any of the Roman wits; though fome of them are
more lofty, fome more inftructive, and others
more correct. He had learning enough to make
him equal to the beft: but as his verfe came eafi-
ly, he wanted the toil of application to amend it.
He is often luxuriant, both in his fancy and ex-
preffions; and, as it has lately been obferved, not
always natural. If wit be pleafantry, he has it to
excefs; but if it be propriety, Lucretius, Horace,
and above all, Virgil, are his fuperiors. I have
faid fo much of him already, in my preface to his
Heroical Epiftles, that there remains little to be
added in this place. For my own part, I have en-
deavoured to copy his character what I could in
this tranflation, even perhaps farther than I fhould
have done, to his very faults. Mr. Chapman, in
his tranflation of Homer, profeffes to have done it
fomewhat paraphrastically, and that on set pur-
pofe; his opinion being, that a good poet is to be
tranflated in that manner. I remember not the
reafon which he gives for it; but I fuppofe it is,
for fear of omitting any of his excellencies. Sure
I am, that, if it be a fault, it is much more par-
donable than that of those who run into the other
extreme of a literal and close tranflation, where
the poet is confined fo ftreightly to his author's
words, that he wants elbow-room to express his
elegancies. He leaves him obfcure; he leaves
him profe, where he found him verfe; and no
better than thus has Qvid been ferved by the fo
much admired Sandys. This is at least the idea
which I have remaining of his tranflation; for I
never read him fince I was a boy. They who
take him upon content, from the praifes which
their fathers gave him, may inform their judg-
ment by reading him again; and fee (if they un-
derftand the original) what is become of Ovid's
poetry, in his verfion; whether it be not all, or
the greateft part of it, evaporated; but this pro-
ceeded from the wrong judgment of the age in
which he lived. They neither knew good verfe,
nor loved it. They were scholars, it is true; but
they were pedants. And for a juft reward of
their pedantic pains, all their translations want to
be tranflated into English.
If I flatter not myself, or if my friends have not
flattered me, I have given my author's fenfe, for
the most part, truly: for to mistake fometimes,
is incident to all men: and not to follow the
Dutch commentators always, may be forgiven to
a man who thinks them, in the general, heavy,
grofs-witted fellows, fit only to glofs on their own
dull poets. But I leave a farther fatire on their
wit, till I have a better opportunity to fhew how
much I love and honour them. I have likewise
attempted to restore Ovid to his native fweetness,
eafinefs, and fmoothnefs; and to give my poetry
a kind of cadence, and, as we call it, a run of
verfe, as like the original, as the English can come
up to the Latin. As he feldom ufes any Synale-
phas; fo I have endeavoured to avoid them as of-
ten as I could. I have likewife given him his own
turns, both on the words and on the thought,
which I cannot fay are inimitable, because I have
copied them; and fo may others, if they ufe the
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In thefe words the army's, the ending with a vowel, and army's beginning with another vowel, without cutting off the firft, which by it had been th army's, there remains a most horrible ill-founding gap betwixt thofe words. I cannot say that I have every way observed the rule of the Synalepha in my translation; but wherefoever I have not, it is a fault in the found: the French and the Italians have made it an inviolable precept in their verfification; therein following the fevere example of the Latin poet. Our countrymen have not yet reformed their poetry fo far, but content themselves with following the licentious practice of the Greeks; who, though they fometimes ufe Synalephas, yet make no difficulty, very often, to found one vowel upon another, as Homer docs, in the very firft line of Alpha. Máviv ásíd: Oià Inaniádow 'Axianos. It is true, indeed, that in the fecond line, in thefe words, up 'Axis, and days
sv. the Synaelpha in revenge is twice obferved, But it becomes us, for the fake of Euphony, rather "Mufas colere feveriores," with the Romans, than to give into the loofeness of the Grecians.
I have tired myself, and have been fummoned by the prefs to fend away this Dedication, otherwife I had expofed fome other faults, which are daily committed by our English poets; which, with care and obfervation, might be amended. For, after all, our language is both copious, fignificant, and majestical, and might be reduced into a more harmonious found. But, for want of public encouragement, in this iron age, we are fo far from making any progrefs in the improvement of our tongue, that in a few years we shall fpeak and write as barbaroufly as our neighbours.
Notwithstanding my hafte, I cannot forbear to tell your Lordship, that there are two fragments of Homer tranflated in this Mifcellany, one by Mr. Congreve (whom I cannot mention without the honour which is due to his excellent parts, and that entire affection which I bear him) and the other by myself. Both the fubjects are pathetical, and I am fure my friend has added to the
tite, as our philosophers call it; he provokes to
murder, and the destruction of God's images; be
forms and equips those ungodly man-killers, whom
we poets, when we flatter them, call heroes; a
race of nien who can never enjoy quiet in them-
felves, till they have taken it from all the world.
This is Homer's commendation; and fuch as it is,
the lovers of peace, or at least of more moderate
and Virgil contend for the prize of honour be
twixt themselves; I am fatisfied they will never
have a third concurrent. I wish Mr. Congreve
had the leisure to tranflate him, and the world the
good-nature and juftice to encourage him in that
noble design, of which he is more capable than
any man I know. The Earl of Mulgrave and
Mr. Waller, two the best judges of our age, have
affured me, that they could never read over the
tranflation of Chapman, without incredible plea
fure and extreme tranfport. This admiration of
theirs must needs proceed from the author him->
felf; for the tranflator has thrown him down as
low, as harsh numbers, improper English, and a
monftrous length of verfe, could carry him. What
then would he appear in the harmonious ver
of one of the best writers, living in a much bet
ter age than was the laft? I mean for verfifict
tion, and the art of numbers: for in the drama
we have not arrived to the pitch of Shakspeare
and Ben Jonfon. But here, my Lord, I am for
ced to break off abruptly, without endeavouring at
a compliment in the clofe. This Mifcellany,
without difpute, one of the beft of the kind,
which has hitherto been extant in our tongst
At least, as Sir Samuel Tuke has faid before m2,
a modest man may praise what is not his own.
My fellows have no need of any protection: but
I humbly recommend my part of it, as much us
it deferves, to your patronage and acceptance,
and all the reft to your forgiveness.
tenderness which he found in the original, and, without flattery, surpassed his author. Yet I must needs fay this in reference to Homer, that he is much more capable of exciting the manly paffions than those of grief and pity: To caufe admira. tion, is indeed the proper and adequate defign of an epic poem: and in that he has excelled even Virgil; yet, without presuming to arraign our mafter, I may venture to affirm, that he is fome-heroifm, will never envy him. But let Homer what too talkative, and more than fomewhat too digreflive. This is fo manifeft, that it cannot be denied in that little parcel which I have tranflated, perhaps too literally: there Andromache, in the midft of her concernment, and fright for Hector, runs off her biafs, to tell him a ftory of her pedigree, and of the lamentable death of her father, her mother, and her seven brothers. The devil was in Hector if he knew not all this matter, as well as the who told it him; for fhe had been his bedfellow for many years together; and if he knew it, then it must be confeffed, that Homer, in this long digression, has rather given her his own character, than that of the fair lady whom he paints. His dear friends the commentators, who never fail him at a pinch, will needs excuse him, by making the prefent forrow of Andromache, to occafion the remembrance of all the paft; but others think she had enough to do with that grief which now oppreffed her, without running for affiftance to her family. Virgil, I am confident, would have omitted fuch a work of fupererogation. But Virgil had the gift of expreffing much in little, and sometimes in filence; for though he yielded much to Homer in invention, he more excelled him in his admirable judgment. He drew the paflion of Dido fór Æneas, in the most lively and most natural colours imaginable: Homer was ambitious enough of moving pity; for he has attempted twice on the fame fubject of Hector's death: first, when Priam and Hecuba beheld his corpfe, which was dragged after the chariot of Achilles; and then in the lamentation which was made over him, when his body was redeemed by Priam; and the fame perfons again bewailed his death, with a chorus of others to help the cry. But if this last excite compaffion in you, as I doubt not but it will, you are more obliged to the tranflator than the poet: for Homer, as I obferved before, can move rage better than he can pity: he stirs up the irafcible appe
Or bodies chang'd to various forms. I fing :Ye Gods, from whence these miracles did fpring, Infpire my numbers with celestial heat, Till I my long laborious work complete ; And add perpetual tenor to my rhymes, Deduc'd from nature's birth, to Cæfar's times. Before the feas, and this terrestrial ball, And heaven's high canopy, that covers all, One was the face of nature, if a face; Rather a rude and indigefted mass: A lifelefs lump, unfafhion'd, and unfram'd, Of jarring feeds, and justly Chaos nam'd. No fun was lighted up the world to view; No moon did yet her blunted horns renew: Nor yet was earth fufpended in the sky; Nor, pois'd, did on her own foundations lie Nor feas about the fhores their arms had thrown; But earth, and air, and water, were in one. Thus air was void of light, and earth unstable, And water's dark abyfs unnavigable. No certain form on any was impreft; All wore confus'd, and each disturb'd the rest. For hot and cold were in one body fixt, And foft with hard, and light with heavy mixt. But God, or Nature, while they thus contend, To these inteftine difcords put an end. Then earth from air, and feas from earth were driven,
And groffer air funk from ethereal heaven.
Thus difembroil'd, they take their proper place;
The next of kin contiguoufly embrace;
And foes are funder'd by a larger space.
The force of fire afcended first on high,.
And took its dwelling in the vaulted iky.
Then air fucceeds, in likeness next to fire;
Whofe atoms from unactive earth retire.
Earth finks beneath, and draws a numerous throng
Of ponderous, thick, unwieldy feeds along.
About her coafts unruly waters roar,
And, rifing on a ridge, infult the fhore.
Thus when the God, whatever God was he,
Had form'd the whole, and made the parts agree,'
That no unequal portions might be found,
He moulded earth into a spacious round:
Then, with a breath, he gave the winds to blow;
And bade the congregated waters flow.
He adds the running fprings, and ftanding lakes;'
And bounding banks for winding rivers makes.
Some part in earth are swallow'd up, the most
In ample oceans, difembogued, are loft.
He fhades the woods, the vallies he restrains
With rocky mountains, and extends the plains.
And as five zones th' ætherial regions bind,
Five, correfpondent, are to earth affign'd:
The fun with rays, directly darting down,
Fires all beneath, and fries the middle zone:
The two beneath the diftant poles complain
Of endless winter, and perpetual rain.
Betwixt th' extremes, two happier climates hold
The temper that partakes of hot and cold.
The fields of liquid air, inclofing all,
Surround the compafs of this earthly ball;
The lighter parts lie next the fires above;
The groffer near the watery furface move:
Thick clouds are fpread, and ftorms engender
there,
[fear,
And thunder's voice, which wretched mortals
And winds that on their wings cold winter
bear.
Nor were thofe bluftering brethren left at large,
On feas and fhores their fury to difcharge:
Bound as they are, and circumfcrib'd in place,
They rend the world, refiftlefs, where they pass;
And mighty marks of mifchief leave behind;
Such is the rage of their tempeftuous kind.
First Eurus to the rifing morn is fent,
(The regions of the balmy continent)
And Eaftern realms, where early Perfians run,
To greet the bleft appearance of the fun.
Weftward the wanton Zephyr wings his flight,
Pleas'd with the remnants of departing light:
Fierce Boreas with his offspring iffues forth,
T' invade the frozen waggon of the North.
While frowning Aufter feeks the fouthern fphere,
And rots, with endlefs rain, th' unwholfome
year.
High o'er the clouds, and empty realms of
wind,
The God a clearer space for heaven defign'd; Where fields of light and liquid æther flow, Purg'd from the ponderous dregs of carth be. low.
Scarce had the power diftinguith'd thefe, when ftraight
The ftars, no longer overlaid with weight,
Exert their heads from underneath the mafs,
And upward fhoot, and kindle as they pass,
And with diffufive light adorn the heavenly
place.
Then, every void of nature to fupply,
With forms of Gods he fills the vacant fky:
New herds of beafts he fends, the plains to
fhare;
New colonies of birds, to people air;
And to their oczy beds the tiny fith repair.
A creature of a more exalted kind
Was wanting yet, and then was man defign'd:
Confcious of thought, of more capacious breast,
For empire form'd, and fit to rule the rest:
Whether with particles of heavenly fire
'The God of nature did his foul infpire;
Or earth, but now divided from the sky,
And pliant fill, retain'd th' ætherial energy:
Which wife Prometheus temper'd into palle,
And, mixt with living ftreams, the godlike image
caft.
Thus, while the mute crcation downward bend
Their fight, and to their earthly mother tend,
Man looks aloft, and with erected eyes
Beholds his own hereditary skies.
From fuch rude principles our form began,.
And earth was metamorphos'd into man..
The golden age was firft; when man, yet
No rule but uncorrupted reafon knew;
And, with a native bent, did good pursue.
Unforc'd by punishment, unaw'd by fear,
His words were fimple, and his foul fincere:
Needlefs was written law, where none oppreft;,
The law of man was written in his breaft:
No fuppliant crowds before the judge appear'd;)
Nor court erected yet, nor caufe was heard,
But all was fafe, for confcience was their guard..
The mountain trees in diftant prospect please,
E'er yet the pine defcended to the feas;
E'er fails were fpread new oceans to explore;
And happy mortals, unconcern'd for more,
Confin'd their wishes to their native shore.
No walls were yet, nor fence, nor mote, nor
mound;
Nor drum was heard, nor trumpet's angry found:
Nor fwords were forg'd; but, vcid of care and
The foft creation flept away their time. [crime,
The teeming earth, yet guiltless of the plough,
And unprovok'd, did fruitful ftores allow :
Content with food, which nature freely bred,
On wildings and on strawberries they fed;
Cornels and bramble-berries gave the rest,
And falling acorns furnish'd out a feast,
The flowers unfown in fields and meadows reign'd;
And western winds immortal Spring maintain'd.
In following years the bearded corn enfu'd
From carth unafk'd, nor was that earth renew'd.
From veins of vallies milk and nectar broke;
And honey fweating from the pores of oak.
But when good Saturn, banish'd from above, Was driven to hell, the world was under Jove. Succeeding times a filver age behold, Excelling brass, but more excell'd by gold. Then Summer, Autunin, Winter, did appear; And Spring was but a feason of the year. The fun his annual course obliquely made, Good days contracted, and enlarg'd the bad. Then air with fultry heats began to glow, The wings of winds were clogg'd with ice and And fhivering mortals, into houfes driven, [fnow; Sought shelter from th' inclemency of heaven. Thole houses, then, were caves, or homely theds, With twining oziers fenc'd, and mofs their beds. Then ploughs, for feed, the fruitful furrows broke, And oxen labour'd firft beneath the yoke.
To this next came in courfe the brazen age, A warlike offspring, prompt to bloody rage, Not impious yet
-Hard fteel fucceeded then;
And ftubborn as the metal were the men.
Truth, Modefty, and Shame, the world forfook:
Fraud, Avarice, and Force, their places took.
Then fails were spread to every wind that blew ;
Raw were the failors, and the depths were new :
Trees rudely hollow'd, did the waves sustain :
E'er fhips in triumph plow'd the watery plain.
Then land-marks limited to each his right:
For all before was common as the light.
Nor was the ground alone requir'd to bear
Her annual income to the crooked share;
But greedy mortals, rummaging her store,
Digg'd from her entrails first the precious ore;
Which wext to hell the prudent God had laid;
And that alluring ill to fight difplay'd;
Thus cursed steel, and more accursed gold,
Gave mischief birth, and made that mischief bold :
And double death did wretched man invade,
By fteel affaulted, and by gold betray'd.
Now (brandish'd weapons glittering in their
hands)
Mankind is broken loose from moral bands;
Nor rights of hospitality remain :
The guest, by him who harbour'd him, is flain:
The fon-in-law pursues the father's life:
The wife her husband murders, he the wife.
The step-dame poifon for the fon prepares,
The fon inquires into his father's years.
Faith flies, and Piety in exile mourns;
And Justice, here opprest, to heaven returns.
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Now were the Gods themselves more fafe above:
Against beleaguer'd heaven the giants move.
Hills pil'd on hills, on mountains mountains lie,
To make their mad approaches to the sky.
Till Jove, no longer patient, took his time
Tavenge with thunder their audacious crime:
Red lightning play'd along the firmament,
And their demolish'd works to pieces rent.
Sing'd with the flames, and with the bolts transfix'd,
With native earth their blood the monsters mix'd;
The blood, indued with animating heat,
Did in th' impregnate earth new fons beget:
They, like the feed from which they fprung, ac-
Against the Gods immortal hatred nurft: [curft,
An impious, arrogant, and cruel brood;
Expreffing their original from blood.
Which when the king of Gods beheld from high (Withal revolving in his memory,
What he himself had found on earth of late,
Lycaon's guilt, and his inhuman treat)
He figh'd, nor longer with his pity strove;
But kindled to a wrath becoming Jove;
Then call'd a general council of the Gods;
Who, fummon'd, issue from their blest abodes,
Aud fill th' affembly with a fhining train,
A way there is, in heaven's expanded plain,
Which, when the skies are clear, is feen below,
And mortals by the name of milky know.
The ground-work is of ftars; through which the
Lies open to the thunderer's abode. [road
The Gods of greater nations dwell around,
And on the right and left the palace bound;
The commons where they can; the nobler fort,
With winding doors wide open, front the court.
This place, as far as earth with heaven may vie,
I dare to call the Louvre of the sky.
When all were plac'd, in feats distinctly known,
And he their father had affum'd the throne,
Upon his ivory fceptre first he leant,
Then fhook his head, that shook the firmament:
Air, earth, and feas, obey'd th' almighty nod;
And, with a general fear, confefs'd the God.
At length with indignation, thus he broke
His awful filence, and the powers bespoke :
I was not more concern'd in that debate
Of empire, when our univerfal state
Was put to hazard, and the giant race
Our captive skies were ready to embrace :
For, though the foe was fierce, the feeds of all
Rebellion fprung from one original:
Now wherefoever ambient waters glide,
All are corrupt, and all must be destroy'd.
Let me this holy proteftation make:
By hell and hell's inviolable lake,
I try'd whatever in the Godhead lay,
But gangren'd members must be lopt away,
Before the nobler parts are tainted to decay.
There dwells below a race of demi-gods,
Of nymphs in waters, and of fawns in woods:
Who, though not worthy yet in heaven to live,
Let them at least enjoy that earth we give.
Can these be thought fecurely lodg'd below,
When I myself, who no fuperior know,
I, who have heaven and earth at my command,
Have been attempted by Lycaon's hand?
At this a murmur through the fynod went,
And with one voice they vote his punishment.
Thus, when conspiring traitos dar'd to doom
The fall of Cæfar, and in him of Rome,
The nations trembled with a pious fear;
All anxious for their earthly thunderer:
Nor was their care, O Cæfar, lefs efteem'd
By thee, than that of heaven for Jove was
Who with his hand, and voice, did first restrain
Their murmurs, then refum'd his fpeech again,
The Gods to filence were compos'd, and late
With reverence due to his fuperior state.
Cancel your pious cares; already he
Has paid his debt to justice, and to me.
Yet what his crimes, and what my judgments were,
Remains for me thus briefly to declare.
The clamours of this vile degenerate age,
The cries of orphans, and th' oppreflor's rage,
Had reach'd the ftars; I will defcend, faid I,
In hope to prove this loud complaint a lie.
Difguis'd in human shape, I travel'd round
The world, and more than what I heard, I found.
O'er Mænalus I took my fteepy way,
By caverns infamous for beatts of prey:
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