In vats the heavenly load they lay, Gaily through wine the old advance, 10 Through wine the youth completes his loves; On beds of rosy sweets she lies, Her hand he presses-breathes his vows; In vain the youth persuasion tries! Then, scorning death through dull despair, ODE LIII. BY DR. BROOME. THE ROSE. COME, lyrist, tune thy harp, and play To Heaven the rose is fragrance flies, 20 The gaily-smiling graces wear A trophy in their flowing hair: 10 Thee Venus, queen of beauty, loves, And, crown'd with thee, more graceful moves. In fabled song, and tuneful lays, Their favourite rose the Muses praise: To pluck the rose the virgin-train 20 The rose the poets strive to praise, And for it would exchange their bays; O! ever to the sprightly feast Admitted, welcome, pleasing guest! But chiefly when the goblet flows, And rosy wreaths adorn our brows! Lovely, smiling rose, how sweet All objects where thy beauties meet! Aurora, with a blushing ray, And rosy fingers, spreads the day: The Graces inore enchanting show, When rosy blushes paint their snow; And every pleas'd beholder seeks The rose in Cytherea's cheeks. When pain afflicts, or sickness grieves, Its juice the drooping heart relieves; And, after death, its odours shed A pleasing fragrance o'er the dead: And when its withering charms decay, And sinking, fading, die away, Triumphant o'er the rage of time, It keeps the fragrance of its prime. 30 40 21. The rose the poets strive to praise] The rose is celebrated in the fifth ode of Anacreon; io a fragment of Sappho; and in the fourteenth Idyllium of Ausonius, in which are the following beautiful lines: Quàm longa una dies, ætas tam longa rosarum, See! in the morning blooms the rose ! Duncombe. 30. And rosy fingers, spreads the day] PododexTukos, rosy finger'd, is an epithet frequently used by Homer, and applied to the morning. Dryden. also uses it: The rosy-finger'd Morn appears, And from her mantle shakes her tears. Milton's description of the morning is also very beautiful: -The Morn, Wak'd by the circling Hours, with rosy hand 35. When pain afflicts, or sickness grieves] It is well known, that the rose is used as an ingredient in the composition of several medicines, 37. And, after death, its odours shed A pleasing fragrance o'er the dead.] The ancients used roses in embalming their dead. Venus anoints the body of Hector with unguent of roses, to prevent it from corruption, Iliad, book 23. Celestial Venus hover'd o'er his head, They also crowned the tombs of their friends with roses and other flowers. 41. Triumphant o'er the rage of time, &c.] Come, lyrist, join to sing the birth Of this sweet offspring of the Earth! When Venus from the ocean's bed Rais'd o'er the waves her lovely head; When warlike Pallas sprung from Jove, Tremendous to the powers above; To grace the world the teeming Earth Gave the fragrant infant birth; And, "This," she cry'd, "I this ordain My favourite, queen of flowers to reign." But, first, th' assembled gods debate The future wonder to create: Agreed at length, from Heaven they threw A drop of rich nectareous dew; A bramble-stem the drop receives, 50 And straight the rose adorns the leaves. The gods to Bacchus gave the flower, To grace him in the genial hour. 60 ODE LIV. BY DR. BROOME. GROWN YOUNG. WHEN sprightly youths my eyes survey, Haste, crown, Cybeba, crown my brows Come then, my friends, the goblet drain! Blest juice!-I feel thee in each vein! See! how with active bounds I spring! How strong, and yet how sweet I sing! How blest am I, who thus excel In pleasing arts of trifling well! ODE LV. BY DR. BROOME. THE MARK. THE stately steed expressive bears A mark imprinted on his hairs: 10 The turban, that adorns the brows ODE LVI. BY DR. BROOME, OLD AGE. ALAS! the powers of life decay! Ode LV.-3, 4. The turban that adorns the [shows.] brows Of Asia's sons, the Parthian The Greek is riga, tiara, an ornament for the bead like the modern turban. Addison quotes a passage from Dionysius, containing a description of the situation and manners of the Parthians; which he has thus translated: Beyond the Caspian straits those realms extend, No fields they wound, nor urge the shining share. Ode LVI. We are indebted for this ode to Henry Stephens. It is also extant in Stobæus, who acknowledges it to be Anacreon's. 1, 2. Alas! the powers of life decay! My hairs are fali'n, or turn'd to grey.] Theocritus finally touches upon the progress which old-age makes on the human body. For this, and for the grave, I fear, For this, the mournful groan I shed, ODE LVII. THAT WE SHOULD DRINK WITH BRING hither, boy, a mighty bowl, Quick, boy, dispatch-My friends, no more, 10 ODE LIX. TO A SCORNFUL BEAUTY. WHY thus with scornful look you fly, Wild Thracian filly, tell me why? Think'st thou that I no skill possess, And want both courage and address? Know, that whenever I think fit To tame thee with the galling bit, Just where I please, with tighten'd rein, I'll urge thee round the dusty plain. Now on the flowery turf you feed, Or lightly bound along the mead, So wild, so wanton, and untry'd, You want some youth to mount and ride. 10 ODE LVIII. THE LOVE-DRAUGHT. As late of flow'rets fresh and fair 14. Death, and its dark tremendous way] Catullus, speaking of Lesbia's sparrow, says, Qui nunc it per iter tenebricosum, Death has summon'd it to go, See also Moschus on the death of Bion: But we, the great, the brave, the learn'd, the wise, Ode LVII.-3. Fill two parts water] The ancients usually drank their wine mixed with water. Madam Dacier observes, that Hesiod prescribes three measures of water to one of wine in summer. 10. Unpolish'd Scythia's barbarous brutes] The Scythians were remarkable for their intemperance in drinking, and quarrelling over their cups. Ode LVIII. This little ode is extant in the seventh book of the Anthologia, and ascribed to Julian, ɑno twv únпgxwv A‹yʊnт8, a king of Egypt, who wrote several other things with elegance. As its beauty has hitherto procured it a place in most of the editions of Anacreon, it was thought worthy to be retained in this translation. ODE LX. EPITHALAMIUM ON THE MARRIAGE OF STRATOCLES AND MYRILLA. VENUS, fair queen of gods above, - To you, as to the lyre I sing, Flows honour from the sounding string; Propitious to the numbers prove, O Venus, Hymen, god of love. Ode LIX.-9, 10. Now on the flowery turf you feed, [mead] Or lightly bound along the Horace has imitated this ode at the beginning of the 23d ode of the first book, the 5th of the second, but particularly in the 11th of the third. Quæ, velut latis equa trima campis She sports along the verdant plain, Ode LX.-Theodorus Prodromus, who wrote the amours of Dosicles and Rhodanthe, has preserved this Epithalamium; which, as madam Dacier observes, is a sort of poem that used to be sung to a new-married couple on the morning after the ceremony. 4. The fruitful source of human-kind] Dionysius of Halicarnassus calls marriage, Zwangian Tys, The preserver of mankind, View, gentle youth, with rapture view ODE LXI. ON GOLD. WHEN Gold, that fugitive unkind," : But when the vagrant finds I burn O faithless Gold! thou dear deceit! 10 20 10 20 For thou with envy and with wiles Me from the Muse thou would'st detain, ODE LXII. ON THE SPRING. WHAT bright joy can this exceed, ODE LXIII. TO CUPID. MIGHTY god of flames and darts, Great controler of all hearts; With thee Venus, lovely fair, Venus with the golden hair, And the bright-ey'd Dryads play, 20 Nymphs that on the mountains stray: Come, propitious to my vow, Quick descend into the plain, 12. Lest, like a bird, &c.] The Greek is My Quyn wagding aypa, Lest the partridge should escape you; alluding to the coyness of a young bride. 15. See how, &c.] These four lines are taken from a translation of this poem, which, appeared in the Student. 25. May a beauteous blooming boy, &c.] The Greek is, KunagiTOS WEDURA DEL EN xw, May a cypress grow in your garden! that is, "May a child, as beautiful and as long lived as a cypress, crown your happiness!" Madam Dacier observes, this was a proverbial way of speaking. Ode LXI.-The Vatican manuscript acknow_ ledges this ode to be Anacreon's. 9, 10. All my inquietudes of mind I give to murmur with the wind.] Horace has imitated this passage, book 1. ode 26. which is an argument for the authenticity of this ode. See Ode 39. Let the winds that murmur, sweep Leave the mountain's rugged brow; Where the object of my pain, 30 10 10 28. To faithless Phrygians, &c.] The poet calls the Phrygians faithless, from their king Laomedon's deceiving Apollo and Neptune of the reward he had promised them for building the walls of Troy; and from his defrauding Hercules of his recompense, who had delivered his daughter Hesione from being devoured by a sea-monster. Madame Dacier. Ode LXII. This ode has also the authority of the Vatican manuscript to claim Anacreon for its author. 7, 8. O! how pleasing to recline Underneath the spreading vine.] Madame Dacier remarks, that the vines in Greece were so high as to form a commodious shade. Ode LXIII-We owe the preservation of this fragment to Dion Chrysostom, Thou my passion must approve, Melt the yielding fair to love. ODE LXIV. TO CUPID. IDALIAN god, with golden hair, ODE LXV. ON HIMSELF. I LATELY thought, delightful theme! Anacreon saw me in a dream, 10 Ye Muses, ever fair and young, High seated on the golden throne, In sweetest numbers, not his own; Ode LXV. This and the five following odes are not translated by Addison. Some have imagined that this ode was not written by Anacreon, because he himself is the subject of it: but Barnes endeavours to prove it genuine from the ninth ode and the sixty-sixth, in both which Anacreon makes mention of himself; and from the frequent liberties which the best poets have taken of mentioning themselves in their own compositions. The Teian sage, the honey'd bard, Who call'd me with a sweet regard: 1, pleas'd to meet him, ran in haste, And with a friendly kiss embrac'd. 'Tis true, he seem'd a little old, But gay and comely to behold; Still bow'd to Cytherea's shrine, His lip was redolent of wine: He reel'd as if he scarce could stand, But Cupid led him by the hand. The poet, with a gentle look, A chaplet from his temples took, That did of sweet Anacreon breathe, And smiling gave to me the wreath. I from his brow the flowery crown Receiv'd, and plac'd it on my own: Thence all my woes unnumber'd flow, E'er since with raging love I glow. ODE LXVI. BY DR. BROOME. ON APOLLO. ONCE more, not uninspir'd, the string I waken and spontaneous sing: Celestial Muse! attend and bring Begin, begin the lofty strain! How Phoebus lov'd, but lov'd in vain! How Daphne fled his guilty flame, And scorn'd a god that offer'd shaine. With glorious pride his vows she hears, And Heaven, indulgent to her prayers, To laurel chang'd the nymph, and gave Her foliage to reward the brave. Ah! how, on wings of love convey'd, He flew to clasp the panting maid! Now, now o'ertakes! but Heaven deceives His hope-he seizes only leaves. 10 20 10 20 Why burns my raptur'd breast? ah why? Ah! whither strives my soul to fly? I feel the pleasing frenzy strong, But O! in vain-my Muse denies 30 Ode LXVI.-It is certain, that Anacreon wrote hymns in honour of the gods: this is undoubtedly one of them, and perhaps the most entire of any that remain. See the note on the 16th verse of the ninth ode, |