Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub
[blocks in formation]

· μεμυκε δε γαια και ύλη, &ς. Loud groans the earth, and all the forefts roar.

I cannot leave this head, without injuftice to the Roman poet, before I take notice of the manner in which he uses that fuperftitious precept wiertas dižekiadas, &c. what in the Greek is languid, is by him made brilliant:

-quictum fuge: pallidus Orcus, Eumenidefque fate: tum partu, terra, nefando, Cumq. Japetumq. creat, favumq. Typhæum, Et conjuratos cœlum refcindere fratres: Ter funt conati, &c.

the fifths be sure to shun,

That gave the furies, and pale Pluto, birth,
And arm'd again the skies the fons of earth;
With mountains pil'd on mountains thrice they

ftrove

To fcale the steepy battlements of Jove;
And thrice his lightning, and red thunder play'd,
And their demolish'd works in ruin lay'd.

DRYDEN.

As I have thowed where the Roman has fɔllowed the Greek, I may be thought partial to my author, if I do not fhow in what he has excelled him: and first, he has contributed to the Georgic meft of the subjects in his two laft books; as, in the third, the management of horfes, dogs, &c. and, in the fourth, the management of the bees. His figle, through the whole, is more poetical; more abounding with epithets, which are often of themfeires most beautiful metaphors. His invocation on the deities concerned in rural affairs, his addrefs to Auguftus, his account of the prodigies before the death of Julius Cæfar, in the first book, his praife of a country life, at the end of the fe cond, and the force of love in beafts, in the third, are what were never excelled, and some parts of them never equalled, in any language.

Allowing all the beauties in the Georgic, thefe two poems interfere in the merit of each other fo Ettle, that the Works and Days may be read with as much pleasure as if the Georgic had never been written. This leads me into an examination of

part of Mr. Addifon's Effay on the Georgic; in which that great writer, in fome places, seems to fpeak fo much at vesture, that I am afraid he did not remember enough of the two poems to enter on fuch a task. Precepts, fays he, of morality, be. fides the natural corruption of our tempers which makes us averfe to them, are so abstracted from ideas of fenfe, that they feldom give an opportunity for thofe beautiful defcriptions and images which are the spirit and life of poetry. Had he that part of Heliod in his eye, where he mentions

the temporal bleflings of the righteous, and the punishment of the wicked, he would have feen that our poet took an opportunity, from his precepts of morality, to give us thofe beautiful defcriptions and images which are the spirit and life of poetry. How lovely is the flourishing ftate of the land of the just there described, the increase of his flocks, and his own progeny! The reason which Mr. Addifon gives against rules of morality in verfe is to me a reafon for them; for if our tempers are naturally fo corrupt as to make us averfe to them, we ought to try all the ways which we can to reconcile them, and verfe among the reft; in which, as I have obferved before, our poet has wonderfully fucceeded.

The fame author, fpeaking of Hefiod, fays, the precepts he has given us are fown fo very thick, that they clog the poem too much. The poet, to prevent this, quite through his Works and Days, has flayed fo fhort a while on every head, that it is impoffible to grow tiresome in either; the divifion of the work I have given at the beginning of this view, therefore, fhall not repeat it. Agriculture is but one fubject, in many, of the work, and the reader is there relieved with feveral rural

defcriptions, as of the northwind, autumn, the country repaft in the fhades, &c. The rules for navigation are dispatched with the utmost brevity, in which the digreffion, concerning his victory at the funeral games of Amphidamas, is natural, and gives a grace to the poem.

I fhall mention but one overfight more which Mr. Addifon has made, in his Effay, and conclude this head: when he condemned that circumftance of the virgin being at home in the winter feason, free from the inclemency of the weather, I believe he had forgot that his own author had used almost the fame image, and on almost the same occasion, though in other words:

Nec nocturna quidem carpentes penfa puellæ

Nefcivere hyemem, &c.

GEORG. I

The difference of the manner in which the two

poets ufe the image is this. Hefied makes her with her mother at home, either bathing, or doing what most pleases her; and Virgil fays, as the young women are plying their evening tasks, they are fenfible of the winter feafon, from the oil fparkling in the lamp, and the fnuff hardening. How properly it is introduced by our poet I have fhowed in my note to the paffage.

The only apology I can make for the liberty I have taken with the writings of fo fine an author as Mr. Addison, is, that I thought it a part of my duty to our poet, to endeavour to free the reader from fuch errors as he might poflibly imbibe, when delivered under the fanction of fo great a

name.

Sect. 5. Of the fourth Eclogue of Virgil.

I must not end this view without fome observa

tions on the fourth Eclogue of Virgil, fince Probus, Grævius, Fabricius, and other men of great learning, have thought fit to apply what has there

been generally faid to allude to the Cumœan sybil to our poet:

Ultima Cumai venit jam carminis ætas. This line, say they, has an allufion to the golden age of Hefiod; Virgil therefore is fuppofed to fay, the laft age of the Cumaan poet now approaches. By laft, he means the most remote from his time; which Fabricius explains by antiquiffima, and quotes an expreffion from Cornelius Severus, in which he ufesthe word in the faine fenfe, ultima certamina for antiquiffima certamina. The only method by which we can add any weight to this reading, is by comparing the Eclogue of Virgil with fome fimilar paffages in Heliod. To begin, let us therefore read the line before quoted with the two following:

Ultima Cumai venit jam carmina etas;

Magnus ab integro faclorum nafcitur ordo;
Jam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna.
Which will bear this paraphrafe. The remoteft
age mentioned in the verfe of the Cumaan poet
now approaches; the great order, or round, of
ages, as defcribed in the faid poet, revolves; now
returns the virgin Juftice, which, in his iron age,
he tells us, left the earth; and now the reign of
Saturn, which is defcribed in his golden age, is
come again. If we turn to the golden and iron
ages, in the Works and Days, we fhall find this
allufion very natural.

Here we see several natural allufions to our poet, whence it is not unreafonable, for fuch as mistake the country of Hefiod, to imagine, that all Virgil would fay to compliment Pollio, on the birth of his fon, is, that now fuch a fon is born, the golden age, as defcribed by Heliod, fhall return; and granting the word cumai to carry this fenfe with it, there is nothing of a prophecy mentioned, or hinted at, in the whole eclogue, any more than Virgil's own, by poetical license.

A learned prelate of our own church afferts fomething fo very extraordinary on this head, that I cannot avoid quoting it, and making fome few remarks upon it: his words are these, " Virgil "could not have Hefiod in his eye in fpeaking of "the four ages of the world, because Hefiod makes "five ages before the commencement of the

[ocr errors]

golden." And foon after, continues he, "the "predictions in the prophet (meaning Daniel) of "four fucceffive empires, that should arife in dif"ferent ages of the world, gave occafion to the "poets, who had the knowledge of these things

[ocr errors]

only by report, to apply them to the state of "the world in fo many ages, and to defcribe the "renovation of the golden age in the expreflions "of the prophet concerning the future age of the "Meffiah, which in Daniel is the fifth kingdom." Bp. Chandler towards the conclufion of his Vindication of his Defence of Christianity. What this learned parade was introduced for, I am at a lofs to conceive! First, In that beautiful eclogue, Virgil fpeaks not of the four ages of the world. compli-Secondly, Hefiod, fo far from making five ages before the commencement of the golden, makes the golden age the firft. Thirdly, Hefiod could not be one of the poets who applied the predictions in the prophet Daniel to the ftate of the world in fo many ages, becaufe he happened to live fome hundred years before the time of Daniel.

Let us proceed in our connection, and comparifon, of the verfes. Virgil goes on in his ment to Pollio on his new-born fon :

Ille deum vitam accipiet.

He fhall receive, or lead, the life of gods, as the fame poet tells us they did in the reign of Saturn.

Ως το θεοι δ' εζωον
Νόσφιν στις τε πονών..

This great objection to their interpretation of cumai ftill remains, which cannot very easily be

They liv'd like gods, and entirely without labour. conquered, that Cuma was not the country of He

-feret omnia tellus;

Non raftros patietur humus, non vinea falcem : Robuftus quoque jam tauris juga folvet arator. The earth fhall bear all things; there fhall be no occafion for inftruments of husbandry, to rake the ground, or prune the vine; the flurdy ploughman Thall unyoke his oxen, and live in eafe; as they did in the reign of Saturn, as we are told by the fame Cumean poet.

καρπον έφερε ζείδωρος αρουρα Αυτοματη, πολλον τε και αφθογον,

The fertile earth bore its fruit fpontaneously, and
Sn abundance.

fiod, as I have proved in my Difcourfe on the life of our poet, but of his father; and, what will be a ftrong argument against it, all the ancient poets, who have used an epithet taken from his country, have chofe that of Aferous. Ovid, who mentions him as often as any poet, never ufes any other; and, what is the moft remarkable, Virgil himself makes ufe of it in every paffage in which he names him; and thofe monuments of him, exhibited by Urfinus and Boiffard, have this infcription:

ΙΣΙΟΔΟΣ
ΔΙΟΥ
ΑΣΚΡΑΙΟΣ.

Afcræan Hefiod, the fon of Diss.

INDEX TO THE WORKS AND DAYS.

A.

ADDISON, his effay on the Georgic examined.
View of the Works and Days, fect. 4.

The equinox, vernal, and autumn, book ii. note
to the 137th verse.

Ages, book i. ver. 156.

The golden age, book i. ver. 156.
The filver age, book i. ver. 182.
The brafen age, book i. ver. 202.

The age of heroes, book i. ver. 210, and note.
The iron age, book i. ver. 234.
The ant, book iii. ver. 18, and note,
Afcra, book ii. ver. 339, and note.
Augury, book iii. ver. 54, and note.
Autumn, a fhort defcription, book ii. ver. 48.

B.

Byblian wine, book ii. ver. 284.

C.

Chastity in love, and inducements to it, book i.
ver. 504-

Crane, and figns from her, book ii. ver. 92, and
note to ver. 94.

Chandler (Bishop) on the ages mentioned in Hefiod,
&c. examined. View of the Works, &c. fect. 5.
D.

Days, lucky and unlucky. All book iii., and the
notes, and the table of the ancient Greek month,
at the end of the 3d book.

Dew, book ii. ver. 233, and note.
Anpes, &c. A criticism on the paffage, book i.

[blocks in formation]

Judges (corrupt), book i. ver. 57. and 290.
Incorrupt, and the confequences attending them,
book i. ver. 298.

Juftice, book i. ver. 336, and 370.·

L.

Liberality, book i. ver. 456, 480, 496, and note te
ver. 470.

M.

Marriage, book ii. ver. 417, and 486, and note to

ver. 419.

M12.129. See sx pidav, under the letter E.
Month (the ancient Greek), obfervations on it,
and a table of it, following the 3d book.
Mortar, book ii. ver. 60, and note.

N.

Navigation of the ancient Greeks, book ii. from
ver. 316 to 416, and note to ver. 316.
Neighbours, book i. ver. 460.
North-wind, a defcription, book ii. ver, 177.

O.

Offerings to the gods, book i. ver. 444, and note
to ver. 448. Book ii. ver. 474, and note.
Orion, book ii. ver. 302. His fable, note to ver. I.

P.

Pandora, the fable of her, book i. ver. 63. An ex--
planation of it in the notes.

Pleiades, book ii. ver. I, and notes to verses I.
and 8.

Plough, book ii. ver. 62. The αυτογυον and wNx-
so, ver. 76, and note. The View of the Works
and Days, fect. 4.
Pluto, book ii. ver. 114. A criticism on the paf-
fage in the note.

Polypus, book ii. ver. 203, and note.
Proverbial fayings, what construction to be made.
of them. The View of the Works and Days,
fe&t 2.

Prune the vines (when to), book ii. ver. 250.
R.

Righteous, their felicity, book i. ver. 304, 372,
and 379.

Rudder, the fenfe in which the word is ufed, book
i. ver. 67, and note.
S.

Sloth, the effects of it, book i. ver. 400.

Habit of the ancient Greeks, book ii. ver. 215, and Solitice, winter and fummer, book fi. note to ver.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

137, and to ver. 250.

Spirits (aërial), observers of human actions, book
i. ver. 172, 294, 328, and note to ver. 173.
Superftitious precepts, book ii. from ver. 480 te
531.

T.

Threshing the corn, the feafon, book ii. ver. 286.

Industry, the effects of it, book i. ver. 404, and | Tools of husbandry, book ii. ver. 60, and notes to
486.

Jove, his power, book i. ver. 1, and 350.

Iges of the bleffed, book i. ver. 226, and note to
TC. 230.

verfes 60 and 76.

Tripod, book ii. ver. 365, and note.

The tropic, or follice, winter and fummer, book
ii. notes to veríes 137 and 250

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

THE THEOGONY;

OR, THE GENERATION OF THE GODS.

MY LORD,

To the Moft Honourable,

GEORGE MARQUIS OF ANNANDALE *.

THE reverence I bear to the memory of your late grandfather, with whom I had the honour to be particularly acquainted, and the obligations I have received from the incomparable lady your mother, would make it a duty in me to continue my regard to their heir; but stronger than thofe are the mo. tives of this addrefs; fince I have had the happinefs to know you, which has been as long as you have been capable of diftinguishing perfons, I have often difcovered fomething in you that furpaffes your years, and which gives fair promifes of an early great man; this has converted what would otherwise be but gratitude to them to a real efteem for yourself. Proceed, my Lord, to make glad the heart of an indulgent mother with your daily progrefs in learning, wildom, and virtue. Your friends, in their different spheres, are all folicitous to form you; and among them, permit me to offer my tribute, which may be no fmall means to the bringing you more readily to an understanding of the claffics: for on the theology of the moft ancient Greeks, which is the subject of the following

* Lord George Jobnfton, when this was first publifbed in the year 1728.

[ocr errors]

poem, much of fucceeding authors depends. Few are the writers, either Greek or Roman, who have not made ufe of the fables of antiquity; hiftorians have frequent allufions to them; and they are fometimes the very foul of poetry: for these reafons let me admonish you to become foon familiar with Homer and Hefiod, by translations of them: you will perceive the advantage in your future ftudies; nor will you repent of it when you read the great originals. I have, in my notes, fpared no pains to let you into the nature of the Theogony, and to explain the allegories to you; and, indeed, I have been more elaborate for your fake than I fhould otherwife have been. While I am paying my refpe&t to your Lordship, I would net be thought forgetful of your brother, directing what I have here faid, at the fame time, to him. Go on, my Lord, to answer the great expectations which your friends have from you; and be your chief ambition to deferve the praife of all wife and good men 1 am, my Lord, with the greatest respect, and most sincere affection, your most obedient and moft humble fervant, THOMAS COOKE.

THE ARGUMENT.

AFTER the propofition and invocation, the poet begins the generation of the gods. This poem, befides the genealogy of the deities and heroes, contains the ftory of Heaven, and the confpiracy of his wife and fons against him, the ftory of Styx and her offsprings, of Saturn and his fons, and of Prometheus and Pandora: hence the poet proceeds to relate the war of the gods, which is the fubject of above three hundred verfes. The reader is often relieved, from the narrative part of the Theogony, with several beautiful descriptions, and other poetical embellishments.

BEGIN my fong, with the melodious nine
Of Helicon, the fpacious and divine:
The mufes there, a lovely choir advance,
With tender feet to form the skilful dance,

Now round the fable font in order move, Now round the altar of Saturnian Jove; Or if the cooling ftreams to bathe invite, In thee, Permellus, they awhile delight

10

Or now to Hippoerene refort the fair,
Or Olmius to thy facred fpring repair.
Veil'd in thick air, they all the night prolong,
In praise of Ægis-bearing Jove the song :
And thou, O Argive Juno! golden fhod,
Art join'd in praifes with thy confort god:
Thee, goddess, with the azure eyes, they fing,
Minerva, daughter of the heav'nly king;
The üfters to Apollo tune their voice,
And Artemis, to thee whom darts rejoice;
And Neptune in the pious hymn they found,
Who girts the earth, and shakes the folid ground:
A tribute they to Themis chaite allow,
And Venus charming with the bending brow,
Nor Hebe, crown'd with gold, forget to praife,
Nor fair Dione, in their holy lays;

21

31

Nor thou, Aurora, nor the day's great light,
Remain unfung, nor the fair lamp of night;
To thee, Latona, next the numbers range;
Japerus, and Saturn wont to change,
They chant; thee, Ocean, with an ample breast,
They fing, and Earth and Night in fable drefs'd;
Nor cease the virgins here the ftrain divine;
They celebrate the whole immortal line.
E'er while as they the fhepherd fwain behold
Feeding, beneath the facred mount, his fold,
With love of charming fong his breaft they fir'd;
There me the heav'nly muses first inspir'd;
There, when the maids of Jove the filence broke,
To Hefiod thus, the shepherd fwain, they spoke :
Shepherds, attend, your happiness who place
In gluttony alone, the fwain's difgrace;
Strict to your duty in the field you keep,
There vigilant by night to watch your sheep;
Attend, ye fwains, on whom the mufes call,
Regard the honour not bestow'd on all;
'Tis ours to speak the truth in language plain,
Or give the face of truth to what we feign.

40.

50

So ípoke the maids of Jove, the sacred nine, And pluck'd a fceptre from the tree divine, To me the branch they gave, with look ferene, The laurel enfign, never-fading green: I took the gift, with holy raptures fir'd, My words flow fweeter, and my foul's infpir'd; Before my eyes appears the various fcene Of all that is to come, and what has been. Me have the mufes chofe, their bard to grace, To celebrate the blefs'd immortal race; To them the honours of my verse belong; To them I first and last devote the fong: But where, O where, enchanted do I rove, Or o'er the rocks, or through the vocal grove! 60 Now with th' harmonious nine begin, whose

voice

Makes their great fire, Olympian Jove, rejoice;
The prefent, future, and the paft, they fing,
Join'd in fweet concert to delight their king;
Melodious and untir'd their voices flow;
Olympus echoes, ever crown'd with fnow.
The heav'nly fongfters fill th' ethereal round;
Jove's palace laughs, and all the courts refound:
Soft warbling endless with their voice divine,
They celebrate the whole immortal line:
༡༠
From earth and heav'n, great parents, first they
The progeny of geds, a bounteous race; [trace

[blocks in formation]

Can banish cares, and cafe the painful heart.
Abfent from heav'n, to quench his am'rous flame,
Nine nights the god of gods comprefs'd the dame.
Now thrice three times the moon concludes her
race,

And fhows the produce of the god's embrace, 90
Fair daughters, pledges of immortal Jove,
In number equal to the nights of love;
Blefs'd maids, by harmony of temper join'd;
And verfe, their only care, employs their mind.
The virgin fongfters first beheld the light
Near where Olympus rears his fnowy height;
Where to the maids fair ftately domes afcend,
Whofe fteps a conftant beauteous choir attend.
Not far from hence the Graces keep their court,
And with the god of love in banquets fport; 100
Meanwhile the nine their heav'nly voices raise
To the immortal pow'rs, the song of praise;
They tune their voices in a facred cause,
Their theme the manners of the gods, and laws:
When to Olympus they pursue their way,
Sweet warbling, as they go, the deathlefs lay,
Meas'ring to Jove, with gentle steps, the ground,
The fable earth returns the joyful found.

Great Jove, their fire, who rules th' ethereal plains,
Confirm'd in pow'r, of gods the monarch reigns;
His father Saturn hurl'd from his command III
He grafps the thunder with his conqu'ring hand,
He gives the bolts their vigour as they fly,
And bids the red-hot lightning pierce the sky:
His fubject deities obey his nod,

All honours flow from him, of gods the god;
From him the mufes fprung, no lets their fire,
Whofe attributes the heav'nly maids inspire :
Clio begins the lovely tuneful race,
Melpomene which, and Euterpe, grace,
Terpsichore all joyful in the choir,
And Erato to love whofe lays infpire;
To thefe Thalia and Polymnia join,
Urania, and Calliope divine,

The first, in honour, of the tuneful nine;
She the great acts of virtuous monarchs fings,
Companion only for the best of kings.
Happy of princes, fofter fons of Jove,
Whom at his birth the nine with eyes of love
Behold; to honours they his days defign:
He first among the scepter'd hands shall shine;
Him they adorn with ev'ry grace of song,
And foft perfuafion dwells upon his tongue;
To him, their judge, the people turn their eye,
On him for juftice in their caue rely,

120

130

[ocr errors]
« EdellinenJatka »