10 When long in vain he waited to betray Fly far away, and chase that bird no more: I, sure I was an ideot for my pains, IDYLLIUM IV. THE POWER OF LOVE. 10 20 THE sacred Nine delight in cruel Love, Woo the fair Muses, they his suit decline; In strains more languid flows the nerveless song, 10 IDYLLIUM III. THE TEACHER TAUGHT. As late I slumbering lay, before my sight My little son; instruct the boy to sing." Ovid makes Venus institute this festival, Metamorph. b. 10. at the end. luctus monumenta manebunt Şemper, Adoni, mei, repetitaque mortis imago Annua plangoris peraget simulamina nostri. For thee, lost youth, my tears, and restless pain, Shall in immortal monuments remain : With solemn pomp, in annual rites return'd, Be thou for ever, my Adonis, mourn'd. Eusden. Idyll. II. Spenser has imitated this idyllium in his Shepherd's Calendar for the month of March, but in a language too harsh for modern ears. 8. How here and there he skipt, and hopt from tree to tree] The original Greek, Ta xai ra Tov Epata Takov, admirably describes a bird hopping about from bough to bough, which the translator has endeavoured to imitate. Idyl. III. This beautiful idyllium, which in a pleasing fiction describes the power of love, is preserved by Stobæus. IDYLLIUM V. LIFE TO BE ENJOYED. IF merit only stamps my former lays, 10 Why do we labour to augment our store, IDYLLIUM V' CLEODAMUS AND MYRSON. CLEODAMUS. SAY, in their courses circling as they tend, MYRSON. It ill becomes frail mortals to define 20 For in the search, grown grey with pain, We lose the bliss we strive to gain: And thus, absorb'd by distant views, In thoughts of living, life we lose. Idyl.VI.-18. But wish for purple Spring through all the year] D. Et nunc omnis ager, uunc omnis parturit arbos, The trees are cloth'd with leaves, the fields with The blossoms blow; the birds on bushes sing; Dryden. When with fair Helen Paris cross'd the deep, In close disguise his life Achilles led, 20 31 Oft kiss'd her snow-white hand, or gently press'd By pairs your sisters press the downy bed; IDYLLIUM VIII. LOVE RESISLTESS. SWEET Venus, daughter of the main, Idyl. VII.-3. Such as the Cyclops, &c.] The fable of Polyphemus and Galatea has furnished matter for several poets, particularly Theocritus in his 6th and 11th Idylliums, and Ovid in the 13th book of the Metamorphoses, fable the 8th; who has borrowed freely from Theocritus. See also Bion's sixth Fragment. 9. Achilles' stol'n embrace, &c.] The story of Achilles and Deidamia is told at large by Statius in the Achilleid. DESPONDING Sorrow seiz'd Apollo's heart; Idyll. VIII.-7. You gave him wings, &c.] There is a similar thought in a Greek epigram: Φεύγειν δη τον Ερωτα κενος τσονος & γαρ αλύξω Πεζος από την πυκνα διωκόμενος. Of shunning love 'tis vain to talk, When he can fly, and I but walk. Idyll. IX.-9. Blest when in battle, &c.] Longepierre and Laurentius Gambara have given the same interpretation of this passage; and it seems to be confirmed by what Patroclus says to Hector, in the sixteenth book of the Iliad, when he is just expiring: Insulting man! thou shalt be soon as I; nigh; Ev'n now on life's last verge I see thee stand, Frag. I. This is a small fragment of an Idyllium on the death of Hyacinthus, whom Apollo unfortunately slew as he was playing with him at quoits. 2. All cures he try'd, and practis'd every art] Apollo is said to have invented physic: he tells Daphne, Ovid Metamorph. book 1. Inventum medicina meum est, opiferque per orbem Dicor, & herbarum subjecta potentia nobis. Medicine is mine; what herbs and simples grow In fields and forests, all their powers I know; And am the great physician call'd, below. Dryden. FRAGMENT II. THUS to the smith it is not fair, My friend, for ever to repair, And still another's aid to ask: Make your own pipe; 'tis no such arduous task. FRAGMENT III. INVITE the Muses, Love, and in your train, INCESSANT drops, as proverbs say, FRAGMENT V. ON a steep cliff, beside the sandy beach, Love still shall bloom, and still my hopes engage. FRAGMENT VI. LET me not pass without reward! For Phoebus on each tuneful bard. Some gift bestows: the noblest lays Are owing to the thirst of praise. FRAGMENT VIL IN beauty boasts fair woman-kind; Frag. II. I have always thought, that this fragi ment should be understood, allegorically, of those who, though they have riches (or talents) in abundance, yet make no use of them. THE IDYLLIUMS OF MOSCHUS. TRANSLATED BY FAWKES, O Solitude, on me bestow The heart-felt harmony of woe, GRAINGER'S QDE ON SOLitude. IDYLLIUM I. IN search of her son, to the listening crowd, Idyllium 1.-This beautiful Idyllium is imitated by Spenser, in his Fairy Queen, b, 3. c. 6. st, 11. It fortuned, fair Venus having lost Her little son, the winged god of love, Who for some light displeasure, which him crost, Was from her fled, as flit as airy dove, And left her blissful bower of joy above; (So from her often he had fled away, When she for aught him sharply did reprove, And wander'd in the world in strange array, Disguis'd in thousand shapes, that none might him bewray.) Him for to seek, she left her heavenly house, And searched every way through which his wings Had borne him, or his tract she mote detect: She promis'd kisses sweet, and sweeter things, Unto the man, that of him tidings to her brings. And will bring me the news, his reward shall be this, Meleager also has copied this fine original of Moschus, and given us a picture of Cupid much in the same manner. See Anthologia, b. 7. epig. 16, Κηρύσσω τον Ερωτα, κ. τ. λ. I'm in search of a Cupid that late went astray, His delicate lips with persuasion are hung; Whene'er he's provok'd, his implacable soul. To the regions below, and their terrible king. 20 But he covers his mind, and his thoughts are conceal'd. Like a bird light of feather, the branches among, 31 13 & 14. His delicate lips with persuasion are hung; But, ah! how they differ, his mind and his tongue! His voice sweet as honey] Thus the royal Psalmist, Psalm 55. v. 22. "The words of his mouth are softer than butter, having war in his heart; his words were smoother than oil, and yet be they very swords." And Solomon, Proverbs, chap. 5. v. 3. "For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honey-comb, and her mouth is smoother than oil." 41. Show the rogue no compassion, though oft he appears To weep] There is an epigram of Crinagoras, Anthol. b. 4. ch. 12. which may illustrate this passage: it is on an image of Cupid bound. Και κλαι και ξεναζε, κ. τ. λ. Perfidious wretch, you now may cry, Perhaps, with a laugh kisses sweet he will proffer; His kisses are poison, ah! shun the vile offer. Perhaps he'll say, sobbing: 'No mischief I know; Here, take all my arrows, my darts and my bow!' Ah! beware, touch them not-deceitful his aim; His darts and his arrows are all tipt with flame." IDYLLIUM II. EUROPA. THE queen said, "Her daughter was, and in her bosom bred." But she, who as a stranger was array'd, Forc'd to her arms the unresisting maid; 46. His kisses are poison] Thus Virgil, Æneid book 1. ver. 687. 10 Cum dabit amplexus, atque oscula dulcia figet, Occultum inspires ignem, falasque veneno. And when the queen shall strain thee in her arms, The gentle passion by degrees inspire Through all her breast, then fan the rising fire, Pitt. And kindle all her soul Idyll. II. This poem has been printed in some of the most ancient editions of Theocritus; and therefore some critics have taken it for granted that he was the author, without recollecting, that, in the time of the later Grecians, all the ancient idylliums were collected together in one volume, and the name of Theocritus prefixed to the whole: on which occasion there is an epigram in the An⚫ thologia, ascribed to Artemidorus: Βακολίκας μέσας σποράδες σοκα, νυν δ' αμα πασαι Εντι μιας μανδρας, εντι μιας αγελας. The past'ral Muses, scatter'd o'er the plains, A single flock, a single fold contains. This is one of those idylliums which has been adjudged to Moschus: besides, Ursinus tells us (as we are informed by Mr. Heskin) "that in two very ancient manuscripts which he had seen, one be longing to the Vatican, the other to the Medicèan library, he observed, that the idyllium, entitled Europa, was ascribed to Moschus." 8. Prophetic dreams, that never rise in vair]. Post mediam noctem, cum somnia vera. Hor. b. 1. sat. 10. |