ELEGY IX. N vain would lovers hide their infant-fmart 'rom me, a master in the amorous art; read their paffion in their mien and eyes, D'erhear their whispers, and explain their fighs. This fkill no Delphian oracles bestow'd, No augurs taught me, and no victims show'd; ut love my wrifts with magic fillets bound, afh'd me, and lashing, mutter'd many a found. o more then, Marathus, indifference feign, Ife vengeful Venus will inhance your pain! 10 What now, fweet youth, avails your anxious care, ooft to effence, oft to change your hair? What though cosmetics all their aid supply? nd every artifice of dress you try? e's not oblig'd to bredes, to gems, to clothes, er charms to nature Pholoe only owes. What fpells devote you? fay, what philtres bind? 20 hat midnight forceress fafcinates your mind? ells can feduce the corn from neighb'ring plains! he headlong ferpent halts at magic strains! id did not cymbals ftop thy prone career, fpell thee Luna from thy orb would tear! Why do I magic for your paffion blame, agic is ufelefs to a perfect frame! [threw, fqueez'd her hands, your arms around her in'd lip to lip, and hence your paflion grew. Ceafe then, fair maid, to give your lover pain; ove hates the haughty, will avenge the swain. e youth vermillions o'er his modest face! in riches equal fuch a boy's embrace? en afk no bribe-when age affects the gay, our every smile let hoary dotage pay; 30 it you your arms around the fripling throw, ad fcorn the treasure monarchs can bestow. it fhe who gives to age her charms, for pay, ay her wealth perish, and her bloom decay. en when impatience thrills in every vein, ay manhood fhun her, and the young disdain. Alas! when age has filver'd o'er the head, ad youth that feeds the lamp of love is filed, 40 vain the toilette charms; 'tis vain to try, ray fcanty locks with yellow nuts to dye; ou ftrip the tell-tales vainly from their place; nd vainly ftrive to mend an aged face. Then in thine eyes while youth triumphant glows, nd with his flowers thy cheek's my fair one fows, TRANS. H. Oh, wretched youth! how oft, when absent you, Groans rend his breast, and tears his checks bedew? "Why dost thou rack me with contempt? he cries, "The willing ever can elude their spies. "Had you, O had you felt what now I feel, 59 "Venus would teach you from your fpies to fteal. "I can breathe low; can fnatch the melting kiss, "And noifelefs ravish loves enchanting blifs; "At midnight can I fecurely grope my way; "The floor tread noifelefs, moifelefs turn the key. | Poor fruitless fkill! my skill if the defpife, "And cruel from the bed of rapture flies. "Or if a promise hap'ly I obtain, "That he will recompence at night my pain; "How am I dup'd? I wakeful litten round, "And think I hear her in each cafual found. 70 "Perish the wiles of love, and arts of drefs? "In ruffet weeds I'll fhrowd my wretchedness. " The wiles of love, and arts of drefs are vain, "My fair to foften, and admittance gain." Youth, weep no more; your eyes are fwoln No more complain; for, O! fhe ftops her ears. Now, now he moans his paft mifdeeds with tears," Like vengeance waits you; truft th' unnerring If ftill you're coy, and fill accefs refufe! 3 B NOTES ON ELEGY IX. | and as Homer every where reprefents him a man of an excellent head and heart, we may t dily fuppofe, that the old bard himself was of fame way of thinking. Ver. 7. None but those who have felt love ca be proper judges of that paffion. Reading, deed, may give fome imperfect ideas of it; br experience is the only certain teacher. The what Tibullus means by the magic fillets. S mafius, therefore, is mistaken in making the " MARATHUS, one of the poet's friends, had lately become enamoured of Pholoe; but as that youth had formerly affected an averfion to love, he now wanted to conceal his paffion. This, Tibullus tells him, was to no purpose, as he knew from his own experience, all the symptoms of an infant defire; among which he chiefly particularizes a sudden attention to drefs. Tibullus informs his friend, that so extraordinary an application to finery was neither required in him, who was a fine figure, nor agreeable to Pholoe, who ap-jicus nodus" of the text fignify knots, fuch as pears to have been a woman of sense; and afks him, how he expected that foppifhnefs fhould make any impreffion on the heart of one who defpifed every thing elle but an elegant fimplicity in apparel? The port next mequires, by what fpells he | inlifed himfelt under the banner of love? But immediately refolves the queftion himself, by emphatically calling beauty the moft powerful of en chantments. From fome parts of the poem, it would feem tha Phloe had not always been so infenfible to the merits of Marathus. This change of behavi our makes the poet warmly expoftulate with her for his young friend, whom he introduces pathetically lamenting the rigour of his deftiny. The poem concludes with a prediction, that unlets Pholoe altered her conduct heaven would un doubtedly punish her.. The commentators fuppofe that this is the Pholoe mentioned by Horace, in his beautiful ode addreffed to Tibullus; and, indeed, it mus be confeffed, that thefe gentlemen have not ai ways fo good a foundation for their conjectures. They alfo take it for granted, that the Cyrus fpoken of in the fame poem, was our Marathus whom they reprefent as a foreigner, and formerly a flave. Their arguments, however, in defence of this laft fuppofition, are too trifling for confutation. mentioned in the notes upon the fifth elegy. Κυπρις γαρ ου Φορητός ην πολλή ροή Ver. 13. The original may be thus litet ? terpreted: Oh! what avails it now that charged your cheeks with juices to make the imooth and ruddy? and what, that you your nails paired by the learned hand of Pert artift? In vain you vary the parts of drefs, and in vain you confine your co foot within fo neat a fandal. hufus juftly interprets it, was not an The "fuccus fplendens" of the text, cate preparation; for, according to him, craffius fputum ex madido pane, quo ilise tur gene." Some editions of merit read, iplendenti." Well-paired nails were regarded by the R as fo effential to a genteel "appearance, that race, to shock us at the witch Canidia, intro ner with unpaired nails; and yet we find Mecanas was fometimes out of humour with bard himself, for the same neglect. Prave fectum ftomachcris ob unguem. From the text, the learned conjecture, that nails, the rich having theirs cut by the bar but the poorer fort of people paired the yet Mr. Dacier, upon the following lines of t race, Ver. 6. The poet here mentions three forts of divination; the oracular, that of infpecting the bowels of animals, and that called augury. This laft, which confifted in deducing events from the manner in which birds fed, and from their flight r screaming, was fo particularly regarded by the Romans, that few enterprises of consequence were begun, without the previous fanction of the holy chickens and as thefe were under the manage ment of the officers of ftate, and leaders of the army, they were employed generally to the pur. poles of policy. This kind of divination was not peculiar to the Romans; for we find from the Iliad, that their fuppofed ancestors, the Trojans, believed alfo in augury. Hector, indeed, feems to place no confidence in the flight, &c. of birds; | Quid fucco, &c. Confpexit, ut aiunt, Adrafum quemdam, vacua tonforis in umbr Cultello proprios purgantem leniter unguesremarks, that the Roman ladies had their he cites this paffage of our poet, paired by their waiting-maids; in proof of wi Which he thus interprets : Pourquoy peindre vos cheveux ? Pourquoy vous faire couper les ongles par une femme adroite?" and confirms this interpretation by adding, "Porcia s'etant coupé un jour, en fe faifant les Ongles, Brutus la gronda d'avoir fait l'office de fa femme de chambre." But all that is here advanced (as Broekhufius remarks), is a blunder. For, in the first place, the French critic unaccountably metamorphofes Marathus into a lady; again, Porcia ufed a barber's pairing knife, as Plutarch affures us; and, laftly, Valerius Maximus thus relates the ftory of Porcia's wounding herfelf: "Quæ cum Bruti viri fui confilium, quod de interficiendo Cæfare, ceperit ea nocte, qua dies teterrimi facti fecuta eft, cognoviffet," &c. When Porcia was let into the fecret by Brutus her husband, of his intention to affaffinate Cæfar the next day, fhe, as foon as Brutus left the room, called for a barber's knife, as if she meant to pair her nails; which being brought her, she Elet it fall as though by chance, and wounded her thigh. Brutus being brought back into her chamber, by the fcreams of her maids, mildly rebuked her for endeavouring to perform the barber's office. But the whispered him, I wounded myfelf on purpose, as a trial of my love for you; for fhould your enterprife fail, I wanted to know with what equanimity I could kill myself. Lib. 3. The last line, Anfaque compreffos, &c. Signifies the extreme care Marathus took in making the fandal fit neat on his foot, by tightening the ftraps tied to the anfæ or thongs, which came up on every fide of the foot, and were faftened over the inftep. Ver. 18. Many editions read "pallentibus," and it is certain, that the epithet is claffical. But we shall not enter into the merits of the two claimants, O and A; but refer those who are fond of fuch altercation to the Dutch commenta Hic color aprica pendentibus arbore pomis, Aut ebori tincto eft; aut fub cand re rubenti, Cum fruftra refonant æra auxiliariæ, lunæ. Met. lib. vi. A red like this, the ripening apple shows; Addifon. And Juvenal, fatirically defcribing a fcold, fays, that there was no need of a fhrill noife of inftruments to relieve the labours of the moon, the tongue of this woman being fufficiently qualified to produce fuch an effect. Dart. Travellers inform us, that this fuperftition is ftill practifed in feveral parts of the east, &c. Ver. 31. These lines are not only extremely indelicate, but gives us a difpleafing picture of Pholoe's venality. Ver. 39. Alas! when age.] When the fair fex found their eftimation upon beauty only, without aiming at any mental accomplishment, it is no wonder, in that cafe, that they dread old age, and endeavour, by artifices, to repay the decays of nature. Every stage of life has its proper bents and paffions. A rational attachment to love and pleafure, is ornamental in youth, allowable in more advanced life, but prepofterous in age. What character is more ridiculous than that of a coquette of fixty? But, fay the fair, can life be agreeable, when the power to raise love is gone? tion? Are friendship and efteem, which can be Are then the matronly virtues of no confideraenjoyed in full vigour even in the latest period of life, of no avail? Mental perfection is the root from whence muft fpring all the doceurs of old age; and mental perfection must be planted in youth early, if it is ever meant to fhoot up to maturity. Ver. 41. 'Tis vain to try, Gray feanty locks with yellow nuts to dye. Meurfius and Duport are of opinion, that black is the dye which Tibullus mentions in the text; but Broekhufius, and especially Arntzenius, prove, that walnut dyed the hair yellow; which, as has been obferved before, is the claffical colour. Vid. Differt. de Col. Com. p. 114. Ver. 52. "Sontica caufa" here is the fame as order, fuch as the gods were fuppofed to inflict "morbus fonticus," which fignifies any great dif on the wicked: and hence the Greeks call it ispos; and because it prevented the unhappy fufferer from attending on business, they alfo gave it the epithet of anons. the only one who uses "caufa" for a disease; Vulpius justly obferves, that our author is not for it is applied by Gratian, no contemptible poet of the Auguftan age, to figaify the fame thing in the following line: Caufafque affe&ufque canum tua cura tueri eft. Hence thofe foldiers, who by infirmity were dif abled from campaigning, were called "caufarii milites," and their difmiflion "caufaria miffio." When the fuperftitious among the Athenians, faw a mad or epileptic perfon, they, fhuddering, fpit into their bofom to avert the mifchiek. And, indeed, while thofe diforders were reputed judg ments of Heaven upon the perfons affected, no wonder the poor fufferers were hated and fhunned; but a founder philofopher has taught us that fuch objects always deferve our pity, and have a right to all the relief human fkill can procure them. Ver. 70. And think I bear her.] J. Secundus has finely imitated this thought. Dunique ego blanditeafque tuas, et rofcida menti Dilectos dominæ fufpicor effe pedes. El. ii. B. 2. in a neighbouring kingdom, fufficient to convines us, that the fop and the brave foldier are st wholly incompatible; " Væ tamen iftis!" Ver. 88. All the ancient editions read, Ni definis effe fuperba. Although this may appear odd, fays Brockh fius, to thofe who have cars like King Midas, i is, nevertheless, the genuine reading. The following quotation from Ariofto is re markable: Penfò Rinaldo alquanto, e poi rispose: Cant. iv. St. 6 After all, if Pholoe could find no love-worthy qualities in Marathus, it was ungenerous in cat poet to infult her with fuch a prognoftic. Le is the child of obfequiousness, and not the of But Broekhofius very justly prefers a defcription fpring of menace; accordingly, the fair Egy of the fame kind in the feventh canto of the Or lando Furiofo, (Stanz. 24. & 25.) Ver. 72. In ruffet weeds.] Mattaire and others have injudicioufly inferted the original of this line, and the two following ones, at the end of the third elegy of the fecond book. When that part of the Roman gown, which was commonly tucked under the right arm, and fecured by the "umbo" on the left shoulder, was allowed to flow about the wearer; the "toga" was then faid to be "laxa." This the Romans reputed a fign of effeminacy. Hence it is not furprifing that Mecenas dreffed in this manner; but that Julius Cæfar fhould do fo, is more unaccountable. And although many inftances occur tian (in Prior) fays, if not poetically, at lea Soft love, fpontaneous tree, its parted root grows; Its cheerful buds their opening bloom difclofe J ELEGY X. Why did you fwear by all the powers above? For gold the careful farmer ploughs the plain, Soon thall you fuffer greatly for your crime, 10 Your hair fhail change, and boasted bloom decay, ་་ "The wretch will rack, who fells her charms "Let torture all her cruelties exert, "Nor idly dream your gallantries to hide, Thus oft I warn'd you; this augments my fhame; ly fighs, tears, homage, henceforth I disclaim. No wealth fhall bribe my conftancy, you "fwore, 29 Be mine the bard, you figh'd, I crave no more: h ftrong profeffions might averfion charm, And when each youth has rifled all her charms, arms! May fhe, O may fhe like your fifter prove, Think'st thou for thee, the toilette is her For thee, that fillets bind her well-dress'd hair? fs'd your cheeks, and wip'd the tears away. 40 By thefe, fome youth the wanton would entice, ut if I tempting gold unjustly blame, i you have left me for another flame; ft I by night the torch myself would bear, t none our tender converfe might o'erhear; 1 tutor'd him your conqueft to complete, n, doom them victims to the feas or flame. it you who first the lovely maid decoy'd, ach adulterer be your wife enjoy'd. "Tibullus, freed at laft from amorous woes, 60" From fuch a paffion, thy devoted bard." 90 NOTES ON ELEGY X, KE tranflator has been obliged to use pretty h the fame freedom with this elegy as he with the fourth. Had the other elegies of ullus been like these two, he had never taken trouble of tranflating them. But, as both in verfion are new-modelled, it is hoped that her of them can fhock the most delicate chaf er. 3. Although the juftnefs of thefe moral ctions is not always discoverable on this fide grave, we have all reafon to think that the ured will meet with a deferved punishment nother ftate. Horace makes a remark, no jult than moral: o antecedentem fcelfum eruit pana pede claude. en Jove in anger strikes the blow, Oft with the bad, the righteous bleed, |