Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub

are introduced with moft propriety. The three great elegiac poets abound with many happy inftances of this kind.

Ver. 12. Not only the poets, but the phyficians, fuppofed, that fulphur possessed a purifying virtue; whence probably it obtained the epithet *. Indeed, if the infection proceeds from alkaline or putrid miafmata, the fteams of brimRone may be antidotal.

Ver. 14. As many difeafes were thought by the ancients to fpring from fupernatural caufes, incantation was early introduced into medicine. This indeed was chiefly practifed in Perfia; but it foon fpread, infomuch, that, in the days of Pliny the elder, it became fo common a practice in Britain, that the Perfians themselves, according to that curious author, might seem to have borrowed incantation from our ancestors. "Britan

nia hodie tam attonite celebrat tantis ceremoniis ut dediffe Perfis videri poffit." Lib. xxx. C. 1. But had Pliny maturely confidered the affair, he would have found, that as this, as well as every other fuperftition, is the off-pring of ignorance and impofture, there was no occafion for making Perfia its mother country.

Pomponius Mela informs us, that at Sena (which fome call a maritime town in Britain, and others a British ifland oppofite to France) there was a Gallic deity, whole virgin priestesses were called Barrigenae; and fuppofed to have the power, by incantation, (carminibus) of raifing and laying ftorms, of curing difeafes which none elfe could cure, and of predicting events. He adds, that they only exerted their magical abilities in compliance with the request of thofe feamen who came on purpose to confult them.

Lib. iii. C. 6. The ufe of magic, in the medical art, continued long even among the Chriftians: and there was a time, fays Broekhufius, when the inquifition regarded it as a trifling trefpafs.

If the ancient mufic cured so many, and fuch inveterate difeafes, as Pliny, Aulus Gellius, and others, pretend it did, it must have been very dif ferent from that of the moderns.

Ver. 15. This cake, which (as Servius, ad Ecl. viii. ver. 82. informs us) was made three times a year by the vestal virgins, was a compofition of flour and two kinds of falt.

Ver. 17. Scaliger was mistaken, when he fuppofed that thefe were infernal facrifices; for Diana, who was none of the Dii Inferi, was the object of them.

Brockbuf. Nothing was bound in facrifices, fays Broekhufius, neither the victim nor the hair, the veftments nor feet: It is certain, too, that Servius has afferted the fame. (Æn. ii. ver. 133. &c.) And yet fome paffages may be quoted from claffic authors, and even from Virgil, where the hair appears to have been bound; as, for inftance, the following from the twelfth Æneid:

Alii fontemque ignemque ferebant,
Velati lino, et verbena tempora vincti.

[blocks in formation]

Ver. 25. No paffion makes more frequent fears on expectation, than love; and a wicked wit has faid, that thefe are the most pleasing meals it enjoys. But, be that as it will, the whole of this paffage exhibits a most amiable picture of country retirement, wherein religion, love, and rural affairs, equally conspire to make life truly defirable. Philofophers contend, that we ought not to indulge too flattering prospects of futurity, because, in that cafe, difappointments fall heavier. But although we may grant that it is an error to be too fanguine in our hopes, yet, when we confider that hope was implanted in us by the all-wife Creator, it will appear little less than a direct contradicting of Providence, to fupprefs it entirely. Our author was of this opinion. There are few paffages in the elegiac poets which furpafs this of Tibullus, in the warmth, as well as delicacy of its colouring.

Ver. 32. If it be confidered with what harshnefs even the better fort of the Romans treated their flaves, the good-nature, fo confpicuous in this fentiment of our poet, must give us an amiable idea of his benevolence.

The peasants, mentioned in the text, were flaves born on the eftate. The Romans called them Vernae.

Ver. 33. Tibullus's miftrefs was not to be employed folely in acts of economy; devotion was alfo to accompany her thrift. The feveral offer ings, enumerated in the original, are preserved in the version.

Daps, according to the ancient grammarians, fignifies a facred banquet; and in this fenfe Tibullus ufes it here. Paffages, however, occur in claffic authors, where that word only means a common entertainment. M. Cato, in his treatife de Re Ruftica, 1. 83. tells us, that the offering for the health and fecundity of the herds, might be made either by a flave or by a freedman; but that, if they chose to succeed in their petitions, no woman should be permitted to be prefent at the ceremony. Tibullus therefore judiciously omits that circumstance of rural devotion.

Ver. 37. Martial improperly applies this line to Nemefis.

Uffit Amatorem Nemefis lafciva Tibullum,
In tota juvit quem nihil effe domo.

Lib. xiv. 193

Ver. 38. Can any thing be more delicate than this compliment to his patron, that even We also fee that Dido facrificed (ÆB. 4.) with Delia could give him no complete fatisfaction 3 A iiij

[ocr errors]

without his company? His love, indeed, was the more violent pafon; but friendship for Meffala had alfo rooted itself deep in his heart. Strokes of this exquifite nature are only to be expected from those who have access to the great, but whom the great have not infected with felfishness. Mr. Hammond has applied this thought to Lord Chefterfield.

Stanhope fhall come and grace his rural friend;
Delia fhail wonder at her noble guest,
With blushing awe the riper fruit commend,
And for her husband's patron cull the best.

El. 13.

[blocks in formation]

Ver. 48. This is fuch an appeal to heaven, as muft appear very becoming in a perfon confcious of his own innocence The ancients imagined, that difafters were infl &ted by the gods on mortals, as a punishment only for their failing in the duties of religion: But experience fhows us, that the best men are often expofed to the greatest calamities. Prior has put a fine appeal of this kind into the mouth of Emma, in that beautiful poem of his, intituled Henry and Emma. Let envious jealousy, and canker'd spight, Produce my actions to fevereft light, And tax my open day and fecret night: Did e'er my eye an inward thought reveal, Which angels might not hear, or virgins tell? And haft thou in my conduct, Henry, known, That 1, of all mankind, have lov'd but you alone?

Ver. 50. Who can read these ancient fuperf tious penances, and not agree with Dr. Middie ton, that the Romish church is the daughter of the Pagan?

According to Broekhuftus, the beating the heal against the facred threshold, was an expiatory ce remony brought from Egypt along with the goddefs, Ifis. This is the only paffage of ani quity, where this extraordinary rite is mentio ed; from whence that commentator conclure, that it neither prevailed long, nor was generaly received, at Rome.

Ver. 54. The original is variously read by eň. tors that which the tranflator has retained, wa the correction of Scaliger, and is approved of by Broekhufius.

Among the few natural defcriptions to he found in the Paftor Fido, the following, wh expreffes the nriferies to which an old man is f ject, is one of the chief.

Non é pena maggiore

Cb' en vecchie membra il pizzicor d'amore.

-S'e ti guinge in quella fredda etate
Ove il proprio difetto

Piu che la colpa altrui spesso si piagne
Al' hora infupportabili e mortali
Son le fue piagge, al' hor le pene acerbe:
Al' hor fi pieta tu cerchi, male

Se non la trovi, e se la trovi peggio, &c.

Ver. 61. Spitting, the ceremony used it text, was fuppofed a prefervative against omens, and is a gentler method than tham fcribed by the profound authors of the firm and fixteenth centuries as charms again craft, which was to give a gafh with a k any part of the face above the organs of tion.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

ELEGY VI.

[blocks in formation]

May heaven, in pity to my fufferings, shed
Its keenest mischief on your plotting head!
The ghosts of those you robb'd of love's >
light,

In horrid visions haunt your irksome night!
And, on the chimney, may the boding owl
Your reft difturb, and terrify your foul!
By famine ftung, to church-yards may you ru
There, feast on offals, hungry wolves would the
Or howling frantic, in a tatter'd gown;
Fierce mailiffs bate you through each crow't
town!

'Tis done a lover's curfe the gods approve; But keeneft vengeance fires the queen of love.

Leave then, my fair, the crafty venal jade:
What paffion yields not, when fuch foes invade?

Your hearts, ye fair, does modeft merit claim? Though fmall his fortunes, feed his gentle flame: For, genuine love's foft raptures would you know? Thele raptures merit can alone bestow:

32

The fons of opulence are folly's care,

But want's rough child is fenfe, and honour's heir.
In vain we fing-the gare ftill bolted ftands:
Come, vengeance, let us burst its fullen bands,
Learn, happy rival, by my wrongs to know
Your fate, fince fortune governs all below.

2

NOTES ON ELEGY VI.

FIBULLUS'S miftrefs had, it would feem, hown too great a regard to a richer gallant. This gave our poet uncommon uneafinefs; to conquer which, he not only had recourse to the bottle, though otherwife temperate, but even attempted to forget her ungenerous behaviour in the company of the fair. Experience, however, foon convinced him, that nothing could make him either forget, or be happy without her; and gave occafion to this poem.

Some editors have moft injudiciously tacked this elegy to the former.

Ver. 6. "Devovere," the word of the original, properly fignities, frigore ferire eam partem, qua viri fumus; ut quantumvis cupiamus, tamen minime poffumus." The French call it " nouer l'eguiliette;" and the doctors of the canon law fay, that fuch people are "frigidi et malificiati.”

Brock.

Ovid has informed us of the various means by which fuch an imbecillity may be produced. Num mea theffalico languent devota veneno Corpora? Num mifero carmen et herba nocent? Sagave punicea defixit nomina cera

Et medium tenues in jecur egit acus.

So fimilar is fuperftition in all ages.

Lib. iii. El. 7.

Apuleius Celfus gravely prefcribes a remedy, by which the "vincula veneris" may be untied. Lib. de Medic. Herb. c. 7. See a curious ftory of this kind, which Herodotus relates of Amafis, the Egyptian king, in his Euterpe.

Ver. 8. The hair here mentioned by our poet, is that of a yellow colour, "flava coma;" and, indeed, yellownefs may with propriety be called the claffical colour of hair, fince fome of the greatest beauties of antiquity, both men and women, are reprefented by the poets with this fort of hair. So variable are our ideas of beauty! The Italians, however, even to this day, praise "chiome d'oro." See a curious differtation on this fubject by Jo. Arntzenius, intituled "De colore et tinctura comarum," &c.

Ver. 10. The heathen poets, in comparing a perfon to any of their deities, had a fure method of giving the reader a picture of that perfon, as the ftatues of their gods were known to every one, and their features afcertained; and this, fays the ingenious author of the Polymetis, is one rea

fon, why fimilies of this kind are fo frequent in ancient authors. It is to be regretted, that Tibuilus has not left us more of thefe refemblances. The few he has given us, are exquifite; but his heart was too engaged to wander abroad for foreign ornaments. Propertius and Ovid abound with them. The modern poets also seem fond of the fame kind of comparifons, though they have not the fame advantages, in this refpect, as the ancients. Valerius Flaccus gives us a fhort but beautiful picture of Thetis, when going to be married, in the first book of his Argonautics. The reader may also see Catullus's fine poem on the same fubject. Poem. 62.

Ver. 16. The original, literally interpreted, runs thus: May the cat raw flesh with a bloody mouth, and drink melancholy liquors mixed with much gall. This was no fmall curfe, if the procureffes of old liked good cheer as well as the modern fifterhood. Ovid has concisely imitated this imprecation.

Di tibi dent nullos lares inopemque fenectam,
Et longas hyemes, perpetuamque fitim.
Propertius carries his malice ftill farther.
Terra tuum fpinis obducat lena fepulcrum

Et tua, quod non vis, fentiat umbra fitim. The ancients believed, that nothing could prevent the curfes of a perfon, unjustly injured, from taking effect. Of all the moderns, no poet furpaffes Oldham in thefe fort of imprecations. Vulpius is of opinion, that the poet wishes the bawd to be affected with that fpecies of madness, which makes the difeafed think themfelves metamorphofed into wolves. This is far-fetched.

Ver. 22. Commentators are greatly divided in their interpretations of this paffage. The true meaning feems to be this: The Romans had private feafts upon the death of their friends, called

་་

Silicernia," from "Silex" and "Cana," of fupping upon a ftone; part of which they eat, and left the reft on the tomb for the ghosts to feed upon. And therefore it became proverbial, on extreme mifery, to fay, that one got his victuals from the tombs. Dart.

Ver. 29. This thought is one of the leaft delicate in Tibullus; and therefore the tranflator has not only omitted it, but given a different turn to the whole paffage from "pauper erit," &c.

Ver. 35. the gate fiill boked flands.] The word ufed in the original, Servius (Ad. Lib. i. Æn. v. 127.) derives from "fatim hifcere."

Ver. 36. The young people, both of Greece and Italy, when they went to vifit their mistreffes at night, often carried torches along with them, to burn the duars of thofe who fhould refufe to grant them admittance. This boisterous piece of gallantry, which the modern fpirits call beating the rounds, puts one in mind of the answer made by one of the family of Huntly, who was taken prifoner at the battle of Muffelburgh, to the

Duke of Somerfet, in confequence of that Duke' having afked his prifoner, how he stood affected to the marriage between Edward VI. and the young Mary of Scotland: "I have no objection, my Lord Duke, to the match, but like not your method of courtship."

Ver. 37. Learn, happy rival.] The original, Mea furta timeto,

Brockhufius thus wifely interprets, Be affurel that fortune and woman are mutable, as you yourfelf will foon experience.

ELEGY VII.

Love ftill invites me with a fmiling eye! Beneath his fmiles, what pains and anguish lie? Yet fince the gods, dread power, must yield to

thee!

What laurels canft thou gain from conquering me?
Me Delia lov'd; but by thy fubtle wiles,
The fair, in fecret, on another smiles:
'That my fufpicion's falfe, 'tis true, the fwears;
And backs her imprecations with her tears!
Falfe fair, your oaths, and fyren tears refrain;
Your fyren tears, and oaths no credit gain;
For when your lord fufpected me of yore,
As much you wept, as many oaths you wore.
Yet wherefore blame I love? the blame is

mine;

ΙΟ

I, wretched I, first taught her to defign!
1 first inftructed her, her ipies to foil!
Back on myself my wanton arts recoil:
Herbs of rare energy my skill supplied,
All marks of too-fond gallantry to hide!
More artful now, alone the wanton lies;
And new pretexts her cozening brains devife. 20
Uncautious lord of a too cunning spouse!
Admittance grant me, fhe fhall keep her vows!
Be warn'd, my friend, obferve her when her
tongue
[young;
Commends in wanton phrase the gay-drefs'd
O let her not her heaving bofom bare,
Expos'd to every fop's immodeft ftare.
When leaning on the board, with flowing wine,
She feems to draw fome inconfiderate line;
Take heed, take heed (I know the warning true),
Thefe random lines aflign an interview.
Nor let your wife to fanes fo frequent roam,
A modeft wife's beft temple is at home:
But if your prohibitions are all vain,
Give me the hint, I'll dodge her to the fane;
What though the goddess fnatch my curious fight,
I'll bring her wanton privacies to light.

30

Some gem fhe wore, I'd oft pretend to view, But squeez'd her fingers unperceiv'd of you : Oft with full racy bowls I feal'd your eyes, Water my bev'ridge, and obtain'd the prize. 40 Yet fince I tell, forgive the pranks I play'd, Love prompted all, and love must be obcy'd!

[ocr errors]

Nay, 'twas at me (be now the truth avow'd) Your watchful maftiff us'd to bark fo loud; But now fome other, with infidious wait, Intent obferves each creaking of your gate, At which, whoever of the house appears, Paffing, the mein of quick difpatch he wears; But comes again, the minute they remove, And coughs, fure fignal of impatient love! What boots, though marriage gave a wife is fair,

If careless you, or the eludes your care?
While men are artful, and your wife can feiga,
Vain are your brazen-bolts, your mastiffs vain,

Cold to the raptures of the genial bed,
She lays the fault upon an aching head:
'Tis falfe; the wanton for fome other fighs;
From this, her coolness, this, her aches arie

Then, then be warn'd, intruft her to mat Whips, chains I laugh at, if you grant my p "Hence from my ward, ye fparkish chačů

"beaux;

"Illegal love oft fprings from effenc'd clothes"
Where'er the walks, not diftant I'll attend;
And guard your honour from the cafual friend!
"Off, gallants, off: for fo the gods ordain,
"So, the dread prieftefs in unerring ftrain!"
(When holy fury fires the frantic dame,

She mocks all torture, and exults in flame;
Her fnow-white arms and heaving breaft he

tears;

And with the gushing gore Bellona fmears; Deep in her fide fhe plants the glittering (word; And the dread goddess prompts each fateful word.) "Ye youths beware, nor touch whom Cupid "guards,

"Unpunish'd none attempt his gentle wards: "As my blood flows, and as these ashes fly; "Their wealth fhall perifh, and their manhood "die."

She menac'd then the fair, with dreadful pair; E'en were yon guilty, may her threats be vain: Not on your own account; your mother's age, Your worthy mother, deprecates my rage: When love and fortune fmil'd, her gentle aid Oft me conducted to the blooming maid;

My footsteps, wakeful, from afar fhe knew,
Unbarr'd the gate, nor fear'd the nightly dew:
Half of my life's long thread I'd pleas'd refign,
My fweet conductress, could I lengthen thine!
Still, ftill, though much abus'd, I Delia prize;
She's ftill thy daughter, and enchants my eyes.
Yet though no coy cimarr invest the fair;
Nor veftal fillet bind her auburn hair;
Teach her what decent modefty requires;
To crown my fire, alone, with equal fires.
Me too confine; and if, in wanton praise
Of other maids, my tongue luxuriant frays;
Let thy fufpicion then no limits know,
Infult me, fpurn me, as thy greatest foe!
But if your jealoufies are built in air,
And patient love your ufage cannot bear;

90

102

What wrath may perpetrate, my foul alarms;
For wrath, I warn you, heeds not female-charms.
Nor yet be chafte, from mean unamorous fear;
Be ftill moft modeft, when I am not near.
For those, whom neither wit, nor worth fecure,
Grow old, unpitied, palfy'd, worthless, poor;
Yet with each fervile drudgery they strive,
To keep their being's wretchednefs alive!
The gay regard their woe, with laughing eyes;
Swear they deserve it, and abfolve the ski es
Nor Venus lefs exults! "May such a fate,

66

(From heaven fhe prays) upon th' inconftant "wait."

110

. The fame my wish! but O, may we two prove, In age, a pattern of unalter'd love!

7

NOTES ON ELEGY VII.

confidence in each other. So void of foundation is the friendship of the wicked.

THE poet had taken it into his head, that he had a rival in the affections of Delia; and notwithstanding all her affeverations to the contrary, Ver. 14. These thoughts Ovid has copied in was fo hurried on, in this elegy, as to let her huf- various places of his amorous writings. The laband into the whole fecret of their intimacy. Had borious Broekhufius having collected from Pliny not Tibullus been under the influence of a mad- the names of those herbs, which were fuppofed to dened jealou fy, he must foon have recollected, that produce the effects mentioned in the text, the this confeffion must for ever terminate all his hopesreader, if he is curious in those matters, may confrom that quarter; but so very far was our poet fult him, p. 123. from perceiving this, that after an apology, which to every hufband could not but appear highly impertinent, he proposes to him to be received into his family, and to become a spy on Delia's actions. Ovid justly obferves on this overture of Tibullus, Denique ab incauto nimium petit ille marito.

[blocks in formation]

The fame critic is also very full on the " mortiuncula" of the original, calling them, no doubt, very fagaciously, the certain marks of solid joy.

Ver. 22. Some editors change the "minus" of the original into "nihil," and thus explain the paffage. "If you keep your wife from the company of other men, I fhall be the less displeased to be debarred her prefence; it depends therefore entirely upon yourself, to prevent my approaching her." "Servare," understood in this manner, is the fame with " infpicere, obfervare, oculis notare." But this interpretation, notwithstanding Virgil and Valerius Flaccus ufe "fervare" in that fense, is more ingenious than just, being contradicted by the fequel of the elegy. One of the beft methods of finding out the fenfe of any obfcure paffage, is to compare it with other parts of the original.

G

Ver. 31. It was not lawful for men to inform nafelves of the real name of the "bona dea."

facrifices, called by Cicero the most ancient and occult of any in Rome, were performed once a-year by the vestal virgins in that conful's houfe, where the fafces happened to be depofited, " quo menfe facrum fiebat pro populo univerfo." During the celebration of this folemnity, not only the mafter of the house, and all other men, were excluded, but their very pictures and statues were carefully concealed. It was believed, that a fudden blindness would be inflicted upon any man, who, on that occafion, however accidentally,

« EdellinenJatka »