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Ver. 98. Upon fuch verfes of our auther these, have the comentators reared the trite nion, that Tibullus, by his extravagance, íp dered away his fortune. The text, however, not be conftrued into any fuch meaning. Or with more juftice, might be said to have spent inheritance from the following lines;

Illud et illud habet, nec ca contenta, rapin d.
Sub titulum noftros mifit avara lares.
Remed. An

The inculcating of this, was one of the wifeft | Hence we often meet with the initial letten contrivances of ancient legislation, and was tranf-T. T. L. upon ancient tomb-ftones. mitted originally from Egypt to Greece. By it, not only private murders, but vices of all kinds, were, in a great measure, checked or prevented. For, as an ingenious writer observes, it was a cuftom among the Egyptians, before they interred their dead, to canvass over their actions, and to bring their whole paft life to a trial, before judges appointed for that purpofe. Thofe who, upon a fair and impartial examination, were found to have lived a virtuous and good life, were dismissed from the tribunal, with praifes proportionable to their merit, recommended as worthy examples to pofterity, and affigned over to the fociety of the bleffed in the fhades below; but others, in whofe characters vice and mifchief were predominant, were publicly branded with infamy, and affigned over to the regions of affliction. (Diod. Sicul.) As every one was convinced, that he fhould undergo this impartial trial after death, wherein his former abilities, power, and fortune, could avail nothing to avert a proper and juft fentence; fuch examples were powerful checks to vice, and pleafing incentives to virtue. The legiflators having found their end in this inftitution, enforced the obfervance of it, by the fuperkition already mentioned, that those whofe bodies were unburied,

fhould wander in a state of restleffness a hundred

years on the banks of the river Styx. Now, this
was invented to obviate by terror, the clandeftine
'interment of those whom the furviving parents
or relations were afraid to bring to this teft of
justice, being defirous to fhelter the memory of
the defunct from ignominy, by an omiffion of this
ceremony. The public interment of the body,
being first infifted upon, only as concomitant to
the rites, and by corruption afterwards, made a
neceffary part of them.

Ver. 62. Joannes Baptifta Pius (Annot. pofter.
e. 115.) imagines that thefe garlands were com-
pofed folely of parfley; but Magius has fhown
the falfity of this. Brockhufius is of opinion, that
the poet, in this place, meant garlands of rofes;
and indeed innumerable quotations might be
brought from the claffics to prove, that roles were
ufed of old in the adorning of tombs.
Ver. 65. Propertius fays,

Sit fibi terra levis, mulier digniffima vita.

expreflions in the poets; and therefore Brack But, in truth, fmall stress is to be laid upon f fius might have fpared the cenfure he paffos a Tibullus, on account of this paffage, elegy lighting in imaginary diftreffes.

Ver. 69. Critics are greatly divided int opinions about the "hippomanes." Theoph tus, Ariftotle, and Theocritus mention a plaz that name, the fmell of which made mara mad for the stallion. While fome commat

affert, that it was a fig-like excrefcence sh grew on the forehead of a foal; and which, bit off and fwallowed by the mother, mat paflionately fond of her offspring. Henterme to be used in philtres of old, and to be metaphorically, to exprefs love. Others that it was a poifon, "quod equæ in libidons

citata e locis emittebant."

civilized people, it is no wonder that they Ver. 72. The Theffalians being a wild addicted to the follies of witchcraft. Thi the first physicians we read of were born try produced many powerful plants; and

The word "veneum" does not alway poifon, fince Horace, and other approv herbs, as were proper to correct the mai ufe it often to fignify the juice of fud poifon. It also sometimes fignifies a love-pe In this place, however, it ftands for poison, of the latter, being already fufficiently f a philtre; for our port at prefent was in Nemefis: but whether he would have be reality as good as his word, let the lover a Mr. Hammond's first elegy is an imitation this.

mine.

ELEGY V.

To hear our folemn vows, O Phœbus deign!
A novel pontiff treads thy facred fane:
Nor diftant hear, dread power! 'tis Rome's request,
That with thy golden lyre thou stand'st confeft:

Deign mighty bard! to frike the vocal knez.
And praise thy pontiff; we, his praises ing
Around thy brows, triumphant laurels twat,
Thine altar vifit, and thy rites divine:

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r which the wealthy fhepherd's favourite maid s to her fwain, on holidays, convey'd; fwain, his truth of paffion to declare, lamb, or cheese, prefented to the fair.)

The Cumaan Sibyl speaks. fierce brother of the power of foft defire, Who fly'ft, with Trojan gods, the Grecian fire! Now Jove aligns thee Laurentine abodes, Thofe friendly plains invite thy banish'd gods! There fhall a nobler Troy herself applaud, Admire her wanderings, and the Grecian fraud ! There, thou from yonder facred ftream fhalt rife A god thyself, and niingle with the fkies! 51 No more thy Phrygians for their country figh, See conqueft o'er your shatter'd navy fly! See the Rutulian tents, a mighty blaze! Thou, Turnus! foon fhalt end thy hateful days! The camp I fee, Lavinium greets my view! And Alba! brave Afcanius! built by you: fee thee, Ilia leave the veftal fire; And, clafp'd by Mars, in amorous blifs expire! On Tyber's bank, thy facred robes I fee, And arms abandon'd, eager god! by thee. Your hills crop faft, ye herds! while fate allows; Eternal Rome fhall rife, where now ye brouze : Rome, that shall ftretch her irresistless reign, Wherever Ceres views her golden grain; Far as the east extends his purple ray, And where the weft fhuts up the gates of day.

The Siby!.

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Safe food, and I be fcreen'd from guilty love." Thus fung the Sybil, and addrefs'd her prayer, 71 Phœbus! to thee, and madding, loos'd her hair. Nor, Phoebus! give him only thefe to know, A farther knowledge on thy priest bestow: Let him interpret what thy fav'rite maid, What Amalthea, what Mermellia faid: Let him interpret what Albuna bore Through Tyber's waves, unwet, to Tyber's fartheft fhore.

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When ftony tempefts fell, when comets glar'd,
Inteftine wars their oracles declar'd:
The facred groves (our ancestors relate)
Foretold the changes of the Roman state:
To charge the clarion founded in the sky,
Arms clafh'd, blood ran, and warriors feem'd to
die:

With monftrous prodigies the year began:
An annual darknefs the whole globe o'er-ran;
Apollo, fhorn of every beamy ray,

Oft ftrove, but ftrove in vain, to light the day:
The ftatues of the gods wept tepid tears;
And speaking oxen fill'd mankind with fears! 90
Thefe were of old: No more, Apollo ! frown,
But in the waves each adverfe omen drown.
O! let thy bays, in crackling flames afcend;
So fhall the year with joy begin and end!
The bays give profp'rous figns; rejoice ye
Propitious Ceres fhall reward your pains.
With muft the jolly ruftic purpled o'er,
Shall fqueeze rich clusters, which their tribute

pour,

fwains!

Till vats are wanting, to contain their store.
Far hence, ye wolves! the mellow fhepherds

bring

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Their gifts to Pales, and her praifes fing.
Now, fir'd with wine, they folemn bonfires raise,
And leap, untimorous, through the strawy blaze!
From every cott unnumber'd children throng,
Frequent the dance, and louder raise the song:
And while in mirth the hours they thus employ,
At home the grandfire tends his little boy;
And in each feature pleas'd himfelf to trace,
Foretells his prattler will adorn the race.

The fylvan youth, their grateful homage paid, I re Where plays fome streamlet, seek th' embowering fhade;

Or ftretch'd on foft enamell'd meadows lie,
Where thickeft umbrage cools the fummer fky:
With rofes, fee! the facred cup is crown'd,
Hark! mufie breathes her animating found:
The couch of turf, and feftal tables ftand
Of turf, erected by cach fhepherd-hand;
And all well-pleas'd, the votive feast prepare,
Each one his goblet, and each one his share.
Now drunk, they blame their stars and curse the
maid;

But fober, deprecate whate'er they said.

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Perish thy fhafts, Apollo! and thy bow! If love unarmed in our forefts go. Yet fince he learn'd to wing th' unerring dart, Much caufe has man to curfe his fatal art: But most have I; the fun has wheel'd his round Since first I felt the deadly feltering wound;

Yet, yet I fondly, madly, wish to burn,
Abjure indifference, and at comfort fpurn;
And though from Nemefis my genius flows; 130
Her fcarce I fing, fo weighty are my woes!

O cruel love! how joyous fhould I be,
Your arrows broke, and torch extinct to fee!
From you, my want of reverence to the skies!
From you, my woes and imprecations rise!
Yet I advise you, too relentless fair!
(As Heaven protects the bards) a bard to spare!
E'en now, the pontiff claims my loftieft lay,
In triumph, foon he'll mount the facred way.

Then pictur'd towns shall show fuccessful war, 1p
And spoils and chiefs attend his ivory car;
Myfelf will bear the laurel in my hand;
And pleas'd, amid the pleas'd spectators fland:
While war-worn veterans, with laurels crown',
With lo-triumphs shake the streets around.
His father hails him, as he rides along,
And entertains with pompous fhows the throng,
O Phœbus! kindly deign to grant my prayer;
So may'st thou ever wave thy curled hair;
So ever may thy virgin-fifter's name
Preferve the luftre of a spotlefs fame.

NOTES ON ELEGY V

MESSALINUS, to whom the following noble ele- ! gy is addreffed, was the fon of the illuftrieus Meffala. This young nobleman, whom both hiftorians and poets reprefent, as inheriting his father's eloquence, had been appointed one of the quindecemviral priefts, to whofe care the keeping and interpretation of the Sibylline oracles were intrufted. As thefe venerable writings had been depofited by Augustus, under the statue of Apol... lo, in his new temple, erected on Mount Palatine, and as Apollo was fuppofed to prefide over vaticination, and in a particular manner, over these mysterious volumes, the poet begins his poem with an address to Apollo, whom he earneftly implores to be prefent at the inauguration of the new pontiff. Moreover, as thefe writings were never confulted, but in the greatest emergency, and then only when the fenate paffed a decree for that purpofe; and as their interpretation, even then, was thought to be fuggefted by Apollo, Tibullus entreats the god to affift his young friend, whenever public calamities fhould render it neceffary for the priests to have recourse to them.

measure. As this, however, was a very dela fubject, and none knew better to flatter ho tron than Horace, he abruptly breaks off, Non hæc jocofa conveniunt Lyræ.

Tibullus, however, not lying under this obligations to Auguftus as the lyric poet, ther courting the smiles, nor dreading the of the court, he, like a true patriot, in all th thusiasm of poetry, introduces the Sibyl, pub:7 on Eneas to the new fettlement, defined Heaven for him and his followers, in Italy. Th event, fays the prophetess, whenever it t place will effectually recompenfe you for ** prefent lofs, and future difafters, you your ing to become a god; as your pofterity, t mans are predeftined to conquer the wa which Rome is to be the capital.

This furmife, which no commentater touched on, throws a particular beauty on th whole of the Sibyl's speech, which otherwișpears inaptly placed, where it now is inferted

Shall we pay a compliment to Horace and Tbullus (who probably let one another into the full scope of their patriot-productions), and txt pofe, that thefe had fome weight with the expe ror of the world? At all events, as Augu profeffed a great veneration for the Sabya books, and was anxious to be thought the 10 Apollo (fee the notes), who, he faid, fought me him at the battle of Actium; the people (w prejudices, to the removing their feat of Empr must have been augmented by our poet's w

The Romans were proud of being thought the | pofterity of the Trojans; and their poets embraced every opportunity of making their court to the people by adopting that notion. Nor was this prejudice confined to the meaner fort of Romans; Julius Cæfar, and his fucceffor, either believed, or effected, from political motives, to be lieve that they were defcendants of Æneas, (Vid. in Suet. in Vit. J. Cæf. et Aug.) Nay, fo far was this folly carried, that Auguftus entertained a de-timed prophecy), would have regarded Augufu fign of transferring the feat of empire from Rome to Troy; which city, by his and Julias's attention, was again in a flourishing fituation. This, the Romans dreaded not a little; and to fuch a height did their apprchenfions increase, A. Ú. C. 734, when Auguftus was in Syria, that Horace, all courtier as he was, is fuppofed to have written that noble ode," Juftum et tenacem," lib. 3. ode 5, obliquely to diffuade the emperor from that

breach of the Sybil's orders, as the most imp
of violations. Besides so flagrant a difrefpe,
in one too of fuch eminence, might have prod. Tá
the most fatal confequences to his government,
weakening the reverence which his tube
tertained for the Sybilline writings. This
guftus was too fenfible not to perceive, and
political not to avoid.

But if the tranflator is deceived in his cras

ture of the design, which Tibullus propofed to nself, in writing this fine poem, he, however, cerely wishes, that the nine may always devote ir raptures to the service of their country, and ver profitute their talents, in flattering tyranor inflaming the paffions of guilty greatness. e people fhall then joyfully acknowledge the guage of the gods, and own the mufes for the itimate daughters of Jove.

The remaining part of the elegy is thrown, we y fuppofe, on purpose into an artful obfcurity connection. Moft of the prodigies, which the t mentions, are faid by historians to have hap ed at the death of Julius Cæfar; and may we conjecture, that Tibullus meant, by recapitung these, to infinuate, that the gods caused the nt to be flain, for his attachment to Troy? 3 circumftance could not fail to alarm his fucor, efpecially too as he must have been confcithat he even outdid Julius in his affection to city; and it is certain, that he, by no means, lled that ufurper in point of personal cou.

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ut if Tibullus wrote with freedom, his freedom accompanied with decorum; for, as a Roman effes it, it is always dangerous, "Scribere in qui poteft pro fcribere."

> the poet fupplicates Apollo to avert such ges for the future; by which means, peace ld return to blfs italy, and rural devotion a flourish. Tibullus fuppofes, that the god ts his petition, and defcribes the joyful cere ies, practifed by the grateful villagers, upon ccasion.

hefe folemnities concluding, as ufual, with h and wine, the young peasants begin to dif : their loves, and condemn the cruelty of their refles. This leads our poet infenfibly into a llection of his own am rous misfortunes; for nefis was ftill inflexible. This, ne fays not only aired his health, but affected his poetical vers fo that far from being able to do juf. to great fubjects, he fcarce could write a e elegy. This was an artful apology for the aing inaccuracy of his prefent poem. Nottanding all the confequences of his ill reed paffion, fo thorough a lover was our poet, he did not wish to shake off his love; but onegged, that Nemefis would at last condescend bate of her rigour, for, as Meffalinus, adds 18 pufhing forwards in the lifts of fame, the rd and friendship which 1 profefs for his faand himself, abfolutely require a total freeof genius, that I may celebrate thofe triumphs ch his grateful country will foon decree him o the conclufion, Meffala is introduced as enng the felicity of feeing his fon triumph; upwhich occafion the poet fuppofes, that hi pawill entertain Rome with magnificent spec

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confulfhip conferred upon him; but Tibullus died many years before these things happened.

It is not easy to determine how old Meffalinus was, at the time this poem was written. He had not, probably, long put on the manly gown; for we find, that Lentulus, the fon of Lentulus, was chofen into the college of augurs at 17 or 18 years of age; and from this college the quindecemvirs were elected. Upon thefe occafions the friends of the pontiff were invited to a magnificent fupper; and it is probable it was at this entertainment, that the following poem was first recited.

Ver. 9. The original here would seem extremely ridiculous to a mere modern reader. Literally tranflated, it fignifies neither more nor lefs, than an entreaty to his godfhip to put on his holiday fuit, curl his hair, and wath his face. A strange hint this to fo great, so young, and beautiful a divinity as Apollo. Is it from their patron god, that fome of his modern vaffals have derived their ideas of dress and cleanlinefs? The fublimeft geniufes are not exempted from paying an attention to the little decencies of life, refpecting which, the fair fex are our best inftructors.

The polite Callimachus, in his hymn to Apollo, draws a more amiable picture of the god of poetry, in the following verfes;

Τον χορου ὦ πολλων ότι οι κατα θυμον αείδει
Τιμήσει, δυναται γαρ έπει Δεί δέξιος ήςαι.
Ουός ο χορος τον φυίβον ἐφ ̓ ἐν μόνον ήμαρ αείσει
Εστι γαρ ευύμνος, τις αν ε ρεκ φοιβον αείδοι ;
Χρυσία των πολλωνι τοτ' ενδυ]ον ἡ τ' επιπόρπες
Η τε λύρη, &c.
Ver. 28, 29. c.
Immortal honours wait the happy throng,
Who, grateful to the god, refound the fong:
And honours well Apollo can command,
For high in pow'r he fits, at Jove's right hand.
But in the god, fuch beaming glories blend,
The day unequal to his praife will end.
His praife, who cannot with delight refound,
Where fuch eternal theme for fong is found;
A golden robe invefts the glorious god,
His fhining feet with golden sandals shod:
Gold are his harp, his quiver, and his bow;
Round him bright riches in profufion flow.
His Delphic fane illuftrious proof fupplies,
Where wealth immenfe fatigues the wond'ring
eyes.

On his foft cheeks no tender down has sprung,
A god for ever fair, for ever young:
His flagrant locks diftil ambrofial dews,
Drop gladness down, and blooming health dif
fufe, &c.

Dodd.

Ver. 12. Ariofto has imitated this paffage in the beginning of his third canto. The proper emblems of Apollo the poet, lyrift, or feftal Apollo, were a crown of laurel, his hair finely dressed, flowing at full length, a lyre in his left hand, and wearing a magnificent robe that fell down to his feet. In this manner was this god reprefented in the temple which Auguttus dedicated to him in the Palatium; and thus it was,

that the poets of old were habited, when they fang to the lyre at the tables of the great. Hence, as Mr. Spence obferves, the propriety of the epithet "crinitas" conferred on Jopas by Virgil, which fome critics have too haftily cenfured, as wholly foreign to the purpose.

by the statesmen, fays he, to fech lengths, and effectually introduced into the private lives u citizens, and into public affairs, that one can help being furprifed at it. This, continues o fagacious politician, was, as I take it, pr entirely for the fake of the vulgar; for if a l ty of wife men only could be formed, fuc fcheme would be fuperfluous: But fince: crowd is always giddy, and often agitated by:

Nor is the Greek hiftorian fingular in hò re nion. Appius Claudius Craffus afferts, that t Romans owed the great fuccefs of their art their obfervance of the facred chicken, "Parva funt hæc," as Livy makes him t "fed parva ifta non contemnendo, majores maximam hanc rem fecerunt."

So fond was Augustus of Apollo, that, in the medals, and other reprefentations of that emperor, his face is what the Romans called an Apollinean face. This we know from hiftory, that Auguf-moft unruly paffions, fecret terrors and taga tus was really very beautiful; and Suetonius in- fictions are neceffary to restrain them within e forms us, that fome writers had even afferted, bounds. Lib. iv. that he was in fact the fon of Apollo. Vit. Aug. fect. 94. Accordingly Servius tells us, that there were ftatues of Auguftus in Rome, which reprefented him under the character, and with the attributes of that god. We alfo know, that in a certain infamous feaft made by Auguftus (at which he and five of his courtiers reprefented the fix great celestial gods, as fome of the ladies of his While the augurs were taking the auspices: court reprefented the fix great goddeffes), he obferving the heavens, all public bufioefs wa himself chose to appear with the emblems of A-termitted: Julius Cæfar first broke through pollo. All these circumstances but too plainly fhow, that the fucceffor of Julius gave in to the flattery that was paid him, and that he thought himself, at least loved to be thought by others, like Apollo. But the greatest ablurdity of all, as Mr. Spence juftly obferves, was, that because Apollo was ufually reprefented with a particular flow of light beaming from his eyes, he must needs have it fuppofed that his eyes alfo, which were really fine, darted forth fo ftrong a brightness, as to dazzle those who looked upon them too nearly, or too fteadily. "Oculos habuit claros, ac nitidos," fays Suetonius, " quibus etiam exiftimari volebat ineffe quoddam divini vigoris, gaudebatque fi quis fibi acrius contuenti quafi ad fulgorem folis, vultum fubmitteret." To fuch a pitch of extravagance does abfolute power lead even the well meaning!

Ver. 16. For the lots, fee notes on the third elegy of the first book; and who the augurs were, hath been explained already. The Harufpices, to whom, according to the Tufcan difcipline, belong the province of explaining prodigies, by in. fpecting the bowels of victims, were fervants of the public, and had salaries for attending the magiftrates in all their facrifices. Hence they never failed to accommodate their answers to the political views of those who employed them.

and Clodius, to facilitate the banishment of ro, among other laws to decoy the people, cd, that no magiftrate fhould take the or contemplate the heavens, while they w |tually affembled on public business. This tian took place A. Ú. C. 695. But the not content with this, extended the pri the uninterrupted profecution of affain "Dies fafti."

Ver. 20. The Sybil-leaves, if Rome, &c.] The writings were kept anciently in a coffer of b and depofited in a fubterranean place in the Cp tol. But that noble pile of buildings beng ftroyed by fire, A. U. C. 671, and the s books along with them, Sylla rebuilt the C and fent deputies into lonia, to collec bylline verfes, which tradition had fil They fucceeded fo well, that a volume, of a thoufand lines, was compofed from gleanings, and depofited in the Capital Ange tus Cæfar, after the death of Lepidus, when! took upon himself the office of high st "quidquid fatidicorum librorum Græci La generis, nullis vel parum idoneis auctoribus v ferebatur, fupra 2, millia, contracta undique mavit ac folos retinuit Sibyllinos." Thus, deed, when purged of what he fuppofed fpurious, Auguflus placed in two golden lock under the ftatue of Apollo, in the temple he dedicated to that god on Mount Palatine, & C. 726. Vide Sueton. in Vit. Aug. cap. 31.

As the order of priesthood, among the Romans, was, for fome ages, conferred upon none but fuch as were of the first nobility; by their influence over a people naturally fuperftitious, the balance According to Lactantius, the only Siby of power was thrown into the hands of the fenate verfes which were preferved facred from the and optimates, who, by this means, as Cicero ob- perfection of all, but that of the quindece ferves, De Legib. lib. iii. cap. 12. were often were those of the Cumaan Sibyl. Her verfe enabled to check the factious attempts of the tri-well as thofe of her filters, were compoled

bunes.

Minutius Felix, and other Chriftian writers, afcribe oracles, &c. to the intervention of the devil, or other impure spirits.

Polybius very sensibly deduces that fuperiority, which the Roman ftate had over all others, from the fuperftition of its vulgar. This was carried

roic numbers," fenis pedibus;" and, if Sym chus may be depended upon, were writ linen volumes. Lib. v.

In the fecond Punic war, when Rome wa duced to very great difficulties, the Romans fulted the Sibylline books. Thefe made the pulfion of the enemy from Italy to depend sp

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