Et suspirantes ducere moestus aquas; Maurorumque ala, et nigræ increbescere turmæ, 5 Et pulsa Ausonidum ripa sonare fugâ. CARMEN AD C. FAVONIUM ZEPHYRINUM.* [See Mason's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 120.] MATER rosarum, cui teneræ vigent Auræ Favonî, cui Venus it comes Ovid the words, Leda, Rhea, Hybla, Phædra, Andromeda, Amalthea, &c. lengthen the final syllable. "Mittit Hypermnestra de tot modo fratribus uni," Ov. Ep. xiv. 1. În Propertius, ii. xi. 5. the a in Electra is long; also in Ovid. Fast. iv. 177. See on this point D'Orville. Misc. Obs. ii. 202, and Burmann. notes to Anthol. Latin. i. 215. ii. 78. Jortin. Tracts. vol. ii. 421. Burmann. Propert. iv. 7. 63. p. 844. In the Herc. Fur. of Seneca, 203: " Megara parvum comitata gregem." Gray therefore would have had sufficient authority for the use of Trebia in this place. So Sil. Italicus, iv. 661, describing the appearance of Trebia : "Tum madidos crines, et glauca + fronde revinctum Attollit cum voce caput." Virg. Georg. iv. 182: " Et glaucas salices " Luke. V. 5. Sil. Ital. describes the army of Hannibal, iii. 407: "Talia Sidonius per campos agmina ductor Pulvere nigrantes raptat.' *Written by Gray immediately after his journey to Frascati and the cascades of Tivoli, which he had described in a preceding letter to his friend West. V. 1. "Et reserata viget genitalis aura Favoni," Lucret. i. 2. When the epithet glauca is applied to the foliage of a tree, and the tree itself not particularized, as in the passage of Sil. Italicus; we must refer it to the "salix," the " populus," or the "oliva;" according to situation, and other circumstances; as "Cæruleus" is generally applied to the Pine, Fir, and Cypress. Lasciva, Nympharum choreis Et volucrum celebrata cantu ! Furore dulci plenus, et immemor Palladiæ superantis Albæ. Dilecta Fauno, et capripedum choris Quæcunque per clivos volutus Præcipiti tremefecit amne, 10 15 V.6. "Et te sonantem plenius aureo, V. 8. Hor. Od. ii. xiii. 26. "Pierio recreatis antro," Hor. Od. iii. iv. 40. V. 14. "Et præceps Anio, ac Tiburni lucus," Hor. Od. i. vii. 13. Preceps Anien," Stat. Silv. i. v. 25. V. 20. In Mason's, and all the subsequent editions, the word " Naïasin," is here placed; which would make the line unmetrical. Gray indeed might have written "Naïasin geminasse rupes." But the word" Naides" in the following line, which has also the same error in the editions as the former word, would make an objection to that reading. I have therefore restored the metre, by reading "Naisin" and "Naides." See Gronovius on Seneca Hippol. 778. Jortin. Tracts, vol. i. p. 321. V. 20. See Propert. i. xx. 12: "Non miner Ausonius est amor ah! Dryasin." And i. xx. 32: “Ah! dolor ibat Hylas, ibat Hamadryasin." And Ov. Art. Am. iii. 672. See Burmann. note to Ovid, Ep. xiii. 137. and Trist. v. 5. 43. V. Lotichii. Poem. i. p. 226. ed Burm. and Burm. Anthol. Lat. vol. ii. p. 508. Burm. ad Virg. Eclog. x. 10. Salmasii Ling. Helen. p. 142. V. 23. In this, the following, and the last stanza, the third line of the Alcaic stanza ends with two dissyllables, Illius altum Tibur, et Æsulæ Naisin ingeminâsse rupes; Dulcè canens Venusinus ales; 20 25 30 which can be defended but by very few examples of Horace. See the fictitious ode, lib. i. 40. ad Librum suum, (published by Villoison in Long. Past.) v. 11. "Huic ara stabit, fama cantu.' Another error in this verse is, the absence of the accent on the fifth or sixth syllable. V. 26. 66 Koývns iɛpòv póov," Apoll. Rhod. i. 1208. iv. 134. Theocr. Idyll. ii. 1. 69. "Ad aqua lene caput sacra," Hor. Od. i. i. 22. "Nec sacros pollue fontes," Fonte sacro," Virg. Æn. vii. 84. and Jortin's remarks on Spenser, vol. i. p. 63. Ovid. Metam. ii. 464. 66 V. 30. This is the only instance in this ode in which Gray has not conformed to the rule of the " divisio versûs post quintam syllabam." In the other Alcaic Ode on the Chartreuse, there is also one instance similar to this: "Per invias rupes, fera per juga." The practice of Horace certainly seems to authorize this rule. Three exceptions are to be found: Od. lib. i. xxxvii. 5, i. xxxvii. 14, and Od. iv. xiv. 16. I do not know that there are any more; of course, the case of an elided syllable being excepted. V. 31. In Horace there are but nine instances of an amphibrachys, as " Amoena," beginning the third line of the Alcaic stanza. As the places where it occurs in that poet Amoena, jucundumque ver in- FRAGMENT OF A LATIN POEM ON THE GAURUS. [See Mason's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 145.] NEC procul infelix se tollit in æthera Gaurus, have not, I believe, been ever pointed out, I will set them down here, to save any trouble to those desirous of seeing them: i. xvii. 7, i. xxix. 7, i. xxxv. 15, i. xxxvii. 15, ii. iii. 3, ii. xvii. 3, ii. xx. 11, iii. iii. 71, iii. xxix. 11. V. 31, 32. There is no instance in Horace of a broken word ending the third line of the Alcaic stanza, or, indeed, of its being used at all; and therefore it must be considered, as not defended by authority; though it may be found ending the third line of the Sapphic stanza, in Horace, i. xxv. 11, i. ii. 19, ii. xvi. 7, iii. xxvii. 60, but, I believe, that no example even of this can be found in the Sapphics of Seneca. It ends the first line, in Hor. Od. iv. ii. 1, and the second line in ii. ii. 18, and iv. ii. 22, in which latter passage it is to be observed, that the "divisio vocis" takes place in two successive lines. V. 33. Quam sedem Somnia vulgò Horrendi tam sæva premit vicinia montis, 5 10 Nam fama est olim, mediâ dum rura silebant Nocte, Deo victa, et molli perfusa quiete, Infremuisse æquor ponti, auditamque per omnes Latè tellurem surdùm immugire cavernas : Quo sonitu nemora alta tremunt: tremit excita tuto Parthenopea sinu, flammantisque ora Vesevi. At subitò se aperire solum, vastosque recessus Pandere sub pedibus, nigrâque voragine fauces; Tum piceas cinerum glomerare sub æthere nubes Vorticibus rapidis, ardentique imbre procellam. 16 Præcipites fugere feræ, perque avia longè Sylvarum fugit pastor, juga per deserta, Ah, miser! increpitans sæpè altâ voce per umbram Nequicquam natos, creditque audire sequentes. 20 Sent by Gray to his friend West, with a reference to Sandys's Travels, book iv. pag. 275, 277, and 278. A translation of this poem may be seen in the Gent. Mag. for July, 1775. V. 2. "Vitreo ponto," Hor. Od. iv. ii. 3. unda," Virg. Æn. vii. 759. Georg. iv. 350. V. 4. "Vitrea Bacchei vineta madentia Gauri," Statii Silv. iii. v. 99. "Icario nemorosus palmite Gaurus," Silv. iii. i. 147. V. 5. Vicinia Persidis urget," Georg. iv. 290. "Pampineas invidit collibus umbras," Virg. Ec. vii. 58. V. 9. "Immania ponti æquora," Lucret. vi. 624. V. 10. Curvisque immugiit Ætna cavernis.' En. iii. 674. V. 11. "Tum sonitu Prochyta alta tremit." Virg. Æn. ix. 715. Luke. V. 15. "Piceâ crassam caligine nubem," Virg. Georg. ii. 309. Vorago, pestiferas aperit fauces," Æn. vii. 569. V. 17. "Terra tremit: fugere feræ," Virg. Georg. i. 330. VOL. I. 66 |