Ut mortem citius venire credas, Scito jam capitis periffe partem. Fall'n is thy hair, for woeful winter hoar Has ftol'n thy bloom, and beauty is no more; Thy temples mourn their fhady honours fhorn, Parch'd like the fallow, deftitute of corn. Fallacious gods! whofe bleffings can betray; What first ye give us, first ye take away. Thou, late exulting in thy golden hair, As bright as Phebus, or as Cynthia fair, Now view'it, alas! thy forehead smooth and plain As the round fungus, daughter of the rain; Smooth as the furface of well-polish'd brafs, And fly it with fear each laughter-loving lafs. Death haftes amain; thy wretched fate deplore; Fall'n is thy hair, and beauty is no more.

ODE XII.

Ver. 6. The poet very judiciously endeavours to terrify the swallow with the mention of Tereus, whofe palace, as the ancients have remarked, was carefully avoided by thefe birds. Pliny fays," Arx "Regum Thraciæ, a Terei nefafto crimine invifa "Hirundinibus." See alfo Solinus. From this paffage of Anacreon it fhould feem, that Philomela was changed into a swallow, and not Progne, as Ovid and others have afferted.

όμενος.

επέλθη

Agathias has also imitated it in an epigram, in the feventh book of the Anthologia. Πασαν εγω την vuxla κινυρομαι ευτε Όρθρος, ελιννύσαι μικρά χαριζομε Αμφιπεριτρυζεσι χελιδονίς" ες δε με δακρυ. Βάλλυσι, γλυκερον κώμα παρωσάμεναι. Ω φθονεραι παυσασθε λαλητρίδες" 8 γαρ εγωγε Την φιλομέλειαν γλώσσαν απεθρισαμην. Αλλ' ίτυλον κλαίοιτε κατ' έρεα, και γονοιτε

вся

Εις αίπος, κραναην αυλιν εφεζόμεναι,
Βαιον ίνα κνωσσοιμεν ίσως δε τις ήξει ονειρος
Ροδανθείοις πεχεσιν αμφίβαλοι.
All night I figh with cares of love oppreft,
And when the morn indulges balmy rest,
Thefe twitt'ring birds their noify mattins keep,
Recall my forrows, and prevent my fleep;
Ceafe envious birds, your plaintive tales to tell,
I ravish'd not the tongue of Philomel.
In deferts wild, or on fome mountain's brow,
Pay all the tributary grief you owe
To ltys, in an elegy of woe.

Me leave to fleep: in vifionary charms,
Some dream perhaps may bring Rodanthe to my

arms.

ODE XIII.

fage, and another in the eight ode

Intent on love, I ftrive to greet

The gamefome girls with kiffes fweet,
And, as on pleasure's brink I feem,
Wake, and, behold! 'tis all a dream.

undoubtedly furnished Horace with that beautiful fentiment in the first ode of the fourth book:

Nocturnis te ego fomniis

Jam captum teneo jam volucrem fequor
Te per gramina Martii
Campi, te per aquas, dure volubiles.

Which Mr. Pope has admirably imitated:

Thee drefs'd in fancy's airy beam,
Abfent I follow through th' extended dream;
Now, now I feize, I clafp thy charms,
And now you burft (ah cruel!) from my arms;
And fwiftly fhoot along the Mall,
Or foftly glide by the Canal,

Now thorn by Cynthia's filver ray,
And now on rolling waters fnatch'd away.

Argentarius imitates this paffage in an epigram, in the first book of the Anthologia, which begins,

Oggi, Ti mos Qikov & ævov apngtarusi ndu du

Πυρρής

Είδωλον κοιτης ᾤχετ' αποπταμενον. Invidious swallow, with thy horrid scream Why haft thou wak'd me from fo fweet a dream? Stunn'd by thy noise fair Pyrrha, like the wind, Flew from my arms, just yielding to be kind.

him her prieft, on condition that he fhould live chafte but he broke his vow, and as a punishment, the afflicted him with madnefs, in the tranfports of which he deprived himself of the diftinction of his fex, and would have killed himfelf, had not Cybele, moved with compaffion, transformed him into a pine-tree.

Ver. 5. Claros was a city of lonia near Colophon, rendered famous for a fountain confecrated to Apollo, who from thence was called Clarius. Tacitus gives an account of it in the second book of his Annals; where, speaking of Germanicus, he fays, "Apellitque Colophona, ut Clarii Apollinis " oraculo uteretur. Non femina illic, ut apud "Delphos; fed certis è familiis, & ferme Mileto "accerfitus facerdos, numerum modo confultan"tium & nomina audit: tum in fpecum degreffus, "haufâ fontis arcani aquâ, ignarus plerumque li"terarum & carminum, edit refponfa verfibus com"pofitis fuper rebus quas quis mente concepit.He landed at Colophon, to confult the oracle of Apollo at Claros. The perfon that delivers the oracles there, is not a woman, as at Delphos, but a man felected out of certain families, and frequently from Miletus. This priest only inquires the number and names of those that confult the deity.

After that, having entered his grotto, and drank of

the mysterious water, he answers the question of his inquirers in verse, though he is generally illiterate, and unacquainted with the mufes.

Ver. 6. The Greek is dappoggio, laurel-wearing Phoebus; because when Daphne escaped his purfuit by being changed into a laurel, he confecrated that tree to himself. Ovid Metamorph.

The fubje& of this ode is to fhow the irrefiftible nature of love. In this little piece, Anacreon discovers a wonderful delicacy of invention: Nothing can be imagined more entertaining than this combat, the preparation for it, the iffue of it, and that natural and admirable reflection with which it concludes.

Ver. 12. Anacreon arms himself with a fpear and fhicld, to contend with love. In an ancient epigram of the Anthologia, book 7. we have an account of a combatant, who put on the breaftplate of reafon, to withstand the attacks of this dangerous enemy.

Ωπλισμοί προς έρωτα περι περνεισι λογισμόν,
Ουδε με νικήσει, μένος των προς ένα.
Θέατος δ' αθανατω συνελεύσομαι' ην δε βοηθον
Βακχον έχη, το μόνος προς δυ' εγω δυναμαι;
With love I war, and reason is my field,
Nor ever, match'd thus equally, will yield:
If Bacchus joins his aid, too great the odds;
One mortal cannot conbat two fuch gods.

Μηκέτι τις πτήξειε Ποθς βελός" ιοδικήν γαρ
Τις με λάβρος Ερως εξεκένωσεν όλην.
No more let Cupid's shafts the world appal,
For in my bofom he has lodg'd them all.

Ver. 11. This thought is very beautiful and ingious. It is taken from an ancient piece of galhartry, which ought not to be passed over in filence. The heroes of antiquity, when in any doperate engagement they found their darts feat, their strength exhausted, and faw no profort of surviving long, would collect all their fprits and ftrength, and rush headlong with amazing impetuofity upon their enemies, that even in death the weight of their bodies, thus violently agitated, might bear down their adve faries. Examples of this kind of heroism are Gequent in Lucan. Book 3d, speaking of a brave

veteran :

Ver. 1. Gyges was the favourite of Candaules, king of Lydia, whofe queen was remarkably beautiful, and paffionately admired by her husband. In his vanity, he extolled her charms above meafure to Gyges, and, to convince him of her beauty, determined to fhow her to him naked; which he effected, but not without the queen's discovering that affront; who next morning fent privately for Gyges, and refolutely told him, he must either fuffer immediate death for what he had done, or difpatch Candaules, and take her and the kingdom of Lydia for his recompenfe. The choice was difficult, as he greatly valued his mafter: However, the love of life prevailed-he ftabbed Candaules, married the queen, and took poffeffion of the kingdom.

Ver. 8. There is an epigram in the second book of the Anthologia, that has the fame turn:

Πινε, και ευφραινε τι γαρ αυριον η τι το, μέλλον,
Ουδείς γινώσκει μη τρέχε, μη κοπια
Ως δυνασαι χαρισαι, μετάδος, φαγε, θνητα λου
જ ૪,

Το ζην τι μη ζην είδεν όλως απέχει.
Πας ὁ βιος τοιοσδε ξοπην μονον αν προλάβη τις.
Αν δε θανης, έτερο παντα, συ ' ક્રશ
exess.
Ceafe from thy cares and toils, be sweetly gay,
And drink-to-morrow is a diftant day :
Improve on time; to blifs each moment give;
Not to enjoy this life, is not to live:
Our goods are now our own, but when we die
They come to others, whilft in duft we lie,
And then, alas! have nothing to enjoy.

by Eteocles, the fon of Edipus and Jocafta, refufing his brother Polynices his share in the government, though they had previously agreed, after their father's death, to rule alternately year by year. Æfchylus wrote a tragedy on this fubject.

Ver. 3. Ovid has imitated this paffage-Amor. L. 2. Eleg. 18.

Vincor, et ingenium fumptis revocatur ab armis,
Refque domi geftas, et mea bella cano.
I'm conquer'd, and renounce the glorious ftrain
Of arms and war, to fing of love again :
My themes are acts which I myself have done,
And my mufe fings no battles but my own.

Ver. 9. Nonnus calls the eyes the archers of love, ακοντισηρές ερωτων: and there is fomething fimilar to this in an epigram of the Anthologia, book 7.-which, speaking of love, fays,

Ου με λελήθας,

Τοξοτα, Ζηνοφίλας ομμασι κρυπτομενός.
Infidious archer, not unfeen you lie,
Though ambush'd close in Zenephelia's eye.

ODE XVII.

This elegant ode is quoted by Gellius, who says it was fung and played upon inftruments at an entertainment where he was prefent.

Ver. 9. The poet alludes to the conftellations,

which Vulcan defcribed on the fhield of Achilles. See Homer's Iliad, book 18.

There fhone the image of the master-mind : There earth, there heav'n, there ocean, he defign'd;

Th' unweary'd fun, the moon completely round, The ftarry lights that heaven's high convex crown'd,

The Pleiads, Hyads, with the Northern Team,
And great Orion's more refulgent beam,
To which, around the axle of the sky,
The Bear revolving points his golden eye,
Still fhines exalted on th' ethereal plain,
Nor bathes his blazing forehead in the main.

Beauty without the graces may impart
Charms that will pleafe, not captivate the heart;
As fplendid baits without the bearded hook
Invite, not catch, the tenants of the brook.

Ver. 23. The poet defires that Apollo may not be defcribed upon his bowl, because he was fo unfortunate as to kill his favourite Hyacinthus, as he was playing with him at quoits.

ODE XIX.

Ver. r. 5. The original is, Пives Jaλarra davgás The fea drinks up the air." All the comnien tators are filent here, except Dr. Trapp, who owns he did not understand the expreffion Might I venture to make an easy alteration o the text, I would read, on Jadaoo' avaves;

The fea drinks up the rivers.' See Ode vi Δια δ' έξεων μ' αναυρων, ' Through rapid rivers, ο 'torrents.' It is likewife ufed in the fame fenf by the best authors. Mofchus, Idyllium 2. 31 See alfo Hoelzinus on Apollonius Rhodius, Book I. 9. complete.

This emendation makes the fenfe full and

Ver. 10. The moon is faid to drink up the fun, because she borrows her light from that lu minary.

ODE XX.

Ver. 4. Niobe was the daughter of Tantalus king of Phrygia, and wife of Amphion, king o Thebes, by whom, according to Homer, havin fix fons and fix daughters, fhe became fo proud o her offspring and high birth, that she had the va nity to prefer herself to Latona, the mother Apollo and Diana, who, to revenge the affro offered to their parent, in one day flew all h children; upon which Niobe was ftruck dun with grief, and remained ftupid. For that re fon, the poets have feigned her to be turned in a ftone. The ftory is told by Ovid in the fix book of the Metamorphofes; but perhaps bett by Pope, in his tranflation of the twenty-four book of the Iliad, where Achilles is introduc thus fpeaking to Priam:

Nor thou, O father! thus confum'd with wee,
The common cares that nourish life forego.
Not thus did Niobe, of form divine,
A parent once whose forrows equall'd thine;
Six youthful fons, as many blooming maids,
In one fad day beheld the Stygian fhades;
Thefe by Apollo's filver bow were flain,
Thofe Cynthia's arrows ftretch'd upon the pla
So was her pride chastiз'd by wrath divine,
Who match'd her own with bright Latona's li
But two the goddess, twelve the queen enjoy'd
Those boafted twelve the avenging two deftroy
Steep'd in their blood, and in the dust outspre
Nine days neglected lay expos'd the dead;
None by to weep them, to inhume them none
(For Jove had turn'd the nation all to stone)
The gods themselves, at length relenting, gave
Th' unhappy race the honours of a grave.
Herself a rock (for such was heaven's high wil
Through deferts wild now pours a weeping

ri

All defence to folly turns,.

Where, round the bed whence Acheloüs springs,
The watery fairies dance in mazy rings,
There high on Sipylus's fhaggy brow

She ftands, her own fad monument of woe;
The rock for ever lafts, the tears for ever flow.

Pope. There are two fhort epigrams in the Anthologia, which perhaps the reader will be glad to fee in English.

Ο τομέας έτος ενδον εκ εχεί νεκρον.

έτος εκτός εκ έχει τάφον.

Αλλά αυτές αυτό νεκρος έτι και ταφος.

This weeping tomb within no corse contains;
This weeping corfe without a tomb remains:
For, by a ftrange irrevocable doom,
This image is the carcafe and the tomb.

Τα ζωής με θεοι τευξαν λίθον εκ δε λίθοιο
Ζωης Πραξιτέλης εμπαλιν ειργασαίο.

I once was Niobe, and fill'd a throne,
Till fate fevere transform'd me into stone:
Behold the change which mimic art can give!
From frone Praxiteles has made me live.

I cannot conclude my notes on this ode witheet firft obferving, that this gallant original has been copied by feveral mafters. I fhall produce e example, because it is the fhorteft, which is pigram of Dionyfius the fophift.

Η ανεμος γίνομεν. συ δε γε τείχεσα παρ' αυγας,
Στη δια γυμνώσαις, και με πονεινία λαβοις.
Σε ρόλον γενόμην ὑποπορφυρον, όφρα με χερσιν
Αρεμένη, κομισεις σήθεσε χιονίοις.

When within the battle burns.

ODE XXII.

This ode is by Anacreon addressed to Bathyllus; but the tranflator has, with more decency and gallantry, applied it to a lady.

Ver. 10. The original is, Пnyn giura aulus, a Fountain rolling Perfuafion, than which nothing can be more delicate or poetical, as most of the commentators have obferved.

Longepierre quotes a beautiful epigram from the Aathologia, book 1. fimilar to this ode; where the god Pan is supposed to speak.

Ερχεο και κατ' εμαν ἔβευ πιτυν, & το μέλιχρον
Προς μαλακός έχει κεκλιμένα ζεφυρες.
Ηνι δε και κρόνισμα μελιςαγές, ενθα μελίσδων
Ηδυν κρεμαίοις ὕπνον αγω καλάμοις.

Reft here beneath my shady pine reclin'd,
Whofe tall top fweetly murmurs to the wind;
Here too a brook mellifluous flows along,
And woos me with its ever gurgling fong;
Here on my folitary pipe I play,
Or fweetly fleep the tranquil hours away.

ODE XXIII.

One cannot but be surprised at the wretched tafte of Faber, who has rejected this ode as fpurious, and not Anacreon's, when perhaps it is not inferior in beauty to the best of them; as Barnes and Trapp have amply proved by explaining a Greek idiom, with which it is fcarce worth while to trouble the English reader.

Ver. 3, 4. These words feem to allude to an anecdote in the history of Anacreon, which I fhall explain. Stobæus tell us, that Anacreon, having received a prefent of five talents of gold from Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, was fo embarraffed with cares and folicitudes about his treafure, that he could not fleep for two nights fucceffively: Whereupon he fent back the prefent, with this apology to his patron,That, however valuable the fum 'might be, it was not a fufficient price for the trouble and anxiety of keeping it."