ODE XIX. HERE recline you, gentle maid, Sweet the young, the modest trees, The description of this bower is so natural and animated, that we almost feel a degree of coolness and freshness while we peruse it. Longepierre has quoted from the first book of the Anthologia, the following epigram, as somewhat resembling this ode: Ερχεο και κατ' εμαν ίζευ πιτυν, & το μελιχρον Come, sit by the shadowy pine That covers my sylvan retreat; I soothe him to sleep with my lay. Here recline you, gentle maid, &c.] The Vatican MS. reads Babuλou, which renders the whole poem metaphorical Some Sweet the little founts that weep, Tell me, tell me, is not this All a stilly scene of bliss? Who, my girl, would pass it by? Surely neither you nor I. commentator suggests the reading of Batuλλov, which makes a pun upon the name; a grace that Plato himself has condescended to in writing of his boy Αστηρ. See the epigram of this philosopher, which I quote on the twenty-second ode. There is another epigram by this philosopher, preserved in Laertius, which turns upon the same word. Αστηρ πριν μεν ελαμπες ενι ζωοισιν έωος, Νυν δε θανων λαμπεις έσπερος εν φθιμενοις. In life thou wert my morning star, But now that death has stol'n thy light, Like the pale beam that weeps at night. In the Veneres Blyenburgica, under the head of "Allusiones," we find a number of such frigid conceits upon names, selected from the poets of the middle ages. Who, my girl, would pass it by? Surely neither you nor I.] The finish given to the picture by this simple exclamation τις αν ουν όρων παρελθοι, is inimitable. Yet a French translator says on the passage, "This conclusion appeared to me too trifling after such a description, and I thought proper to add somewhat to the strength of the original." ODE XX. ONE day the Muses twin'd the hands The captive infant for her slave. The poet appears, in this graceful allegory, to describe the softening influence which poetry holds over the mind, in making it peculiarly susceptible to the impressions of beauty. In the following epigram, however, by the philosopher Plato, (Diog. Laert. lib. 3.) the Muses are represented as disavowing the influence of Love. Α Κυπρις Μουσαισι, κορασια, ταν Αφροδιταν Τιματ', η τον Ερωτα ύμμιν εφοπλίσομαι. Αἱ Μουσαι ποτι Κυπριν, Αρει τα στωμυλα ταυτα "Yield to my gentle power, Parnassian maids; " 66 And make your grove the camp of Paphian arms!" No," said the virgins of the tuneful bower, "We scorn thine own and all thy urchin's art; Though Mars has trembled at the infant's power, His shaft is pointless o'er a Muse's heart!" There is a sonnet by Benedetto Guidi, the thought of which was suggested by this ode. His mother comes, with many a toy, To ransom her beloved boy; Scherzava dentro all' auree chiome Amore E tanta era il piacer ch' ei ne sentia, Quando ecco ivi annodar si sente il core, Del crespo crin, per farsi eterno onore. Et t' affatichi indarno, Citerea; Che s' altri 'l scioglie, egli a legar si riede. Love, wandering through the golden maze Of my beloved's hair, Found, at each step, such sweet delays, That rapt he linger'd there. And how, indeed, was Love to fly, When every ringlet was a tie, In vain to seek her boy's release, Fond mother, let thy efforts cease, Love's now the slave of Love. And, should we loose his golden chain, His mother sues, but all in vain, He ne'er will leave his chains again. Oh, who could wish for liberty ? " His mother comes, with many a toy, Το ransom her beloved boy; &c.] In the first idyl of Moschus, Venus thus proclaims the reward for her fugitive child :Ο μανυτας γερας έξει, Μισθος τοι, το φίλαμα το Κυπριδος ην δ', αγαγης νιν On him, who the haunts of my Cupid can show, But he, who can bring back the urchin in chains, Shall receive even something more sweet for his pains. Subjoined to this ode, we find in the Vatican MS. the following lines, which appear to me to boast as little sense as metre, and which are most probably the interpolation of the transcriber : Ηδύμελης Ανακρέων Ηδυμελης δε Σαπφω Πινδαρικόν το δε μοι μελος Συγκερασας τις εγχεοι Και Διονυσος εισελθών Και Παφιη παραχροος Και αυτος Έρως και επιειν. |