Woe to the Sceptic, in these party days, Then, rights are wrongs, and victories are defeats, Not his the meed that crown'd Don H-kh-m's rhyme, Nay, future pens, to flatter future courts, Nor sees he e'er, in dreams of future time, If, giddy with the world's bewildering maze, 6 5 This I have borrowed from RALPH-Use and Abuse of Parliaments, p. 164. The agitation of the ship is one of the chief difficulties which impede the discovery of the longitude at sea; and the tumult and barry of life are equally unfavourable to that calm level of mind which is necessary to an inquirer after truth. In the mean time our modest Sceptic, in the absence of truth, contents himself with probabilities; resembling in this respect those suitors of Penelope, who, when they found that they could not possess the mistress herself, very wisely resolved to put up with her maids : τη Πηνελοπη πλησιάζειν μη δυνάμενοι, ταις ταύτης εμιγνυντο θεραπαιναις.-Ριυτ. Περι Παίδων Αγωγής. See a curious work, entitled Reflections upon Learning, written on the plan of Agrippa's De Vanitate Scientiarum, but much more honestly and skilfully executed. May cite perhaps the Park-guns' gay reports, In science too-how many a system, raised Or, should we roam, in metaphysic maze, Oh Learning! Learning! whatsoe'er thy boast, See grave Theology, when once she strays This historian of the Irish rebellions has outrun even his prede-In Spain's a furnace, and in France—a joke. cessor in the same task, Sir John Temple, for whose character with respect to veracity the reader may consult Carte's Collection of Ormond's Original Papers, p. 307. See also Dr Nelson's account of him, in the Introduction to the second volume of his Historic, Collect. 5 He defends Strafford's conduct as innocent, and even laudable.. In the same spirit, speaking of the arbitrary sentences of the Star Chamber, he says- The severity of the Star Chamber, which was generally ascribed to Laud's passionate disposition, was perhaps, in itself, somewhat blameable. See TOWERS upon Hume. mendationis dolor est manus, cum id ageret, extinctæ. Lib. xxxv, cap. 2. 1 Descartes, who is considered as the parent of modern scepticism, says, that there is nothing in the whole range of philosophy which does not admit of two opposite opinions, and which is not involved in doubt and uncertainty. In Philosophia nihil adhuc repereri, de quo non in utramque partem disputatur, hoc est, quod non sit incertum et dubiumo. Gassendi is another of our modern sceptics, and Wedderkopff, in his Dissertation De Scepticismo profano et sacro (Argentorat. 1666), has denounced Erasmus as a follower of Pyrrho, for his opinions upon the Trinity, and some branche, Dryden, Locke, etc. etc., I think there is no one who need other subjects. To these if we add the names of Bayle, Mallebe ashamed of doubting in such company. * See this gentleman's Academic Questions. That Bexibility of temper and opinion, which the habits of scepticism are so calculated to produce, are thus pleaded for by Mr Fox, in the very sketch of Monmouth to which I allude: and this part of the picture the historian may be thought to have drawn for himself. One of the most conspicuous features in his character seems to have been a remarkable, and, as some think, a culpable degree of flexibility. That such a disposition is preferable to its opposite extreme will be admitted by all, who think that modesty, even in excess, is more nearly allied to wisdom than conceit and self-sufficiency. He who has attentively considered the political, or indeed the general 3 Papius lived about the time of the Apostles, and is supposed to concerns of life, may possibly go still further, and may rank a willingly no means of a spiritual nature, but rather an anticipation of the have given birth to the heresy of the Chiliasta, whose heaven was Bess to be convinced, or, in some cases, even without conviction, to concede our own opinion to that of other men, among the principal ingredients in the composition of practical wisdom,»-The Sceptic's readiness of concession, however, arises more from uncertainty than Conviction, more from a suspicion that his own opinion may be wrong, than from any persuasion that the opinion of his adversary is right. It may be so, was the courteous and sceptical formula, with which the Dutch were accustomed to reply to the statements of ambassadors.-See LLOYD's State Worthies, art. Sir Thomas Wiat. To the historical fragment of Mr Fox, we may apply what Pliny says of the last unfinished works of celebrated artists- In lenocinio com Prophet of Hera's elysium. See Eusebius Hist. Ecclesiast, lib. iii, cap. 33, and Hieronym. de Scriptor. Ecclesiast.-though, from all that I can find in these authors concerning Papias, it seems hardly fair to impute to him those gross imaginations in which the believers of the sensual millennium indulged. 4 King in his Morsels of Criticism, vol. i, supposes the sun to be the receptacle of blessed spirits. The Indians call bell the House of Smoke. See Picart upon the Religion of the Banians. The reader who is curious about infernal matters may be edified by consulting Rusca de Inferno, par Very grateful and devoted Servant, ADVERTISEMENT. It may be necessary to mention that, in arranging the Odes, the Translator has adopted the order of the Vatican MS. For those who wish to refer to the original, he has prefixed an Index, which marks the number of each ode in Barnes and the other editions. 22 BARNES. 32 9 28 29 21 22 30 19 20 24 Φυσις κερατα ταύροις 2 25 Συ μεν φίλη χελίδων 33 Η Τανταλου ποτ' εση Θελω λεγειν Ατρείδας 28 Ο ανηρ ὁ της Κυθήρης 29 Χαλεπον το μη φίλησαι 3ο Εδόκουν οναρ τροχάζειν 31 Υακινθίνη με ραβδω 32 Επι μυρσιναις τεριναις 33 Μεσονυκτίοις ποτ' ώραις 34 Μακαρίζομεν σε, τεττιξ 35 Ερως ποτ' εν ῥόδοισι 36 Ο πλουτος είχε χρυσου 3η Δια νυκτων εγκαθεύδων 38 Διαρον πιωμεν οίνον 39 Φίλω γεροντα τερπνον 4ο Επειδή βροτος ετύχθην 41 Τι καλον εςι βαδίζειν 42 Ποθεω μεν Διονύσου 43 Στεφάνους μεν κροτάφοισι BARNES. 44 Το ρόδον το των ερωτων 63. 45. Όταν πίνω τον οίνον 48 46 Ιδε, πως έαρος φανέντος 49 47 Εγω γέρων μεν ειμι 17. 48. Όταν ὁ Βάκχος εισέλθη 18. 49 του Διος ὁ παῖς Βακχος 59. 5ο Οτ' εγω πιω τον οίνον 5. Μη με φυγής ορώσα 40 23 47 25 37 38 27 39 34 36 54 35 53 50 51 ODE. 58. Ὁ δραπετας μ' ὁ χρυσος 59 Τον μελανόχρωτα βοτρυν 6ο ένα βάρβιτον δονήσω 6ι Πολιοι μεν ἡμῖν ἡδε 63 Τον Ερωτα γαρ τον άβρον 67. Ω παι παρθενιον βλέπων 68 Εγω δ' ουτ' αν Αμαλθείας For the order of the rest, see the Notes. AN ODE BY THE TRANSLATOR. ΕΠΙ ροδίνοις ταπησί, BARNES. 65 52 64 56 58 67 68 REMARKS ON ANACREON. 57 THERE is very little known with certainty of the life of Anacreon. Chameleon Heracleotes, who wrote upon 6o the subject, has been lost in the general wreck of an61 cient literature. The editors of the poet have collected 62 the few trifling anecdotes which are scattered through the extant authors of antiquity, and, supplying the deficiency of materials by fictions of their own imagination, they have arranged, what they call, a life of Anacreon. These specious fabrications are intended to indulge that interest which we naturally feel in the biography of illustrious men; but it is rather a dangerous kind of illusion, as it confounds the limits of history and romance, and is too often supported by unfaithful citation.3 Our poet was born in the city of Téos, in the delicious region of Ionia, where every thing respired voluptuousness. The time of his birth appears to have been in the sixth century before Christ, and he flourished at that remarkable period when, under the polished tyrants Hipparchus and Polycrates, Athens and Samos were the rival asylums of genius. The name of his father is doubtful, and therefore cannot be very interesting. His family was perhaps illustrious, but those who discover in Plato that he was a descendant of the monarch Codrus exhibit, as usual, more zeal than accuracy. 6 The disposition and talents of Anacreon recommended him to the monarch of Samos, and he was formed to be the friend of such a prince as Polycrates. Susceptible only to the pleasures, he felt not the corruptions of the court; and while Pythagoras fled from the tyrant, Anacreon was celebrating his praises on the lyre. We are told too by Maximus Tyrius, that by the influence of his amatory songs he softened the mind of Polycrates into a spirit of benevolence towards his subjects.7 1 He is quoted by Athenaus εν τω περί του Ανακρέοντος. 3 The History of Anacreon, by Monsieur Gacon (le poéte sans fard) is professedly a romance; nor does Mademoiselle Scuderi, from whom be borrowed the idea, pretend to historical veracity in her account of Anacreon and Sappho. These, then, are allowable. But how can Barnes be forgiven, who, with all the confidence of a biographer, traces every wandering of the poet, and settles him in his old age at a country villa near Téos? The learned Monsieur Bayle has detected some infidelitics of quotation in Le Fevre. See Dictionnaire Historique, etc. Madame Dacier is not more accurate than her father: they have almost made Anacreon prime minister to the monarch of Samos. In 4 The Asiatics were as remarkable for genius as for luxury. genia Asiatica inclyta per gentes fecere poetae, Anacreon, inde Mimnermus et Antimachus, etc.-Solinus. 5 I have not attempted to define the particular Olympiad, but have adopted the idea of Bayle, who says, Je n'ai point marqué d'Olympiade; car, pour un homme qui a vécu 85 ans, il me semble que l'on ne doit point s'enfermer dans des bornes si étroites.» This mistake is founded on a false interpretation of a very obvious passage in Plato's Dialogue on Temperance; it originated with Madame Dacier, and has been received implicitly by many. Gail, a late editor of Anacreon, seems to claim to himself the merit of detecting this error; but Bayle had observed it before him. η Ανακρέων Σαμίοις Πολυκράτην ημέρωσε. - Μaxim. Tyr. sect. 2.. Maximus Tyrius mentions this among other instances of the influence of poetry. If Gail had read Maximus Tyrius, how could be ridicule this idea in Moutonnet, as unauthenticated? The amours of the poet and the rivalship of the tyrant I shall pass over in silence; and there are few, I presume, who will regret the omission of most of those anecdotes, which the industry of some editors has not only promulged but discussed. Whatever is repugnant to modesty and virtue is considered in ethical science, by a supposition very favourable to humanity, as impossible; and this amiable persuasion should be much more strongly entertained where the transgression wars with nature as well as virtue. But why are we not allowed to indulge in the presumption? Why are we officiously reminded that there have been such instances of depravity? Hipparchus, who now maintained at Athens the power which his father Pisistratus had usurped, was one of those elegant princes who have polished the fetters of their subjects. He was the first, according to Plato, who edited the poems of Homer, and commanded them to be sung by the rhapsodists at the celebration of the Panathenaa. As his court was the galaxy of genius, Anacreon should not be absent. Hipparchus sent a barge for him; the poet embraced the invitation, and the muses and the loves were wafted with him to Athens. 2 he was The manner of Anacreon's death was singular. We are told that in the eighty-fifth year of his age choked by a grape-stone;3 and however we may smile at their enthusiastic partiality, who pretend that it was a peculiar indulgence of Heaven, which stole him from the world by this and characteristic death, we cancasy not help admiring that his fate should be so emblematic of his disposition. Cælius Calcagninus alludes to this catastrophe in the following epitaph on our poet: 4 Then, hallow'd sage, those lips which pour'd along The sweetest lapses of the cygnet's song, A grape has closed for ever! Here let the ivy kiss the poet's tomb, Here let the rose he loved with laurels bloom, In bands that ne'er shall sever! But far be thou, oh! far, unholy vine, By whom the favourite minstrel of the Nine Thy God himself now blushes to confess, Since poor Anacreon's death! In the romance of Clelia, the anecdote to which I allude is told of a young girl, with whom Anacreon fell in love, while she personated the god Apollo in a mask. But bere Mademoiselle Scuderi consulted nature more than truth. There is a very interesting French poem founded upon this anecdote, imputed to Desyvetaux, and called Anacreon Citoyen." 3 Fabricius appears not to trust very implicitly in this story:"Uvæ passæ acino tandem suffocatus, sic redimus Suide in otvoTOTYS; alii enim hoc mortis genere perisse tradunt Sophoclem.» Fabricii Bibliothec. Græc. lib. ii, cap. 15. It must be confessed that Lucian, who tells us that Sophocles was choked by a grapestone, in the very same treatise mentions the longevity of Anacreon, and yet is silent on the manner of his death. Could he have been ignorant of such a remarkable coincidence, or knowing, could he have neglected to remark it? See Regnier's Introduction to his Anacreon. 4 At te, sancte senex, acinus sub tartara misit; Vos, hederæ, tamalum, tumulum vos, cingite lauri: At vitis procul hinc, procul hinc odiosa facessat, Calius Calcagninus has translated or imitated the epigrams Et5 TNY There can scarcely be imagined a more delightful theme for the warmest speculations of fancy to wanton upon, than the idea of an intercourse between Anacreon and Sappho. I could wish to believe that they were contemporary: any thought of an interchange between hearts so congenial in warmth of passion and delicacy of genius gives such play to the imagination, that the mind loves to indulge in it: but the vision dissolves before historical truth; and Chamæleon and Hermesianax, who are the source of the supposition, are considered as having merely indulged in a poetical anachronism. To infer the moral dispositions of a poet from the tone of sentiment which pervades his works, is sometimes a very fallacious analogy: but the soul of Anacreon speaks so unequivocally through his odes, that we may consult them as the faithful mirrors of his heart.2 We find him there the elegant voluptuary, diffusing the seductive charm of sentiment over passions and prepensitics at which rigid morality must frown. His heart, devoted to indolence, seems to think that there is wealth enough in happiness, but seldom happiness enough in wealth; and the cheerfulness with which he brightens his old age is interesting and endearing: like his own rose, he is fragrant even in decay. But the most peculiar feature of his mind is that love of simplicity which he attributes to himself so very feelingly, and which breathes characteristically through all that he has sung. In truth, if we omit those vices in our estimate which ethnic religion not only connived at, but consecrated, we shall say that the disposition of our poet was amiable; his morality was relaxed, but not abandoned; and Virtue with her zone loosened may be an emblem of the character of Anacreon.3 Barnes is convinced of the synchronism of Anacreon and Sappho'; but very gratuitously. In citing his authorities, it is strange that he neglected the line which Fulvius Crainns has quoted, as of Anacreon, among the testimonies to Sappho: Ειμι λαβών είσαρας Σαπφω παρθενον άθύφωνον. Fabricius thinks that they might have been contemporary, but considers their amour as a tale of imagination. Vossius rejects the idea entirely as also Olaus Barrichins, etc. * An Italian poet, in some verses on Bellean's translation of Ana- While sage Anacreon touch'd the lyre, Nor till'd his bowl to Bacchus higher. When youth could act the lover's part; Bat never, never reach'd his heart. 3 Anacreon's character bas been variously coloured. Barnes lingers on it with enthusiastic admiration, but he is always extravagant, if not sometimes even profane. Monsieur Baillet, who is in the opposite extreme, exaggerates too much the testimonies which he has consulted; and we cannot surely agree with him when he cites such a compiler as Athenæus, as un des plus savans critiques de l'antiquité, Jugement des Savans, M. C. V. Barnes could not have read the passage to which he refers, when he accuses Le Fevre of having censured our poet's character in a note on Longinus: the note in question is manifest irony, in allusion to some reprehension which Le Fevre bad suffered for his Anacreon; and it is evident that praise rather than censure is intimated. See Jobanges Vulpius de Utilitate Poctices, who vindicates our poet's reputation. Of his person and physiognomy time has preserved such uncertain memorials, that perhaps it were better to leave the pencil to fancy; and few can read the Odes of Anacreon without imagining the form of the animated old bard, crowned with roses, and singing to the lyre.' After the very enthusiastic eulogiums bestowed by the ancients and moderns upon the poems of Anacreon, we need not be diffident in expressing our raptures at their beauty, nor hesitate to pronounce them the most polished remains of antiquity. They are all beauty, all enchantment. 4 He steals us so insensibly along with him, that we sympathize even in his excesses. In his amatory odes there is a delicacy of compliment not to be found in any other ancient poet. Love at that period was rather an unrefined emotion; and the intercourse of the sexes was animated more by passion than sentiment. They knew not those little tendernesses which form the spiritual part of affeetion; their expression of feeling was therefore rude and unvaried, and the poetry of Love deprived of its most captivating graces. Anacreon, however, attained some ideas of this gallantry; and the same delicacy of mind which led him to this refinement prevented him from yielding to the freedom of language, which has sullied the pages of all the other poets. His descriptions are warm: but the warmth is in the ideas, not the words. He is sportive without being wanton, and ardent without being licentious. His poetic invention is most brilliantly displayed in those allegorical fictions which so many have endeavoured to imitate, because all have confessed Johannes Faber, in his description of the coin of Ursinus, mentions a head on a very beautiful cornelian, which he supposes was worn in a ring by some admirer of the poet. In the Iconographia of Canini there is a youthful bead of Anacreon from a Grecian medal, with the letters TEIOS around it; on the reverse there is a Neptune, holding a spear in his right hand, and a dolphin in the left, with the word TIANON, inscribed, volendoci denotare (says Canini) che quelle cittadini la coniassero in honore del suo compatriota poeta. There is also among the coins of De Wilde one which, though It bears no effigy, was probably struck to the memory of Anacreon. It has the word THION, encircled with an ivy crown. At quidni respicit hæc corona Anacreontem, nobilem lyricum ?»-De Wilde. Besides those which are extant, he wrote hymns, elegies, epigrams, etc. Some of the epigrams still exist. Horace alludes to a poem of his upon the rivalry of Circe and Penelope in the affections of Ulysses, lib. i, od. 17. The scholiast upon Nicander cites a fragment from a poem upon sleep by Anacreon, and attributes to bim likewise a medicinal treatise. Fulgentius mentions a work of his upon the war between Jupiter and the Titans, and the origin of the consecration of the eagle. them to be inimitable. Simplicity is the distinguishing feature of these odes, and they interest by their innocence, while they fascinate by their beauty; they are, indeed, the infants of the Muses, and may be said to lisp in numbers. I shall not be accused of enthusiastic partiality by those who have read and felt the original; but to others I am conscious that this should not be the language of a translator, whose faint reflection of these beauties can but little justify his admiration of them. In the age of Anacreon music and poetry were inseparable. These kindred talents were for a long time associated, and the poet always sung his own compositions to the lyre. It is probable that they were not set to any regular air, but rather a kind of musical recitation, which was varied according to the fancy and feelings of the moment.' The poems of Anacreon were sung at banquets as late as the time of Aulus Gellius, who tells us that he heard one of the odes performed at a birth-day entertainment.2 The singular beauty of our poet's style, and perhaps the careless facility with which he appears to have trifled, have induced, as I remarked, a number of imitations. Some have succeeded with wonderful felicity, as may be discerned in the few odes which are attributed to writers of a later period. But none of his emulators have been so dangerous to his fame as those Greek ecclesiastics of the early ages, who, conscious of inferiority to their prototypes, determined on removing the possibility of comparison, and, under a semblance of moral zeal, destroyed the most exquisite treasures of antiquity. 3 Sappho and Alcæus were among the victims of this violation; and the sweetest flowers of Grecian literature fell beneath the rude hand of ecclesias tical presumption. It is true they pretended that this sacrifice of genius was canonized by the interests of religion; but I have already assigned the most probable motive; 4 and if Gregorius Nazianzenus had not written Anacreontics, we might now perhaps have the works of the Teian unmutilated, and be empowered to say exultingly with Horace, Nec si quid olim lusit Anacreon The zeal by which these bishops professed to be actuated gave birth more innocently, indeed, to an absurd In the Paris edition there are four of the original odes set to music, by citizens Le Sueur, Gossec, Mehul, and Cherubini. "On chante du Latin et de l'Italien," says Gail, quelquefois même sans les entendre; qui empêche que nous ne chantions des odes Grecques? The chromatic learning of these composers is very unlike what we are told of the simple melody of the ancients; and they have all mistaken the accentuation of the words. 2 The Parma commentator is rather careless in referring to this passage of Aulus Gellius (lib. xix, cap. 9).-The ode was not sung by the rhetorician Julianus, as he says, but by the minstrels of both sexes, who were introduced at the entertainment. 3 See wha: Colomesius, in his Literary Treasures, has quoted from Alcyonius de Exilio; it may be found in Baxter. Colomesius, after citing the passage, adds, Hæc auro contra cara non potui non See Horace, Maximus Tyrius, etc. His style (says Scaliger) is sweeter than the juice of the Indian reed. Poétices, lib. i, cap. 44. From the softness of his verses (says Olaus Borrichius) the ancients bestowed on him the epithets sweet, delicate, graceful, etc. Dissertationes Academicæ, de Poetis, diss. 2.-Scaliger again praises him in a pan; speaking of the uados, or ode, Anacreon autem non solum dedit hæc λn, sed etiam in ipsis mella.-See the passage of Rapin, quoted by all the editors. I cannot omit citing the following very spirited apostrophe of the author of the Commentary prefixed to the Parma edition: O vos, sublimes animæ, vos, Apollinis alamai, qui post unum Alcmanem in tota Hellade lyricam poesim exsuscitastis, coluistis, amplificastis, quæso vos an ullus unquam fuerit vates qui Teio cantori vel naturæ candore vel metri suavitate 4 We may perceive by the beginning of the first hymn of Bishop palmam præripuerit. See likewise Vincenzo Gravini della Rag. Po-Synesius, that he made Anacreon and Sappho his models of cometic. libro primo, p. 97.-Among the Ritratti del Cavalier Marino, position. there is one of Anacreon beginning Cingetemi la fronte, etc. etc. We may perceive, says Vossius, that the iteration of his words conduces very much to the sweetness of his style. Henry Stephen remarks the same beauty in a note on the forty-fourth ode. This figure of iteration is his most appropriate grace. The modern apponere." Αγε μοι, λίγεια φόρμιγξ, writers of Juvenilia and Basia have adopted it to an excess which Margunius and Damascenus were likewise authors of pious Anacredestroys the effect. ontics. |