When full cups my cares expel, When I drink dull time away, When I sink the bowl profound, Richest fragrance flowing round, And some lovely nymph detain, Venus then inspires the strain. When from goblets deep and wide I exhaust the generous tide, All my soul unbends-I play Gamesome with the young and gay. When the foaming bowl I drain, Real blessings are my gain; Blessings which my own I call: Death is common to us all. 10 20 20 10 Lov'd by the Muses, to the wind Be all my fears and griefs resign'd, To drown them in the Cretan main. Duncombe. Ode XL. Theocritus has imitated this beautiful ode in his nineteenth Idyllium. See p. 217 of this volume. 13. Dear mamma, a serpent small] Madam Dacier says, that Anacreon makes Cupid speak in this manner, because, according to the Pagan theology, the language of the gods was different from that of men: but, as Longepierre ingeniously observes, "To render a passage of this nature learned, is to make it obscure; for nothing can be more natural to imagine, than that an infant, who had heard of the stinging of serpents, when he found himself stung by a little creature, he hardly knew what, should immediately think it one. The labourers might call it a bec, if they pleased his pain and fright made him persist that it was a serpent. ODE XLI. THE BANQUET OF WINE. The Graces are his daughters fair: When in large bowls fair boys produce The heart-exhilarating juice, Then all our sorrows are resign'd, And what hereafter may betide 10 20 Ille liquor docuit voces inflectere cantu; This as swains quaff'd, spontaneous numbers came, They prais'd the festal cask, and hymn'd thy name; All ecstacy! to certain time they bound, 8. The Graces are his daughters fair] Madam Dacier supposes this to be the passage on which the opinion, that the Graces were the daughters of Bacchus and Venus, was founded. 16. Dismissing care] Macedonius, in an epigram in the first book of the Anthologia, c. 25. says, that to banish care was a precept of Anacreon's. Την γαρ Ανακρέοντος ενι πραπίδεσσι φυλασσω Παρφασιήν, ὅτι δει φροντίδα μη κατεχειν. For still I hold Anacreon's rule the best, To banish care for ever from my breast. 19, 20. And what hereafter may betide, &c.] Anacreon is not singular in enforcing the necessity of enjoying life from the brevity and uncertainty of it. Rufinus has an epigram in the seventh 1 The days of man are fix'd by fate, Dark and obscure, though short the date. Then let me, warm with wine, advance, And revel in the tipsy dance; Or, breathing odours, sport and play Among the fair, among the gay. As for those stubborn fools that will Be wretched, be they wretched still. But let us gaily drink, and join To celebrate the god of wine. ODE XLII. ‹ ON HIMSELF. WHEN Bacchus, jolly god, invites, 30 10 book of the Anthologia, epigram 143, to this purpose. Let us, my friend, in joy refine, Bathe, crown our brows, and quaff the wine: Short is the space for human joys; What age prevents not, death destroys. And Martial, Non est, crede mihi, sapienti dicere, "vivam:" Sera nimis vita est crastina, vive hodie. "I'll live to morrow," 'tis not wise to say: 'Twill be too late to morrow-live to day. Ode XLII.-13, 14. And at the jovial banquet bate ODE XLIII. THE GRASSHOPPER. THEE, sweet grasshopper, we call Who from spray to spray canst skip, Wisest daughter of the earth! Fond of song, and full of mirth; 10 20 Ode XLIII.-4, 5. And the dew of morning sip: Little sips inspire to sing] Dew is the nourishment of grasshoppers. Thus Virgil, ecl. 5, v. 77. Dumque thymo pascentur apes, dum rore cicada. Bees feed on thyme, and grasshoppers on dew. The Greek poets also describe the grasshopper as a musical insect. Thus Theocritus, Idyll. 1. - Τεττιγος επει τυγε φέρτερον εδεις. Thy song is sweeter than the grasshopper's. Antipater, in an epigram of the Anthologia, book 1. says, Αρκει Τέττιγες μεθυσαι δροσος, αλλα πριονίες 15. Dear to all the tuneful Nine] Elian, writing against those who eat grasshoppers, says: They are ignorant how much they offend the Muses, the daughters of Jupiter. Whence it appears, that these animals were esteemed sacred to the Muses, and the eating of them accounted an impiety. The following is a translation of an epigram from the first book of the Anthologia, chap. 33. containing a beautiful complaint of a grasshopper against that practice. Τίπτε με τον, κ. τ. λ. Why do ye, swains, a grasshopper pursue Sce, the bold starlings steal your grain away! 23. Wisest daughter of the earth] The Athe. Free from flesh, exempt from pains, To the blest I equal thee; ODE XLIV. THE DREAM. I DREAM'D, that late I pinions wore, In links that will for ever last. ODE XLV. BY ANOTHER HAND. CUPID'S DARTS. As the god of manual arts Forg'd at Lemnos missile darts, 10 nians called themselves Trys, grasshoppers, and some of them wore little grasshoppers of gold in their hair, as badges of honour, to distinguish them from others of later duration; and likewise as a memorial, that they were born of the earth like those insects. 25, 26. Free from flesh, exempt from pains, No blood riots in thy veins.] Homer represents the gods as free from blood. From the clear vein a stream immortal flow'd, Pope. Ode XLIV. Nothing can be more politely imagined than this ode, nor more courtly than the turn of it. Behold," says madame Dacier, one of the finest and most gallant odes of antiquity; and if she, for whom it was composed, was as beautiful, all Greece could produce nothing more charming." Ode XLV. Mons. Le Fevre was so transported with this ode, that he could not forbear crying out, Felix, ah! nimium felix, cui carmine tali Fluxit ab Aoniis vena beata jugis. Quid melius dictaret amor, risusque jocique, Et cum germanis gratia juncta suis? Thrice happy he! to whose enraptur'd soul Such numbers from th' Aonian mountains roll: More finish'd what could love or laughter write, Or what the graces dictate more polite? John Addison. 2. Forg'd at Lemnos] Lemnos was an island of Darts of steel for Cupid's bow, Take it-this is not so slight." Not so slight this shaft of thine; Small of size! but strong of make! "Take it-I have try'd it-take." No," reply'd the wanton boy, Keep it, Mars, 'tis but a toy." ODE XLVI. THE POWER OF GOLD. LOVE's a pain that works our woe; Not to love, is painful too: But, alas! the greatest pain Waits the love that meets disdain. 10 20 ODE XLVIII. BY DR. BROOME. GAY LIFE. GIVE me Homer's tuneful lyre, Or conquests only o'er the fair! Boy, reach that volume-book divine! The statutes of the god of wine: He, legislator, statutes draws, And I, his judge, inforce his laws; And, faithful to the weighty trust, Compel his votaries to be just: Thus, round the bowl impartial flies, Till to the sprightly dance we rise; We frisk it with a lively bound, 10 Charm'd with the lyre's harmonious sound; Then pour forth, with a heat divine, Rapturous songs that breathe of wine. ODE XLVII. YOUNG OLD-AGE. YES, yes, I own, I love to see Though hoar the head, the heart is young. Ode XLVI.-6. Sprightly wit, or noble birth. Nil tibi nobilitas poterit conducere amanti. Propertius. Your noble birth pleads not the cause of love. 8. Gold alone engages love] Ovid says the same: Aurea sunt verè nunc sæcula: plurimus auro This is the golden age; all worship gold: 13. Gold creates in brethren strife, &c.] Phocylides, in his Admonitory Poem, ver. 38, &c. seems to have imitated this passage. Η φιλοχρημοσύνη, κ. τ. λ. On sordid avarice various evils wait, And gold, false, glittering, is the tempting bait. O cursed gold! in whom our woes combine, Why dost thou thus with pleasing ruin shine? Cause of the parent's curse, of brethren's strife, Wars, murders, and all miseries of life. Ode XLVII.-8. Though hoar the head, the heart is young] Longepierre quotes a passage from Guarini, where the same sentiment is expressed, though in a different manner; and which is translated by John Addison. -O Corisca mia cara, D'anima Linco e non di forze sono; E più che fosse mai verde il desio. ODE XLIX. BY ANOTHER HAND. TO A PAINTER. WHILE you my lyre's soft numbers hear, And, while it charms your ravish'd heart, First draw a nation blithe and gay, Ode XLVIII.-8. The statutes ofthe god of wine] It was customary with the ancients, at their entertainments, to choose a king or master of the revels, who both regulated the size of the cups, and the quantity each person was to drink: he was generally chosen by the cast of a die. Noc regna vini sortiere talis. No longer by the die's successful cast •Shalt thou control the gay repast, -Quem Venus arbitrum Dicet bibendi Hor. Duncombe. L. 2. ode 7. Who, nam'd by Venus, at the jovial board The laws of drinking shall prescribe? Duncombe. Ode XLIX.-5. Draw a nation blithe and gay] It is probable, that in this ode Anacreon had in view the image of peace, which Vulcan represented upon the shield of Achilles. Iliad 18. Two cities radiant on the shield appear, Pope. All sense of woe delivers to the wind. Ode LI.-6. Shines the beauteous queen of love] There are several epigrams in the fourth book of the Anthologia on Venus rising from the sea. I shall give a translation of one of them, beginning, Των εκφυγησαν, κ. τ. λ. Apelles, rapt in sweet surprise, Saw Venus from the ocean rise: The workman's fancy mounted high, 23. But see! a lovely, smiling train, Conspicuous o'er the limpid main, The queen attends! in triumph moves Gay Cupid with his laughing Loves. On dolphins borne, in state they ride, And beautify the silver tide: Dancing around in shoals they play, And humble adoration pay. Rare art, that life to phantoms gives! See! see! a second Venus lives. ODE LII. BY DR. BROOME. GRAPES, OR THE VINTAGE, lo! the vintage now is done! What art before could never give, -a lovely smiling train, &c.] So when bright Venus rises from the flood, Around in throngs the wondering Nereids crowd The Tritons gaze, and tune the vocal shell, And every grace unsung the waves conceal. Garth's Disp. b. 6. Light o'er the deep with fluttering Cupids crown'd, Tickell. Prosp. of Peace. Ode LII.-3. The grapes gay youths and virgins bear] Homer, in his beautiful description of the vintage, book 18, introduces young men and maids employed in the same office. To this one path-way gently winding leads, Where march a train with baskets on their heads. * In Dodsley's Miscellanies it is by mistake printed, the pearly couch. Venus, speaking of a beautiful woman, says, Hæc & cæruleis mecum consurgere digna Fluctibus; et nostrâ potuit considere concha. Statius. |