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with that language.1 The Anacreontics of Scaliger, however, scarcely deserve the name; as they glitter all over with conceits, and, though often elegant, are always labored. The beautiful fictions of Angerianus 2 preserve more happily than any others the delicate turn of those allegorical fables, which, passing so frequently through the mediums of version and imitation, have generally lost their finest rays in the transmission. Many of the Italian poets have indulged their fancies upon the subjects; and in the manner of Anacreon, Bernardo Tasso first introduced the metre, which was afterwards polished and enriched by Chabriera and others.

To judge by the references of Degen, the German language abounds in Anacreontic imitations; and Hagedorn 3 is one among many who have assumed him as a model. La Farre, Chaulieu, and the other light poets of France, have also professed to cultivate the muse of Teos; but they have attained all her negligence, with little of the simple grace that embellishes it. In the delicate bard of Schiras 4 we find the kindred spirit of Anacreon: some of his gazelles, or songs, possess all the character of our poet.

We come now to a retrospect of the editions of Anacreon. To Henry Stephen we are indebted for having first recovered his remains from the obscurity in which, so singularly, they had for many ages reposed. He found the seventh ode, as we are told, on the cover of an old book, and communicated it to Victorius, who mentions the circumstance in his "Various Readings." Stephen was then very young; and this discovery was considered by some critics of that day as a literary imposition.5 In 1554, however, he gave Anacreon to the world, accompanied with annotations and a Latin version of the greater part of the odes. The learned still hesitated to receive them as the relics of the Teian bard, and suspected them to be the fabrication of some monks of the sixteenth century. This was an idea from which the classic muse recoiled; and the Vatican manuscript, consulted by Scaliger and Salmasius, confirmed the antiquity of most of the poems. A very inaccurate copy of this MS. was taken by Isaac Vossius, and this is the authority which Barnes has followed in his collation. Accordingly he misrepresents almost as often

1 Thus too Albertus, a Danish poet :

Fidii tui minister
gaudebo semper esse,
gaudebo semper illi
litare thure mulso;

gaudebo semper illum

laudare pumilillis

anacreonticillis.

See the "Danish Poets" collected by Rostgaard.

These pretty diminutives defy translation. A beautiful Anacreontic by Hugo Grotius, may be found Lib. i. " Farraginis."

2 To Angerianus Prior is indebted for some of his happiest mythological subjects. 3 "L'aimable Hagedorn vaut quelquefois Anacreon."

Allemande."

DORAT "Idée de la Poësie

4 See Toderini on the learning of the Turks, as translated by de Cournard. Prince Cantemir has made the Russians acquainted with Anacreon. See his Life, prefixed to a translation of his

Satires, by the Abbé de Guasco.

5 Robertullus, in his work "De Ratione corrigendi," pronounces these verses to be the triflings of some insipid Græcist.

6 Ronsard commemorates this event:

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as he quotes; and the subsequent editors, relying upon his authority, have spoken of the manuscript with not less confidence than ignorance. The literary world, however, has at length been gratified with this curious memorial of the poet, by the industry of the Abbé Spaletti, who published at Rome, in 1781, a facsimile of those pages of the Vatican manuscript which contained the odes of Anacreon.1

A catalogue has been given by Gail of all the different editions and translations of Anacreon. Finding their number to be much greater than I could possibly have had an opportunity of consulting, I shall here content myself with enumerating only those editions and versions which it has been in my power to collect; and which, though very few, are, I believe, the most important.

The edition by Henry Stephen, 1554, at Paris; the Latin version is attributed by Colomesius to John Dorat.2

The old French translations, by Ronsard and Belleau,

the former published in 1555, the latter in 1556. It appears from a note of Muretus upon one of the sonnets of Ronsard, that Henry Stephen communicated to this poet his manuscript of Anacreon, before he promulgated it to the world.3

The edition by Le Fèvre, 1660.

The edition by Madame Dacier, 1681, with a prose translation.4

The edition by Longepierre, 1684, with a translation in verse.

The edition by Baxter; London, 1695.

A French translation by la Fosse, 1704.

"L'Histoire des Odes d'Anacreon," by Gaçon; Rotterdam, 1712.

A translation in English verse, by several hands, 1713, in which the odes by Cowley are inserted.

The edition by Barnes; London, 1721.

The edition by Dr. Trapp, 1733, with a Latin version in elegiac metre.

A translation in English verse, by John Addison, 1735.

A collection of Italian translations of Anacreon, published at Venice, 1736, consisting of those by Corsini, Regnier, Salvini, Marchetti, and one by several anonymous authors.5

A translation in English verse, by Fawkes and Doctor Broome, 1760.6
Another, anonymous, 1768.

The edition by Spaletti, at Rome, 1781; with the fac-simile of the Vatican MS. The edition by Degen, 1786, who published also a German translation of Anacreon, esteemed the best.

A translation in English verse, by Urquhart, 1787.

The edition by Gail, at Paris, 1799, with a prose translation.

1 This manuscript, which Spaletti thinks as old as the tenth century, was brought from the Palatine into the Vatican library; it is a kind of anthology of Greek epigrams.

2 "Le même (M. Vossius) m'a dit qu'il avoit possédé un Anacreon, où Scaliger avoit marqué de sa main, qu' Henri Etienne n'était pas l'auteur de la version latine des odes de ce poète, mais Jean Dorat."-PAULUS COLOMESIUS, "Particularités."

Colomesius, however, seems to have relied too implicitly on Vossius; almost all these Particularités begin with "M. Vossius m'a dit."

3 "La fiction de ce sonnet comme l'auteur même m'a dit, est prise d'une ode d'Anacréon, encore non imprimée, qu'il a depuis traduit, Zù pèv píàn xedidwv."

4 The author of "Nouvelles de la Répub. des Lett." bestows on this translation much more praise than its merits appear to me to justify.

5 I find in Haym's "Notizia de' Libri rari," Venice, 1670, an Italian translation by Cappone, mentioned.

6 This is the most complete of the English translations.

ODES OF ANACREON.

ODE I.1

I SAW the smiling bard of pleasure,
The minstrel of the Teian measure;
'Twas in a vision of the night,

He beamed upon my wondering sight.
I heard his voice, and warmly prest
The dear enthusiast to my breast.
His tresses wore a silvery dye,
But beauty sparkled in his
eye;
Sparkled in his eyes of fire,2
Through the mist of soft desire.
His lip exhaled, whene'er he sighed,
The fragrance of the racy tide;
And, as with weak and reeling feet
He came my cordial kiss to meet,
An infant, of the Cyprian band,
Guided him on with tender hand.

1 This ode is the first of the series in the Vatican manuscript, which attributes it to no other poet than Anacreon. They who assert that the manuscript imputes it to Basilius, have been mislead by the words Τοῦ αὐτοῦ βασιλικῶς in the margin, which are merely intended as a title to the following ode. Whether it be the production of Anacreon or not, it has all the features of ancient simplicity, and is a beautiful imitation of the poet's happiest manner.

2 Sparkled in his eyes of fire,

Through the mist of soft desire. "How could he know at the first look (says Baxter) that the poet was piλevvos [fond of the marriage-bed]?”* There are surely many telltales of this propensity; and the following are the indices which the physiognomist gives, describing a disposition perhaps not unlike that of Anacreon : Οφθαλμοὶ κλυζόμενοι, κυμαίνοντες ἐν αὐτοῖς, εἰς ἀφροδίσια καὶ εὐπάθειαν ἐπτόηνται, οὔτε δὲ ἀδικοὶ οὔτε κακοῦργοι, οὔτε φύσεως φαύλης, οὔτε ἄμουσοι. — ADAMANTIUS. "The eyes that are humid and fluctuating show a propensity to pleasure and love; they bespeak, too, a mind of integrity and beneficence, a generosity of disposition, and a genius for poetry.'

Baptista Porta tells us some strange opinions of the ancient physiognomists on this subject, their reasons for which were curious, and perhaps not altogether fanciful. Vide Physiognom. Johan. Baptist. Porta."

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Quick from his glowing brows he drew
His braid, of many a wanton hue;
I took the wreath, whose inmost twine
Breathed of him and blushed with wine.8
I hung it o'er my thoughtless brow,
And ah! I feel its magic now: 4

I feel that even his garland's touch
Can make the bosom love too much.

ODE II.

GIVE me the harp of epic song, Which Homer's finger thrilled along; But tear away the sanguine string, For war is not the theme I sing. Proclaim the laws of festal right,5

3 I took the wreath whose inmost twine Breathed of him, etc.

"If

Philostratus has the same thought in one of his 'Epwτiká, where he speaks of the garland which he had sent to his mistress. Εἰ δὲ βούλει τι φίλῳ χαρίζεσθαι, τὰ λείψανα ἀντιπέμψον, μηκέτι πνέοντα ῥόδων μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ σοῦ. thou art inclined to gratify thy lover, send him back the remains of the garland, no longer breathing of roses only, but also of thee!" Which pretty conceit is borrowed (as the author of the "Observer" remarks) in a well-known little song of Ben Jonson's:

"But thou thereon didst only breathe,
And sent it back to me;

Since when it looks and smells, I swear,
Not of itself, but thee!

4 And ah! I feel its magic now: This idea, as Longepierre remarks, occurs in an epigram of the seventh book of the "Anthologia' :

Ἐξότε μοι πίνοντι συνεστάουσα Χαρίκλῳ
λάθρῃ τοὺς ἰδίους ἀμφέβαλε στεφανοὺς,

πῦρ ὀλοὸν δάπτει με.

While I unconscious quaffed my wine,
'T was then thy fingers slily stole
Upon my brow that wreath of thine,
Which since has maddened all my soul.

5 Proclaim the laws of festal rite. The ancients prescribed certain laws of drinking at their festivals, for an account of which see the commentators. Anacreon here acts the sym

I'm monarch of the board to-night;
And all around shall brim as high,
And quaff the tide as deep as I.
And when the cluster's mellowing dews
Their warm enchanting balm infuse,
Our feet shall catch the elastic bound,
And reel us through the dance's round.
Great Bacchus! we shall sing to thee,
In wild but sweet ebriety;

Flashing around such sparks of thought,
As Bacchus could alone have taught.

Then, give the harp of epic song, Which Homer's finger thrilled along; But tear away the sanguine string, For war is not the theme I sing.

ODE III.1

LISTEN to the Muse's lyre,
Master of the pencil's fire!

Sketched in painting's bold display,
Many a city first portray;
Many a city, revelling free,
Full of loose festivity.
Picture then a rosy train,
Bacchants straying o'er the plain;
Piping, as they roam along,
Roundelay or shepherd-song.
Paint me next, if painting may
Such a theme as this portray,
All the earthly heaven of love
These delighted mortals prove.

ODE IV.2

VULCAN! hear your glorious task;
I do not from your labors ask
In gorgeous panoply to shine,
For war was ne'er a sport of mine.
No let me have a silver bowl,
Where I may cradle all my soul;
But mind that, o'er its simple frame
No mimic constellations flame;
Nor grave upon the swelling side,
Orion, scowling o'er the tide.

posiarch, or master of the festival. I have translated according to those who consider κúmeλλa θεσμῶν as an inversion of θεσμοὺς κυπέλλων.

1 La Fosse has thought proper to lengthen this poem by considerable interpolations of his own, which he thinks are indispensably necessary to the completion of the description.

2 This ode, Aulus Gellius tells us, was performed at an entertainment where he was present.

I care not for the glittering wain,
Nor yet the weeping sister train.
But let the vine luxuriant roll
Its blushing tendrils round the bowl,
While many a rose-lipped bacchant maid 8
Is culling clusters in their shade.
Let sylvan gods, in antic shapes,
Wildly press the gushing grapes,
And flights of Loves, in wanton play,
Wing through the air their winding way;
While Venus, from her arbor green,
Looks laughing at the joyous scene,
And young Lyæus by her side
Sits, worthy of so bright a bride.

ODE V.4

SCULPTOR, wouldst thou glad my soul,
Grave for me an ample bowl,
Worthy to shine in hall or bower,
When spring-time brings the reveller's
hour.

Grave it with themes of chaste design,
Fit for a simple board like mine.
Display not there the barbarous rites
In which religious zeal delights;
Nor any tale of tragic fate
Which History shudders to relate.
No-cull thy fancies from above,
Themes of heaven and themes of love.
Let Bacchus, Jove's ambrosial boy,
Distil the grape in drops of joy,
And while he smiles at every tear,
Let warm-eyed Venus, dancing near,

3 While many a rose-lipped bacchant maid,

etc.

I have availed myself here of the additional lines given in the Vatican manuscript, which have not been accurately inserted in any of the ordinary editions:

Ποίησον ἀμπέλους μοι
καὶ βότρυας κατ ̓ αὐτῶν
καὶ μαινάδας τρυγώσας.
ποιεῖ δε λῆνον οίνου,
ληνοβάτας πατοῦντας,
τοὺς σατύρους γελώντας,
καὶ χρυσοῦς τοὺς ἔρωτας,
καὶ Κυθέρην γελῶσαν;
ὁμοῦ καλῷ Λυαίῳ,
Ερωτα κ' Αφροδίτην.

4 Degen thinks that this ode is a more modern imitation of the preceding. There is a poem by Cælius Calcagninus, in the manner of both, where he gives instructions about the making of a ring:

Tornabis annulum mihi

et fabre, et apte, et commode, etc., etc.

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Vegnan li vaghi Amori

Senza fiammelle, ò strali,
Scherzando insieme pargoletti e nudi.
Fluttering on the busy wing,

A train of naked Cupids came,
Sporting around in harmless ring,
Without a dart, without a flame.
And thus in the "Pervigilium Veneris: "--
Ite nymphæ, posuit arma, feriatus est amor.
Love is disarmed-ye nymphs, in safety stray,
Your bosoms now may boast a holiday!

2 But ah! if there Apollo toys,
I tremble for the rosy boys.

An allusion to the fable that Apollo had killed his beloved boy Hyacinth, while playing with him at quoits. "This (says M. La Fosse) is assuredly the sense of the text, and it cannot admit of any other."

The Italian translators, to save themselves the trouble of a note, have taken the liberty of making Anacreon himself explain this fable. Thus Salvini, the most literal of any of them:Ma con lor non giuochi Apollo;

Che in fiero risco

Col duro disco

A Giacinto fiaccò il collo.

3 This beautiful fiction, which the commentators have attributed to Julian, a royal poet, the Vatican MS. pronounces to be the genuine offspring of Anacreon. It has, indeed, all the features of the parent:

et facile insciis Noscitetur ab omnibus.

4 Where many an early rose was weeping, I found the urchin Cupid sleeping. This idea is prettily imitated in the following pigram by Andreas Naugerius:

Florentes dum forte vagans mea Hyella per hortos

I caught the boy, a goblet's tide
Was richly mantling by my side,
I caught him by his downy wing,
And whelmed him in the racy spring.
Then drank I down the poisoned bowl,
And Love now nestles in my soul.
Oh, yes, my soul is Cupid's nest,
I feel him fluttering in my breast.

ODE VII.5

THE women tell me every day
That all my bloom has past away.
"Behold," the pretty wantons cry,
"Behold this mirror with a sigh;
The locks upon thy brow are few,
And like the rest, they're withering too!"
Whether decline has thinned my hair,
I'm sure I neither know nor care;6

texit odoratis lilia cana rosis,

ecce rosas inter latitantem invenit Amorem
et simul annexis floribus implicuit.
Luctatur primo, et contra nitentibus alis
indomitus tentat solvere vincla puer :
mox ubi lacteolas et dignas matre papillas
vidit et ora ipsos nata movere Deos,
impositosque coma ambrosios ut sentit odores
quosque legit diti messe beatus Arabs;

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(dixit) mea, quære novum tibi, mater, Amorem,

imperio sedes hæc erit apta meo."

As fair Hyella, through the bloomy grove,
A wreath of many mingled flowerets wove,
Within a rose a sleeping Love she found,
And in the twisted wreaths the baby bound.
Awhile he struggled, and impatient tried
To break the rosy bonds the virgin tied;
But when he saw her bosom's radiant swell,
Her features, where the eye of Jove might dwell;
And caught the ambrosial odors of her hair,
Rich as the breathings of Arabian air;
"Oh! mother Venus," (said the raptured child,
By charms, of more than mortal bloom, beguiled,)
"Go, seek another boy, thou 'st lost thine own,
Hyella's arms shall now be Cupid's throne!"

This epigram of Naugerius is imitated by Lodovico Dolce in a poem, beginning

Mentre raccoglie hor uno, hor altro fiore
Vicina a un rio di chiare et lucid' onde,
Lidia, etc., etc.

5 Alberti has imitated this ode in a poem, beginning

Nisa mi dice e Clori

Tirsi, tu se' pur veglio.

6 Whether decline has thinned my hair, I'm sure I neither know nor care; Henry Stephen very justly remarks the elegant negligence of the expression in the original here:

Ἐγὼ δὲ τὰς κόμας μέν,

εἶτ ̓ εἴσὶν, εἴτ ̓ ἀπῆλθον, οὐκ οἶδα.

And Longepierre has adduced from Catullus

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