Sad is my day, and fad my lingering night, Is now the fource of unavailing moan. What follows is an improvement on Tibullus: Where all thofe hopes, relentless fate denies? Ver. 3. What fays the fagacious Broekhufius? "Sic mulier mutet mentem non nolens, tralato in alium amore; an & tunc moriendum mifero illi, fpreto, atque rejecto? Quid fi ftupro alieno polluta fidem fallat?" Ver. 10. This rite, which is altogether foreign to English manners, Mr. Hammond has, we fear, rather injudiciously transferred into his ninth elegy: Wilt thou in tears thy lover's corfe attend? Then, flowly finking, by degrees expire. If the reader is defirous to know the manner in which the funeral pile was constructed, he may confult Boxhornius, Quæft. Rom. p. 99. who, by a figure explains the method the Romans took to diftinguish between the afhes of the burnt body, and the afhes of the wood and other combuftibles, which were thrown upon the fire: The folution of this formerly occafioned mighty controverfies amongst the critics; which might have been prevented, had they confidered, that burning, or, as the chemifts call it, calcination, does not change the figure of the bones. Ver. 12. There is a thought fimilar to this, in that beautiful pastoral ballad called Golin. and the body, preceded by the statues of the t 66 The Venus Infera, or Exa, over funerals. The Roman undertakesim a ftreet called Libitina. If the reader ind to inform himself of the funeral cerem ferent nations, he may confult Lucini difcourfe Пgs, and the notes t At the funeral of their parents, the sons attend-edition, an. 1563, as alfo Kirchmanna*** ed "velatis capitibus," but the girls went uncovered and with dishevelled hair, wearing white garments and white fillets. See Plutarch's Papama. Black, however, came afterwards to be the mourning colour, as it was in the time of our poet. Ver. 15. When a perfon died at Rome, a branch of cypress was hung over the door of the houfe, that the pontiff, and others of the facred college, might not pollute themselves by entering it. The old Commentator on Virgil fays, that the bodies of the better fort were kept feven days, burit on the eighth, and buried on the ninth. By this, the most dreadful of calamities was prevented, that of coming to life on the pile, after it was fet on fire. And that the bodies might not putrefy by being kept fo long, they were washed with proper drenches, and anointed with antifeptic unguents; after this they were fplendidly clothed, and fome pieces of money put into their mouths. The body was attended by the male and female relations of the deceased; and fometimes, as Homer mentions, by hired mourners. The attendants were called together by found of trumpet; neribus." Ver. 21. Vopius and others, authorifd by the MSS. read carbafeis humorem tollere ventis And farther support their reading by the air ty of that witty mimographer Publits where the "carbafei venti" fignify a trai covering of fine linen. Vulpius alfo find ♫= fault with the common interpretation of the fage: Quid enim frigidius excogitari p fays he, quam offa in linteo ventilari folch: exfugeretur humor, quo fparfa erant? tempore," adds he, no doubt very archly, oleribus ita guttas excutiunt coqui." And in particular he cenfures Scaliger:"Nallem terea idoneum auctorem producat, quo tiam fuam tueatur, fed quafi ex tripode ac humo fulentibus refponfa daret, fibi credi jubet." notwithstanding all this zeal, Brockhuius ftands the paffage in the fame fenfe us does, only he reads "carbafeis velis," which fupports by two paffages from Cicero's gainst Verres; adding, that though fach preffion as “ carbafei venti" might be fed ftage, or in fatire, yet in ferious compofitions it would be as cold as Varro's" vitreæ toga." The verfion includes both meanings. Ver. 22. The monuments of the more wealthy were erected of marble; and in fuch a one Tibullus defires Neæra to place the afhes of Lygdamus. There are many infcriptions in Gruterus, and fome in Reinetius, which fhow, that the Romans called a tomb" domus" (as in the original), with the adjective" æterna" annexed to it. tor has adopted that meaning, he is also of opinion, that the " celebri fronte" may fignify the fore part of the monument, which was to be rendered famous by its architecture, and efpecially by the epitaph which was to be infcribed on it. Ver. 31. The ancients, as Broekhuius obferves, had the cause of their death infcribed on their tombs, fometimes that they might acquire glory hereby, and fometimes to gain compaffion. Theocritus affords us an inftance of the latter, pretty fiVer. 29. It is certain that the Romans had of-milar to that in our peet: en their monuments erected by some public road; Τύξον ind Broekhufius interprets the" celebri fronte" of έρως εκτείνεν οιδοιπορε μη παραδευσης ELEGY III. 30 Nor power, nor all the wealth this globe contains, Yet, if the fifters, who o'er fate prefide, NOTES ON ELEGY III. Tais elegy contains a fine picture of a true philofophical lover; such truly know the unfatiffactoriness of riches or ambition, to remove the difeafes of the mind. Of this happy complexion was our poet; for a legitimate fon of Apollo can fcarce stoop to the mean purfuits of fordid intereft, but being enthufiaftically enamoured of the mufes, finds more rapture in their easy converse, than in all the preferments which kings can beftow (fee Mr. Hurd's excellent notes on Horace's Epifle to Auguftus, p. 109). The genuine poet not only immortalizes himself, but hands down the virtue of others, a fair example to lateft po fterity, and thus he becomes the undoubted guardian of the temple of fame. But can wealth or grandeur effe&uate this? Of difficult acquirement, and precarious in poffeffion, death inevitably bereaves us of both. No wonder then that our poctical inamorato only requested of the gods fuccefs in his addreffes to Neæra. In that one with all his happiness was centred with her, any station of life could pleafe; without her, no station, however fplendid, could afford him the smallest comfort. Ver. 3. How little these things are capable of making the poffeffors of them happy, has logn been known; and yet how keenly bufy are the great vulgar and the fmall in the pursuit of them? Had mankind estimated the value of poffeffions, or the extensiveness of them, by the felicity they confer, and regulated their own conduct accordingly, how many difaftrous wars and other calamitics would have been prevented? Ver. 10. Not fo my Lord Lyttleton, in his fine eclogue, intituled, Poffeffion : When late old age our heads shall filver o'er, Ver. 13. Tibullus mentions three kinds of marble; the Phrygian, which was then moft in efteem, the Lacedemonian, and the Eubean. The Romans ran into immenfe expence in the article of marble pillars; although it appears, that the Julian law endeavoured, by taxes, to reftrain that Juxury; for they, not content with the native coJours of the marble, not only painted, but ftained it. In the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences, there is an account how the latter process may be performed. Pliny tells us, that Maniurra, who commanded Cæfar's artificers (præfectus fabrorum) in Gaul, was the first who incrufted the whole infide of his houfe with marble. This Mamurra, who was a Roman knight, and born at Formiæ, is he whom Catullus lafhes in his verses. Ver. 15. The ancients diftinguished, according to Servius, between "nemus, lucus" (the words of the original), and "fylva;" the firft fignifying a regular plantation of trees; the fecond the fame, but devoted to religion; and the third a foreft (diffufa et inculta arborum multitudo). Roman writers, however, often use "nemus" and "fylva" fynonymously. The inhabitants of Rome were even more expenfive in this article than they were with regard to marble itself. Take the following inftance: Cheius Dometius having objected to Lucius Craffus, in a public debate, that the portico of his houfe was fupported by Kymettian pillars, was afked by the latter, what price he put upon his own house? And being answered, "fexagies feftertia;" Craffus again demanded, how much lefs it would be worth fhould he cut down the ten little trees that stood before it; " tricies feftertia," replied Domitius. To whom Craffus, Whether am I then, who bought ten columns" cencum millibus nummum," or you who value the fhade of ten fhrubs at “tricies feftertium," " most extravagant man? And yet, adds the fr fible miscellany writer, from whom I copy her! all this was nothing when compared to the l ury of after-times, both in their buildings a groves. And, indeed, if it is confidered, that knight's house, in the upper part of Rome, wos. fell for thirty thousand pounds Sterling, a grove fmall extent to fuch a house, must be valily penfive in a city, which, according to the ma moderate calculation, contained as many par as any city at prefent in Europe. Ver. 17. Horace has illuftrated this with ufual felicity of expreffion : Non enim Gaza, neque confularis Nor wealth, nor grandeur can controul Ver. 34. A critic of no fmall learning, the Dutch editor mentions, fuppofes that ar in this paffage alludes to the ftatue of which Phidias made of gold and ivory, le Elians. In this work of Phidias, the goddes reprefented as treading with one of her feet a tortoife; by which fymbol the unpolite meant to infinuate, that the ladies ought to filence, and mind their domestic affairs. Es this, Broekhufius wifely obferves, “ fapimus horis omnibus;" and, indeed, ifta fidered, that Venus was, by the mytholog pofed to fpring from the fea, and often to a chair of thell, what occafion was there for ing Tibullus, who always thought naturaly, lude to fo remote an object? But thus it play the fool with learning! or, as an excolent poet better expreffes it, we have here Much hard study without fenfe or breeding, And all the grave impertinence of reading. Verbal Cran If Venus had her shell of old, a modern L poet, Hadrian Marius, has bestowed a barge love, in a beautiful poem he calls Cymba Ansris, on which his brother, Johannes Secundus, compliments him: Ingeniofe Mari, ventura in fæcula tecum Me tua cymbat vehat, nou grave pondos Cymba, renidentem qua mutet Cypria concham, Quamque columbino præferat ipfa jugo. Lib. EL ELEGY IV. LAST night's ill-boding dreams, ye gods avert ! 10 Now night had lav'd her courfers in the main, Shed Syrian fweets, and o'er his shoulders flew; 30 A bloom like his, when ting'd by autumn's pride, A lyre the prefent Mulciber beslow'd, 40 "All hail, thou care of Heaven! (a virtuous bard, "The god of wine, the muses, I regard); "And I, unerring god, to you explain “(Attend and credit) what the fates ordain. "She who is fill your ever conftant care, "Dearer to you than fons to mothers are, "Whose beauties bloom in every soften'd line, "Her fex's envy, and the love of thine: 59 "Not with more warmth is female fondnefs "mov'd, [lov'd. "Not with more warmth are tendereft brides be"For whom you hourly importune the fky, "For whom you wish to live, nor fear to die, "Whofe form, when night has wrapp'd in black "the pole, "Cheats in foft vifion your enamour'd foul; "Neæra! whofe bright charms your verfe dif plays, "Seeks a new lover, and inconftant ftrays! "For thee no more with mutual warmth fhe "burns, [(purns, "But thy chafte houfe, and chafte embrace, fhe "O cruel, perjur'd, falfe, intriguing sex 70 "O born with woes poor wretched man to vex! "Whoe'er has learn'd her lover to betray, "Her beauty perifh, and her name decay! "Yet, as the fex will change, avoid defpair; "A patient homage may fubdue the fair. "Fierce love taught man to fuffer, laugh at pain'; "Fierce love taught man, with joy, to drag the "chain; 80 "Fierce love, nor vainly fabulous the tale, "Forc'd me, yes forc'd me, to the lonely dale: "There I Admetus' fnowy heifers drove, "Nor tun'd my lyre, nor fung, absorb'd in love. "The favourite fon of Heaven's almighty fire, "Preferr'd a ftraw-pipe to his golden lyre. 66 Though falfe the fair, though love is wild, "obey; "Or, youth, you know not love's tyrannic fway. And plung'd me in fubftantial griefs anew. Vows, "But neither Bacchus, nor the Thefpian nine, 50 That thou, Neæra! fought'ft another spouse? "The facred will of destiny divine: "The fecret book of destiny to see, "Heaven's awful fire has given alone to me; TRANS, I Such horrid crimes, as all mankind deteft, breaft? 3 E The ruthlefs deep, I know, was not thy fire; 103 Nor Afric's fands, nor Scythia gave thee birth; NOTES ON ELEGY IV. cans, for whofe application to harufpicy, & C. cero affigns fome extraordinary reafons. "Er autem (fays that incomparable writer and man) quod in religione imbuti, ftudiofius e maxime dediderunt: quodque propter aera fitudinem de cœlo apud eos multa fielt, et ob eandem caufam multa inufitata partim c alia ex terra oriebantur, quædam etiam erim num pecudumve conceptu et fatu; portes exercitatiffimi interpretes extiterunt." THIS is one of the finest poems in Tibullus. Our dreams are commonly the imperfect images of our waking thoughts, especially when the mind is under the influence of fome violent paffion. Thus, in particular, it fares with the genuine ina-brius hoftias immolabant, extorum cogniti morato, and fuch a one at this time was the lover of Neæra. Swallowed up in his affection for that fair one, and distracted at her affected delays to make him happy, he one night folicited fleep; but the drowly god long refifted his importunities: at last, however, the lover being fatigued with the want thercof, but more with the fucceffion of unpromifing forebodings, dropped into a flumber about the morning, but did not long enjoy this pleafing ftate of infenfibility; for, foon after, Apollo appeared, and informed him, that Neara was about to defert him for another. As this news was of a moft alarming nature, and could not fail to roufe his indignation against the fex; Apollo, by artfully adopting his fentiments o that fcore, paves the way for his recomm.ending patience as his only remedy. Apollo's fpeech concludes with a meffage to Neæra, that if fhe ever, expected happinefs, the muft think of none elfe for her husband but her former lover. This was a very dexterous way of reclaiming his niftrefs; and it may with propriety be observed, that if Apollo did not appear to our poet, he certainly | infpired the defcription which Tibullus gives of that god; as we half pardon Neæra her infidelity, in confideration of this beautiful elegy. Propertius has a fine vifion upon his miftrefs's propofing to go abroad. Ver. 6. The Roman haurufpices, of whom be. fore (Book ii. El. 6.) were called Tufcan, because their art was founded on the religious practice of Tufcany. The firft fixteen lines of this elegy are an introduction to the vifion: reafon and philofophy feemed to perfuade our lover, that dreams were not to be minded: but fuperftition, and thofe fears which are fo natural to love, won him over to the other fide. He therefore entreats Lucina, that as he was not conicious of having acted any otherwife than as became a man of probity, fhe would be pleafed (ut velit) to render all his fears groundless. | Ver. 13. Some interpreters understand to be the Lucina of the original, but tha certainly meant Juno Lucina, or the gods light and of matrimony. Feftus and Varre : rive the appellation Lucina from “lux, k but Pliny, with whom Ovid also, in one pist his Fafti, agrees, thinks that Juno was called cina from "lucus" Both etymologies, how-t at last turn out to be the fame. "Na 1 (fays Broekhufius) dici a luce luminum rega causa ex arboribus fufpenforum fatis conêz Ver. 17. Tibullus is the only poet of who bellows on night a chariot and four; rini is the only one among the moderns wala imitated him. This he does in a prologu, fixed to a wretched pastoral drama, intita de Sciro, composed by Count Giudubaido es 5narelli. Chiunque haver defia Di mia condition piena contezza, Miri, e quefti aurei fregi: e foprà poi Our poet, in imitation of Homer, cal's the fions were truly prophetic which appeared morning. Certiora et colatiora (ays Ten lian) de anima fomniari affirmant fub extrem noctibus;" or, as Ovid expreffes it is his ep of Hero to Leander, Ver. 21. The ancients thought that those fub Auroram, jam dormitante lucerna, Somnia quo cerni tempore vera folent. Ver. 9. The oblations mentioned in the text are the holy cake (farre pio) and falt (et faliente | Mr. Pope begins his intelle&ual vifion of the Tra fale). This the Romans alio learn from the Tufple of Fame at the fame time: |