Rose, thou art the sweetest flower That ever drank the amber shower; Of dimpled Spring, the wood-nymph wild. The wanton winding dance he traces.] "This sweet idea of Love dancing with the Graces, is almost peculiar to Anacreon." Degen. 2 I lead some bright nymph through the dance, &c.] The epithet Babvxores, which he gives to the nymph, is literally "full-bosomed." 3 Then let us never vainly stray, In search of thorns, from pleasure's way; &c.] I have thus endeavoured to convey the meaning of Ti de TOY Biov λxvw; according to Regnier's paraphrase of the line: E che val, fuor della strada Del piacere alma e gradita, Vaneggiare in questa vita? 4 The fastidious affectation of some commentators has denounced this ode as spurious. Degen pronounces the four last lines to be the patch-work of some miserable versificator, and Brunck condemns the whole ode. It appears to me, on the contrary, to be elegantly graphical; full of delicate expressions and luxuriant imagery. The abruptness of Ideas Lagos Cavivros is striking and spirited, and has been imitated rather languidly by Horace : Vides ut alta stet nive candidum The imperative ds is infinitely more impressive; — as in Shakspeare, But look, the morn, in russet mantle clad, But wisely quaff the rosy wave, ODE XLVI.4 BEHOLD, the young, the rosy Spring, Now the earth prolific swells Through the velvet foliage peeping, Nursing into luxury. There is a simple and poetical description of Spring, in Catullus's beautiful farewell to Bithynia. Carm. 44. Barnes conjectures, in his life of our poet, that this ode was written after he had returned from Athens, to settle in his paternal seat at Teos; where, in a little villa at some distance from the city, commanding a view of the Ægean Sea and the islands, he contemplated the beauties of nature and enjoyed the felicities of retirement. Vide Barnes, in Anac. Vita, XXXV. This supposition, however unauthenticated, forms a pleasing association, which renders the poem more interesting. Chevreau says, that Gregory Nazianzenus has paraphrased somewhere this description of Spring; but I cannot meet with it. See Chevreau, Œuvres Mêlées. "Compare with this ode (says Degen) the verses of Hagedorn, book fourth, der Frühling,' and book fifth, der Mai.'" 5 While virgin Graces, warm with May, Fling roses o'er her dewy way.] De Pauw reads, Xagitas poda Bevouri, "the roses display their graces." This is not uningenious; but we lose by it the beauty of the personification, to the boldness of which Regnier has rather frivolously objected. 6 The murmuring billows of the deep Have languish'd into silent sleep; &c.] It has been justly remarked, that the liquid flow of the line απαλυνεται γαληνη is perfectly expressive of the tranquillity which it describes. 7 And cultur'd field, and winding stream, &c.] By Seera Beza "the works of men" (says Baxter), he means cities, temples, and towns, which are then illuminated by the beams of the sun. ODE XLVII. 'Tis true, my fading years decline, Whose cheeks the flush of morning wear; Let those, who pant for Glory's charms, Embrace her in the field of arms; With blushes borrow'd from my wine, ODE XLVIII. WHEN my thirsty soul I steep, But brandishing a rosy flask, &c.] Arxes was a kind of leathern vessel for wine, very much in use, as should seem by the proverb xoxes xai Judaxes, which was applied to those who were intemperate in eating and drinking. This proverb is mentioned in some verses quoted by Athenæus, from the Hesione of Alexis. * The only thyrsus ere I'll ask!] Phornutus assigns as a reason for the consecration of the thyrsus to Bacchus, that inebriety often renders the support of a stick very necessary. Ivy leaves my brow entwining, &c.] "The ivy was consecrated to Bacchus (says Montfaucon), because he formerly lay hid under that tree, or, as others will have it, because its leaves resemble those of the vine." Other reasons for its consecration, and the use of it in garlands at banquets, may be found in Longepierre, Barnes, &c. &c. ↑ Arm ye, arm ye, men of might, Hasten to the sanguine fight;] I have adopted the interpretation of Regnier and others: On my velvet couch reclining, I would spurn them all away! ODE XLIX. 5 WHEN Bacchus, Jove's immortal boy, Who, with the sunshine of the bowl, Sing, sing of love, let music's sound Altri segua Marte fero; Che sol Bacco è 'l mio conforto. 5 This, the preceding ode, and a few more of the same character, are merely chansons à boire ; — the effusions probably of the moment of conviviality, and afterwards sung, we may imagine, with rapture throughout Greece. But that interesting association, by which they always recalled the convivial emotions that produced them, can now be little felt even by the most enthusiastic reader; and much less by a phlegmatic grammarian, who sees nothing in them but dialects and particles. 6 Who, with the sunshine of the bowl, Thaws the winter of our soul—&c.] Avalos is the title which he gives to Bacchus in the original. It is a curious circumstance that Plutarch mistook the name of Levi among the Jews for A (one of the bacchanal cries), and accordingly supposed that they worshipped Bacchus. D ODE L.1 WHEN wine I quaff, before my eyes And while we dance through vernal bowers, 3 Till the gale breathes of nought but him! Dreams of poetic glory rise ;] Anacreon is not the only one (says Longepierre) whom wine has inspired with poetry. We find an epigram in the first book of the Anthologia, which begins thus: Οίνος το χαριέντι μέγας πέλει ἱππος αοιδῳ, Ύδωρ δε πίνων, καλόν ου τέκοις επός. If with water you fill up your glasses, You'll never write any thing wise; 3 And while we dance through vernal bowers, &c.] If some of the translators had observed Doctor Trapp's caution, with regard to πολυανθεσιν μ' εν αύραις, “Cave ne coelum intelligas," they would not have spoiled the simplicity of Anacreon's fancy, by such extravagant conceptions as the following: Quand je bois, mon œil s'imagine Que, dans un tourbillon plein de parfums divers, Rempli de sa liqueur divine. Bright shapes, of every hue and form, That none but social spirits know, ODE LI.5 FLY not thus my brow of snow, Or this: Indi mi mena Mentre lieto ebro, deliro, Baccho in giro Per la vaga aura serena. 4 When, with young revellers, round the bowl, The old themselves grow young in soul!] Subjoined to Gail's edition of Anacreon, we find some curious letters upon the go of the ancients, which appeared in the French Journals. At the opening of the Odéon in Paris, the managers of that spectacle requested Professor Gail to give them some uncommon name for their fetes. He suggested the word Thiase," which was adopted; but the literati of Paris questioned the propriety of the term, and addressed their criticisms to Gail through the medium of the public prints. 5 Alberti has imitated this ode; and Capilupus, in the following epigram, has given a version of it: Cur, Lalage, mea vita, meos contemnis amores? Oh! why repel my soul's impassion'd vow, See, in yonder flowery braid, Just, my girl, like thee and me! And there's an end- for ah, you know They drink but little wine below! + "In the same Cuild for thee, my blushing maid!] manner that Anacreon pleads for the whiteness of his locks, from the beauty of the colour in garlands, a shepherd, in Theocritus, endeavours to recommend his black hair : Και το ιον μέλαν εστι, και ά γραπτα ύακινθος, 2 "This is doubtless the work of a more modern poet than Anacreon; for at the period when he lived rhetoricians were not known."- Degen. Though this ode is found in the Vatican manuscript, I am much inclined to agree in this argument against its authenticity; for though the dawnings of the art of rhetoric might already have appeared, the first who gave it any celebrity was Corax of Syracuse, and he flourished in the century after Anacreon. Our poet anticipated the ideas of Epicurus, in his aversion to the labours of learning, as well as his devotion to voluptuousness. Harav zaideiar panagini Çiy, said the philosopher of the garden in a letter to Pythocles. 3 Teach me this, and let me twine Some fond, responsive heart to mine.] By xevers AcgoAre here, I understand some beautiful girl, in the same manner that Avaier is often used for wine. "Golden" is frequently an epithet of beauty. Thus in Virgil, "Venus aurea;" and in Propertius, "Cynthia aurea." Tibullus, however, calls an old woman "golden." The translation d'Autori Anonimi, as usual, wantons on this passage of Anacreon: ODE LIII. WHEN I behold the festive train E m'insegni con piu rare Il bel cinto d' onestade. 4 And there's an end—for ah, you know They drink but little wine below!] Thus Mainard: - Nous ont enfermés une fois Au sein d'une fosse profonde, Ma science ne trouve pas Des cabarets en l'autre monde. From Mainard, Gombauld, and De Cailly, old French have been borrowed. poets, some of the best epigrams of the English language 5 Bid the blush of summer's rose Burn upon my forehead's snows; &c.] Licetus, in his Hieroglyphica, quoting two of our poet's odes, where he calls to his attendants for garlands, remarks, "Constat igitur floreas coronas poetis et potantibus in symposio convenire, non autem sapientibus et philosophiam affectantibus."-" It appears that wreaths of flowers were adapted for poets and revellers at banquets, but by no means became those who had pretensions to wisdom and philosophy." On this principle, in his 152d chapter, he discovers a refinement in Virgil, describing the garland of the poet Silenus, as fallen off; which distinguishes, he thinks, the divine intoxication of Silenus from that of common drunkards, who always wear their crowns while they drink. Such is the "labor ineptiarum" of commentators! 6 He still can kiss the goblet's brim; &c.] Wine is pre Whose breath perfumes th' Olympian bowers; scribed by Galen, as an excellent medicine for old men: "Quod frigidos et humoribus expletos calefaciat, &c. ;" but Nature was Anacreon's physician. There is a proverb in Eriphus, as quoted by Athenæus, which says, "that wipe makes an old man dance, whether he will or not." Λογος εστ' αρχαίος, ου κακώς έχων, Οίνου λεγουσι τους γέροντας, ο πατές, 1"This ode is written upon a picture which represented the rape of Europa."- Madame Dacier. It may probably have been a description of one of those coins, which the Sidonians struck off in honour of Europa, representing a woman carried across the sea by a bull. Thus Natalis Comes, lib. viii. cap. 23. "Sidonii numismata cum fœmina tauri dorso insidente ac mare transfretante cuderunt in ejus honorem " In the little treatise upon the goddess of Syria, attributed very falsely to Lucian, there is mention of this coin, and of a temple dedicated by the Sidonians to Astarté, whom some, it appears, confounded with Europa. The poet Moschus has left a very beautiful idyl on the story of Europa. 2 No: he descends from climes above, He looks the God, he breathes of Jove!] Thus Moschus: Κρύψε θεον και τρέψε δέμας και γινετο ταυρός. 3 This ode is a brilliant panegyric on the rose. "All antiquity (says Barnes) has produced nothing more beautiful.” From the idea of peculiar excellence, which the ancients attached to this flower, arose a pretty proverbial expression, used by Aristophanes, according to Suidas, poda μ' signnas, "You have spoken roses," a phrase somewhat similar to the "dire des fleurettes" of the French. In the same idea of excellence originated, I doubt not, a very curious application of the word padov, for which the inquisitive reader may consult Gaulminus upon the epithalamium of our poet, where it is introduced in the romance of Theodorus. Muretus, in one of his elegies, calls his mistress his rose: Jam te igitur rursus teneo, formosula, jam te (Quid trepidas ?) teneo; jam, rosa, te teneo. Now I again may clasp thee, dearest, What is there now, on earth, thou fearest? Eleg. 8. Again these longing arms infold thee, This, like most of the terms of endearment in the modern Latin poets, is taken from Plautus; they were vulgar and colloquial in his time, but are among the elegancies of the modern Latinists. Passeratius alludes to the ode before us, in the beginning of his poem on the Rose: Carmine digna rosa est; vellem caneretur ut illam A Resplendent rose! to thee we'll sing;] I have passed over the line συν έταιρες αύξει μέλπην, which is corrupt in this original reading, and has been very little improved by the annotators. I should suppose it to be an interpolation, if it were not for a line which occurs afterwards: pige de queix λεγωμεν. 5 And Venus, in its fresh-blown leaves, &c.] Belleau, in a note upon an old French poet, quoting the original here acgodician & aqua, translates it, "comme les délices et mignardises de Venus." 6 Oft hath the poet's magic tongue The rose's fair luxuriance sung; &c.] The following is a fragment of the Lesbian poetess. It is cited in the romance of Achilles Tatius, who appears to have resolved the numbers into prose. Ει τοις ανθεσιν ηθελεν ὁ Ζευς επιθείναι βασιλέα, το ροδον αν των ανθέων εξασίλευε. γης εστι κόσμος, φυτων αγλαϊσμα, οφθαλμος ανθέων, λειμώνος ερυθημα, κάλλος αστραπτον. Έρωτος πνεί, Αφροδίτην προξενεί, ευείδεσι φυλλος κομά, ευκίνητοις πεταλεις τρυφά, το πέταλον των Ζεφυρῳ γελά. If Jove would give the leafy bowers |