"MEEK honour, female shame, O! whither, sweetest offspring of the sky, Of Albion's daughters once the favourite fame? Who giv'st her pleasing reverence to inspire; Who, selfish, bold desire Dost to esteem and dear affection turn; Alas! of thee forlorn, NOTES ON THE TWO BOOKS OF ODES. Book I. Ode XVIII. Stanza II. Line 19.] Lycurgus the Lacedæmonian law-giver, brought into Greece from Asia Minor the first complete copy of Homer's works.-At Platæa was fought the decisive battle between the Persian army and the united militia of Greece, under Pausanias and Aristides. -Cymon the Athenian erected a trophy in Cyprus for two great victories gained on the same day over the Persians by sea and land. Diodorus Siculus has preserved the inscription which the Athenians affixed to the consecrated spoils, after this great success; in which it is very remarkable, that the greatness of the occasion has raised the manner of expression above the usual simplicity and modesty of all other ancient inscriptions. It is this: ΕΞ, ΟΥ, Γ. ΕΥΡΩΠΗΝ. ΑΣΙΑΣ. ΔΙΧΑ. ΠΟΝΤΟΣ. ENEIME. KAI. ΠΟΛΕΑΣ, ΘΝΗΤΩΝ. ΘΟΥΡΟΣ. ΑΡΗΣ. ENEXEI. ΟΥΔΕΝ. ΠΩ. ΤΟΙΟΥΤΟΝ. ΕΠΙΧΘΟΝΙΩΝ. ΓΕΝΕΤ'. ΑΝΔΡΩΝ. ΕΡΤΟΝ. ΕΝ. ΗΠΕΙΡΩΙ, ΚΑΙ, ΚΑΤΑ. ΠΟΝΤΟΝ. AMA. ΟΙΔΕ. ΓΑΡ. ΕΝ ΚΥΠΡΩΙ. ΜΗΔΟΥΣ. ΠΟΛΛΟΥΣ. ΟΛΕΣΑΝΤΕΣ. ΦΟΙΝΙΚΩΝ. ΕΚΑΤΟΝ. ΝΑΥΣ. ΕΛΟΝ. ΕΝ. ΠΕΛΑΓΕΙ. What joy, what praise, what hope can life pretend ? | ΑΝΔΡΩΝ, ΠΛΗΘΟΥΣΑΣ. ΜΕΓΑ. Δ'. ΕΣΤΕΝΕΝ. ΑΣΙΣ. "Behold; our youths in vain Concerning nuptial happiness inquire: Our maids no more aspire The arts of bashful Hymen to attain ; But with triumphant eyes And cheeks impassive, as they move along, The lover swears that in a harlot's arms And worthless and deserted lives and dies. "Behold; unbless'd at home, The father of the cheerless household mourns: For Love and glad Content at distance roam; Through noise and spleen and all the gamester's art, Where not one tender thought can welcome find." 'Twas thus, along the shore Of Thames, Britannia's guardian Genius heard, ladignant, with her adamantine spear Like thunder sounding near, Smote the red cross upon her silver shield, And thus her wrath reveal'd. (I watch'd her awful words and made them mine.) ΥΠ'. ΑΥΤΩΝ. ΠΛΗΓΕΙΣ. ΑΜΦΟΤΕΡΑΙΣ ΧΕΡΣΙ. ΚΡΑΤΕΙ. ΠΟ ΛΕΜΟΥ. The following translation is almost literal: Since first the sea from Asia's hostile coast Stanza II. Line 24.] Pindar was contemporary with Aristides and Cymon, in whom the glory of ancient Greece was at its height. When Xerxes invaded Greece, Pindar was true to the common interest of his country; though his fellow citizens, the Thebans, had sold themselves to the Persian king. In one of his Odes he expresses the great distress and anxiety of his mind, occasioned by the vast preparations of Xerxes against Greece. (Isthm. 8.) In another he celebrates the victories of Salamis, Platæa, and Himera. (Pyth. 1.) It will be necessary to add two or three other particulars of his life, real or fabulous, in order to explain what follows in the text concerning him. First then, he was thought to be so great a favourite of Apollo, that the priests of that deity allotted him a constant share of their offerings. It was said of him, Ode XIII.] In the year 1751, appeared a very splendid edition, in quarto, of "Memoires pour servir à l' Histoire de la Maison de Brandebourg, à Berlin et à la Haye;" with a privilege signed FREDERIC; the same being engraved in imitation of hand-writing. In this edition, among other extraordinary passages, are the two following, to which the third stanza of this ode more particularly refers: as of some other illustrious men, that at his birth a swarm of bees lighted on his lips, and fed him with their honey. It was also a tradition concerning him, that Pan was heard to recite his poetry, and seen dancing to one of his hymns on the mountains near Thebes. But a real historical fact in his life is, that the Thebans imposed a large fine upon him, on account of the veneration which he expressed in his poems for that heroic spirit, shown by the people of Athens in defence of the common "Il se fit une migration" (the author is speakliberty, which his own fellow-citizens had shame-ing of what happened of the revocation of the edict fully betrayed. And as the argument of this ode of Nantes) "dont on n'avoit guere vu d'exemples implies, that great poetical talents, and high senti- dans l'histoire: un peuple entier sortit du royaume ments of liberty, do reciprocally produce and assist par l'esprit de parti en haine du pape, et pour reeach other, so Pindar is perhaps the most exemplary cevoir sous un autre ciel la communion sous les proof of this connection, which occurs in history. denx especes: quatre cens mille ames s'expatrieThe Thebans were remarkable, in general, for a rent ainsi et abandonnerent tous leur biens pour slavish disposition through all the fortunes of their detonner dans d'autres temples les vieux pseaumes commonwealth; at the time of its ruin by Philip; de Clement Marot." P. 163. and even in its best state, under the administration of Pelopidas and Epaminondas: and every one knows, they were no less remarkable for great dulness, and want of all genius. That Pindar should have equally distinguished himself from the rest of his fellow-citizens in both these respects seems somewhat extraordinary, and is scarce to be accounted for but by the preceding observation. Stanza III. Line 28.] Alluding to his "Defence of the People of England" against Salmasius. See particularly the manner in which he himself speaks of that undertaking, in the introduction to his reply to Morus. Stanza IV. Line 33.] Edward the Third; from whom descended Henry Hastings, third earl of Huntingdon, by the daughter of the duke of Clarence, brother to Edward the Fourth. Stanza V. Line 36.] At Whittington, a village on the edge of Scarsdale in Derbyshire, the earls of Devonshire and Danby, with the lord Delamere, privately concerted the plan of the Revolution. The house in which they met is at present a farmhouse; and the country people distinguish the room where they sat, by the name of "the plotting parlour." Book II. Ode VII. Stanza II. Line 5.] Mr. Locke died in 1704, when Mr. Hoadly was beginning to distinguish himself in the cause of civil and religious liberty: lord Godolphin in 1712, when the doctrines of the Jacobite faction were chiefly favoured by those in power: lord Somers in 1716, amid the practices of the non-juring clergy against the protestant establishment; and lord Stanhope in 1721, during the controversy with the lower house of convocation. Ode X. Stanza V.] During Mr. Pope's war with Theobald, Concanen, and the rest of their tribe, Mr. Warburton, the present lord bishop of Gloucester, did with great zeal cultivate their friendship; having been introduced, forsooth, at the meetings of that respectable confederacy: a favour which he afterwards spoke of in very high terms of complacency and thankfulness. At the same time, in his intercourse with them, he treated Mr. Pope in a most contemptuous manner, and as a writer without genius. Of the truth of these assertions his lordship can have no doubt, if he recollects his own correspondence with Concanen; a part of which is still in being, and will probably be remembered as long as any of this prelate's writlogs, "La crainte donna le jour à la credulité, et l'amour propre interessa bientôt le ciel au destin des hommes." P. 242, HYMN TO THE NAIADS, M.DCC.XLVI. THE ARGUMENT. THE nymphs, who preside over springs and rivulets, are addressed at day-break, in honour of their several functions, and of the relations which they bear to the natural and to the moral world. Their origin is deduced from the first allegorical deities, or powers of Nature; according to the doctrine of the old mythological poets, concerning the generation of the gods and the rise of things. They are then successively considered, as giving motion to the air and exciting summerbreezes; as nourishing and beautifying the vegetable creation; as contributing to the fullness of navigable rivers, and consequently to the maintenance of commerce; and by that means, to the maritime part of military power. Next is represented their favourable influence upon health, when assisted by rural exercise: which introduces their connection with the art of physic, and the happy effects of mineral medicinal springs. Lastly, they are celebrated for the friendship which the Muses bear them, and for the true inspiration which temperance only can receive: in opposition to the enthusiasm of the more licentious poets. O'En yonder eastern hill the twilight pale 10 Too far into the splendid hours of morn 29 40 You, Nymphs, the winged offspring, which of old Aurora to divine Astræus bore, 50 Owns; and your aid beseecheth. When the might And o'er the vale of Richmond, where with Thames Ye love to wander, Amaithea pours 90 Well-pleas'd the wealth of that Ammonian horn, By you my function and my honour'd name Or through the towers of Memphis, or the palms The English merchant: with the buxom fleece 99 120 Such are the words of Hermes: such the praise, O Naiads, which from tongues celestial waits Your bounteous deeds. From bounty issueth power: And those who, sedulous in prudent works, 60 Relieve the wants of nature, Jove repays 70 You too, O Nymphs, and your unenvious aid Your general dews to nurse them in their prime. 81 130 With noble wealth, and his own seat on Earth, 150 The Persian's promis'd glory, when the realms Of Indus and the soft Ionian clime, 160 When Libya's torrid champain and the rocks 170 181 Cool ease and welcome slumbers have becalm'd 198 211 For not estrang'd from your benignant arts Is he, the god, to whose mysterious shrine My youth was sacred, and my votive cares Belong; the learned Pæon. Oft when all His cordial treasures he hath search'd in vain; When herbs, and potent trees, and drops of balm Rich with the genial influence of the Sun, (To rouse dark Fancy from her plaintive dreams, To brace the nerveless arm, with food to win Şick appetite, or hush the unquiet breast Which pines with silent passion) he in vain Hath prov'd; to your deep mansions he descends, Your gates of humid rock, your dim arcades, He entereth; where empurpled veins of ore Gleam on the roof; where through the rigid mine Your trickling rills insinuate. There the god 220) From your indulgent hands the streaming bowl Wafts to his pale-ey'd suppliants; wafts the seeds Wash'd from the pregnant glebe. They drink: and 250 When Python fell. And, O propitious Nymphs, My lyre shall pay your bounty. Scorn not ye That humble tribute. Though a mortal band Excite the strings to utterance, yet for themes Not unregarded of celestial powers, 250 260 I frame their language; and the Muses deign 240 270 290 300 Of Thrace, the Satyrs, and the unruly Fauns, 321 pheus, where he is called Protogonos, or the firstbegotten, is said to have been born of an egg, and is represented as the principal or origin of all these external appearances of Nature. In the fragments of Orpheus, collected by Henry Stephens, he is named Phanes, the discoverer or discloser; who unfolded the ideas of the supreme intelligence, and exposed them to the perception of inferior beings in this visible frame of the world; as Macrobius, and Proclus, and Athenagoras, all agree to interpret the several passages of Orpheus, which they have preserved. But the Love designed in our text, is the one selfexistent and infinite mind, whom if the generality of ancient mythologists have not introduced or truly described in accounting for the production of the world and its appearances; yet, to a modern poet, it can be no objection that he hath ventured to 510 differ from them in this particular; though, in other respects, he professeth to imitate their manner, and conform to their opinions. For, in these great points of natural theology, they differ no less remarkably among themselves, and are perpetually confounding the philosophical relations of things with the traditionary circumstances of mythic history: upon which very account, Callimachus, in his hymn to Jupiter, declareth his dissent from them concerning even an article of the-national creed; adding, that the ancient bards were by no means to be depended on. And yet in the exordium of the old Argonautic poem, ascribed to Orpheus, it is said, that "Love, whom mortals in latter times call Phanes, was the father of the eternally begotten Night;" who is generally represented by these mythological poets, as being herself the parent of all things; and who, in the Indigitamenta, or Orphic Hymns, is said to be the same with Cypris, or Love itself. Moreover, in the body of this Argonautic poem, where the personated Orpheus introduceth himself singing to his lyre in reply to Chiron, he celebrateth "the obscure memory of Chaos, and the natures which it contained within itself in a state of perpetual vicissitude; how the Heaven had its boundary determined; the generation of the Earth; the depth of the ocean; and also the sapient Love, the most ancient, the selfsufficient; with all the beings which he produced when he separated one thing from another." Which noble passage is more directly to Aristotle's purElder than Chaos.] Hesiod, in his The- pose in the first book of his metaphysics than any ogony, gives a different account, and make Chaos of those which he has there quoted, to show that the eldest of beings; though he assigns to Love the ancient poets and mythologists agreed with neither father nor superior: which circumstance is Empedocles, Anaxagoras, and the other more sober particularly mentioned by Phædrus, in Plato's Ban-philosophers, in that natural anticipation and comquet, as being observable not only in Hesiod, but in all other writers both of verse and prose: and on the same occasion he cites a line from Parmenides, in which Love is expressly styled the eldest of all the gods. Yet Aristophanes, in The Birds, affirms, that "Chaos, and Night, and Erebus, and Tartarus, were first; and that Love was produced from an egg, which the sable-winged Night deposited in the immense bosom of Erebus." But it must be observed, that the Love designed by this comic poet was always distinguished from the other, from that original and self-existent being the TO ON or AгA ON of Plato, and meant only the AHMIOTPгOs or second person of the old Grecian trinity; to whom is inscribed an hymn among those which pass under the name of Or NOTES ON THE HYMN TO THE NAIADS. VER. 25. ...... Love...... mon notion of mankind concerning the necessity of mind and reason to account for the connection, motion, and good order of the world. For, though neither this poem, nor the hymns which pass under the same name, are, it should seem, the work of the real Orpheus; yet beyond all question they are very ancient. The hymns, more particularly, are allowed to be older than the invasion of Greece by Xerxes; and were probably a set of public and solemn forms of devotion: as appears by a passage in one of them, which Demosthenes hath almost literally cited in his first oration against Aristogiton, as the saying of Orpheus, the founder of their most holy mysteries. On this account, they are of higher authority than any other mythological work now extant, the Theogony of Hesiod himself |