Or er'n those envious pearls that show But still its fainting sighs repeat, ODE XXIII.2 I OFTEN wish this languid lyre, I tore the panting chords away, And struck again the breathing shell; To Hercules I wake the lyre, 1 Nay, sandals for those airy feet Ev'n to be trod by them were sweet! The sophist Philostratus, in one of his love-letters, has borrowed this thought; e adeтOL Todes, w καλλος ελεύθερος, ω τρισευδαίμων εγω και μακαριος σαν πατήσετε με. - "Oh lovely feet! oh excellent beauty! oh! thrice happy and blessed should I be, if you would but tread on me!" In Shakspeare, Romeo desires to be a glove: Oh that I were a glove upon that hand, And, in his Passionate Pilgrim, we meet with an idea somewhat like that of the thirteenth line : He, spying her, bounc'd in, where as he stood, In Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, that whimsical farrago of "all such reading as was never read," we find a translation of this ode made before 1632.-" Englished by Mr. B. Holiday, in his Technog. act i. scene 7.' 2 According to the order in which the odes are usually placed, this (Ocw Ayew Arpeidae) forms the first of the series; and is thought to be peculiarly designed as an introduction to the rest. It however characterises the genius of the Teian but very inadequately, as wine, the burden of his lays, is not even mentioned in it: cum multo Venerem confundere mero Precepit Lyrici Teia Musa senis. OVID. The twenty-sixth Ode, Ev ev eyeıç wa Onßne, might, with just as much propriety, be placed at the head of his songs. We find the sentiment of the ode before us expressed by Bion with much simplicity in his fourth idyl. The above translation is, perhaps, too paraphrastical; but the ode has been so frequently translated, that I could not otherwise avoid triteness and repetition. 3 In all the glow of epic fire, To Hercules I wake the lyre.] Madame Dacier generally translates Avpn into a lute, which I believe is inaccurate. "D expliquer la lyre des anciens (says M. Sorel) par un luth, c'est ignorer la différence qu'il y a entre ces deux instrumens de musique."-Bibliothèque Françoise. 4 But still its fainting sighs repeat, "The tale of love alone is sweet!"] The word arredare in the ori ODE XXIV. To all that breathe the air of heaven, She fenced with wreathed horns his skull; To man she gave, in that proud hour, The boon of intellectual power. ginal, may imply that kind of musical dialogue practised by the ancients, in which the lyre was made to respond to the questions proposed by the singer. This was a method which Sappho used, sa we are told by Hermogenes; “drav ryp hupay epwra Zamów, cBI ŠTIP αυτή αποκρίνηται" - Περί Ιδεων, του δευτ. 5 Henry Stephen has imitated the idea of this ode in the following lines of one of his poems : Provida dat cunctis Natura animantibus arma, Et sua foemineum possidet arma genus, Ungulâque ut defendit equum, atque ut cornus taurum, And the same thought occurs in those lines, spoken by Corisca is Pastor Fido: Cosi noi la bellezza Ch'è vertù nostra cosi propria, come La forza del leone, E l'ingegno de l'huomo. The lion boasts his savage powers, And lordly man his strength of mind; But beauty's charm is solely ours, "An elegant explication of the beauties of this ode (says Derm) may be found in Grimm an den Anmerk. über einige Oden as Anakr." • To man she gave, in that proud hour, The boon of intellectual power.] In my first attempt to transiste this ode, I had interpreted pornua, with Baxter and Barnes, se in plying courage and military virtue; but I do not think that the ga lantry of the idea suffers by the import which I have now given t› it. For, why need we consider this possession of wisdom as exɗtsive? and in truth, as the design of Anacreon is to estimate the treasure of beauty, above all the rest which Nature has distributed it is perhaps even refining upon the delicacy of the complirsent, prefer the radiance of female charms to the cold illuminative off wisdom and prudence; and to think that women's eyes are the books, the academies, Then, what, oh woman, what, for thee, One urchin imps the other's feather, ODE XXV.3 ONCE in each revolving year, 1 She gave thee beauty-mightier far Thas all the pomp and power of war.] Thus Achilles Tatius:κάλλος αξύτερος τιτρώσκει βέλους, και δια των οφθαλμών εις την ψυχήν OT (patung yap bông epatiky Tрarmati, "Beauty wounds more wiftly than the arrow, and passes through the eye to the very soul; fur the eye is the inlet to the wounds of love." 2 Be thou but fair, mankind adore thee, me, and a world is weak before thee!] Longepierre's remark here is ingenious:-"The Romans," says he, "were so convinced of the power of beauty, that they used a word implying strength in the place of the epithet beautiful. Thus Plautus, act 2. scene 2. Bachid Sed Bacchis etiam fortis tibi visa. Fortis, id est formosa, say Servius and Nonius." 1 We have here another ode addresed to the swallow. Alberti has imitated both in one poem, beginning Perch' io pianga al tuo canto, 4 Alas! unlike the swarm of Loves, And never, never change their nest!] Thus Love is represented sa bird, in an epigram cited by Longepierre from the Antho Αυτό και δινει μεν εν ουασιν ήχος ερωτός, Ο μα δε σίγα ποθείς το γλυκυ δακρυ φέρει. O Η αξ, ου φεγγος εκοίμισεν, αλλ' ύπο φίλτρων Ήδη του κραδίη γνωστός ενεστι τύπος. Ο σταρος, μη και ποτ' εφίπτασθαι μεν ερωτες Ο διατ, αποστήναι δ' ουθ' όσον ισχύεται ODE XXVI.3 THY harp may sing of Troy's alarms, ODE XXVII." WE read the flying courser's name Upon his side, in marks of flame; And, by their turban'd brows alone, The warriors of the East are known. "Tis Love that murmurs in my breast, A wound within my heart I find, And oh! 'tis plain where Love has been a For still he leaves a wound behind, Such as within my heart is seen. Oh, bird of Love! with song so drear, Make not my soul the nest of pain; But, let the wing which brought thee here, In pity waft thee hence again! Τοξότα, Ζηνοφίλας ομμασι κρυπτομένος. I saw thee through the curtain peeping, The poets abound with conceits on the archery of the eyes, but few have turned the thought so naturally as Anacreon. Ronsard gives to the eyes of his mistress "un petit camp d'amours." 7 This ode forms a part of the preceding in the Vatican MS., but I have conformed to the editions in translating them separately. "Compare with this (says Degen) the poem of Ramler Wahrzeichen der Liebe, in Lyr. Blumenlese, lib. iv. p. 313." But in the lover's glowing eyes, ODE XXVIIL2 As, by his Lemnian forge's flame, "Twas from the ranks of war he rush'd, His spear with many a life-drop blush'd; 1 But in the lover's glowing eyes, The inlet to his bosom lies;] "We cannot see into the heart," says Madame Dacier. But the lover answers Il cor ne gli occhi et ne la fronte ho scritto. M. La Fosse has given the following lines, as enlarging on the thought of Anacreon: Lorsque je vois un amant, Il cache en vain son tourment, A le trahir tout conspire. Tout ce qu'il peut faire ou dire, In vain the lover tries to veil The flame that in his bosom lies; We read it in his languid eyes: 2 This ode is referred to by La Mothe le Vayer, who, I believe, was the author of that curious little work, called "Hexameron Rustique." He makes use of this, as well as the thirty-fifth, in his ingenious but indelicate explanation of Homer's Cave of the Nymphs. Journée Quatrième. 3 While Love, at hand, to finish all, Tipp'd every arrow's point with gall;] Thus Claudian : Labuntur gemini fontes. hic dulcis, amarus In Cyprus' isle two rippling fountains fall, And one with honey flows, and one with gall; See Alciatus, emblem 91., on the close connection which subsists between sweets and bitters. "Apes ideo pungunt (says Petronius), quia ubi dulce, ibi et acidum invenies." The allegorical description of Cupid's employment, in Horace, may vie with this before us in fancy, though not in delicacy:-ferus et Cupido Semper ardentes acuens sagittas Cote cruenta. And Cupid, sharpening all his fiery darts, Upon a whetstone stain'd with blood of hearts. Secundus has borrowed this, but has somewhat softened the image by the omission of the epithet "cruenta." Fallor an ardentes acuebat cote sagittas? Eleg. 1. He saw the fiery darts, and smil'd And thou wilt find, though swift of flight, Mars took the shaft-and, oh, thy look, Sweet Venus, when the shaft he took!— Sighing, he felt the urchin's art, And cried, in agony of heart, "It is not light-I sink with pain! Take- take thy arrow back again.' "No," said the child, "it must not be; That little dart was made for thee!" ODE XXIX. YES-loving is a painful thrill, Περί του δειν φιλησαι. Φιλέειν τε και φιλεῖσθαι. Thou of tuneful bards the first, ་ how heavy life would move, If we knew not how to love! Love's a whetstone to the mind; Thus 'tis pointed, thus refined. When the soul dejected lies, Love can waft it to the skies; This line is borrowed from an epigram by Alpheus of Mitylene which Menage, I think, says somewhere he was himself the first to produce to the world: Ψυχής εστιν Έρως ακονήμ But oh, it is the worst of pain, From beauty's cheek one favouring smile. War too has sullied Nature's charms, For gold provokes the world to arms: And oh! the worst of all its arts, It rends asunder loving hearts. ODE XXX.1 TWAS in a mocking dream of night- When in languor sleeps the heart. And when hearts, from loving free, (Could I, could I wish them worse?) May they ne'er the rapture prove, ! Barnes imagines from this allegory, that our poet married very late in life. But I see nothing in the ode which alludes to matriBony, except it be the lead upon the feet of Cupid; and I agree in the opinion of Madame Dacier, in her life of the poet, that he was always too fond of pleasure to marry. The design of this little fiction is to intimate, that much greater pin attends insensibilty than can ever result from the tenderest ressions of love. Longepierre has quoted an ancient epigram With bears some similitude to this ode:- Lecto compositus, vix prima silentia noctis Cam me sævus Amor prensum, sursumque capillis Excitat, et lacerum pervigilare jubet. Tu famulus meus, inquit, ames cum mille puellas, Solus Io, solus, dure jacere potes? Exilio et pedibus nudis, tunicaque soluta, Ecce tacent voces hominum, strepitusque ferarum, I knew not why, hung chains of lead, That you, sweet maid, have stol'n its rest; ODE XXXI.2 ARM'D with hyacinthine rod, Till my brow dropp'd with chilly dew.3 Solus ego ex cunctis paveo somnumque torumque, When Cupid came and snatch'd me from my bed, And forc'd me many a weary way to tread. I rise and follow; all the night I stray, Unshelter'd, trembling, doubtful of my way; Loth to proceed, yet fearful to go back. Yes, at that hour, when Nature seems interr'd, Passion my guide, and madness in my breast, 3 Till my brow dropp'd with chilly dew.] I have followed those who read τειρεν ίδρως for πειρεν ύδρος; the former is partly authorised by the MS. which reads πειρεν ίδρως. 4 And now my soul, exhausted, dying, To my lip was faintly flying; &c.] In the original, he says, his heart flew to his nose; but our manner more naturally transfers it to the lips. Such is the effect that Plato tells us he felt from a kiss, in a distich quoted by Aulus Gellius: Την ψυχήν Αγάθωνα φίλων, επι χείλεσιν εσχον. Whene'er thy nectar'd kiss I sip, And drink thy breath, in trance divine, My soul then flutters to my lip, Ready to fly and mix with thine. Aulus Gellius subjoins a paraphrase of this epigram, in which we find a number of those mignardises of expression, which mark the effemination of the Latin language. And fanning light his breezy pinion, ODE XXXII.2 STREW me a fragrant bed of leaves, Oh, swift as wheels that kindling roll, Oh no; And bring the nymph whose eye hath power Yes, Cupid! ere my shade retire, To join the blest elysian choir, With wine, and love, and social cheer, 1 And fanning light his breezy pinion, Rescued my soul from death's dominion;] "The facility with which Cupid recovers him, signifies that the sweets of love make us easily forget any solicitudes which he may occasion."- La Fosse. 2 We here have the poet, in his true attributes, reclining upon myrtles, with Cupid for his cup-bearer. Some interpreters have ruined the picture by making Epws the name of his slave. None but Love should fill the goblet of Anacreon. Sappho, in one of her fragments, has assigned this office to Venus. Exbe, Ku#pi, xou. σείαισιν εν κυλίκεσσιν άθροις συμμεμιγμένον θαλιαισι νέκταρ οινοχουσα τούτοισι τοις έταιροις έμοις γε και σοις. Which may be thus paraphrased : Hither, Venus, queen of kisses, ODE XXXIII.3 'Twas noon of night, when round the pole The sullen Bear is seen to roll; And mortals, wearied with the day, I heard the baby's tale of woe; I heard the bitter night-winds blow; And sighing for his piteous fate, I trimm'd my lamp and op'd the gate. 'Twas Love! the little wand'ring sprite, His pinion sparkled through the night. I knew him by his bow and dart; I knew him by my fluttering heart. Fondly I take him in, and raise The dying embers' cheering blaze; Press from his dank and clinging hair The crystals of the freezing air, And in my hand and bosom hold His little fingers thrilling cold. Not a soul that is not mine! Not a soul that is not thine! "Compare with this ode (says the German commentator) the beautiful poem in Ramler's Lyr. Blumenlese, lib. iv. p. 296., * Ams als Diener.'" 3 M. Bernard, the author of L'Art d'aimer, has written a ballet called "Les Surprises de l'Amour," in which the subject of the third entrée is Anacreon, and the story of this ode suggests one of the scenes. Euvres de Bernard, Anac. scene 4th. The German annotator refers us here to an imitation by Uz. lib. iii., "Amor und sein Bruder;" and a poem of Kleist, “ die Heilung." La Fontaine has translated, or rather imitated, this ode. 4"And who art thou," I waking cry, "That bid'st my blissful visions fly"] Anacreon appears to have been a voluptuary even in dreaming, by the lively regret which he expresses at being disturbed from his visionary enjoyments. See the odes x. and xxxvii. 5 'Twas Love! the little wand'ring sprite, &c.] See the beautiful description of Cupid, by Moschus, in his first idyl |