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be admitted into this volume: Scaliger, Cafaubon, and Dan. Heinfius, have left more notes upon it in proportion than upon any of the other Idylliums. Creech has done it into English; but the spirit is evaporated, and nothing remains but a caput mortuum. Dryden generally improves and expatiates upon any fubject that is ludicrous, and therefore the tenor of his tranflation will be found very different. The last five lines in Greek he has expanded into fourteen.

IDYLLIUM XXVIII.

THE DISTAFF.

ARGUMENT.

THEOCRITUS, going to visit his friend Nicias, the Milesian physician, to whom he has addressed the 11th and 13th Idylliums, carries an ivory diftaff as a prefent for Theugenis, his friend's wife, and accompanies it with these verses, in which he modeftly commends the matron's industry and virtue.

ODISTAFF, friend to warp and woof, Minerva's gift in man's behoof, Whom careful housewives ftill retain, And gather to their household's gain; With me repair, no vulgar prize, Where the fam'd towers of Nileus rife, Where Cytherea's fwayful power Is worshipp'd in the reedy bower. Thither, would Jove kind breezes fend, I fleer my courfe to meet my friend, Nicias, the graces' honour'd child, Adorn'd with fweet perfuafion mild; That I his kindness may requite, May be delighted, and delight. Thee, ivory diftaff I provide, A prefent for his blooming bride. With her thou wilt fweet toil partake, And aid her various vests to make. For Theugenis, the shepherds shear The Beep's foft fleeces twice a-year.

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So dearly industry she loves,

And all that wisdom points approves.

I ne'er defign'd to bear thee hence
To the dull houfe of indolence:
For in that city thou wert fram'd
Which Archias built, Corinthian fam'd,
Fair Syracufe, Sicilia's pride,

Where troops of famous men abide.
Dwell thou with him whofe art can cure
Each dire disease that men endure;
'Thee to Miletus now I give,
Where pleasure.crown'd Ionians live,
That Theugenis by thee may gain
Fair honour with the female train;
And thou renew within her breast
Remembrance of her muse-charm'd guest.
Admiring thee, each maid will call
The favour great, the prefent fmall;
For love the smallest gift commends;
20 All things are valued by our friends.

30

NOTES ON IDYLLIUM XXVIII.

Ver. 6. That is, Miletus, a famous city of lonia, lying fouth of the river Meander on the fea-coaft. It was founded, according to Strabo, by Nilius the fon of Codrus, king of Athens, when he first settled in that part of Afia. See Universal History. The fine garments made of Milefian wool were in great efteem with the Roman ladies: Horace has, Mileti textam chlamydem," B. 1. Ep. 17. and “ Virgil, Milesia vellera,” Geor. 3.

Ver. 25. Syracufe, once the metropolis of all Sicily, and a moft flourishing commonwealth, was,

according to Tully, the greatest and most wealthy of all the cities poffeffed by the Greeks. Thucydides equals it to Athens, when that city was at the height of its glory; and Strabo calls it one of the most famous cities of the world for its advantageous fituation, the statelinefs of its buildings, and the immenfe wealth of its inhabitants. It was built by Archias, one of the Heraclida, who came from Corinth into Sicily, in the second year of the eleventh Olympiad. Univ. Hift.

Ver. 38. Ineft fua gratia parvis.

IDYLLIUM XXIX.

THE MISTRESS.

THE ARGUMENT.

Tars is an expoftulation with his miftrefs for her inconftancy in love. In the original it is called nadine. I have taken the liberty to make a change in the application of it, which renders it far more obvious and natural.

WINE, lovely maid, and truth agree;
I'm mellow learn this truth from me;
And hear my fecret thoughts; "I find,
"You love me not with all your mind."
Your beauty life and vigour gives,
In you my half existence lives;
The other half has fadly fped,
The other half, alas! is dead.
Whene'er you fmile aufpicious love,
I'm happy as the gods above;
Whene'er your frowns difpleasure show,
I'm wretched as the fiends below.
Sure 'tis unmeet with cold difdain
To torture thus a love fick fwain:
But could my words your thoughts engage,
Experience is the boast of age,

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Take counfel, and when crown'd with store Of bleffings, then you'll praise me more.

"Build in one tree a single neft,
"Which no curft reptile can infeft."
Fond and unfix'd you wander now •
From tree to tree, from bough to bough.
If any youth your charms commends
You rank him with your faithful friends,
Your first true lovers fet afide;
This looks like vanity and pride.
Would you live long and happy too,
Love fome kind equal that loves you.
This will efteem and favour gain,
Such love will never give you pain;
This wins all hearts, and will controul
The ftubborn temper of my foul.
If with my counsel you agree,
Give me fweet kifles for my fee.

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VENUS orders the Cupids to bring the boar that had flain Adonis before her: fhe feverely upbraids him with his crime, but being fatisfied that it was accidentally done, the orders him to be released. The measure of the verfe is Anacreontic.

WHEN Venus faw Adonis dead,
And from his cheeks the rofes fled,
His lovely locks diftain'd with gore:
She bade her Cupids bring the boar,

The boar that had her lover flain,
The caufe of all her grief and pain.
Swift as the pinion'd birds they rove
Through every wood, through every grove →

And when the guilty boar they found,
With cords they bound him, doubly-bound; 10
One with a chain, fecure and strong,
Haul'd him unwillingly along ;
One pinch'd his tail to make him go,
Another beat him with his bow :

The more they urg'd, the more they dragg'd,
The more reluctantly he lagg'd.
Guilt in his conscious looks appear'd;
He much the angry goddess fear'd.
To Venus foon the boar they lad-
"O cruel, cruel beaft! fhe faid,
"Durst thou that thigh with blood diftain ?
"Haft thou my dearest lover flain ?"
Submiffive he replies; I swear

By thee, fair queen; by all that's dear; By thy ford lover; by this chain; And by this numerous hunter-train; 'I ne'er defign'd, with impious tooth, • To wound so beautiful a youth:

No;
but with love and frenzy warm,
(So far has beauty power to charm!)
I long'd, this crime I'll not deny,
To kifs that fair, that naked thigh.
These tufks then punish, if you please,
Thefe are offenders, draw out these.
Of no more use they now can prove
To me, the votaries of love!
My guilty lips, if not content,
My lips fhall fhare the punishment,'
These words, fo movingly expreft,
20 Infus'd foft pity in her breast;

The queen relented at his plea,
And bade her Cupids fet him free:
But from that day he join'd her train,
Nor to the woods return'd again;
And all thofe teeth he burnt with fire,
Which glow'd before with keen defire.

NOTES ON IDYLLIUM XXX.

Ver. 23. Thus Sinon in Virgil,
Vos, æterni ignes, &c.

This little poem is a fine imitation of Anacreon: These, with his bow unbent, he lash'd along. Theocritus had before, in his nineteenth Idyllium, copied that delicate master in every thing but the mature of his verfe. Bion has a moft beautiful Idylum on the fame subject. Longepierre fays of this Ode of Theocritus, " Cette petite piéce m'a toujours paru fi jolie, que je croy qu'on me *pardonnera eifément si j'en donne icy une tra"duction."

Ver. 14. Thus Ulyffes drives the horfes of
Rheíus with his bow, Il. B. 10.

Ulyffes now the fnowy steeds detains,
And leads them, fasten'd by the filver reins;

You, the eternal fplendours, he exclaims,
And you divine inviolable flames,
Ye fatal fwords, and altars, which I fled,
Ye wreaths which circled this devoted head;
All, all atteft.

Pope.

Pitt.

Ver. 45. The Greek is, Eman rws seuras, exuffit amores, i. e. amatorios dentes.

THE

EPIGRAMS OF THEOCRITUS.

1. Offerings to the Mufes and Apollo.

THIS wild thyme, and these rofes, moift with
dews,

Are facred to the Heliconian Muse,
The bay, Apollo, with dark leaves is thine;
Thus art thou honour'd at the Delphic shrine;
And there to thee this fhagg'd he-goat I vow,
That loves to crop the pine-tree's pendant bough.

II. An Offering to Pan.

DAPHNIS the fair, who with bucolic fong,
And paftoral pipe could charm the listening throng,

To Pan prefents these emblems of his art,
A fawn's foft fkin, a crook, and pointed dart,
Three rural pipes, adapted to his lip,
And for his homely food a leathern scrip.

III. To Daphnis Sleeping.

ON earth's foft lap, with leafy honours spread,
You, Daphnis, lull to reft your weary head:
While on the hill your fnares for birds are laid,
Pan hunts your footsteps in the secret shade,
And rude Priapus, on whofe temples wave
Gold ivy's leaves, refolv'd to find your cave:
Ah! fly thefe revellers, at distance keep,
And inftant burft the filken bands of fleep.

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IV. A Vow to Priapus.

Ir by those oaks with roving ftep you wind,
An image fresh of fig-tree form'd you'll find;
Though cloth'd with bark, three legg'd and void
of ears,

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ΙΟ

Prompt for the pranks of pleasure he appears
Springs gufh perennial from the rocky hill,
And round the grotto roll their sparkling rill:
Green myrtles, bays, and cypress sweet abound,
And vines diffuse their circling arms around.
The vernal oufels their fhrill notes prolong,
And modulate the loudly varied fong ;-
Sweet nightingales in foft-opponent strain,
Perch'd on the fpray melodiously complain.
Repose you there, and to Priapus pray,
That Daphne may no more my bofom fway:
Grant this, a goat fhall at his altar bleed;
But if I gain the maid, three victims are decreed;
A flall-fed lamb, a goat, and heifer fair:
Thus may the god propitious hear my prayer.

V. The Concert.

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SAY wilt thou warble to thy double flute,
And make its melody thy music fuit?
Then, by the nymphe Ifwear, I'll fnatch the quill,
And on the rural lyre effay my fkill:
The herdfman, Daphnis, on his reed fhall play, 5
Whose sprightly numbers make the fhepherds gay,
Faft by yon rugged oak our ftand, we'll keep,
And rob th' Arcadian deity of fleep.

VI. Thyrfis has loft bis Kid.

WHAT profit gain you, wretched Thyrfis, fay,
Thus, thus to weep and languish life away
Loft is your favourite kid; the wolf has tore
His tender limbs, and feafted on his gore;
Your very dogs exclaim, and cry," What gain, 5
When neither bones, nor afhes now remain !"

VII. On the Statue of Efculapius.

AT fam'd Miletus, Pæon's fon the wife
Arriv'd, with learned Nicias to advise,
Who to his fhrine with daily offerings came,
And rais'd this cedar ftatue to his fame;
The cedar ftatue by Eetion wrought,
Illuftrious artist! for large fums he bought;
The work is finish'd to the owner's will,
For here the sculptor lavish'd all his skill.

VIII. Orthon's Epitaph.

To every toping traveller that lives,
Orthon of Syracufe this warning gives,
With wine o'erheated, and depriv'd of light,
Forbear to travel on a winter's night;
This was my fate; and for my native land
I now lie buried on a foreign frand.

IX. On the Fate of Cleonicus,

O STRANGER: fpare thy life fo fhort and frail,
Nor, but when times are feasonable, fail.
Poor Cleonicus, innocent of guile,
From Syria haften'd to rich Thafos' ifle;

5

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The Pleiads funk as he approach'd the shore; $ With them he funk, to rife, alas! no more.

X. On a Monument Erected to the Muses. HERE Xenocles hath rais'd this marble shrine, Skill'd in fweet mufic to the tuneful nine: He from his art acquires immortal fame,

And grateful owns the fountain whence it came.

XI. Epitaph on Euflbenes the Phyfiognomift.

To Eufthenes, the first in wisdom's lift,
Philofopher and physiognomist,

This tomb is rais'd: he from the eye could fean
The cover'd thought, and read the very man.
By strangers was his decent bier adorn'd,
By ftrangers honour'd, and by poets mourn'd:
Whate'er the fophift merited he gain'd,
And dead, a grave in foreign realms obtain❜d.

S

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XVII. On Epicharmus.

Tuz ftyle is Doric; Epicharmus he,
The poet who invented comedy:

5

This ftatue, Bacchus, facred stands to you;
Accept a brazen image for the true.
The finish'd form at Syracuse is plac'd,
And as is meet, with lafting honours grac'd.
Far fam'd for wisdom, the preceptive bard
Taught thofe who gave the merited reward;
Mach praise he gains who form'd ingenuous youth,
And how'd the paths to virtue, and to truth.

XVIII. Epitaph on Clita, the Nurfe of Medeus.
Medzus rais'd, inspir'd by grateful pride,
This tomb to Clits by the high way fide:
We still commend her for her fostering care;
And praise the matron when we praise the heir.

XIX. On Archilochus.

ALCHILOCHUS, that ancient bard, behold!
Arm'd with his own iambics keen and bold;

ΙΟ

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NOTES ON THE EPIGRAMS.

Thefe epigrams were never tranflated into English before. The fix that firft prefent themfelves, are a true model of the ruftic sweetness, and delicate fimplicity of the ancient Greek epi

gram.

Ver. 2. That the rofe was confecrated to the Mufes, appears from Anacreon, Ode 53. Xaguy

la fabled fong, and tuneful lays,
Their favourite rofe the Muses praise.

And Sappho, Frag. 2.

For thy rude hand ne'er pluck'd the lovely rose,
That on the mountain of Pieria blows.

F. F.

that be, probably this Daphnis was the first subject of bucolic fongs.

III. Ver. 6. The Greek is, xgoxovra X. This is probably the pallens, or alba bederas of Virgil, on which Dr. Martyn obferves (fee his notes on Ecl. 7. ver. 38.), it is most likely that fort of ivy with yellow berries, which was used in the garlands with which poets used to be crowned, and Ecl. 8. ver. 13. The poetical ivy is that fort with golden berries, or bedera baccis aureis.

IV. Ver. 2. The ancients often hewed the image of Priapus out of a fig-tree.

Olim truncus cram ficulnus, &c. Hor. Sat. 8. B. 1.
Ver. 14. I have taken the liberty to address this

Ver. 5. Virgil and Horace have fomething fi- Epigram to Daphne, instead of Daphnis, puella et

vilar.

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on paftori.

Ver. 15. Here I follow the ingenious interpretation of Dan. Heinfius.

V. Ver. 8. In the firft Idyllium, the fhepherds are afraid of disturbing the Arcadian god's repose. See ver. 20,

VII. Ver. 1. Æfculapius, the fon of Apollo, was called Pæon or Пav, becaufe of his art in affuaging and curing diseases.

VIII. Ver. 5. I here follow the ingenious cmendation of Heinfius.

IX. In all the editions of Theocritus in the ori

ginal, there is only the firft diftich of this Epi

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