conduces very much to the sweetness of bis style." Henry Stephen remarks the same beauty in a note on the forty-fourth ode. This figure of iteration is his most appropriate grace: - but the modern writers of Juvenilia and Basia have adopted it to an excess which destroys the effect. |