Ode I-This ode is, with great reason and propriety, placed at the head of these beautiful little poems; for love, the argument, is in a good measure the argument of all the rest-The invention of it has been esteemed so happy and gallant, and the turn so delicate, that the best masters of antiquity have copied this excellent original. Horace had it in view, Ode 12, book 2.

Nolis longa feræ bella Numantiæ,

Nec dirum Hannibalem, nec Siculum mare,
Pœno purpureum sanguine, mollibus

Aptari citharæ modis.

Dire Hannibal, the Roman dread,

Numantian wars which rag'd so long,
And seas with Punic slaughter red,
Suit not the softer lyric song.

Lord Chief Baron Gilbert. Ovid has imitated it in several of his elegies: In the following distich he seems to have comprehended the substance of the whole ode. Eleg. 12. book 3.

Sons of Atreus, fam'd afar, Cadmus and the Theban war. Rapt I strike the vocal shellHark-the trembling chords rebel; All averse to arms they prove, Warbling only strains of love.

Late I strung anew my lyre"Heav'nly Muse my breast inspire,

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Tho' Thebes and Troy remain, and Cæsar's praise Illustrious themes that might my fancy raise, Corinna only can inspire my lays.

Bion of Smyrna has beautifully imitated this ode at the end of his fourth Idyllium.

Ην μεν γαρ βροτον άλλον η αθανατον τινα μέλπω,
Καμβαίνει μεν γλώσσα, καὶ ὡς παρος εκ ετ' αείδει.
Ην δ' αυτ' ες τον Ερωτα και ες Λυκίδαν τι μελίσδω,
Και τοκα μοι χαιροισα δια σόματος ρεει ώδα.

To praise a hero when I strike the lyre,
Or nobly daring to some god aspire,

In strains more languid flows the nerveless song,
The falt'ring accents die upon my tongue;
But when with love or Lycidas I glow,
Smooth are my lays, the numbers sweetly flow.

Ver. 3. Sons of Atreus, &c.-Cadmus and the Theban war.] Agamemnon and Menelaus, the chief commanders at the siege of Troy. By the Atridæ the poet means the Trojan, and by Cadmus the Theban war.

VOL. XX.

NATURE gives all creatures arms,
Faithful guards from hostile harms;
Jaws, the lion to defend,
Horrid jaws that wide distend!
Horns, the bull, resistless force!
Solid hoofs, the vig'rous horse;
Nimble feet, the fearful hare;
Wings to fly, the birds of air.

pocts, when they would celebrate any extraordinary subject, were wont to say they had newstrung their lyre.

Hunc fidibus novis,
Hunc Lesbio sacrare pleetro,
Teque tuasque decet sorores.

To sound his praise, O Muse, is thine,
In concert with the tuneful Nine,
On the fam'd Lesbian lyre new-strung,
In numbers, sweet, as old Alcæus sung.

14. Answ'ring only strains of love!] The Greek Word, avrov, is very strong and expressive, and means, "to return a contrary sound." To understand this passage clearly, we must imagine that Anacreon is singing and playing upon the lyre, which, instead of answering to his voice in heroic numbers, returned only the sounds of love. Tibullus has a similar expression, Eleg. 4. book 3.

Tunc ego nec cithara poteram gaudere sonora,
Nec similes chordis reddere voce sonos.
No more I tun'd the loud resounding string,
Nor to the lyre's sweet melody could sing.
15. Farewel heroes, &c.]

-Heroum clara valete

Nomina, non apta est gratia vestra mihi.
Ovid, Eleg. 1. book 2.

Ye heroes of immortal fame, adieu!
Ill suits the warbling of my lyre with you.
Ode II.-Phocylides has copied a great part of
this ode in his admonitory poem:

Όπλον έκαςῳ νειμε Θεός φυσιν· ηερόφοι τον - Ορνισι μεν πολλήν ταχύτητ', αλκήν τε λευσι, Ταύρος δ' αυτοχυτοις κεραεσσιν, κενίρα μελίσσαις Εμφυλον αλκαρ έδωκε λόγοι δ' ερυμ' ανθρώποισι. Arms to all creatures God's abundant eare Affords; light pinions to the birds of air; The lordly lion boasts his matchless might; The bull's bright horns are terrible in fight; The sting sharp-pointed is the bee's defence; The shield and buckler of mankind is sense.

ODE III.

CUPID BENIGHTED.

THE sable night had spread around This nether world a gloom profound;

10. Man, the bold undaunted mind.] The Greek word om generally signifies prudence; and so Stephens has translated it: but as it would be highly absurd to suppose that Nature had for got that useful ingredient in the composition of the ladies, we must look out for another interpretation. porn equally signifies magnanimity. It is similar to an expression of Tully, in Off. 1. 19.-Elatio & magnitudo animi: and as Mr. John Addison, in his note on this passage, ob"By courage, when applied to man, is properly meant that superiority of mind, which is man's peculiar characteristic and charter of dominion."

serves:

14. Beauty fell to woman's share.] Coluthus, in his poem of the Rape of Helen, has the same thought, speaking of Venus:

४

Μένη Κύπρις αναλκις την Θεος 8 βασιληων
Κοιρανίην, εδ' είχος αρτιον, ο βέλος έλκω·
Αλλο τι δειμαίνω περιώσιον, αντί μεν αιχμής
Ως τον είχος έχεσα μελιφρονά δεσμον ερωτών.
Of all the gods, no regal sway 1 bear,
Nor, weak and timid, wield the martial spear;
Yet great my pow'r, for my resistless darts
Are smiles and loves that triumph over hearts.
And a little further,

Έργα μόθων εκ οιδα τι γαρ σακέων Αφροδίτη;
Αγλαίη πολυ μαλλον αξιζουσι γυναίκες.

No fights I know, averse to war's alarms;
Idalian Venus has no need of arms:
The fair are irresistible in charms.
Nonnus introduces Venus speaking in the same

manner:

ΕΓχος εμον τελε καλλος, έμον ξίφος επλείο морфото Resistless beauty for a sword I wear, [spear. And charms more piercing than the pointed The Romans were so fully convinced of the power of beauty, that the word fortis, strong or valiant, signifies likewise fair or handsome; as appears by two passages in Plautus.-Bacchid, act. 2. scen. 2. 38. Sed Bacchis etiam tibi fortis visa est? Et Miles G.or. act. 4. scen. 3. 13, Ecquid fortis visa est?

Ode III. This, as Longepierre observes, is one of the most beautiful of Anacreoa's odes. Nothing

Who's there? I cry'd. Who breaks my door

At this unseasonable hour?"

The god, with well-dissembled sighs,
And moan insidious, thus replies:
"Pray ope the door, dear sir-'tis I,
A harmless, miserable boy;

Benumb'd with cold and rain I stray

A long uncomfortable way

The winds with blust'ring horrour roar

'Tis dismal dark-Pray ope the door." Quite unsuspicious of a foe

I listen'd to the tale of woe,

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Compassion touch'd my breast, and straight
1 struck a light, unbarr'd the gate;
When, lo! a winged boy I spy'd
With bow and quiver at his side:
I wonder'd at his strange attire;
Then friendly plac'd him near the fire.
My heart was bounteous and benign,
I warm'd his little hands in mine,
Cheer'd him with kind assiduous care,
And wrung the water from his hair.
Soon as the fraudful youth was warm,
"Let's try," says he," if any harm
Has chanc'd my bow this stormy night;
I fear the wet has spoil'd it quite."
With that he bent the fatal yew,
And to the head an arrow drew;
Loud twang'd the sounding string, the dart
Pierc'd thro' my liver and my heart,

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can be more ingenious than the fiction, which is something similar to the fable of the Serpent and Labourer.

4. And strong Boötes urg'd the Bear:] Two constellations near the northern pole. Boôtes is also called Arctophylax, or the Bear-keeper. Aratus, in his Phænomena, has three lines perfectly similar to this passage of Anacreon:

Εξοπιθεν δ' Ελίκης φερείαι ελέοντι εοικως,
Αραιοφύλαξ, τον β' ανδρες επικλείεσι Βοώτην,
Ούνεχ, άμαξαίης ἐπαφώμενος ειδεία: Αρχία.

Behind, and seeming to urge on the Bear,
Arctophylax, on Earth Bootes nam'd,
Sheds o'er the arctic car his silver light.

40. Pierc'd thro' my liver] The ancients placed the seat of love in the liver, as might be proved from several passages.

Cum tibi fervens amor et libido,
Quæ solet matres furiare equorum,
Sæviet circa jecur ulcerosum.

Hor. b. 1. ode 2.

Then laugh'd amain the wanton boy,
And, "Friend," he cry'd, "I wish thee joy;
Undamag'd is my bow, I see,

But what a wretch I've made of thee!"

ODE IV.

ON HIMSELF.

RECLIN'D at ease on this soft bed
With fragrant leaves of myrtle spread
And flow'ry lote, I'll now resign
My cares, and quaff the rosy wine.
In decent robe, behind him bound,
Cupid shall serve the goblet round:
For fast away our moments steal,
Like the swift chariot's rolling wheel:
The rapid course is quickly done,
And soon the race of life is run;
Then, then, alas! we droop, we die,
And sunk in dissolution lie;
Our frame no symmetry retains;
Nought but a little dust remains.

Theocrit. Idyll. 11, ver. 16.

-το οἱ ἡπαλι παξε βελέμνον.

-She in his liyer fix'd a dart.

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And in the thirteenth Idyll. ver. 71. speaking of Hercules, he says,

- Χαλεπος γαρ εσω θεος ήπαρ αμύσσινο

For in his liver Love had fix'd a wound.

There is an epigram in the seventh book of the Anthologia, to the same purpose.

Ληξον, Έρως, κραδίης τε καὶ ἡπαλος. ει δ' ἐπιθυμεῖς
Βαλλειν, άλλο τι με των μελέων μεταβα.
Cease, Love, to wound my liver and my heart:
If I must suffer, choose some other part,

Ode IV.-2. With fragrant leaves of myrtle spread, &c.] Madame Dacier observes, that the ancients, by way of indulgence, used to repose themselves on large heaps of fragrant herbs, leaves, and flowers.

7. For fast away our moments steal, Like the swift chariot's rolling wheel.] Seneca, in his Hercules Furens, act 1. scene 2. ver. 177. has the same sentiment.

-Properat cursu

Vita citato, volucrique die
Rota præcipitis vertitur anni.

With rapid motion, never at a stay, Life swiftly posts along, and, day by day, The year's great wheel incessant rolls away, 14. Nought but a little dust remains.] Antho logia, book 7.

Εν ζωοίοι τα τερπνα τα Κυπριδος εν δ' Αχερούλι
Όρια και σποδιη, παρθένε, κεισόμεθα.
Phyllis, while living, let us life employ
In the soft transports of Idalian joy;
For when we die, (and die, alas! we inust)
All that remains is ashes, bones, or dust.

Nos ubi decidimus

2uo pius Æneas, quo Tullus dives, et Ancus, Pulvis et umbra sumus. Hor.

But to the dreary realms below Who sink, must no return for ever know! Inroll'd among the mighty dead, Our body will be dust, our soul a shade. Duncombe.

15.-Why on the tomb are odours shed?

Why pour'd libations to the dead?]
There are two epigrams in the second book of
the Anthologia, very similar to this passage of
Anacreon:

Και πινε, και τερπνε, Δημοκραίες & γαρ ες αιεί
Πιομεθ', εδ' αιει τερψιος ἑξόμεθα.

Και σέφανος κεφαλας πυκασώμεθα, και μυρίσωμεν
Αυτός, πριν συμβοις ταυτα φερειν ἑτερες.
Νυν εν εμοι πιετω μεθυ το πλέον ορια τάμα.

Νεκρά δε Δευκαλίων αυτά κατακλύσατω.

Drink and rejoice; for let us wisely think,
My friend, we must not always laugh and drink:
Our heads we'll crown with flow'rs and rich per-
fumes

Before they're vainly lavish'd on our tombs.
Cares and anxieties I now resign,

Or drown them in a mighty bowl of wine.
When dead, Deucalion may, if he thinks good,
Drench my cold carcase in a watery flood.

Μη μυρά, μη στεφανος λίθιναις ζηλαῖσι χαρίζει
Μηδε το πυς φλεξης" εις κενον ἡ δαπανῃ.
Ζωντι μου, είτι θελεις χαρίσαι.

On the cold tombs no fragrant unguents shed,
No flow'ry chaplets unavailing spread,
Nor kindle living lamps to light the dead.
Vain are these honours; rather while I live,
To me the sweet, the rich oblation give.

Of these customs of the ancients, of pouring sweet unguents on the tombs of the dead, and crowning them with flowers, &c. see Potter's Antiquities.

22. Ere yet I lead the dauce of death,] The ancients believed, that happy souls in the Elysian Fields enjoyed those pleasures which they most delighted in when living. Thus Virgil,

For joy my sorrows I'll resign, And drown my cares in rosy wine.

ODE V.

ON THE ROSE.

To make the beverage divine,
Mingle sweet roses with the wine;
Delicious will the liquor prove,
For roses are the flowers of love:
And while with wreaths of roses crown'd,
Let laughter and the cup go round.

Hail, lovely rose! to thee I sing,
Thou sweetest daughter of the Spring:
All mortals prize thy beauties bright;
In thee the pow'rs above delight.
Gay Cupid, with the Graces bland,
When lightly bounding hand in hand,
With nimble feet he beats the ground,
Shows his bright locks with roses crown'd.
Here then the flow'ry garland bring;
With numbers sweet I'll wake the string,
And crown'd with roses, heav'nly flow'rs!
Admitted, Bacchus, to thy bow'rs,
With snowy-bosom'd Sappho gay
I'll dance the feather'd hours away.

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There ev'ry hedge untaught with cassia blooms,
And scents the ambient air with rich perfumes:
There ev'ry mead a various plenty yields;
There lavish Flora paints the purple fields;
With ceaseless light a brighter Phoebus glows,
No sickness tortures, and no ocean flows:
But youths associate with the gentle fair,
And stung with pleasure to the shade repair:
With them Love wanders wheresoe'er they stray,
Provokes to rapture, and inflames the play:
But chief the constant few, by death betray'd,
Reign, crown'd with myrtle, monarchs of the
shade.
Grainger.

I hope the reader will not think this quotation tedious, as the passage is admirably translated, and contains a beautiful description of Elysium.

Ode V. The Grecians esteemed the rose more than any other flower, and admitted it to all their entertainments; of which there needs no other proof than this ode of Anacreon, and likewise the fifty-third, where he praises this beauti

The Romans equally valued it. Horace says,
Huc vina et unguenta, et nimium breves
Flores amœnæ ferre jube rosæ.
Here wine, and oil, and roses bring,
Too short-liv'd daughters of the Spring.

Duncombe.

His complaint of the shortness of the rose's duration is an artful and delicate manner of praising that flower.

5. And while with wreaths of roses crown'd,] The ancients used wreaths of flowers and perfumes, at their entertainments, not only for pleasure, but because they imagined that odours prevented the wine from intoxicating them.