a Then give the harp of epic song, ODE V. Grave me a cup with brilliant grace, Deep as the rich and holy vase, Grave it with themes of chaste design, Form'd for a heavenly bowl like mine. Display not there the barbarous rites In which religious zeal delights ; Nor any tale of tragic fate, Which history trembles to relate! No-cull thy fancies from above, Themes of heaven and themes of love. Let Bacchus, Jove's ambrosial boy, Distil the grapes in drops of joy, And while he smiles at every tear, Let warm-eyed Venus, dancing near, With spirits of the genial bed, Such a theme as this pourtray, The dewy herbage deftly tread. All the happy heaven of love, Let Love be there, without his arms, In timid nakedness of charms; While rosy boys, disporting round, In circles trip the velvet ground; But ah! if there Apollo toys, I tremble for my rosy boys! ODE VI. As late I sought the spangled bowers, To cull a wreath of matin flowers, 1 Degen thinks that this ode is a more modern imitation Orion, scowling o'er the tide. of the preceding. There is a poem by Cælius Calcagninus, I care not for the glittering wane, in the manner of both, where he gives instructions about the making of a ring. Nor yet the weeping sister train. Tornabis annulum mihi But oh ! let vines luxuriant roll Et fabre, et apte, et commode, etc. etc. Their blushing tendrils round the bowl. Let Love be there, without his arms, etc.) Thus SannaWhile many a rose-lipp'd bacchant maid zaro in the eclogue of Gallicio nell' Arcadia : Is culling clusters in their shade. Vegnan li vaghi Amori Let sylvan gods, in antic shapes, Senza fiammelle, Ô strali, Scherzando insieme pargoletti e nudi. Wildly press the gushing grapes; Fluttering on the busy wing, And flights of loves, in wanton ringlets, A train of naked Čupids came, Flit around on golden winglets ; Sporting round in harmless ring, While Venus, to her mystic bower, Without a dart, without a flame. Beckons the rosy vintage-Power. And thus in the Pervigilium Veneris; Ite nymphæ, posuit arma, feriatus est amor. 1 Monsieur La Fosse has thought proper to lengthen this Love is disarm'd-ye nymphs, in safety stray, poem by considerable interpolations of his own, which he Your bosoms now may boast a holiday! thinks are indispensably necessary to the completion of the But ah! if there Apollo toys, description. I tremble for my rosy boys !] An allusion to the fable, 2 This is the ode which Aulus Gellius tells us was per- that Apollo had killed his beloved boy Hyacinth, while formed by minstrels at an entertainment where he was pre- playing with him at quoits. “This (says M. La Fosse) is sent. assuredly the sense of the text, and it cannot admit of any While many a rose-lipp'd bacchant maid, etc.). I have other.” given this according to the Vatican manuscript, in which The Italian translators, to save themselves the trouble of the ode concludes with the following lines, not inserted ac- a note, have taken the liberty of making Anacreon explain curately in any of the editions : this fable. Thus Salvini, the most literal of any of them: Ποιησον αμπελους μοι Ma con lor non giuochi Apollo; Che in fiero risco Col duro disco A Giacinto fiaccò il collo. 2 The Vatican MS. pronounces this beautiful fiction to be Και χρυσους τους ερωτας, the genuine offspring of Anacreon. It has all the features Και Κύθερην γελωσαν, of the parent: "Ouou xaw Audio, et facile insciis Ερωτα και Αφροδιτην. Noscitetur ab omnibus. The commentators, however, have attributed it to Julian, gant; at the same time I confess, that none of the Latin a royal poet. Florentes dum forte vagans mea Hyella per hortos Ecce rosas inter latitantem invenit amorem Impositosque com ambrosios ut sentit odores "I (dixit) mea, quære novum tibi mater amorem, Imperio sedes hæc erit apta meo." As fair Hyella, through the bloomy grove, poets have ever appeared to me so capable of imitating the graces of Anacreon as Catullus, if he had not allowed a depraved imagination to hurry him so often into vulgar licentiousness. That still as death approaches nearer, The joys of life are sweeter, dearer;] Pontanus has a very delicate thought upon the subject of old age. Quid rides, Matrona? senem quid temnis amantem? Why do you scorn my want of youth, That he who loves cannot be old. 1 "The German poet Lessing has imitated this ode. Vol. i. p. 24."-Degen. Gail de Editionibus. Baxter conjectures that this was written upon the occasion of our poet's returning the money to Policrates, accord ing to the anecdote in Stobæus. Ψυχήν εμην ερωτω, Τι σοι θελεις γενέσθαι; Be mine the odours, richly sighing, Amidst my hoary tresses flying.] In the original, uposos This epigram of Naugerius is imitated by Lodovico Dolce, xxx. On account of this idea of perfuming in a poem beginning Montre raccoglie hor uno, hor altro fiore 1 Alberti has imitated this ode, in a poem beginning Nisa mi dice e Clori Tirsi, tu se' pur veglio. Whether decline has thinn'd my hair, I'm sure I neither know nor care.] Henry Stephen very justly remarks the elegant negligence of expression in the original here: Εγω δε τας κόμας μεν EIT' εισιν, ειτε απήλθον Ουκ οίδα. And Longepierre has adduced from Catullus what he thinks a similar instance of this simplicity of manner : Ipse quis sit, utrum sit, an non sit, id quoque nescit. Longepierre was a good critic, but perhaps the line which the beard, Cornelius de Pauw pronounces the whole ode to be the spurious production of some lascivious monk, who was nursing his beard with unguents. But he should have known that this was an ancient eastern custom, which, if we may believe Savary, still exists: "Vous voyez, Monsieur (says this traveller,) que l'usage antique de se parfumer la tête et la barbe, (a) célébré par le prophète Roi, subsiste encore de nos jours."-Lettre 12. Savary likewise cites this very ode of Anacreon. Angerianus has not thought the idea inconsistent; he has introduced it in the following lines: Hæc mihi cura, rosis et cingere tempora myrto, This be my care to twine the rosy wreath, (a)" Sicut unguentum in capite quod descendit in bar ae has selected is a specimen of a carelessness not very ele-bam Aaron.-Psaume 133." Or, as Tereus did of old ODE XI.1 "TELL me, gentle youth, I pray thee, Little gods who murder sleep!" 66 'Here, then, here," I said, with joy, Here is silver for the boy : He shall be my bosom guest, Idol of my pious breast!" Little Love! thou now art mine, Warm me with that torch of thine; Make me feel as I have felt, Or thy waxen frame shall melt. And thus while all our days are bright, And grimly bid us-drink no more! ODE IX.1 I PRAY thee, by the gods above, ODE X.2 TELL me how to punish thee, Shall I clip that wheeling wing? 1 The poet here is in a frenzy of enjoyment, and it is, indeed, "amabilis insania." Furor di poesia, Di lascivia, e di vino, Bacco, Apollo, et Amore. Ritratti del Cavalier Marino. This is, as Scaliger expresses it, Et sapidum furere furorem. 2 This ode is addressed to a swallow. I find from Degen and from Gail's index, that the German poet Weisse has imitated it, Scherz. Lieder. lib. ii. carm. 5; that Ramler also has imitated it, Lyr. Blumenlese, lib. iv. p. 335; and some others.-See Gail de Editionibus. We are referred by Degen to that stupid book, the Epistles of Alciphron, tenth epistle, third book; where Iophon complains to Eraston of being wakened, by the crowing of a cock, from his vision of riches. Silly swallow! prating thing, etc.] The loquacity of the swallow was proverbialized; thus Nicostratus: I must burn in warm desire, ODE XII. THEY tell how Atys, wild with love, Ει το συνεχώς και πολλα και ταχέως λαλειν If in prating from morning till night, For they prattle much faster than we. Or, as Tereus did of old, etc.] Modern poetry has confirmed the name of Philomel upon the nightingale; but many very respectable ancients assigned this metamorphose to Progne, and made Philomel the swallow, as Anacreon does here. 1 It is difficult to preserve with any grace the narrative simplicity of this ode, and the humour of the turn with which it concludes. I feel that the translation must appear very vapid, if not ludicrous, to an English reader. And I can no longer keep Little gods, who murder sleep!] I have not literally rendered the epithet TOPEXT; if it has any meaning here, it is one, perhaps, better omitted. I must burn in warm desire, Or thou, my boy, in yonder fire!] Monsieur Longepierre conjectures from this, that, whatever Anacreon might say, he sometimes felt the inconveniences of old age, and here solicits from the power of Love a warmth which he could no longer expect from Nature. 2 They tell how Atys, wild with love, Roams the mount and haunted grove.] There are many Cybele's name he howls around, The gloomy blast returns the sound! Full of mirth, and full of him, While waves of perfume round me swim; ODE XIII. I WILL, I will; the conflict's past, And I have thought that peace of mind And hoped my heart should sleep secure. contradictory stories of the loves of Cybele and Atys. It is certain that he was mutilated, but whether by his own fury, or her jealousy, is a point which authors are not agreed upon. Cybele's name he howls around, etc.] I have adopted the accentuation which Elias Andreas gives to Cybele: In montibus Cybelen Magno sonans boatu. Oft too by Claros' hallow'd spring, etc.] This fountain was in a grove, consecrated to Apollo, and situated between Colophon and Lebedos, in Ionia. The god had an oracle there. Scaliger has thus alluded to it in his Anacreontica: Semel ut concitus œstro, Quo plus canunt, plura volunt. While waves of perfume, etc.] Spaletti has mistaken the import of xopers, as applied to the poet's mistress: "Mea fatigatus amica." He interprets it in a sense which must want either delicacy or gallantry. And what did I unthinking do? Ωπλισμαι προς ερωτα περι στερνοισι λογισμόν, Θνατος δ' αθανατώ συνέλευσομαι ην δε βοηθου Βάκχον έχη, το μόνος προς δυ εγω δυναμαί. With Reason I cover my breast as a shield, And fearlessly meet little Love in the field;" Thus fighting his godship, I'll ne'er be dismay'd; Alas! then, unable to combat the two, This idea of the irresistibility of Cupid and Bacchus united, is delicately expressed in an Italian poem, which is so very Anacreontic, that I may be pardoned for introducing it. Indeed, it is an imitation of our poet's sixth ode. Assumed the corslet, shield, and spear, ODE XIV.1 COUNT me, on the summer trees, Every leaf that courts the breeze; Lavossi Amore in quel vicino fiume Lascivetto mi scherza al cor intorno. Sarei, piu che non sono ebro d'Amore. But were it not more fatal far, I found this fluttering, young desire? And, having now no other dart, He glanced himself into my heart!] Dryden has parodied this thought in the following extravagant lines: I'm all o'er Love; Nay, I am Love; Love shot, and shot so fast, 1 The poet, in this catalogue of his mistresses, means nothing more than, by a lively hyperbole, to tell us that his heart, unfettered by any one object, was warm with devoode for the hint of his ballad, called "The Chronicle;" and tion towards the sex in general. Cowley is indebted to this the learned Monsieur Menage has imitated it in a Greek Anacreontic, which has so much ease and spirit, that the reader may not be displeased at seeing it here: Προς Βίωνα. Ει αλσεων τα φυλλα, Ορειάδας, Ναπαίας, Νηρηίδας τε πάσας Ο σος φίλος φίλησε. Πάντων κόρος μεν εστιν. Count me on the foamy deep, Every wave that sinks to sleep; Then, when you have numbered these Δεσποιναν Αφροδίτην, Tell the foliage of the woods, Every leaf, etc.] This figure is called, by the rhetoricians, avvatov, and is very frequently made use of in poetry. The amatory writers have exhausted a world of imagery by it, to express the infinity of kisses which they require from the lips of their mistresses: in this Catullus led the way: -quam sidera multa, cum tacet nox, Furtivos hominum vident amores; Tam te basia multa basiare, Vesano satis, et super Catullo est: Quæ nec pernumerare curiosi Possint, nec mala fascinare lingua. As many stellar eyes of light, As through the silent waste of night, Gazing upon this world of shade, Witness some secret youth and maid, Who, fair as thou, and fond as I, In stolen joys enamour'd lie! So many kisses, ere I slumber, Upon those dew-bright lips I'll number; So many vermil, honey'd kisses, Envy can never count our blisses. No tongue shall tell the sum but mine; No lips shall fascinate but thine! In the sweet Corinthian grove, Carm. 7. Where the glowing wantons rove, etc.] Corinth was very famous for the beauty and number of its courtezans. Venus was the deity principally worshipped by the people, and prostitution in her temple was a meritorious act of religion. Conformable to this was their constant and solemn prayer, that the gods would increase the number of their courtezans. We may perceive from the application of the verb xop voev, in Aristophanes, that the wantonness of the Corinthians became proverbial. There indeed are girls divine, Dangerous to a soul like mine!] "With justice has the poet attributed beauty to the women of Greece."-Degen. Many bloom in Lesbos' isle; Rhodes a pretty swarm can boast; Sum these all-of brown and fair, Or the nymphs who, blushing sweet, Still in clusters, still remain ODE XV. 'TELL me why, my sweetest dove, Thus your humid pinions move, Shedding through air, in showers, Essence of the balmiest flowers? Tell me whither, whence you rove, Tell me all, my sweetest dove? Monsieur de Pauw, the author of Dissertations upon the Greeks, is of a different opinion; he thinks that, by a capricious partiality of nature, the other sex had all the beauty, and accounts upon this supposition for a very singular de pravation of instinct among them. Gades' warm desiring train.] The Gaditanian girls were like the Baladières of India, whose dances are thus described by a French author: "Les danses sont presque toutes des pantomimes d'amour; le plan, le dessin, les attitudes, les mesures, les sons, et les cadences de ces ballets, tout respire cette passion et en exprime les voluptés et les fureurs." Histoire du Commerce des Europ. dans les deux Indes.-Raynal. The music of the Gaditanian females had all the voluptuous character of their dancing, as appears from Martial: Cantica qui Nili, qui Gaditana susurrat. Lib. iii. epig. 63. Lodovico Ariosto had this ode of our bard in his mind, when he wrote his poem "De diversis amoribus." See the Anthologia Italorum. 1 The dove of Anacreon, bearing a letter from the poet to his mistress, is met by a stranger, with whom this dialogue is imagined. The ancients made use of letter-carrying pigeons, when they went any distance from home, as the most certain means of conveying intelligence back. That tender domestic attachment, which attracts this delicate little bird through every danger and difficulty, till it settles in its native nest, affords to the elegant author of "The Pleasures of Memory" a fine and interesting exemplification of his subject. Led by what chart, transports the timid dove The wreaths of conquest, or the vows of love? See the poem. Daniel Heinsius has a similar sentiment, speaking of Dousa, who adopted this method at the siege of Leyden : Quo patriæ non tendit amor? Mandata referre Postquam hominem nequiit mittere, misit avem. Fuller tells us that, at the siege of Jerusalem, the Christians intercepted a letter tied to the legs of a dove, in which the Persian Emperor promised assistance to the besieged See Fuller's Holy War, cap. 24, book i. |