ODE XLVII. 'Tis true, my fading years decline, Whose cheeks the flush of morning wear; I'm call'd to wind the dance's clue, Then shalt thou see this vigorous hand, Not faltering on the Bacchant's wand, The only thyrsus e'er I'll ask! But brandishing a rosy flask, &c.] Aσkos was a kind of leathern vessel for wine, very much in use, as should seem by the proverb aσkos kaι Dvλakos, which was applied to those who were intemperate in eating and drinking. This proverb is mentioned in some verses quoted by Athenæus, from the Hesione of Alexis. The only thyrsus e'er I'll ask!] Phornutus assigns as a reason for the consecration of the thyrsus to Bacchus, that inebriety often renders the support of a stick very necessary. Let those, who pant for Glory's charms, Embrace her in the field of arms; While my inglorious, placid soul With blushes borrow'd from my wine, I'll wanton 'mid the dancing train, And live my follies o'er again! ODE XLVIII. WHEN my thirsty soul I steep, "The ivy was conse Ivy leaves my brow entwining, &c.] crated to Bacchus (says Montfaucon), because he formerly lay hid under that tree, or, as others will have it, because its leaves resemble those of the vine." Other reasons for its consecration, and the use of it in garlands at banquets, may be found in Longepierre, Barnes, &c. &c. Arm ye, arm ye, men of might, To fall in banquet than in war. Arm ye, arm ye, men of might, Hasten to the sanguine fight;] I have adopted the interpretation of Regnier and others : Altri segua Marte fero; Che sol Bacco è 'l mio conforto. ODE XLIX. WHEN Bacchus, Jove's immortal boy, Who, with the sunshine of the bowl, Thaws the winter of our soul When to my inmost core he glides, Fires my brain, and wings my feet, This, the preceding ode, and a few more of the same character, are merely chansons à boire ;-the effusions probably of the moment of conviviality, and afterwards sung, we may imagine, with rapture throughout Greece. But that interesting association, by which they always recalled the convivial emotions that produced them, can now be little felt even by the most enthusiastic reader; and much less by a phlegmatic grammarian, who sees nothing in them but dialects and particles. Who, with the sunshine of the bowl, Thaws the winter of our soul &c.] Avalos is the title which he gives to Bacchus in the original. It is a curious circumstance, that Plutarch mistook the name of Levi among the Jews for Aeü (one of the bacchanal cries), and accordingly supposed that they worshipped Bacchus. |