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Even the Gods, who walk the sky,

Are amorous of thy scented sigh.
Cupid, too, in Paphian shades,

His hair with rosy fillet braids,
When with the blushing, sister Graces,
The wanton winding dance he traces.
Then bring me, showers of roses bring,
And shed them o'er me while I sing,

Or while, great Bacchus, round thy shrine,
Wreathing my brow with rose and vine,

I lead some bright nymph through the dance,
Commingling soul with every glance!

When with the blushing, sister Graces,

The wanton winding dance he traces.]

"This sweet idea of

Love dancing with the Graces, is almost peculiar to Anacreon." - Degen.

I lead some bright nymph through the dance, &c.] The epithet BabuкоATOS, which he gives to the nymph, is literally "fullbosomed."

ODE XLV.

WITHIN this goblet, rich and deep,
I cradle all my woes to sleep.

Why should we breathe the sigh of fear,
Or pour the unavailing tear?

For death will never heed the sigh,

Nor soften at the tearful eye;

And eyes that sparkle, eyes that weep,
Must all alike be seal'd in sleep.

Then let us never vainly stray,

In search of thorns, from pleasure's way;

But wisely quaff the rosy wave,

Which Bacchus loves, which Bacchus gave;

And in the goblet, rich and deep,

Cradle our crying woes to sleep.

Then let us never vainly stray,

In search of thorns, from pleasure's way; &c.] I have thus endeavoured to convey the meaning of τι δε τον βιον πλανωμαι; according to Regnier's paraphrase of the line:

E che val, fuor della strada
Del piacere alma e gradita,
Vaneggiare in questa vita?

ODE XLVI.

BEHOLD, the young, the rosy Spring,
Gives to the breeze her scented wing;
While virgin Graces, warm with May,
Fling roses o'er her dewy way.

The fastidious affectation of some commentators has denounced this ode as spurious. Degen pronounces the four last lines to be the patch-work of some miserable versificator, and Brunck condemns the whole ode. It appears to me, on the contrary, to be elegantly graphical; full of delicate expressions and luxuriant imagery. The abruptness of Ιδε πως eapos pavevтos is striking and spirited, and has been imitated rather languidly by Horace :

Vides ut alta stet nive candidum

Soracte

The imperative de is infinitely more impressive;
Shakspeare,

But look, the morn, in russet mantle clad,
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill.

-as in

There is a simple and poetical description of Spring, in Catullus's beautiful farewell to Bithynia. Carm. 44.

Barnes conjectures, in his life of our poet, that this ode was written after he had returned from Athens, to settle in his paternal seat at Teos; where, in a little villa at some distance

The murmuring billows of the deep
Have languish'd into silent sleep;
And mark! the flitting sea-birds lave
Their plumes in the reflecting wave;
While cranes from hoary winter fly
To flutter in a kinder sky.

Now the genial star of day

Dissolves the murky clouds away;

from the city, commanding a view of the Ægean Sea and the islands, he contemplated the beauties of nature and enjoyed the felicities of retirement. Vide Barnes, in Anac. Vita, S xxxv. This supposition, however unauthenticated, forms a pleasing association, which renders the poem more interesting.

Chevreau says, that Gregory Nazianzenus has paraphrased somewhere this description of Spring; but I cannot meet with it. See Chevreau, Euvres Mêlées.

"Compare with this ode (says Degen) the verses of Hagedorn, book fourth, ' der Frühling,' and book fifth, ‘der Mai.'” While virgin Graces, warm with May,

Fling roses o'er her dewy way.] De Pauw reads, Xapiras poda Bpvovou, "the roses display their graces." This is not uningenious; but we lose by it the beauty of the personification, to the boldness of which Regnier has rather frivolously objected.

The murmuring billows of the deep

Have languish'd into silent sleep; &c.] It has been justly remarked, that the liquid flow of the line απαλυνεται γαληνη is perfectly expressive of the tranquillity which it describes.

And cultur'd field, and winding stream,
Are freshly glittering in his beam.

Now the earth prolific swells
With leafy buds and flowery bells;
Gemming shoots the olive twine,
Clusters ripe festoon the vine;
All along the branches creeping,
Through the velvet foliage peeping,
Little infant fruits we see,

Nursing into luxury.

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And cultur'd field, and winding stream, &c.] By ẞpoтwv epyα "the works of men (says Baxter), he means cities, temples, and towns, which are then illuminated by the beams of the

sun.

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