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sons Hercules and Iphiclas, which dream proves to be presageful of the ultimate fate of Hercules. The most tender and natural circumstances are interwoven.

Μᾶτερ ἐμὰ, τίφθ' ὧδε φίλον κατὰ θυμὸν ἰάπτεις
Εκπάγλως ἀχέοισα ; τὸ πρὶν δή τοι οὐκ ἔτ ̓ ἔρευθος
Σώζετ ̓ ἐπὶ ῥεθέεσσι; τί μοι τόσον ἠνίησαι ;

v. 1.

O my mother, why do you so afflict your heart
With such extreme sorrow? why does your person

No longer retain its former ruddiness? why are you so grieved?
Ω μοι ἐγώ. τί νύ μ ̓ ὧδε θεοὶ τόσον ήτίμασαν
̓Αθάνατοι, τί νύ μ ̓ ὧδε κακῇ γονέες τέκον αἴσῃ;
Δύσμορος, ἥτ ̓ ἐπεὶ ἀνδρὸς ἀμύμονος ἐς λέχος ἦλθον,
Τὸν μὲν ἐγὼ τίεσκον ἴσον φαέεσσιν ἐμοῖσιν,

Ηδ' ἔτι νυν σέβομαί τε καὶ αἰδέομαι κατὰ θυμόν. ν. 6.
Wo's me! why have the immortal gods used me so ill ?
Why did my parents produce me with such evil destiny?
O unfortunate, who came to the bed of a perfect hero
Whom I honoured as much as my own eyes,

And do still revere and respect from my heart.

She then tells us that she saw her children slaughtered by Hercules in his madness before her eyes, and that she could give them no assistance, when frequently calling on their mother. This is a very touching circumstance; she compares her situation at that time to that of a nightingale that sees her young ones destroyed by a great serpent, without being able to render them the least aid. This is a beautiful simile, and may be allowed in a mere recital of her former misfortunes.

She then expresses a wish that she herself had been slain with her children, for that they would then have been laid on the same funeral pile, and deposited in the same urn, by her parents in her native country.

“Ως γ ̓ ὄφελον μετὰ παισὶν ἅμα θνήσκουσα καὶ αὐτὴ,
Κεῖσθαι

Τῷ χ ̓ ἡμᾶς κλαύσαντε φίλαις ἐπὶ χερσὶ τοκῆες
Πολλοῖς σὺν κτερέεσσι πυρῆς ἐπέβησαν ὁμοίης·
Καί κεν ἕνα χρυσεῖον ἐς ὀστέα κρωσσὸν ἁπάντων

Λέξαντες, κατέθαψαν ὅθι πρῶτον γενόμεσθα. ν. 29, &c.

I wish that I myself lay dead with my children.

*

Then my parents having bewailed us, would with their beloved hands
Have laid us on the same pile with magnificent obsequies,
And having gathered the bones of us all into one golden urn,
They would have buried us in the country where we were born-

She then describes her forlorn situation since she seldom saw her husband, and but for a short time, as he was always absent Her mother-in-law she saw achieving his celebrated labours. continually bathed in tears. She had none of her own kindred near her, except her sister Pyrrha, who also suffered much grief on account of her husband Iphiclus, Alcmena's other son.

σὺ δ ̓ οὔτε λείβεαι ὕδωρ,

Νύκτας τε κλαίουσα καὶ ἐκ Διὸς ἤμαθ ̓ ὁπόσσα.
Αλλος μὲν οὐκ ἄν τις ἐϋφρήναι με παραστὰς
Κηδεμόνων· οὐ γάρ σφε δόμων κατὰ τοῖχος ἐέργει,
Καὶ λίην πάντες γε πέρην πιτυώδεος, Ισθμοῦ
Ναίουσ ̓ οὐδέ μοί ἐστι πρὸς ὅντινά κε βλέψασα
Οἷα γυνὴ πανάποτμος, ἀναψύξαιμι φίλον κήρ. v. 45.

but you melt like water

Having cause of weeping from Jove each night and day.
No one else of my kindred is at hand to cheer me,

For there is none of them within the walls of the house;

They live at a distance beyond the Isthmus crowned with pines, Nor is there any one to whom I looking up as a distressed woman, can refresh my heart.

The answer of Alcmena to this moving speech is extremely affectionate. She afterwards relates her dream. The fair sex seem in all ages to have paid much attention to dreams; so far the poet follows nature in representing Alcmena to be so much alarmed at seeing Hercules in danger of being consumed by flames.

This Idyllium is by no means a Pastoral. There are scarcely any rural images in it, except the simile of the nightingale already mentioned, and that Hercules persecuted by Eurystheus is compared to a lion persecuted by a fawn; but it may be recommended to all readers of sensibility.

SECT. XXI. Idyllium v. (a beautiful Fragment.)

This piece, which seems not to have been much attended to by the critics, is one of the most elegant little morsels which we owe to antiquity. It consists of thirteen lines only. The last three are exquisite.

Τὰν ἅλα τὰν γλαυκὰν ὅταν ἄνεμος ἀτρέμα βάλλῃ,
Τὰν φρένα τὴν δειλὰν ἐρεθίζομαι, οὐδ ̓ ἔτι Μοῖσα
̓Εντὶ φίλα, ποτάγει δὲ πολὺ πλέον ἄμμε γαλάνα
̓Αλλ' ὅταν ἀχήσῃ πολιὸς βυθὸς, ἃ δὲ θάλασσα
Κυρτὸν ἐπαφρίζῃ, τὰ δὲ κύματα μακρὰ μεμήνῃ,

*Ες χθόνα παπταίνω καὶ δένδρεα, τὰν δ ̓ ἅλα φεύγω,
Γᾶ δέ μοι ἀσπαστά, τάχα δάσκιος εὔαδεν ὕλα,
Ενθα καὶ ἦν πνεύσῃ πολὺς ἄνεμος, & πίτυς ᾄδει.
Η κακὸν ὁ γριπεὺς ζώει βίον, ᾧ δόμος ἡ ναῦς,
Καὶ πόνος ἐντὶ θάλασσα, καὶ ἰχθὺς ο πλάνος ἄγρα.
Αὐτὰρ ἐμοὶ γλυκὺς ὕπνος ὑπὸ πλατάνω βαθυφύλλων,
Καὶ παγᾶς φιλέοιμι τὸν ἐγγύθεν ἦχον ἀκούειν,
“Α τέρπει ψοφέοισα τὸν ἄγρικον οὐχὶ ταράσσει.
When the wind gently skims the azure sea,
I feel an incentive in my timid mind, and the muse

No longer delights, for the level calm (of the sea) charms me much

more,

But when the hoary deep roars, and the sea

Swelling into curves, foams, and the "great" billows madden,
I turn my eyes to the dry land and the trees, and am averse to the sea.
Dry land is the only safe place, and the shady wood is charming:
There, tho' a strong wind should blow, the pine-tree whispers me-
lodiously.

The fisherman leads a wretched life, whose habitation is his boat,
A sea-life is laborious, and there is much uncertainty in catching

of fish;

"But to me charming is it to slumber under a plane-tree with deep umbrageous foliage,

"And I love to hear the sound of a fountain near,

"Which murmuring amuses the rural inhabitant, but does not disturb him."

Idyllium v1.

The sixth Idyllium, which consists of eight lines only, is light and airy, but founded on a just observation.' Pan loved Echo, but Echo loved the dancer, the Satyr, and the Satyr loved Lyda to distraction. All hated their own lovers, but loved some other person. He concludes with this advice:

Στέργετε τοὺς φιλέοντας· ἵν ̓, ἢν φιλέητε, φιλῆσθε.

Have a fond regard for those who love you, that if you should love, you may be beloved. We have a pleasant English song on this subject.

Idyllium VII.

It is doubted whether the eighth fragment is the composition of Moschus or Bion. It appears to be more in the manner of Bion. The subject of it is Alpheus and Arethusa. Some of the verses have been evidently imitated by Virgil:

Καὶ βαθὺς ἐμβαίνει τοῖς κύμασι, τὴν δὲ θάλασσαν
Νέρθεν ὑποτροχάει, κοὐ μίγνυται ὕδασιν ὕδωρ,
'Α' δ' οὐκ οἶδε θάλασσα διερχομένου ποταμοῖο.

Sic tibi, cum fluctus subter labere Sicanos,
Doris amara suam nou intermisceat undam.

Virgil. Ecl. x. v. 4.

Oratio in FRIDERICI AUGUSTI Regis Augustissimi Solemnibus Regni Semisæcularibus D. xx. Sept. A. clɔɔcccxvIII, habita in Academia Lipsiensi a GODOFREDO HERMANNO, Eq. Ord. Sax, Virt. Civ. Eloq. et Poet. Prof. P. O,

PRINCEPS SERENISSIME, PRORECTOR ACADEMIE MAGNIFICE, GRAVISSIMI PROCERES, CIVES CARISSIMI.

QUOD a vetustissima memoria non contigit huic populo, ut, quum multos haberet principes, quos quam diutissime regnare cuperet, aliquem eorum per dimidiatum sæculum rebus suis videret præesse: id in eo gaudemus Rege evenisse, quem et datum nobis, et per tam longum annorum spatium conservatum esse, tantum numeramus Dei Optimi Maximi beneficium, ut eo nullum nobis tribui maius potuisse intelligamus. Quæ duæ res enim omnem ut cuiusvis hominis, ita etiam regis laudem continent, ut et vir bonus sit, et utilem se præbeat aliis, eæ in nostro Rege, FRIDERICO AUGUSTO, tam sunt eximiæ, ut neque virtute quisquam illo venerabilior, neque ad patriæ utilitatem, qui præclarius de ea mereri potuerit, inveniri queat. Nam Ipsum si spectamus, summa in Eo est pietas, incorrupta fides, æquitatis amantissima moderatio, maxima sapientia, invicta fortitudo, inexpugnabilis constantia, iustitia autem tanta, ut Ei merito iam ab æqualibus Iusti cognomine appellari contigerit: ad ea autem, quæ in patriæ utilitatem fecit, si mentem convertimus, quaqua circumspiciamus, nulla pars est publicæ administrationis, cui non optime esse et sapientissime provisum videamus; nulla classis civium, quæ non, quamvis adversissimas temporum vicissitudines experta, salvam se ac felicem esse fateatur; nullum genus negotiorum aut studiorum,

quod non ita colatur ac floreat, ut non modo non inferior sit Saxonia cæteris Germaniæ civitatibus, sed eas longe antecellat. Amoni ubique lætissima frugum ubertate agri; nitentes ædibus urbes pagique; florentissima mercaturæ nullis impeditæ vexationibus celebritas; ferventissimæ omnis generis artes atque opificia; studiis litterarum summus honor, summaque etiam apud exteros existimatio. Quæ nobis reputantibus tanta suppetit tamque larga gaudendi gratulandique materia, ut neque unde initium fieri deceat, neque ubi finem simus inventuri, facile perspiciamus. Quod si unamquamque civium classem ea potissimum animo repetere consentaneum est, quæ ipsi his quinquaginta annis per optimi REGIS providentiam prospera obtigerunt: nos illud forsitan in primis decere videatur, ut, qua liberalitate ac munificentia REX noster, fautor summus hominum litteratorum, atque Ipse optimarum scientia doctrinarum egregie formatus, studia litterarum, eosque, qui vel docendis vel discendis litteris operam dant, adiuverit, præmiisque et honoribus affecerit, grata piaque memoria recolamus. Ac profecto, sive quis scholas respiciat, doctissimis magistris instructas, discentium multitudine frequentes, disciplinæ strenuitate commendabiles, victus præbitione pauperibus commodas; sive hanc Academiam intueatur, institutis salubribus ornatissimam, doctorum claritate per omnem terrarum orbem celebratissimam, iuvenum litteris operam navantium non numero solum, sed etiam diligentia et bonis moribus laudatissimam, stipendiorum denique et præmiorum multitudine ac magnitudine ad adiuvanda studia opportunissimam, cui gemina diu fuit erepta nunc crudeli fato et sublata Viteberga, non poterit non gratissimo animo venerari eximiam REGIS curam atque industriam, qui, quæ a maioribus præclare instituta acceperat, non modo conservaverit integra atque illæsa, sed omnibus modis adiuverit, emendaverit, auxerit, atque ad summum studuerit floris fastigium adducere. At hæc singula dicendo persequi quamquam et iucundissimum foret, neque ab huius diei solemnitate aut sanctitate huius templi alienum : tamen in communi universæ patriæ lætitia, quibus doctrinarum tractatione ad liberalem eruditionem evehi contigit, non se potius respicere, quam ad ea, quæ maiora sunt, animum advertere, nec quid datum sit magis, quam a quo sit datum, considerare par est. Neque enim magnitudo acceptorum mater est veræ laudis, sed eius, qui dederit, virtus; nec digne satis REGEM colat is, qui quot ab Eo et quanta acceperit beneficia commemoret, sed ille, qui quam magnum sit, dare illa, æstimare didicerit. Quamobrem nihil videtur esse, auditores, in quo rectius hæc versari oratio possit, quam in eo, unde omnis illa admiratio, quæ iure meritoque REGI nostro debetur, tamquam ex fonte suo promanat, magnitudinem animi dico eam, qua ille esse optimus, quam videri maluit. Quæ

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