a

Among the Epigrams of the Anthologia, are found And there shall many a fount distil, some panegyrics on Anacreon, which I had trans- And many a rill refresh the flowers; lated, and originally intended as a sort of Coronis to But wine shall be each purple rill, this work. But I found, upon consi

tion, that And every fount bo milky showers. they wanted variety; and that a frequent recurrence, in them, of the same thought, would render a Thus, shade of him, whom Nature taught collection of such poems uninteresting. I shall take To tune his lyre and soul to pleasure, the liberty, however, of subjoining a fow, selected Who gave to love his tenderest thought, from the number, that I may not appear to have

Who gave to love his fondest measure, totally neglected those ancient tributes to the fame of Anacreon. The four epigrams which I give are

Thus, after death, if shades can feel, imputed to Antipater Sidonius. They are rendered, Thou may’st, from odors round thee streaming, porhaps, with too much freedom; but designing A pulse of past enjoyment steal, originally a translation of all that are extant on the And live again in blissful dreaming !

Odi et amo; qnare id faciam fortasse requiris;

about his illness and death, which are meztioned as caricas Nescio: sed fieri sentio, et excrucior. Carm. 53. by Pliny and others ;-and there reinain of his works but a

few epigrams in the Anthologia, among which are found I love thee and hate thee, but if I can tell The cause of my love and my hate, may I die.

these inscriptions upon Anacreon. These remains have been

sometimes imputed to another poeta of the same name, of I can feel it, alas ! I can feel it too well,

whom Vossius gives us the following acconnt:"Antipater That I love thee and hate thee, but cannot tell why,

Thessalonicensis vixit tempore Angusti Cæsaris, ut qui sal2 This is also in Hephaestion, and perhaps is a fragment of tantem viderit Pyladem, sicut constat ex qnodam ejus episome poem in which Anacreon had commemorated the fate grammate Ανθολογιας, ib. iv. tit. εις ορχεστριδας. At eam ac of Sappho. It is the 123d of Barnes.

Bathyllum primos fuisse pantomimos ac sub Angusto cla

ruisse, sutis notum ex Dione, &c. &c." · Collected by Barnes, from Demetrius Phalareus and Eus

The reader, who thinks it worth observing, may hnd a tathius, and suhjoined in his edition to the cpigrams attribu

strange oversight in Hoffman's quotation of this article from led to our poet. And here is the last of those little scattered

Vossins, Lexic. Univers. By the omission of a sentence, he flowers, which I thonght I might venture with any grace to

has made Vossius assert that the poet Antipater was one of transplant;-happy if it could be said of the garland which

the first pantomime dancers in Rome. they form, To d' w? Avoxpcovtos.

Barnes, upon the epigram before us, mentions a version of 3 Antipater Sidonius, the author of this epigram, lived, ac- it by Brodæus, which is not to be found in that commentacording to Vossius, de Poetis Græcis, in the second year of tor; but he more than once confounds Brodæus with another the 169th Olympiad. He appears, from what Cicero and annotator on the Anthologia, Vincentius Obsopæus, who has Quintilian have said of him, to have been a kind of improv- given a translation of the epigram. visatore. See Institut. Orat. lib. x. cap. 7. There is nothing

ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ, ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΥΤΟΝ.

ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ, ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΥΤΟΝ. ΤΥΜΒΟΣ Ανατρείοντος. o Τηϊος ενθασε κυκνος ΞΕΙΝΕ, ταφον παρα λιτον Ανακρειoντoς αμειβω», Εύξει, χή παιδων ζωροτατη μανιη.

Ει τι τοι εκ βιβλων ηλθεν εμων οφελος, Λαμην λειριοεντι μελιζεται αμφι Βαθυλλω

Σπεισον εμη σπoδιη, σπεισον γανος, οφρα κεν οινω Ιμερα και κισσου λευκος οδωδε λιθος.

Οστεα γηθησε ταμα νοτιζομενα,
Ουδ' Αιδης σοι ερωτας απεσβεσεν, εν δ' Αχεροντος "Ως Διονυσου μεμελημενος ουασι κωμος,
Ων, όλος ωδινεις Κυπριδι θερμότερη.

Ως και φιλακρη του συντροφος αρμονιης,

Μηδε καταφθιμενος Βακχου διχα τουτον υπoισω
Here sleeps Anacreon, in this ivied shade;

Τον γενεη μεροπων χωρον οφειλομενον.
Here mute in death the Teian swan is laid.'
Cold, cold that heart, which while on earth it dwelt Ou stranger! if Anacreon's shell
All the sweet phrensy of love's passion felt.

Has ever taught thy heart to swello
And yet, oh Bard! thou art not mute in death,

With passion's throb or pleasure's sigh, Still do we catch thy lyre's luxurious breath;"

In pity turn, as wand'ring nigh, And still thy songs of soft Bathylla bloom,

And drop thy goblet's richest tear Green as the ivy round thy mould'ring tomb.

In tenderest libation here ! Nor yet has death obscured thy fire of love,

So shall my sleeping ashes thrill For still it lights thee through the Elysian grove;

With visions of enjoyment still. Where dreams are thine, that bless th' elect alone,

Not even in death can I resiga And Venus calls thee even in death her own!

The festal joys that once were mino, I— the Teian stan is laid.) Thus Horace of Pindar:

- if Anacreon's shell Multa Dircæum levat aura cycnum.

Has ever taught thy heart to swell, &c.] We may guess

from the words εκ βιβλων εμων, that Anacreon was not A swan was the hieroglyphical emblem of a poet. Anacreon

merely a writer of billets-doux, as some French critics have has been called the swan of Teos by another of his eulogists.

called him. Among these Mr. Le Fevre, with all his proΕν τοις μελιχροις Ίμεροισι συντροφος

fessed admiration, has given our poet a character by no Aυαιος Ανακρέοντα, Τηίον κυκνον,

means of an elevated cast:
Εσφηλας υγρη νεκταρος μεληδονη.

Anssi c'est pour cela que la postérité
Ευγενους, Ανθολογ.

L'a toujours justement d'age en nge chante

Comme un franc goguenard, ami de goinfrerie,
God of the grape! thon hast betray'd

Ami de billets-doux et de badinerie.
In wine's bewildering dream,
The fairest swan that ever play'd

See the verses prefixed to his Poëtes Grecs. This is unlike
Along the Musc's stream :-

the language of Theocritus, to whom Anacreon is indebted The Teian, nursed with all those honey'd boys,

for the following simple eulogium:-The young Desires, light Loves, and rose-lipp'd Joys !

ΕΙΣ ΑΝΑΚΡΕΟΝΤΟΣ ΑΝΔΡΙΑΝΤΑ. : Suill do we catch thy lyre's luxurious breath;] Thus

θασαι τον ανδριάντα τουτον, ω ξενε, Simonides, speaking of our poet:

σπουδα, και λεγ', επαν ες οικον ενθης.

Ανακρέοντος εικον' ειδων εν Τεω, Μολπης δ' ου ληθη μελιτερπεος αλλ' ετε κεινο

των προσθ' ει τι περισσον ωθοποιων. Βαρβιτον ουδε θανων ευνασεν ειν αϊδη.

προσθεις δε χώτι τους νεοισιν άδετο, Σιμονιδου, Ανθολογ.

ερεις ατρακεως ολον τον ανδρα,
Nor yet are all his numbers mute,

UPON THE STATUE OF ANACREON.
Though dark within the tomb he lies;

Stranger! who near this statue chance to roam,
But living still, his amorous Jute

Let it awhile your studious eyes engage;
With sleepless animation sighs !

That you may say, returning to your home,
This is the famous Simonides, whom Plato styled “divine,"

" I've seen the image of the Teian sage, though Le Fevre, in his Poëtes Grecs, supposes that the ep

Best of the bards who deck the Muse's page." igrams under bis name are all falsely inpated. The most Then, if you add, “That striplings loved him well," considerable of his remains is a satirical poem upon women, You tell them all he was, and aptly tell. preserved by Stobaeus, ψυγος γυναικων.

I have endeavored to do justice to the simplicity of this inWe may judge from the lines I have just quoted, and the import or the epigram before us, that the works ot' Anacreon

scription by rendering it as literally, I believe, as a verso

translation will allow. were perfect in the times of Simonides and Antipater. Obsopæns, the commentator here, appears to exult in their

6 And drop thy goblet's richest tear, &c.) Thus Simonides, destruction, and telling us they were burned by the bishops in another of his epitaphs on onr poet: and patriarchs, he adds, “nec sane id necquicquam fece- Και μιν αει τεγγοι νοτερη δροσος, ης και γεοαιος runt," attributing to this outrage an effect which it could not

Λαροτερον μιλακων επνεεν εκ στοματων. possibly have produced.

Let vines, in clust'ring beauty wreath'd, • The spirit of Anacreon is snpposed to utter these verses

Drop all their treasures on his head, from the tomb.--somewhat “mutatus ab illo," at least in Whose lips a dew of sweetness breathed, simplici.y of expression.

Richer than vine hath ever shed !

* And Bacchus wanton'd to my lays, &c.] The original here Sing of her smile's bewitching power, is corrupted, the line ús á Alovvoov, &c., is unintelligible.

Her every grace that warins and blesses ; Brunck's emendation improves the sense, but I doubt if it Sing of her brow's icvariant flower, can be commended for elegance. He reads the line thus:

The beamning glory of her tresses. ως ο Διωνυσοιο λελασμενος ουπoτε κωμων.

The expression here, avbos kouns, “the flower of the nuit," See Brunck, Analecta Veter. Poet. Græc., vol. ii.

is borrowed from Anacreon himself, as appears by a frag9 Thy harp, that whisper'd through each lingering night, ment of the poet preserved in Stolius : Απεχειρας δ' άπαλης &c.] In another of these poems, the "nightly-speaking apoyov avdos. lyre" of the bard is represented as not yet silent even after

6 Farewell! thou hadst a pulse for every dart, Sc.) ørs his death. ώς και φιλακρητος τε και οινοβαρης φιλοκωμος

OKOROS, “scopus eras naturâ," not "speculator," as Barnes

very falsely interprets it. παννυχιος κρουοια την φιλοπαιδα χελυν.

Vincentius Obsopæus, upon this passage, contrives to inΣιμωνιδου, εις Ανακρέοντα.

dulge us with a little astrological wisdom, and talks in a To beauty's smile and wine's delight,

style of learned scandal about Venus, "male posita cum To joys he loved on earth so well,

Marte in domo Saturni."
Still shall his spirit, all the night,
Attune the wild, aerial shell !

6 And each neu beauty found in thee a heart, de.) This

couplet is not otherwise warranted by the original, than as 3 The purest nectar of its numbers, &c.] Thus, says

it dilates the thought which Antipater has figuratively er. Brunck, in the prologue to the satires of Persius :

pressed. Cantare credas Pegaseium nectar.

Critias, of Athens, pays a tribute to the legitimate gal"Melos" is the usual reading in this line, and Casaubon has lantry of Anacreon, calling him, with elegant concise Dess, defended it; but "nectar" is, I think, much more spirited.

γυναικων ηπερόπευμα. • She, the young spring of thy desires, &c.] The original, To Ilotov cap, is beautiful. We regret that such praise

Τον δε γυνακειων μελεων πλεζαντα ποτ' ωδας, should be lavished so preposterously, and feel that the poet's

Ησυν Ανακρειoντα, Τεως εις Ελλαδ' ανηγεν. mistress Eurypyle would have deserved it better. Her name

Συμποσιων ερεθισμα, γυναικων ηπεραπευμα. has been told us by Meleager, as already quoted, and in

Teos gave to Greece her treasure, another epigram by Antipater.

Sage Anacreon, sage in loving; υγρα δε δερκομενοισιν εν ομμασιν ουλoν αειδοις, αιθυσσων λιπαρης ανθος υπερθε κομης,

Fondly weaving lays of pleasure

For the maids who blush'd approving.
ηε προς Ευρυπυλην τετραμμενος
Long may the nymph around thee play,

When in nightly banquets sporting,
Eurypyle, thy soul's desire,

Where's the guest could ever fly him ?
Basking her beauties in the ray

When with love's seduction courting,
That lights thine eye's dissolving fire !

Where's the nymph could e'er deny him!

• Brunek has kpovwy; but xpovol, the common reading, better suits adrashed quotation.

Thus Scaliger, in his dedicatory verses to Ronur)

Blandus, suaviloquus, dulcis Anacreon

JUVENILE POEMS.

66

PREFACE,

I know not any one of them who can be regarded

as a model in that style ; Ovid made love like a BY THE EDITOR.

rako, and Propertius like a schoolmaster. The my. The Poems which I take the liberty of publishing, thological allusions of the latter are called erudition were never intended by the author to pass beyond by his commentators; but such ostentatious display, the circle of his friends. He thought, with some upon a subject so simple as love, would be now justice, that what are called Occasional Poems esteemed vague and puerile, and was even in his must be always insipid and uninteresting to the own times pedantic. It is astonishing that so many greater part of their readers. The particular situ- critics should have preferred him to the gra tle and ations in which they were written ; the character touching Tibullus; but those defects, I believe, of the author and of his associates; all these pecu- which a common reader condemns, have been reliarities must be known and felt before we can garded rather as beauties by those erudite men, the enter into the spirit of such compositions. This commentators; who find a field for their ingenuity consideration would have always, I believe, pre- and research, in his Grecian learning and quaint obvented the author himself from submitting these scurities. trifies to the eye of dispassionate criticism: and if Tibullus abounds with touches of fine and natural their posthumous introduction to the world be injus- feeling. The idea of his unexpected return to Delia, tice to his memory, or intrusion on the public, the “Tunc veniam subito,"* &c., is imagined with all error must be imputed to the injudicious partiality of the delicate ardor of a lover; and the sentiment of friendship

nec te posse carere velim,” however colloquial the Mr. LITTLE died in his one and twentieth year; expression may have been, is natural, and from the and most of these Poems were written at so early a heart. But the poet of Verona, in my opinion, posperiod that their errors may lay claim to some indul. sessed more genuine feeling than any of them. His gence from the critic. Their author, as uñambitious life was, I believe, unfortunate ; his associates were as indolent, scarce ever looked beyond the moment wild and abandoned ; and the warmth of his nature of composition ; but, in general, wrote as he pleased, took too much advantage of the latitude which the careless whether he pleased as he wrote. It may morals of those times so criminally allowed to the likewise be remembered, that they were all the pro- passions. All this depraved his imagination, and ductions of an age when the passions very often give made it the slave of his senses. But still a native a coloring too warm to the imagination ; and this sensibility is often very warmly perceptible ; and may palliate, if it cannot excuse, that air of levity when he touches the chord of pathos, he reaches imwhich pervades so many of them. The “ aurea mediately the heart. They who have felt the legge, s'ei piace ei lice,” he too much pursued, and sweets of return to a home from which they have too much inculcates. Few can regret this more long been absent, will confess the beauty of those sincerely than myself; and if my friend had lived, simple, unaffected lines :the judgment of riper years would have chastened

O quid solutis est beatius curis ! his mind, and tempered the luxuriance of his fancy.

Cum mens onus reponit, ac peregrino Mr. LITTLE gave much of his time to the study of Labore fessi venimus Larem ad nostrum the amatory writers. If ever he expected to find in

Desideratoque acquiescimus lecto. the ancients that delicacy of sentiment, and variety of fancy, which are so necessary to refine and ani. His sorrows on the death of his brother are the mate the poetry of love, he was much disappointed. very tears of poesy; and when he complains of