And give them all that liquid fire Now let a floating, lucid veil Shadow her limbs, but not conceal; Quai gli ha Ciprigna l' alma Dea d' Amore. Tasso has painted in the same manner the eyes of Armida, as La Fosse remarks: Qual raggio in onda le scintilla un riso Within her humid, melting eyes The mingled expression of dignity and tenderness, which Anacreon requires the painter to infuse into the eyes of his mistress, is more amply described in the subsequent ode. Both descriptions are so exquisitely touched, that the artist must have been great indeed, if he did not yield in painting to the poet: Gradual tints, as when there glows A charm may peep, a hue may beam, ODE XVII.1 AND now, with all thy pencil's truth, Power that awes, and love that trances; art of description, which leaves imagination to complete the In snowy milk the bashful rose.] Thus Propertius, eleg. the second epistle, first book of Sidonius Apollinaris. 3. lib. ii. Utque rose puro lacte natant folia. And Davenant, in a little poem called "The Mistress," Catch, as it falls, the Scythian snow, Thus, too, Taygetus: Quæ lac atque rosas vincis candore rubenti. These last words may perhaps defend the "flushing white" of the translation. Then her lip, so rich in blisses! Sweet petitioner for kisses!] The "lip, provoking kisses," in the original, is a strong and beautiful expression. Achilles Tatius speaks of χειλη μαλθακα προς τα φιλήματα, "Lips soft and delicate for kissing." A grave old commentator, Dionysius Lambinus, in his notes upon Lucretius, tells us, with all the authority of experience, that girls who have large lips kiss infinitely sweeter than others! "Suavius viros osculantur puellæ labiosa, quam quæ sunt brevibus labris." And Eneas Sylvius, in his tedious uninteresting story of the adulterous loves of Euryalus and Lucretia, where he particularizes the beauties of the heroine (in a very false and laboured style of latinity,) describes her lips as exquisitely adapted for biting: "Os parvum decensque, labia corallini coloris ad morsum aptissima." Epist. 114. lib. i. Then beneath the velvet chin, Whose dimple shades a Love within, etc.] Madame In her chin is a delicate dimple, By the finger of Cupid imprest; There Softness, bewitchingly simple, Has chosen her innocent nest. Now let a floating, lucid veil Shadow her limbs, but not conceal, etc.] This deucate i Let not the braid, with artful twine, etc.] If the original here, which is particularly beautiful, can admit of any additional value, that value is conferred by Gray's admiration of it. See his Letters to West. Some annotators have quoted on this passage the description of Photis's hair in Apuleius; but nothing can be more distant from the simplicity of our poet's manner than that affectation of richness which distinguishes the style of Apuleius. Front as fair as mountain-snow, And guileless as the dews of dawn, etc.] Torrentius, upon the words "insignem tenui fronte," in the thirty-third ode of the first book of Horace, is of opinion that "tenui" bears the meaning of av here; but he is certainly incorrect. Steal from Venus bland desire, The velvet down that spreads his cheek! Which lights the cheek of virgin shame. Oh tell me, brightly-beaming eye, Monsieur Chevreau, citing the lines of our poet, in his critique on the poems of Malherbe, produces a Latin version of them from a manuscript which he had seen, entitled "Joan Falconis Anacreontici Lusus." Persuasion sleeping upon roses.] It was worthy of the delicate imagination of the Greeks to deify Persuasion, and give her the lips for her throne. We are here reminded of a very interesting fragment of Anacreon, preserved by the scholiast upon Pindar, and supposed to belong to a poem reflecting with some severity on Simonides, who was the first, we are told, that ever made a hireling of his muse. Ουδ' αργυρέη κατ' έλαμψε Πειθω. Nor yet had fair Persuasion shone And give his lip that speaking air, As if a word was hovering there!] In the original λαλων σιωπή. The mistress of Petrarch "parla con silentio," which is perhaps the best method of female eloquence. Give him the winged Hermes' hand, etc.] In Shakspeare's Cymbeline there is a similar method of description; this is his hand, His foot Mercurial, his martial thigh The brawns of Hercules. Which kindles when the wishful sigh ODE XVIII.' Now the star of day is high, Give me all those humid flowers, Drop them o'er my brow in showers. But, hold-forbear I see a godlike portrait there.] This is very spirited, but it requires explanation. While the artist is pursuing the portrait of Bathyllus, Anacreon, we must suppose, turns round and sees a picture of Apollo, which was intended for an altar at Samos; he instantly tells the painter to cease his work; that this picture will serve for Bathyllus; and that, when he goes to Samos, he may make an Apollo of the por trait of the boy which he had begun. "Bathyllus (says Madame Dacier) could not be more elegantly praised, and this one passage does him more honour than the statue, however beautiful it might be, which Polycrates raised to him." 1 "An elegant translation of this ode may be found in Ramler's Lyr. Blumenslese, lib. v. p. 403."-Degen. Bring me wine in brimming urns, etc.] Orig. μUTI. "The amystis was a method of drinking used among the Thracians. Thus Horace, "Threicia vincat amystide." Mad. Dacier, Longepierre, etc. etc. Parrhasius, in his twenty-sixth epistle (Thesaur. Critic. vol. i.) explains the amystis as a draught to be exhausted without drawing breath, "uno haustu." A note in the margin of this epistle of Parrhasius says, "Politianus vestem esse putabat," but I cannot find where. Give me all those humid flowers, etc.] By the original reading of this line, the poet says, "Give me the flower of wine"-Date flosculos Lyai, as it is in the version of Elias Andreas; and Deh porgetimi del fiore We find it likewise in Hamlet. Longepierre thinks that the hands of Mercury are selected by Anacreon, on account as Regnier has it, who supports the reading. Avtos would of the graceful gestures which were supposed to character- undoubtedly bear this application, which is somewhat simiize the god of eloquence; but Mercury was also the patron lar to its import in the epigram of Simonides upon Sophoof thieves, and may perhaps be praised as a light-fingered cles: deity. But oh! suffuse his limbs of fire With all that glow of young desire, etc.] I have taken the liberty here of somewhat veiling the original. Madame Dacier, in her translation, has bung out lights (as Sterne would call it) at this passage. It is very much to be regretted, that this substitution of asterisks has been so much adopted in the popular interpretations of the Classics; it serves but to bring whatever is exceptionable into notice, claramque facem præferre pudendis." Εσβεσθης, γεραιο Σοφοκλέες, ανθος αρίδων. And flos, in the Latin, is frequently applied in this mannerthus Cethegus is called by Ennius, Flos illibatus populi, suadæque medulla, "The immaculate flower of the people, and the very marrow of persuasion," in those verses cited by Aulus Gellius, lib. xii. which Cicero praised, and Seneca thought ridiculous. But in the passage before us, if we admit sxvev, according to Faber's conjecture, the sense is sufficiently clear, and we need not have recourse to refinements. 'Here recline you, gentle maid, Every dewy rose I wear Sheds its tears, and withers there.] There are some beautiful lines, by Angeriamus, upon a garland, which I cannot resist quoting here: Ante fores madida sic sic pendete corollæ, At cum per niveam cervicem influxerit humor, By Celia's arbour all the night Hang, humid wreath, the lover's vow; My love shall twine thee round her brow. Then if, upon her bosom bright Some drops of dew shall fall from thee, But tears of sorrow shed by me! In the poem of Mr. Sheridan, "Uncouth is this mosscover'd grotto of stone," there is an idea very singularly coincident with this of Angerianus, in the stanza which begins, And thou, stony grot, in thy arch may'st preserve. But for you my burning mind! etc.] The transition here is peculiarly delicate and impassioned; but the commentators have perplexed the sentiment by a variety of readings and conjectures. 1 The description of this bower is so natural and animated, that we cannot help feeling a degree of coolness and freshness while we read it. Longepierre has quoted from the first book of the Anthologia, the following epigram, as somewhat resembling this ode: Ερχεο, και κατ' εμαν ιζου πιτυν, σ το μελιχρον Come, sit by the shadowy pine See the fountain, that, flowing, diffuses Here recline you, gentle maid, etc.] The Vatican MS. reads Babuλov, which renders the whole poem metaphorical. Some commentator suggests the reading of Babuλov, which makes a pun upon the name; a grace that Plato himself has condescended to in writing of his boy Arrup. See the epigram of this philosopher, which I quote on the twenty-second ode. There is another epigram by this philosopher, preserved in Laertius, which turns upon the same word: Αστηρ πριν μεν έλαμπες ενι ζώοισιν έπος Νυν δε θανών, λάμπεις εσπερος εν φθιμενοις. In life thou wert my morning-star, But now that death has stolen thy light, Like the pale beam that weeps at night. In the Veneres Blyenburgica, under the head of "allu ODE XX. 'One day the Muses, twined the nands The captive infant as her slave. siones," we find a number of such frigid conceits upon names, selected from the poets of the middle ages. Who, my girl, would pass it by? picture by the simple exclamation of the original! In these Surely neither you nor I!] What a finish he gives to the delicate turns he is inimitable; and yet, hear what a French translator says on the passage: "This conclusion appeared to me too trifling after such a description, and I thought proper to add somewhat to the strength of the original." 1 By this allegory of the Muses making Cupid the pri soner of Beauty, Anacreon seems to insinuate the softening influence which a cultivation of poetry has over the mind, in making it peculiarly susceptible to the impressions of beauty. Though in the following epigram, by the philosopher Α Κυπρις Μουσαισι, κορασία των Αφροδίταν "Yield to my gentle power, Parnassian maids;" There is a sonnet by Benedetto Guidi, the thought of which was suggested by this ode. Scherzava dentro all' auree chiome Amore Traced every lock with fond delays, Now Venus seeks her boy's release, For Love's the slave of love. And, should we loose his golden chain scriber. And then the dewy cordial gives Then, hence, with all your sober thinking! ODE XXII.' THE Phrygian rock, that braves the storm, 1 Ogilvie, in his Essay on the Lyric Poetry of the Ancients, in remarking upon the Odes of Anacreon, says, “In some of his pieces there is exuberance and even wildness of imagination; in that particularly which is addressed to a young girl, where he wishes alternately to be transformed to a mirror, a coat, a stream, a bracelet, and a pair of shoes, for the different purposes which he recites; this is mere sport and wantonness." It is the wantonness, however, of a very graceful muse; Judit amabiliter. The compliment of this ode is exquisitely delicate, and so singular for the period in which Anacreon lived, when the scale of love had not yet been graduated into all its little progressive refinements, that if we were inclined to question the authenticity of the poem, we should find a much more plausible argument in the features of modern gallantry which it bears, than in any of those fastidious con jectures upon which some commentators have presumed so far. Degen thinks it spurious, and De Pauw pronounces it to be miserable. Longepierre and Barnes refer us to several imitations of this ode, from which I shall only select an epi 1 The commentators who have endeavoured to throw the chains of precision over the spirit of this beautiful trifle, re-gram of Dionysius: quire too much from Anacreontic philosophy. Monsieur Gail very wisely thinks that the poet uses the epithet Aave, because black earth absorbs moisture more quickly than any other; and accordingly he indulges us with an experimental disquisition on the subject. See Gail's notes. One of the Capilupi has imitated this ode, in an epitaph on a drunkard. Dum vixi sine fine bibi, sic imbrifer arcus, While life was mine, the little hour As ocean quaffs the rivers up, Or flushing sun inhales the sea; Silenus trembled at my cup, And Bacchus was outdone by me! I cannot omit citing these remarkable lines of Shakspeare, where the thoughts of the ode before us are preserved with such striking similitude: TIMON, ACT IV. I'll example you with thievery. Ειδ' ανομος γενόμην, συ δε γε στει χουσα παρ' αυγαδί Ειθε κρινον γενόμην λευκοχροον, ο δρα με χερσιν I wish I could like zephyr steal To wanton o'er thy mazy vest; And thou wouldst ope thy bosom veil, I wish I might a rose-bud grow, And thou wouldst cull me from the bower, I wish I were the lily's leaf, To fade upon that bosom warm; There I should wither, pale and brief, The trophy of thy fairer form! Allow me to add, that Plato has expressed as fanciful a wish in a distich preserved by Laertius: Αστέρας εισαθρεις, αστηρ εμός, είθε γενοίμην TO STELLA. Why dost thou gaze upon the sky? Oh that I were that spangled sphere, To wonder on thy beauties here! Apuleius quotes this epigram of the divine philosopher, to justify himself for his verses on Critias and Charinus. See his Apology, where he also adduces the example of Anacreon; "Fecere tamen et alii talia, et si vos ignoratis, apud Græcos Teius quidam," etc. etc. Oh! that a mirror's form were mine, Or were I, love, the robe which flows ODE XXIII.' I OFTEN Wish this languid lyre, I wish I were the zone that lies Warm to thy breast, and feels its sighs!] This Tex was a riband, or band, called by the Romans fascia and strophium, which the women wore for the purpose of re straining the exuberance of the bosom. Vide Polluc. Onomast. Thus Martial: Fascia crescentes dominæ compesce papillas. The women of Greece not only wore this zone, but condemned themselves to fasting, and made use of certain drugs and powders for the same purpose. To these expedients they were compelled, in consequence of their inelegant fashion of compressing the waist into a very narrow compass, which necessarily caused an excessive tumidity in the bosom. See Dioscorides, lib. v. Nay, sandals for those airy feet Thus to be press'd by thee were sweet!] The sophist Oh! that I were a glove upon that hand, Could raise the breath of song sublime, I tore the panting chords away, ODE XXIV.' To all that breathe the airs of heaven, In all the glow of epic fire, To Hercules I wake the lyre!] Madame Dacier generally translates Xup into a lute, which I believe is rather inSorel) par un luth, c'est ignorer la différence qu'il y a entre accurate. "D'expliquer la lyre des anciens (says Monsieur ces deux instrumens de musique." Bibliothèque Française. But still its fainting sighs repeat, wv, in the original, may imply that kind of musical dia"The tale of Love alone is sweet!"] The word avto. logue practised by the ancients, in which the lyre was made to respond to the questions proposed by the singer. This was a method which Sappho used, as we are told by Hermogenes : “ όταν την λύραν ερωτα Σαπφώ, και όταν αυτή απο And, in his Passionate Pilgrim, we meet with an idea somne- χρινηται.” Περί Ιδεων. Τόμ. δευτ. He, spying her, bounced in, where as he stood, In Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, that whimsical farrago of "all such reading as was never read," there is a very old translation of this ode, before 1632. "Englished by Mr. B. Holiday, in his Technog. act 1, scene 7." 1 This ode is first in the series of all the editions, and is thought to be peculiarly designed as an introduction to the rest; it however characterizes the genius of the Teian but very inadequately, as wine, the burden of his lays, is not even mentioned in it. -cum multo Venerem confundere mero Precepit Lyrici Teia Musa senis. Ovid. The twenty-sixth Ode, v usy rys тa Ones, might, with as much propriety, be the harbinger of his songs. Bion has expressed the sentiments of the ode before us with much simplicity in his fourth idyl. I have given it rather paraphrastically; it has been so frequently translated, that I could not otherwise avoid triteness and repetition. 1 Henri Stephens has imitated the idea of this ode in the following lines of one of his poems: Provida dat cunctis Natura animantibus arma, And the same thought occurs in those lines, spoken by Così noi la bellezza Che 'è vertu nostra cosi propria, come El'ingegno de l'huomo. The lion boasts his savage powers, And lordly man his strength of mind; Peculiar boon, by Heaven assign'd! Degen) may be found in Grimm eg den Anmerkk. Veber "An elegant explication of the beauties of this ode (saya einige Oden des Anakr" |