Συβαρίτης) καὶ κοιμηθεὶς ἐπ ̓ αὐτῶν, ἐξανέστη λέγων φλυκταίνας ἐκ τῆς evvns exew. But Sybaris was before the times of history, and to the later Greeks it was a sort of Pays de Cocagne, about whose luxury all kinds of fables (this among the rest) were invented. Another place which is cited is the following from Philostratus (Εp. 27) : καί σου δέομαι οὐ στεφανοῦσθαι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ κοιμηθῆναι éì pódov, which at most can only allude to a pillow like that of Verres. The in rosa jaceat of Seneca (Ep. 36, 9) is only a supposed case, and the in odoribus jacet of the same writer (Ep. 82, 2) evidently refers to the anointing of the dead body. These are, I believe, all the proofs that have been produced by the advocates of the bed of roses. On the other side, in opposition to Orelli's strange assertion respecting the use of in, may be adduced, ei úmy μετ ̓ εὐμουσίας αἰεὶ δ ̓ ἐν στεφάνοισιν εἴην, Eur. Herc. Fur. 677. κοσμεῖν ἑαυτὰς, μὴ ἐν πλέγμασιν, ἢ χρυσῷ ἢ μαργαρίταις, 1 Tim. ii. 9. Et caput in verna semper habere rosa, Prop. iii. 3, 44. In jaculis et pelle Libystidis ursae, Virg. Aen. v. 37. In viola aut in rosa dicere, Cic. Tusc. v. 26. Potentem in rosa, Id. Fin. ii. 20 (these last two given by Orelli himself), in armis, etc. In fact this use of in runs through most languages. We ourselves say, a lady in a cap, in a veil, in her hair, etc.; and the French en chapeau, etc.; so also in Italian and Spanish. As to multa, I see not any force in Orelli's objection. Multus thus used in the singular is many a, and here it is used to intimate that the wreath of roses was a large full one. For the use of roses for this purpose, see Carm. i. 36, 15; ii. 3, 14; iii. 15, 15, et alib. I further think that in multa rosa should be joined with puer, and not with te, as she was apparently simply in her hair.-Perfusus, etc. This shows that it was an epulæ, for it was only on such occasions that the Romans in general put fragrant liquids or unguents on their hair: comp. ii. 7, 7, 22; 11, 16; iii. 29, 4, et alib. These were usually supplied by the person who gave the entertainment.-Urguet. I do not be lieve that a single instance can be produced of the use of this verb in the sense of " arte amplectitur." (OR.) Its meaning is to press or push from or against, and I conceive that here it signifies 'lies close to,' sc. on the lectus or sofa. We should say, sits close to. The youth and Pyrrha, as we have said, occupied the same sofa, and he lay above her.-Sub antro, i. q. in antro, see my note on Ov. Fast. i. 186. For this custom see Ov. Fast. ii. 315 seq. ; Tac. Ann. iv. 59. We now come to the figure in which he likens Pyrrha to the sea, and we may observe that the allusion to her name (already Nec poterat quemquam placidi pellacia ponti The remainder is easy. Horace says, that he himself had embarked on this apparently calm and tranquil sea, and that such a tempest had arisen, that he had hardly made his escape from the waves in which he was overwhelmed.* * In another of Horace's Odes (ii. 17), the critics seem to have missed Y SAMSON AGONISTES. Though this was, in all likelihood, the last composed of all Milton's poems, we place our notice of it here, as, on account of its being of so different a nature from the heroic poems, and so totally unconnected with them, it would have been incongruous to have treated of them together. Samson Agonistes was first published in 1671, along with Paradise Regained; which last poem, as we have seen, was finished in 1666. As it is probable that the mind of Milton could not remain in a state of inaction, we may suppose that it reverted to his former idea of composing dramas in the Greek manner, on sacred subjects; and that of Samson, though not included in the list which he had drawn up, may, from the resemblance of the fortunes of that hero to his own, have led to his giving it the preference to any of the fine subjects contained in that list, formed ere the clouds of misfortune had descended on his head. Would that he had devoted to them the time and labour wasted on now-neglected controversies! Samson was a hero raised up by Heaven to be a chief instrument in freeing his country from the yoke of the idolatrous Philistines; in his simplicity he united himself in marriage with a daughter of that race, and the consequence was his blindness, his captivity, and his living to find all his work undone, and Israel, from its own want of virtue and energy, still in bondage. Milton viewed himself also as raised up by Heaven to vindicate the the exact sense. Indeed one might almost fancy they took columen for columna. The figure is that Mæcenas and Horace formed an edifice, of which the former was the roof, without which the latter was of little worth. cause of religious, civil, and domestic liberty, against tyranny and superstition. In this cause he had long laboured with energy and with success, and in it he had lost his sight; he had lived to find all his work undone, civil and religious despotism once more triumphant, and the nation crouching beneath them, and himself in a state of what might be viewed as bondage, as he could not openly give utterance to his sentiments and feelings. He too had married unadvisedly one of the opposite party, and the ill-assorted union had embittered his life. In the character of Samson therefore he could give vent to his own feelings, and covertly reproach the people for their want of true virtue and energy; the dramatic form also enabled him to deplore the fate of the heroes of the Commonwealth. But the Grecian drama also offered him parallels in the noble-minded Prometheus, the victim of despotism, from his fruitless attempts to serve mankind, and in the unhappy Edipus, whom Fate had sunk in blindness and in misery. We may observe how he follows the course of these dramas. Thus, in that of Eschylus, Prometheus, when left to himself, soliloquizes on his unhappy condition; the Chorus then comes in, and joins him. Oceanus next appears, to advise and offer his aid for his liberation; when he is gone, Io arrives, and her narrative ensues; and then Hermes comes, sent by the despot who had caused him to be chained on the rock, requiring obedience from him, and meets with a resolute refusal. In Milton's drama Samson is led in, and is then left by himself, to soliloquize on his woes; a Chorus comes to console him; his father Manoah next arrives, and after some time departs, to try to effect his liberation; his wife, Dalila, and the giant Harapha then appear in succession; the first to excuse her treachery, the latter to insult him. They are succeeded by the herald sent by the Philistine lords, requiring him to come and make them sport, and who departs on having received a decided refusal. Here the parallelism with the Prometheus ceases; in what follows we may discern an agreement with the Edipus at Colonos. Edipus departs at a divine summons; and Theseus, who had been present at it, relates the catastrophe. In like manner Samson, feeling internally a divine summons, departs, and one who had witnessed his end appears, and narrates it. The visit of Polyneices to his blind father is a parallel to that of Dalila to her husband, whose misery she had caused. The opening lines of the Samson also have a resemblance to those of the Edipus. We have always regarded this as a noble poem, the swan-song of a mighty genius. In the eye of criticism, free from pedantry, its defects must, we should think, be hardly appreciable. Throughout it has the force and dignity of Æschylus, and at times it exhibits the majesty and sweetness of Sophocles. Had Milton flourished in ancient Attica, he had surely ranked with these mighty poets, milder and sweeter than the former, grander and more elevated than the latter. Yet Johnson says, after some pedantic criticism about the want of a Middle founded on the Aristotelian rules, "this is the tragedy which ignorance has admired and bigotry applauded!” As to the Middle, it certainly has it fully as much as the Prometheus, and as several others of the dramas of Greece; and, in fact, the criticism amounts to this, that Milton should not have chosen that subject, for no human genius could have made more of it than he has done. As Milton adhered closely to the ancient models in this |
