He sings the Grecian fleet renown'd afar, Sweet warbling what the rapturous Nine inspire, IDYLLIUM XXIII*. THE DESPAIRING LOVER. ARGUMENT. An unhappy lover, despairing to gain the affections of his mistress, by whom he is despised, makes Castor and Pollux, first in martial force, One bold on foot, and one renown'd for horse; My brothers these; the same our native shore, One house contaiu'd us, and one mother bore. Perhaps the chiefs, from warlike toils at ease, For distant Troy refus'd to sail the seas: Perhaps their swords some nobler quarrel draws, Asham'd to combat in their sister's cause.” So spoke the fair, nor knew her brothers' doom, Wrapt in the cold embraces of the tomb; Adorn'd with honours in their native shore, Silent they slept, and heard of wars no more. 101. The Chian Muse] As Theocritus, both here and in the 7th Idyllium styles Homer the Chian bard Xlov Acidov, we have reason to conjecture, that Chios has the honour of being the place of his nativity: Simonides in his Epigram on Human Life, calls him the man of Chios; for quoting a verse of Homer he says, Εν δε το καλλισον Χιος είπεν απο The Chians pleaded these ancient authorities for Homer's being born among them: they mention a race they had, called the Homeridæ, whom they accounted his posterity; they cast medals of him; they show to this day an Homerium, or temple of Homer, near Bolissus; and close their arguments with a quotation from the hymn to Apollo, (which is acknowledged for Homer's by Thucydides) where he calls himself, "The blind man that inhabits Chios." One cannot avoid being surprised at the prodigious veneration for his character, which could engage mankind with such eagerness in a point so little essential; that kings should send to oracles for the inquiry of his birth-place; that cities should be in strife about it; that whole lives of learned men should be employed upon it; that some should write treatises, others call up spirits about it; that thus, in short, Heaven, Earth and Hell, should be sought to, for the decision of a question which terminates in curiosity only. Thus far Mr. Pope in his essay on Homer: Yet though this point is not essential, and only matter of curiosity, we may observe, that these inquiries, disputes, and contentions, plead strongly in favour of the Muses, and set the character of a poet in the most eminent and exalted station. The argument of this Idyllium is similar to the argument of Virgil's second eclogue, though this is more tragical; I have taken the liberty to make a general transformation, which renders it a thousand times more natural, decent, and gallant. away with himself: the cruel fair is soon after killed by the image of Cupid that fell upon her as she was bathing.. AN amorous shepherd lov'd a cruel fair; The haughty beauty plung'd him in despair: move, She scorn'd the lover, and the god of love; 20 She look'd her soul; her face was pal'd with ire; 30 And, Te semper anteit sæva necessitas. B. 1. O. 35. Which elegant use of the word necessitas, he has taken from the Grecians; Pindar has, ex avayxa; and Euripides, dun avayan, which is exactly the dira necessitas of Horace, b. 3. 0.24. 21. Before her gate, &c.] Thus Ovid speaking of Iphis, Non tulit impatiens longi tormenta doloris 30. And drink oblivion] Virgil says of souls that endure transmigration, Lethæi ad fluminis undam En. b. 6. [tame, 40 But ah! what draughts my fierce desires can | Suspends the cord, impatient of delay, Fits the dire noose, and spurns the stone away;" The fair one, when the pendent swain she saw, But as she pass'd, for not a tear she shed 50 And thrice repeat, Here rests my friend his Frown'd the dread image of the god of love, IDYLLIUM XXIV. THE YOUNG HERCULES. ARGUMENT. This Idyllium is entirely narrative: it first of all gives an account how Hercules, when only ten months old, slew two monstrous serpents which Juno had sent to devour him; then it relates the prophecy of Tiresias, and afterwards describes the education of Hercules, and enumerates his several preceptors. The conclusion of this poem is lost. WASI'D with pure water, and with milk well fed, 79. Lovers, farewel, &c.] Moschus, Idyl. 6. has F. F. The fate of this scornful beauty is similar to that of a youth who was killed by the statue of his stepmother falling upon him. See Callimachus, Epigram 11. thus translated by Mr. Duncombe. A youth, who thought his father's wife was taken from Demoleus, Loricam, quam Demoleo detraxerat ipse 20 She spoke, and gently rock'd the mighty shield; Then on their bellies prone, high swoln with gore, By observing the use this shield is put to, we have an agreeable picture presented to the mind: it is an emblem of the peace and tranquillity which always succeed the tumults of war; and likewise a prognostic of the future greatness of this mighty champion in embryo. 19. Stern Juno, &c.] Pindar in his first Nemean Ode tells this same story, which, as it may be a satisfaction to the curious to see how different wri ters manage the same subject, I shall take the liberty to give in Mr. West's translation. Then glowing with immortal rage, Bad her vindictive serpents haste. His dauntless brow when young Alcides rear'd, Fast by their azure necks he held, And grip'd in either hand his scaly foes; Till from their horrid carcasses expell'd, At length the poisonous soul unwilling flows. 27. Their fiery eye-balls, &c.] The Greek is, απ' οφθαλμον δε κακόν πυρ Ερχομενοις λαμπεσκε; 2 pernicious flame shot from their eyes as they approached: Pierson (see his Verisimilia) reads with much more elegance and propriety Axv, looking very keenly, as the eyes of serpents are always repr sented: Hesiod, speaking of dragons, uses the same word twice, εκ κεφαλών πυρ και το Spool. Theog. ver. 828, and in the shield of Hercules, ver. 145. dupwopievosoi dedopxos. He brings Jikewise the authorities of Homer, Eschylus, and Oppian, to support this reading. Virgil has, | Aghast he rais'd his voice with bitter ery, 50 They strove to 'scape the deathful gripe in vain. Some dire disaster threats; Amphitryon, rise." She spoke; the prince obedient to her word, Rose from the bed, and seiz'd his rich-wrought sword, Which, on a glittering nail above his head, While o'er his mighty son Amphitryon spread near, Alcmena call'd the truth-proclaiming seer, 80 This strange event, and urg'd him to unfold "Fear not," she cry'd, "but Fate's whole will explain; For well thou know'st, O! venerable seer, And son-in-law be nam'd of that dread power 100 The slumbering child: then wolves shall rove the lawns, 119 And strike no terrour in the pasturing fawns. 103. Then wolves, &c.] Virgil has, Nec lupus insidias pecori, &c. 120 Both authors seem to have borrowed from Isaiah, 84. Fear not, &c.] Thus Achilles says to Cal- chap. ii. ver. 6. "The wolf shall dwell with the chas, II. b. 1. control. From thy inmost soul Speak what thou know'st, and speak without Pope. 86. Those ills, &c.] Homer puts a sentiment similar to this in the mouth of Hector, b. 6. which is finely translated by Mr. Pope; Fix'd is the term to all the race of Earth, And such the hard condition of our birth: No force can then resist, no flight can save, All sink alike, the fearful and the brave. 96. The most gigantic, &c.] The words of Theofritus are ano gvwv harus news, the broad-breasted hero; I am in doubt how it should be rendered; Creech has translated it, The noblest burthen of the bending sky. In Homer's Odyssey, b. 11. Hercules is thus represented among the shades below, Now I the strength of Hercules behold, A towering spectre of gigantic mould; A shadowy form! for high in Heaven's abodes Himself resides a god among the gods. Pope. On which Mr. Pope observes, "The ancients imagined, that immediately after death, there was a partition of the human composition into three parts, the body, image, and mind: the body is buried in the earth; the image, or dwλov, descends into the regions of the departed; the mind, or the divine part is received into Heaven; thus the body of Hercules was consumed in the flames, his image is in Hell, and his soul in Heaven." pyre 100. His mortal part first purified by fire] The Greek is, θνητα δε πάντα πυρά Τραχίνιος εξει, The Trachinian will consume his mortal part; Trachin was a city of Thessaly built by Hercules, and the place to which he sent to Dejanira for the shirt which proved fatal to him, and was the occasion of throwing himself into the fire that consumed him; hence therefore, probably, Theocritus calls it the Trachiniau pyre. lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid." 105. But, O great queen, &c.] Archbishop Potter observes," sometimes the ominous thing was burnt with ligna infelicia, that is, such sort of wood as was in tuteiâ inferûm deorum avertentiumque, sacred to the gods of Hell, and those which averted evil omens, being chiefly thorns, and such other trees, as were fit for no other use than to be burned. Sometimes the prodigy, when burnt, was cast into the water, and particularly into the sea, as Theocritus has described." Chap. 17. 107. A spalatbus] A plant called the rose of Jerusalem, or our lady's thorn. Johnson's Dict. Prickly brambles] The Greek is, anos, paliurus; which Martyn says, is most probably the plant which is cultivated in our gardens under the name of Christ's thorn, and is supposed to be the thorn of which the crown was made, that was put upon our Saviour's head. Notes on Virgil, Ecl. 5. 108. Or the tall thorn, &c.] The Greek is, η ανεμω διδονημένον αυον αχερδον, or the dry acherdus which is agitated by the wind; it is uncertain what plant will answer to the acherdus of the ancients; Homer in the Odyssey, b. 14. ver. 10. has fenced the sylvan lodge of Eumæus with acherdus, Ka εθρίγκωσεν αχερίῳ, The wall was stone, from neighb'ring quarries born, Encircled with a fence of native thorn. Pope. 111. Next morn, &c.] The most powerful of all incantatious was to throw the ashes of the sacrifice backward into the water; thus Virgil, Fer cineres, Amarylli, foras; rivoq; fluenti Transque caput jace; ne respexeris. Ecl. 8. 124. Like some young plant, &c.] Theocritus has 130 That screen'd from storms defies the baleful blast, | Where from Adrastus he high favour gain'd, And o'er a kingdom, rich in vineyards, reign'd. 140 144. Nor break, &c.] In the chariot-race, the greatest care was to be taken to avoid running against the goal; Nestor in the 23d book of the Iliad, very particularly cautions his son in regard to this point; and Horace says, Metaque fervidis Evitata rotis. Od. 1. 154. What time to Argos, &c.] The Greek is, Κας ως ιππαλιδας εδαεν, φυγας Αργεος ελθών, Οπποκα κλαρον απαντα και οινοπεδον μεγα Τυδευς Ναιε, πας Αδραςοιο λαβων ιππήλατον Αργος. These accomplishments Castor, skilled in horsemanship, taught him, when he came an exile from Argos, at the time that Tydeus ruled over the whole kingdom famed for vineyards, having received Argos from Adrastus. There is great inconsistency in this passage, which nobody, that I know of, has observed or tried to remedy: we have no account in history, that Castor came a fugitive to Argos, but that Tydeus did, we have indisputable authority. See Homer's II. b. 14. ver. 119. Diomed says of his father, πατης δ' εμος Αργει νασθη, κ. τ. λ. My sire: from Calydon expell'd He past to Argos, and in exile dwell'd; IDYLLIUM XXV*. HERCULES THE LION-SLAYER. ARGUMENT. Hercules having occasion to wait upon Augéas king of Elis, meets with an old herdsman, by whom he is introduced to the king, who, with his The monarch's daughter there (so Jove or He won and flourish'd where Adrastus reign'd: Pope. On which Eustathius observes; "This is a very artful colour: Diomed calls the flight of his father, for killing one of his brothers, travelling and dwell ing at Argos, without mentioning the cause or occasion of his retreat." Might I venture to offer an emendation, I would read, φυγας Αργει ελθων, and then the construction might be, Castor taught him these accomplishments, at the time that Tydeus reigned over the kingdom of Argos, whither he had fled in exile, having received the sovereignty from Adrastus. Thus the passage becomes history; for Tydeus fled from Calydonia to Argos correspondent with Homer, with good sense and for manslaughter, where he married Deipyle, the daughter of Adrastus, and, it should seem by this passage, afterwards succeeded him in the kingdom. 164. Doric cake] A coarse bread like those cakes which the Athenians called λayos. *Though this noble Idyllium is by far the longest of any that Theocritus has left us, containing, exclusive of the beginning which is lost, no less than 281 verses, yet the commentators, Scaliger, Casaubon, and D. Heinsius, have not left us one single emendation or note upon it; and therefore I shall trouble the reader with but few observatheir remarks upon the 27th Idyllium, infinitely tions: yet these grey old critics have been lavish of the most obscene of all the pieces that have been attributed to Theocritus. One remark is very obvi ous, that the first part of this Idyllium, as far as ver. 178 in the translation, is entirely pastoral and bucolic, containing beautiful descriptions of mea |