ODE XVI. THOU, whose soft and rosy hues Best of painters, come portray The lovely maid that's far away. This ode and the next may be called companion-pictures; they are highly finished, and give us an excellent idea of the taste of the ancients in beauty. Franciscus Junius quotes them in his third book "De Pictura Veterum." This ode has been imitated by Ronsard, Giuliano Goselini, &c. &c. Scaliger alludes to it thus in his Anacreontica : Olim lepore blando, Litis versibus Candidus Anacreon Quam pingeret amicus Descripsit Venerem suam. The Teian bard, of former days, Attun'd his sweet descriptive lays, And taught the painter's hand to trace His fair beloved's every grace. In the dialogue of Caspar Barlæus, entitled "An formosa sit ducenda," the reader will find many curious ideas and descriptions of womanly beauty. Thou, whose soft and rosy hues Mimic form and soul infuse,] I have followed here the reading Far away, my soul! thou art, But I've thy beauties all by heart. Silky locks, like tendrils straying; of the Vatican MS. podens. Painting is called "the rosy art." either in reference to colouring, or as an indefinite epithet of excellence, from the association of beauty with that flower. Salvini has adopted this reading in his literal translation : — Della rosea arte signore. The lovely maid that's far away.] If this portrait of the poet's mistress be not merely ideal, the omission of her name is much to be regretted. Meleager, in an epigram on Anacreon, mentions "the golden Eurypyle" as his mistress. Βεβληκως χρυσέην χειρας επ' Ευρυπύλην. Paint her jetty ringlets playing, Silky locks, like tendrils straying;] The ancients have been very enthusiastic in their praises of the beauty of hair. Apuleius, in the second book of his Milesiacs, says, that Venus herself, if she were bald, though surrounded by the Graces and the Loves, could not be pleasing even to her husband Vulcan. Stesichorus gave the epithet kaλλπλоkaμos to the Graces, and Simonides bestowed the same upon the Muses. See Hadrian Junius's Dissertation upon Hair. To this passage of our poet, Selden alluded in a note on the Polyolbion of Drayton, Song the Second, where observing, that the epithet "black-haired" was given by some of the ancients to the goddess Isis, he says, "Nor will I swear, but that Anacreon (a man very judicious in the provoking motives of wanton love), intending to bestow on his sweet And, if painting hath the skill A sigh of perfume on the gale. But, hast thou any sparkles warm, That in Minerva's glances blaze, mistress that one of the titles of woman's special ornament, well-haired (Kaλλπλокaμos), thought of this when he gave his painter direction to make her black-haired." And, if painting hath the skill To make the spicy balm distil, &c.] Thus Philostratus, speaking of a picture: επαίνω και τον γεγράφθαι αυτα μετα της οσμης. ενδροσον των ῥοδων, και φημι 66 I admire the dewiness of these roses, and could say that their very smell was painted.” Mix'd with the liquid light that lies O'er her nose and cheek be shed Mingling tints, as when there glows In snowy milk the bashful rose. Mix'd with the liquid light that lies In Cytherea's languid eyes,] Marchetti explains thus the ύγρον of the original : Dipingili umidetti Tremuli e lascivetti, Quai gli ha Ciprigna l'alma Dea d'Amore. Tasso has painted in the same manner the eyes of Armida : Qual raggio in onda le scintilla un riso Within her humid, melting eyes That trembles in the azure stream. · The mingled expression of dignity and tenderness, which Anacreon requires the painter to infuse into the eyes of his mistress, is more amply described in the subsequent ode. Both descriptions are so exquisitely touched, that the artist must have been great indeed, if he did not yield in painting to the poet. Mingling tints, as when there glows In snowy milk the bashful rose.] Thus Propertius, eleg. 3. lib. ii. Utque rosa puro lacte natant folia. Then her lip, so rich in blisses, Rosy nest, where lurks Persuasion, Whose dimple hides a Love within, And Davenant, in a little poem called "The Mistress," Bring blushing roses steep'd in milk. Thus too Taygetus: Quæ lac atque rosas vincis candore rubenti. These last words may perhaps defend the "flushing white" of the translation. Then her lip, so rich in blisses, Sweet petitioner for kisses,] The "lip, provoking kisses,” in the original, is a strong and beautiful expression. Achilles Tatius speaks of χειλη μαλθακα προς τα φιληματα, “ Lips soft and delicate for kissing." A grave old commentator, Dionysius Lambinus, in his notes upon Lucretius, tells us with the apparent authority of experience, that " Suavius viros osculantur puellæ labiosæ, quam quæ sunt brevibus labris." And Æneas Sylvius, in his tedious uninteresting story of the loves of Euryalus and Lucretia, where he particularises the beauties of the heroine (in a very false and laboured style of latinity), describes her lips thus: "Os parvum decensque, labia corallini coloris ad morsum aptissima.”— Epist. 114. lib. i. Next, beneath the velvet chin, Whose dimple hides a Love within, &c.] Madame Dacier has quoted here two pretty lines of Varro : |