the case, however, we know no one, excepting always his great predecessor, who has turned the Latin epigram more successfully, either in point of satirical power, or as regards that terseness, that happy adaptation of the matter of the epigram to its framework, that freedom from botches in short, which in modern epigrams (English at least) seems almost unattainable. We have already alluded to the grossness of many of these pieces; it is but justice however to add, that they are in general reproofs of prevailing vices, rather than wilful indulgences in impurity. We shall quote two of these pieces as fair specimens. Epig. LXXV. In Eunomum medicum: Languentem Caium moriturum dixerat olim Quis tu? Caius, ait. Vivisne? Hic abnuit. At quid Ut, quia notitiam Divûmque hominumque tenemus, Tum Caius: Metuas nihil, Eunome; dixi ego et omnes, Epig. CIV. In duas sorores diversorum morum : Delia, vos miramur, et est mirabile, quod tam Hæc habitu casto, cum non sit, casta videtur; Passing over the "Ephemeris,” a somewhat coxcomical account of the author's mode of spending the day, but which contains some things worth preserving, we come to the "Parentalia," a series of tributes to the memory of those of his family and kindred who had died before him; not however in detail, like the poems on similar subjects in the Sylvæ of Statius, but more in the nature of a catalogue raisonné of the qualities and fortunes of the individuals; somewhat between an elegy and an inscription. The design is pleasing and amiable; and in the execution there is some variety, as well as some pathos. But the especial interest of these compositions is, that they serve to remind us of our fellowship with human nature in all circumstances and under all disguises. They show us (what in reading ordinary historians, such as Gibbon, we are apt to forget) that even in a corrupt age, and under the pressure of great public misfortunes, there were other things in existence besides corruption and calamity; that filial and fraternal love, and the attachment to home, and the feeling of family honor, and private virtues, had still room wherein to unfold themselves and Borish. Like visits to some distant and little-explored country, against whose people we had conceived a somewhat excessive prejudice, such intimations are at once enlightening and consoling, These pieces are followed by a similar series, entitled "Professores Burdigalenses," in which the lives, characters, and attainments of the professors, who in the time of Ausonius filled the several chairs of public instruction at Bourdeaux, are successively commemo rated. They possess no great merit in themselves, but are valuable for the light they throw on the state of literature and of education in that country and age. Of the poems, or rather bundles of verses which immediately succeed, little need be said; they are at best nothing but ingenious trifles, possessing in some instances considerable interest for the antiquary, but none for the poetical reader: such are the "Epitaphia Heroum," from the Greek; the "Tetrasticha de Cæsaribus," a series of well-turned epigrams, illustrating in the way of Memoria Technica the reigns of the respective Cæsars; the "Ordo Nobilium Urbium," a description of the great cities of the earth and their glory, beginning with Rome and ending with his native city of Bourdeaux; the "Ludus Septem Sapientum," &c. But the " 'Idyllia," or Miscellanies, cannot be passed over so lightly. Several of them indeed, as the "Versus monosyllabis cœpti et finiti," and that whimsical Southeian outpouring of erudition the "Griphus Ternarius," belong to the same class as the above-mentioned; but the Horatian " Villula," the "Rosa," the "Cupido cruci affixus," and above all the "Mosella," are among the happiest of Ausonius's productions. This last, the longest of all his poems, is dedicated to the praises of his favorite river. The beauty of the stream itself, the neighboring scenery, and all the many topics of interest connected with it, are dwelt on with that warmth of home affections which is the finest feature in Ausonius's writings, with a luxuriant richness of painting, and in animated and flowing diction. It is remarkable that in this piece, and in one or two passages of his other poems, Ausonius seems to have forestalled the modern style of poetical description, in which the object described is dwelt on, and its minutest features set down, as things important in themselves, not merely as accessory to human action, or as influencing human passion, or colored by it. Take for instance the following lines: Glaucus opaco Respondet colli fluvius: frondere videntur Compare with this the descriptive passages in the Eclogues, for instance, or Georgics of Virgil. Among these Idyls is the too celebrated "Cento Nuptialis:" with regard to which, however, or rather with regard to the obnoxious passage with which it concludes, we may doubt whether it originated so much in a mere gloating love of impurity, as in the indulgence of a reckless ingenuity, glorying, with a kind of perverse triumph, in the dexterity with which the language and versification of Virgil had been forced into a combination with subjects so anti-Virgilian. The "Epistles" are, on the whole, the most interesting of Ausonius's works. They are the natural effusions of his heart, his fancy, or his immediate humor, with little restraint except that produced by the consciousness of writing in verse. We may venture to diversify our monotonous criticism by one or two extracts. The following, from an epistle to his father on the birth of his (Ausonius's) son, strikes us as very pleasing: (Ep. I.) Credideram nil posse meis affectibus addi, Quo doceam natum, quid sit amare patrem. Vidi ego natales fratrum distare tot annis, Quot nostros: ævum nomina non onerant. Et placuisse reor geminis ætatibus, ut se The first epistle to Theon, though indulging too much in horseplay, is a good piece of sarcasm. The concluding lines of our extract almost rise to humor; a quality exceedingly rare among the later Latin wits. 1 Utraque for utrăque, and in like manner eadem, are among the many corruptions in quantity (as in other matters) in Ausonius, which mark an age of incipient barbarism. Perhaps this particular instance origi nated in the popular accentuation. Quid geris, extremis positus telluris in oris, Jure quidem; nam quis malit sua carmina dici, Hæc quoque ne nostrum possint urgere pudorem, Pondera, Naryciamque picem, scissamique papyrum, Of the Epistles to Paullinus we have already spoken. The Panegyric on Gratian will not detain us long. Its characteristics are fluency, spirit (or rather perhaps vivacity), and somewhat of artificial smartness. We are reminded here of the professional rhetorician, as in some other places of the schoolmaster. One unpleasing feature, although too common in Roman writers to excite particular disgust here, is the extravagant strain of eulogy in which he indulges. Yet something may be said in extenuation of such offences. The feeling which prompts them is not necessarily unmixed servility: there is a spell in things present, a fascination which operates in some degree unavoidably on all except the strongest eyes; there is a charm also in rank, in authority, in hereditary institution; and where both these adventitious influences concur, the merits of the individual invested with them are sure to be over-rated by the bulk of mankind. But we must not run out into crude speculation. In Ausonius's case it should be observed, that a long friendship, and great benefits conferred on him by Gratian, might excuse some warmth of panegyric on his part. We can afford only one short quotation; it is not the best that might have been selected, but we prefer it as containing a lively description of a somewhat extraordinary ceremony. Vel illud unum cujusmodi est, de condonatis residuis_tributorum? Quod tu quam cumulata bonitate fecisti! Quis unquam imperatorum hoc provinciis suis aut uberiore indulgentia dedit, aut certiore securitate prospexit, aut prudentia consultiore munivit? Fecerat et Trajanus olim ; sed, partibus retentis, non habebat tantam oblectationem concessi debiti portio, quanta suberat amaritudo servati. Et Antoninus indulserat; sed imperii, non beneficii successor invidit, qui ex documentis tabulisque populi condonata repetivit. Tu argumenta omnia flagitandi publicitus ardere jussisti. Videre in suis quæque foris omnes civitates conflagrationem salubris incendii. Ardebant stirpes fraudum veterum, ardebant seminaria futurarum. Jam se cum pulvere favilla miscuerat, jam nubibus fumus involverat; et adhuc obnoxii in paginis concrematis ductus apicum, et sententiarum notas cum titubantia et trepidatione cernebant ; quod meminerant lectum, legi posse etiam tunc verentes. We have omitted mention of one or two unimportant fasciculi of verse; neither have we noticed his prefaces, which are frequently better than the poems they usher in. On the whole, Ausonius appears to be fully entitled to the rank which he holds among the minor poets of Rome; and if we were to describe in one sentence the impression which the perusal of his collective works left on our minds, we should say that they contain so much good poetry, and so much beauty of sentiment, as to make us regret that the proportion of good to bad, in both instances, was not greater. NOTICE OF "TRAVELS IN ARABIA; comprehending an Account of those Territories in Hedjáz which the Mohammedans regard as sacred." By the late JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT. 4to. London, 1829. Pr. 21. 2s. Colburn. THE high reputation of Burckhardt as an intrepid and accomplished traveller has for some years been established throughout Europe by the accounts of his expeditions to Nubia and to Syria, published in two quarto volumes. The celebrity so justly acquired by those publications (a celebrity which we regret to designate posthumous, for the author died at Cairo in 1817,) will not, if our judgment be correct, suffer any diminution from the appearance of his Arabian Travels. Respecting this work, the editor, Sir William Ouseley, having observed in his preface, that to the former portions of Burckhardt's writings success was insured not only by intrinsic merit, but by the fame of their editor (Colonel Leake), as a scholar and antiquary, a traveller and a geographer, adds VOL. XXXIX. Cl. JI. NO. LXXVII. H |