SIR,

IN

LETTER V.

Holt, April 27. N SECTION X.our Critic attempts to fhew, befides Loftiness of Conception, that, in Defcriptions of any Kind, a Judicious Collection of the principal Effects and strongest concomitant Circumftances, ranged in their proper Order, hath a wonderful and potent Influence on the Mind of a Reader; and as fuch is alfo a Caufe of Sublimity. He gives, for his first Instance, the following Love-Ode of SAPPHO; which (as it is a Fragment of great Reputation among the Poets and Critics, and preferv'd only here) I beg leave to tranfcribe in the Original, in the Latin of CATULLUS, and in Mr. PHILLIPS's English; all three being writ with the fame Elegance and Sublimity, as far as the Genius of each Language will permit. We are, SIR, then to fuppofe it spoken in the Person of a Lover fitting by his Mistress

The GREEK by SAPPHO, Anno ante CHRISTUM 310.

Δίνεται μοι κἶναι ἴσα θεοῖσιν

Ἰζάνει, καὶ πλάσιον αδὺ φωνέ

σας ὑπακέει,

Καὶ γελάῖς ἱμερόεν τό μοι ταν

Καρδίαν ἐν σήθεσιν ἐπλόασεν.

Ως γὰρ εἴδω σε, βροχέως με φωνάς

Οὐδὲν ἔτ ̓ εἴκει,

Αλλά

̓Αλλὰ καμμὶν γλῶσσα ἴαγε λεπτὸν δ
Αὐτίκα χρῷ τῆς ὑποδιδρόμακεν
Οππάτεσσιν δ ̓ ἐδὲν ὅρημ', ἐπιξξομ-

βεῦσι δ' ἀκυέ

Καδδ ̓ ἱδρὼς ψυχρὸς χέεται, τρόμω δὲ
Πᾶσαν ἀγρεῖ, χλωροτέρα δὲ ποίας

Ἐμμί. τιθνάκην δ ̓ ὀλίγω 'πιδεύσην

Φαίνομαι ἄπνους.

The LATIN by CATULLUS, Anno ante CHRISTUM 47.

LLE mî par effe Deo videtur, Ille, fi fas eft, fuperare Divos, Qui fedens adverfus identidem Te,

Spectat & audit

Dulce ridentem; mifero quod omnes

Eripit fenfus mihi: nam fimul Te,

Lesbia, afpexi, nihil eft fuper mî

Quod loquar amens.

Lingua fed torpet, tenuis fub artus
Flamma dimanat; fonitu fuopte
Tinniunt aures, gemina & teguntur

Lumina nocte.

Manat & fudor gelidus; tremorque
Occupat totum; velut herbæ pallent
Ora; fpirandi neque compos, Orco

Proxime credor.

The

The ENGLISH by Mr. PHILLIPS, Anno Dom. 1711.

BLEST as the Immortal Gods is be,

The Youth, who fondly fits by thee,
And bears and fees thee all the while
Softly Speak, and fweetly fmile.

'Twas this depriv'd my Soul of Reft,
And rais'd fuch Tumults in my Breaft
For while Igaz'd, in Transport toft,
My Breath was gone, my Voice was loft:
My Bofom glow'd; the fubtle Flame
Run quick through all my vital Frame;
O'er my dim Eyes a Darkness bung;
My Ears with bollow Murmurs rung.
In dewy Damps my Limbs were chill'd;
My Blood with gentle Horrors thrill'd;
My feeble Pulfe forgot to play;
I Fainted, Sunk, and Dy'd away.

Here, fays LONGINUS, are collected from all Sides the ufual Confequences that the Paffion of Love has both on the Mind and Body. But where pray is the Sublimity? Where ! Why in as much as the Poet has chofe none but the principal and strongest Circumstances; all which he has ranged together and stretch'd to their very Height. Here's Soul, Body, Ears, Tongue, Eyes, Countenance, all faultering and ready to leave their proper Stations. The Lover, thro' oppofite Perturbations, is at one and the

fame

fame time enflam'd and chill'd, fenfible and fenfelefs, enliven'd and fainting even to Death. All which Circumstances, notwithstanding their feeming Repugnancy to each other, being an exact Copy of Nature, and often found in the Phrenfies of Love, convey this Ode to the very Height of Sublimity.

IN like Manner HOMER in defcribing Tempefts always heaps together the most terible Circumftances imaginable. But ARISTÆUS PROCONNESIUS, Author of Arimafpia, is in this respect rather florid than sublime, where he says

Θαῦ μὲ ἡμῖν καὶ τότο, &c.

Oft has my Mind been with Amazement struck,
That Men fhould chufe to dwell on watry Waves,
So far remote from Land: Unhappy Race,

What Labours they endure! Their Eyes on Stars,
Their Hearts on Waters fix'd: Their Vows they pay
With lift up Hands, ftill spewing as they pray.

How unlike this is HOMER's Description of a Tempeft in Il. o. ver. 624. to which the Poet compares Hector affifted by Jupiter?

Thus

· Ἐν δ ̓ ἔπεσ', ὡς ὅτε κῦμα τοῦ ἐν νηῒ πέσησι Λάβρον ὑπαὶ νεφέων, ἀνεμοτρεφές, ἡ δέ τε πᾶσα

OBS. XVII.

ANNOTATION S.

C

Ompare this mer with Virgil's in En. 1:
Storm of Ho- -ver. 88.

Incubuere Mari, totumque à Sedibus imis

Unà Eurufque Notufque ruunt, &c.—

And with the fublime Tempeft of the Pfalmift, Pfalm cvii. 25.

Αχ η υποκρύφθη, ανέμοιο δὲ δεινὸς ἀήτης

Ισίῳ ἐμβρέμεται τρομέεσι δέ τε φρένα ναῦται
Δειδιότες· τυτθὸν γὰρ ὑπ ̓ ἐκ θανάτοιο φέρονται.

On 'em he fell, like a Tempestuous Storm
Rous'd up by boisterous Winds; which,Waves o'erWaves
Whirling, and roaring dreadfully, defcends:
While in fierce Eddies rolls the frothy Ship;
The Sails all torn; th' Affrighted Mariners,
Aghaft, within Death's Jaws are burl'd along.

S

Upon which ARATUS has meanly thought to refine thus:

Ολίγον δὲ διὰ ξύλον ἀϊδ ̓ ἐξύκει.

But a thin Piece of Wood faves 'em from Death.

Low indeed in refpect to the Terrour HOMER every where raifes. In tranflating which, I have endeavour'd to imitate that Horrour, which, as LONGINUS obferves, the Original in every Verfe inculcates over and over; the very Sound of the Syllables livelily reprefenting the foaming Surges and Dashing of the Waves into and over the Ship. Befides which,

ANNOTATION S.

OBS.XVIII. ARATUS was a Greek Poet, whofe Book of Phænomena Cicero and others tranflated into Latin Verfe. SAPPHO was aLesbian Poetefs, the Inventrefs of Sapphic Verfes, of whofe Works fcarce any thing remains but the foregoing Ode. One ARISTEUS PROCONNESIUS is the fuppos'd Author of the Poem call'd Arimafpia,

which Longinus here mentions. As to Homer, who is fuppos'd to be born 1934 Years before Chrift, Hefiod 800, Anacreon 532, Herodotus 482, Thucydides 429, Xenophon 387, Demofthenes 356, Theophrafius 311, Ariftothe 384, Cicero 103, Mofes, and Zoilus, where their Names occur, they all are fo well known, as to want no Annotations.

the