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Not one king's wealth he thought them, nor of
ten,

Though greatest of the rulers over men:
The fun his fire this privilege affign'd, [kind;
To be in flocks and herds more rich than all man-
Thefe ftill increas'd; no plague e'er render'd vain
The gainful labour of the fhepherd fwain ;
Year following year his industry was bleft, [best.
More calves were rear'd, and fill the laft were
No cows e'er caft their young, or e'er declin'd,
The calves were chiefly of the female kind.
140
With these three hundred bulls, a comely fight,
Whofe horns were crooked, and whofe legs were
white;

And twice an hundred of bright gloffy red,
By whom the business of increase was sped:
But twelve, the flower of all, exulting run
In the green pastures, facred to the fun;
The ftately fwan was not fo filver white,
And in the meads they took ineffable delight:
Thefe, when gaunt lions from the mountain's
brow

Defcend terrific on the berds below,

150

Rush to the war, the favage foe they gore,
Their eyes look death, and horribly they roar.
But most majestic thefe bold bulls among
Stalk'd Phaeton, the sturdy and the strong;
So radiant, fo refulgent from afar,
The fhepherd-fwains compar'd him to a star.
When round the fhoulders of the chief he spy'd,
Alarming fight! the lion's tawny hide,
Full at his flank he aim'd his iron head,
And proudly doom'd the matchlefs hero dead: 160
But watchful Hercules, devoid of fear,
Seiz'd his left horn, and stopp'd his mad career;
Prone to the earth his flubborn neck he preft,
Then writh'd him round, and bruis'd his ample
cheft,

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210

Thus Phyleus spoke, and as the path grew wide,
He walk'd attentive by the hero's fide,
To hear diftin&t the toil-fuftaining man,
Who thus, obfequious to the prince, began:
"Son of Augéus, what of me you heard
"Is ftrictly true, nor has the stranger err'd.
"But fince you wish to know, my tongue fhall
"tell,
[feil,
"From whence the monster came, and how he
Though many Greeks have mention'd this affair
"None can the truth with certainty declare.
"'Tis thought fome god,by vengeful angersway'd,
"Sent this fore plague for facrifice unpaid,
"To punish the Phoroneans: like a flood
"He delug'd the Pifæan fields with blood:
"The Bembinaans, miferable men,
"Felt his chief rage, the neighbours to his den.
"The hardy task, this hideous beast to kill,

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Eurytheus first enjoin'd me to fulfil,

"But hop'd me flain: on the bold conflict bent.
"Arm'd to the field with bow and darts I went,
“A folid club, of rude wild olive made,

At one bold push exerted all his ftrength,
And high in air upheld him at arm's length.
Through all the wondering train amazement ran,
Silent they gaz'd, and thought him more than man.
Phyleus and Hercules (the day far spent)
Left the rich paftures, and to Elis went :
The footpath first, which tow'rd the city lay,
Led from the ftalls, but narrow was the way:
Through vineyards next it past, and gloomy glades," Then circumfpect I pry'd with curious eye,

Rough in his rugged rind my right hand sway'd:
"On Helicon's fair hill the tree I found,
"Aud with the roots I wrench'd it from the
ground.

170

Hard to diftinguish in the greenwood fhades.
The devious way as noble Phyleus led,
To his right shoulder he inclin'd his head,
And flowly marching through the verdant grove,
Thus mild bespoke the progeny of Jove :

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By your last bold atchievement it appears, Great chief, your fame long fince has reach'd 'my ears, 180

For here arriv'd a youthful Argive swain,
From Helice that borders on the main,

Who for a truth among th' Epëans told,
That late he faw a Grecian, brave and bold,
Slay a fell lion, fell to husbandmen,
That in the Nemean forest made his den:

• Whether the chief from facred Argos came,
Or proud Mycené, or Tirynthé claim
His birth, I heard not yet he trac'd his line,
If true my tale, from Perfeus the divine.

199

"When the clofe covert I approach'd, where lay "The lordly lion lurking for his prey, 230 "I bent my bow, firm fix'd the string, and strait "Notch'd on the nerve the meffenger of fate :

"First, unobferv'd, the ravenous beaft to spy.
"Now mid-day reign'd; I neither could explore
"His paw's broad print, nor hear his hideous roar;
"Nor labouring ruftic find, nor fhepherd fwain,
"Nor cowherd tending cattle on the plain,
"To point the lion's lair: fear chill'd them all,
"And kept the herds and herdfmen in the stall. 240
"I fearch'd the groves and faw my foe at length;
"Then was the moment to exert my ftrength.
"Long ere dim evening clos'd, he fought his dep,
"Gorg'd with the flesh of cattle and of men :
"With flaughter ftain'd his fqualid mane ap-
" pear'd,
[fmear'd,

"Stern was his face, his cheft with blood be-
"And with his pliant tongue he lick'd his gory

"beard.

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"Fall at his flank I fent a fhaft, in vain, 250 The harmless shaft rebounded on the plain. Stunn'd at the fhock, from earth the favage "rais'd

His tawny head, and all around him gaz'd: Wondering from whence the feather'd ven"geance flew,

" He gnash'd his horrid teeth, tremendous to the
"view.

"Ver'd that the first had unavailing fled,
"A fecond arrow from the nerve I sped:
"In his broad cheft, the mansion of his heart,
"I launch'd the shaft with ineffectual art;
"His hair, his hide the feather'd death repel;
"Before his feet it innocently fell.
"Enrag'd, once more, I try'd my bow to draw,
"Then first his foe the furious monfter faw:
"He lath'd his sturdy fides with fern delight,
"And ring in his rage prepar'd for fight.

261

"So hard his fkull, that with the sturdy ftroke,
"My knotted club of rough wild-olive broke:
"Yet ere I clos'd, his favage fury fled,
"With trembling legs he ftood, and nodding
"head;

"The forceful onfet had confus'd his brain,
"Dim mifts obfcur'd his eyes, and agonizing pain.
"This! perceiv'd; and now, an easy prey,
"I threw my arrows and my bow away,
"And ere the beaft recover'd of his wound, 290
"Seiz'd his thick neck, and pinn'd him to the
ground;

66

"With all my might on his broad back I preft,
"Left his fell claws fhould tear my adverse breaft;
"Then mounting, clofe my legs in his I twin'd,
"And with my feet fecur'd his paws behind;
"My thigs I guarded and with all my ftrength
"Heav'd him from earth, and held him at arms
"length,

"And ftrangled thus the felleft of the fell;
"His mighty foul descending funk to hell.
"The conqueft gain'd, fresh doubts my mind
❝ divide,

300
How fhall I ftrip the monster's fhaggy hide?
"Hard task! for the tough fkin repell'd the

With inftant ire his main erected grew, "His hair look'd horrid, of a brindled hue; "Circling his back, he feem'd in act to bound, "And like a bow he bent his body round: "As when the fig-tree skilful wheelers take, 270" For rolling chariots rapid wheels to make; * The fellies first, in fires that gently glow, "Gradual they heat, and like a circle bow; "Awhile in curves the pliant timber stands, Then (prings at once elastic from their hands. "On me thus from afar, his foe to wound,

Sprung the fell lion with impetuous bound. "My left hand held my darts direct before, "Arcand my breast a thick ftrong garb I wore ; "My right, club guarded, dealt a deadly blow 288 * Full on the temples of the rushing foe:

"dint

"Of pointed wood, keen fteel, or sharpest flint : "Some god infpir'd me, ftanding still in pause, "To flay the lion with the lion's claws. "This I accomplish'd, and the fpoil now yields "A firm fecurity in fighting fields: "Thus, Phyleus, was the Nemean monster slain, "The terror of the foreft and the plain, "That flocks and herds devour'd, and many a 1 village fwain." 310

66

NOTES ON IDYLLIUM XXV.

Though this noble Idyllium is by far the longest of any that Theocritus has left us, containing, exdave of the beginning which is loft, no less than 181 verfes, yet the commentators, Scaliger, Cafaubon, and D. Heinfius, have not left us one fingle emendation or note upon it: and therefore I fhall trouble the reader with but few obfervations: yet thefe gray old critics have been lavish of their remarks upon the 27th Idyllium, infinitely the moft obscene of all the pieces that have been at tributed to Theocritus. One remark is very obvious, that the first part of this Idyllium, as far as ver. 178 in the tranflation, is entirely paftoral and becolic; containing beautiful deferiptions of mea-694." Alpheum fama eft,' &c. dows, paftures hilis, vales, rivers, fhepherds, herdfmen, and their ftalls and dogs, flocks and herds innumerable: the fecond part is an account of a famous exploit performed by Hercules, and therefore the whole must surely belong to the Arcadian poetry.

and four fquare; nothing but the head was finish.
ed; thus Juvenal, Sat. 8. 53.

-Truncoque fimillimus Hermæ.
Nullo quippe alio vincis difcrimine, quam quod
Illi marmoreum caput eft, tua vivit imago.
Ver 13. A river near Elis.

Ver. 6. The ancients erected ftatues to Mercury in the public roads, as guides to travellers, which they called Herme; they were of marble

Ver. 14. A famous river of Arcadia near Elis, which the ancients feigned to have funk under ground, and so paffed through the sea, without mixing its ftreams with the falt waters, till arriv ing at Sicily, it mingled its current with the fountain Arethufa near Syracufe. Thus Virgil, Æn. 3.

Hither 'tis faid Alpheus from his fource
In Elis' realms, directs his watery courie:
Beneath the main he takes his fecret way,
And mounts with Arethula up to day.
Ver. 15. A city and country of chaia near
Elis, from Buprafius its founder.

Thafe where fair Elis and Buprafium join.

Pitt

Pope's 11. B. 2 Kj

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Dis equidem aufpicibus reor, et Junone fecundâ, Huc curfum Iliacas vento tenuiffe carinas. En. 4.

Ver. 81. Here Theocritus imitates Homer; fee Odyf. B. 14. 20.

Soon as Ulyffes near th' enclofure drew, With open mouths the furious maftiffs flew. Pope. On which Mr. Pope obferves, What Homer fpeaks of Ulyffes, Theocritus applies to Hercules; a demonftration that he thought it to be a picture of nature, and therefore inferted it in that heroic Idyllium.'

Ver. 88. Thus alfo Eumæus did,

With fhow'rs of ftones he drives them far away, The fcattering dogs around at distance bay. Pope. Ver. 100. Thus the herds in Virgil return home in the evening,

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Vefper ubi e paftu vitulos ad tecta reducit.

Till black as night the fwelling tempest shows The clouds condenfing as the weft-wind blows. Pope.

Ver. 122. Thus Virgil fays in regard to the management of bulls,

Aut intus claufos fatura ad præfepia fervant.

Ver. 126. Thus Virgil,

-Ibat rex obfitus ævo;

Geor. 3. 214.

Et comitem Æneam juxta natumque tenebat. B. S. Ver. 133. We may here obferve, that Theocritus makes the great increase of the herds of Augéas, to arife from the gift and influence of the fun, his father.

Ver. 140. This circumftance muft occafion a prodigious propagation: thus exceedingly increas ed the cattle of Jacob. Genefis xxx. 30-43." Thy cattle is now increafed to a multitude: and the man increafed exceedingly, and had much cattle." And chap. xxxi. 38. Jacob fays, "Thefe twenty years have 1 been with thee; thy ewes and thy fhe-goats have not caft their young."

Ver. 149. The Greek word is ges, and in this place properly fignifies lions, as it does alfo in the Iliad, B. 15. ver. 586.; and the bull Phacton's be ing alarmed at fecing the fkin of the Nemean lion, ver. 158. feems in a very agreeable manner to determine this contruction.

Ver. 182. Was once a city of Achaia, three quarters of a league from Corinth, but swallowed up by the fea.

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Geor. 4.433. At fi tantus amor cafus cognofcere noftros.

When evening homewards drives the calves and fheep, Warton

Ver. 105. This Gaile finely reprefents the unnumbered herds of Augéas, and is very like a paffige in Homer's Il. B. 4. which I fhall beg leave to tranfcribe.

In one firm orb the bands were rang'd around,
A-cloud of heroes blacken'd all the ground.
Thus from a lofty promontory's brow,
A fwain furveys the gathering form below;
Slow from the main the heavy vapours rife,
Spread in dim ftreams, and fail along the skies,

En. B. 2. 10.

Ver. 217. Inhabitants of a city in Argos: Pho reneus, the fon of Inachus, fucceeded his father, enlarged his territories, and gathered the people, who were before difperfed about the country into one city, which was called from him Phoronium. Univerfal Hift. B. 1. Cb. 16.

Virgil compares Pyrrhus to a flood. Æn. 2. 496. Not halffo fierce the foamy deluge bounds, And bursts refillefs o'er the levell'd mounds; Pours down the vale, and roaring o'er the plain, Sweeps herds and hinds, and houfes to the main.

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Ver. 242.

-Ut duros mille labores Reges fub Eurytheo, fatis Junonis iniquæ, Pertulerit. a. B. 8. 291. The thousand labours of the hero's hands, Enjoin'd by proud Euryftheus' ftern commands.

Ver. 224 Virgil fays of Hercules:
--Raput armo manu, nodisque gravatum
Rubor.
En. B. 8. 220.

Ver. 232. Thus Pandarus in Homer, Il. 4.
-Couching low,

Fits the fharp arrow to the well-ftrung bow.
Pope.

Ver. 237. Ovid fpeaking of the Calydonian boar, fays,

Diffugiunt populi; nec fe, nifi mænibus urbis,
Elle putant tutos.
Met. B. 8. 298.
Ver. 256. Thus Hector is vexed, that his lance
did not penetrate the armour of Ajax, II. B. 14.
Then back the disappointed Trojan drew,
And curs'd the lance that unavailing flew.

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Pope. Ver. 164. There is an image in Virgil very fimilar to this; B. 12. v. 6. " Tum demum," &c. As, pierc'd at diftance by the hunter's dart, The Libyan lion roufes at the fmart; And loudly roaring traverses the plain; Scourges his fides; and rears his horrid mane; Tugs furious at the spear; the foe defies, And grinds his teeth for rage, and to the combat flies.

Pitt.

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IDYLLIUM XXVI.

BACCHE.

THE ARGUMENT.

Tais Idyllium contains a fhort account of the death of Pentheus, king of Thebes; who refusing to ewn the divinity of Bacchus, and endeavouring to prohibit his orgies, is torn in pieces by his own mother Agave, and by his aunts Ino and Autonoë.

AUTONOR, and Agavé, whofe rough cheeks
Refembled the ripe apple's ruddy ftreaks,
With frantic Ino had refolv'd to keep
Three holy revels on the mountain's steep:
Green ivy, and sweet afphodel they took,
And leafy branches from the fhagged oak,
With these the madding Bacchanalians made
Twelve verdant altars in an opening glade;
Three to fair Semele they rais'd, and nine
To youthful Bacchus, jolly god of wine.
From chefts they take, and joyful fhouting, lay
Their offerings on the fresh erected ípray;
Such rites they practis'd, and fuch offerings
brought,

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As pleas'd the god, and what himself had taught.

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Lodg'd in a lentisk-tree, conceal'd from fight,
Aftonish'd Pentheus faw the mystic rite;
Autonoë first the latent monarch spy'd,
With horrid yellings down the hill she hy'd,
The orgies of the frantic god o'erthrew,
Which no profane, unhallow'd eye muft view. 20
Maddening fhe rag'd, the reft ali rag'd: and dread
Supplied with pinions Pentheus as he fled;
He hop'd by flight their fury to elude:
With robes tuck'd up they eagerly purfu'd:
Then Pentheus thus: "What means this rage?
"forbear;"

Autonoë thus: You'll feel before you hear.'
His mother roar'd, and fnatch'd his head away,
Loud as the female lion o'er her prey:

Ino, her foot upon his breaft difplay'd,
Wrench'd off his fhoulder, and the fhoulder blade;
Autonoë steep'd her hands in royal gore; 31
And all the monarch limb from limb they tore :
Thus drench'd in blood the Theban towers they
fought,

And grief, not Pentheus, from the mountain brought.

Be warn'd; let none the jolly god offend,
Left forer penalties the wretch attend;
Let none behold his rites with eyes impure;
Age is not fafe, nor blooming youth fecure.

For me, the works of righteousness I love,
And may I grateful to the righteous prove! 40
For this is pleafing to almighty Jove.
The pious bleffings on their fons derive;
But can the children of the impious thrive?
Hail Bacchus, whom the ruler of the sky,
Great Jove, enclos'd, and foster'd in his thigh!
Hail, with thy fifters, Semele renown'd!
Offspring of Cadmus, with bright praises crown'd,
In hymns of heroines : let none defame
This act from Bacchus the incentive came :
'Tis not for man the deeds of deities to blame.

:

NOTES ON IDYLLIUM XXVI.

Mr. Warton obferves, "That Euripides, in his Bacchantes, has given a very fine defcription of the Bacchanalian women tearing Pentheus in pieces, for fecretly infpecting their myfteries, which is worked up with the greatest fire, and the trueft poetical enthufiafm. Theocritus has likewife nobly defcribed this event.

Ver. 1. These were all fifters and the daughters of Cadmus and Harmonia.

Ver. 5. Anacreon, Epig. 4. defcribes three Bacchæ, and ivy is one of their oblations to Bac

chus:

First Heliconias with a thyrfus past,
Xanthippe next, and Glauca was the laft;
Lo dancing down the mountains they repair,
And grateful gifts to jolly Bacchus bear;
Wreaths of the rustling ivy for his head,
With grapes delicious, and a kid well fed. F. F.
Ver. 8. Thus Virgil, Ecl. 5.

En quatuor aras :

Ecce duas tibi, Daphni, quoque altaria Phœbo.

Ver. 15. The flory of Pentheus is told by Ovid in the Metara. B. 3. in a manner fomething different, which I shall give in Mr. Addifon's tranflation.

Here the rash Pentheus, with unhallow'd eyes,
The howling dames and mystic orgies fpies.
His mother fternly view'd him where he stood,
And kindled into madness as the view'd:
Her leafy javelin at her fon fhe cast,

And cries, "The boar that lays our country "waste!

"The boar, my fifters! aim the fatal dart, "And ftrike the brindled monster to the heart." Pentheus aftonish'd heard the difmal found, And fees the yelling matrons gathering round, He fees, and weeps at his approaching fate, And begs for mercy, and repents too late.

"Help! help my aunt Autonoë, he cry'd;
"Remember how your own Actæon dy'd.”
Deaf to his cries, the frantic matron crops
One ftretch'd-out arm, the other Ino lops.
In vain does Pentheus to his mother sue,
And the raw bleeding stumps prefents to view:
His mother howl'd, and heedlefs of his prayer,
Her trembling hand the twisted in his hair,
"And this, the cry'd, fhall be Agavé's fhare,'
When from the neck his ftruggling head the tore,
And in her hands the ghastly vifage bore.
With pleasure all the hideous trunk furvey;
Then pull'd and tore the mangled limbs away,
As starting in the pangs of death it lay.
Soon as the wood its leafy honours cafts,
Blown off and scatter'd by autumnal blafts,
With fuch a fudden death lay Pentheus flain,
And in a thousand pieces ftrew'd the plain.

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Ver. 34. There is great beauty in the original. Εξ οριος πένθημα, και ο Πένθησε, φέρουσαι, which, arifing from the fimilarity of the words and Пvena, cannot be kept up in the translation. Ver 45. Ovid mentions the fame thing, Met B. 3. 310.

Imperfectus adhuc infans genetricis ab alvo Eripitur, patrioque tener (fi credere dignum) Infuitur femori, maternaque tempora complet. Ver. 46. She was the mother of Bacchus, and fifter to Ino, Agavé, and Autonoë.

Ver. 50. There is a fimilar thought in Bion, Idyl. 6.

Κρίνειν εκ επτοικεβιηΐα έργα βρίζοισι.

It ill becomes frail mortals to define

What's beft and fitteft of the works divine. F. F.

IDYLLIUM XXVII.,

Is by the commentators generally attributed to Mofchus, and therefore I may well be excufed from tranflating it as the work of Theocritus, Were that not the cafe, it is of fuch a nature that it can as

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