SAPPHIC ODE: TO MR. WEST.* [See Mason's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 42; on a version of Gray's Latin Odes by Green, in English, see H. Walpole's Letters to Cole, p. 116.] BARBARAS ædes aditure mecum Estuat agmen ; Dulcius quanto, patulis sub ulmi * Mason considered this as the first original production of Gray's Muse; the two former poems being imposed as exercises, by the College. V. 1. Comp. Hor. Od. ii. vi. 1: “Septimi, Gades aditure mecum," &c. Luke. V. 3. "Lis nunquam, toga rara," Martial. Ep. x. 47. V. 4. So Claudian, xi. 24: "Quot æstuantes ancipiti gradu Furtiva carpent oscula Naïdes." ... V. 5. "Platanus patulis est diffusa ramis," Cic. de Oratore, Lib. I. cap. vii. "6 Hospita umbra," Ovid. Trist. III, iii. 64. Hor. Od. ii. iii. 9. V. 6. There is no authority for the last syllable of "temere" being made long. See Burmanni. Anth. Lat. vol. ii. 458, and Class. Journal, No. xviii. p.340. Yet Casimir Sarbievus has erred in the quantity of this word, as well as Gray: "Te sibilantis lenior halitus Ad Testudinem And Cowley (Solitudo) "Hic jaciens vestris temere sub Sic libris horas, tenuique inertes Fallere Musâ? Sæpe enim curis vagor expeditâ Mente; dum, blandam meditans Camænam, Vix malo rori, meminive seræ Cedere nocti ; Et, pedes quò me rapiunt, in omni Colle Parnassum videor videre Fertilem sylvæ, gelidamque in omni Fonte Aganippen. 11 15 Risit et Ver me, facilesque Nymphæ Nare captantem, nec ineleganti, Manè quicquid de violis eundo Surripit aura: 20 "Ducit aquas te"Defessus umbris." Lowth Ode ad orn. Puellam. mere sequentes." Carmin. Quadrig. ii. 81. temere se." See Woty's Poet. Calendar, Part xii. p. 34. In Horace, Virgil, and Ovid the final syllable of this word is always elided.-A friend observed, that the last syllable of temere is made long in the Gradus' on the authority of Tertullian : "Immemor ille Dei temere committere tale." It is hardly necessary to observe that the authority of Tertullian on a question of a doubtful quantity would not be esteemed sufficient. The last syllable of temere being always elided by Virgil, Horace, and Ŏvid, sufficiently shows their opinion to have been, that it was short; and therefore that it could not be used in Hexameter verse, without lengthening its final syllable by elision. See Menagiana, vol. iii. p. 418. (Hor. Od. ii. xi. 13, “ Pinu jacentes sic temere.' Luke.) V. 7. "Tenui deducta poemata filo," Hor. Ep. II. i. 225. "Graciles Musas," Propert, Eleg. II. x. 3. Virg. Eclog. i. 2. Hor. S. ii. 6, 61, Nunc veterum libris, nunc somno et inertibus horis." Luke. Me reclinatum teneram per herbam ; Nectit in omni. Hæ novo nostrum ferè pectus anno Purior hora: Otia et campos nec adhuc relinquo, Mollior æstas.) Namque, seu, lætos hominum labores V. 9. ultra Terminum, curis vagor expeditis." 25 30 Hor. Od. I. xxii. 10. Virg. Eclog. viii. 88, "Nec seræ meminit decedere nocti." Luke. 49. V. 13, 14. "I, pedes quo te rapiunt," Hor. Od. iii. xi. "Videre magnos jam videor duces," Od. ii. i. 21. V. 17. "Sed faciles nymphæ risere,” Virg. Eclog. iii. 9. V. 18. Virg. Georg. i. 376, Patulis captavit naribus auras. V. 19. On the Cæsura post alterum pedem, see Fabricius on the Metres of Seneca. V. 21. Virg. Eclog. viii. 15, "Cum ros in tenera pecori gratissimus herba." Luke. V. 22. "Levis cursu," Virg. Æn. xii. 489. "Cursus ducebat," Æn. v. 667. V. 23. Hor. Od. iv. 37, “ Dulcem quæ strepitum, Pieri, temperas." Luke. V. 26. Cali in regione serena Per sudum rutilare vident." Virg. Æn. viii. 528. V. 30. See Ov. Metam. iv. 234. 264. V. 31. "Senescit ager," Ovid. Art. Am. iii. 82., ex Prataque et montes recreante curru, Purpurâ tractus oriens Eoos Vestit, et auro; Sedulus servo veneratus orbem Prodigum splendoris; amoniori Sive dilectam meditatur igne 35 Usque dum, fulgore magis magis jam Scena recessit. O ego felix, vice si (nec unquam Fallere Letho! 45 Pont. I. iv. 14. "Molles anni," Ovid. Ep. iii. 3. Tristia, iv. 43. "Mollior æstas," Virg. Georg. i. 312. V. 34. V. Lucret. v. 402, "Solque * * recreavit cuncta gubernans." Luke. V. 41. See Tate in the Class. Journ. No. ix. p. 120, "Horace makes the division after the 5th, 6th, or 7th foot, never after the 3rd, as the Moderns do." V. 45. The last syllable of ego is short, and so used by the best writers; nor will the example of Ausonius, or an instance or two of its being found long in Plautus and Catullus, authorize a modern poet in this license. See the note by Heinsius on Ovid. Ep. xiii. 135, vol. i. p. 180, and Burmann on Propertii Eleg. I. viii. 41. "Recte Heinsius, qui nunquam a Nasone, p. 93, 94, 733, hujus voculæ ultimam produci notat; et falsos esse illos qui ab ullo Augustei ævi poetâ id factum contendunt, dicit ad Albinov. Epiced. Drusi. x. 193." See also Vossius de Arte Grammaticâ, lib. Multa flagranti radiisque cincto Sentit Olympus. 50 ALCAIC FRAGMENT. [See Mason's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 43.] O LACRYMARUM fons,* tenero sacros ii. cap. 27. Drakenborch in his note on Sil. Italicus xvii. 358, p. 865, (where the last syllable of ego is long,) relies on the authorities produced by Vossius; and thinks that it may be lengthened, even without the power of the cæsura. V. 47. See Stewart's Moral Philosophy, vol. iii. p. 201. V. 48. "Natus moriensque fefellit," Hor. Ep. I. xvii. 10. V. 49. Mason has improperly accented this word, as if it were an adverb (multà). All the other editions have followed him. It is the "nomen pro adverbio," as Hor. Od. iv. ii. 25. V. 52. Virg. Æn. x. 206, "Phoebe medium pulsabat Olympum." Luke. * So Sophocles, Antigone, ver. 803: · ἴσχειν δ ̓ οὐκ ἔτι πηγὰς δύναμαι δάκρυων. V. Chariton. ed. Dorville, p. 5, and Chrysostom in laud. Pauli ed. Hemsterh, p. xxvi. και πηγὰς δάκρυων ἡ φιει. |