Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

Quæ patriæ prodesse meæ Regina ferebar,
Inter Elisæas gloria prima nurus,

[ocr errors]

Ne videar flammæ nimis indulsisse secundæ,
Vel nimis hostiles extimuisse manus.
Fortunam atque annos liceat revocare priores,
Gaudiaque heu ! quantis nostra repensa malis.
Primitiasne tuas meministi atque arma Syphacis
Fusa, et per Tyrias ducta trophæa vias ?
(Laudis at antiquæ forsan meminisse pigebit,
Quodque decus quondam causa ruboris erit.)
Tempus ego certe memini, felicia Pœnis

Quo te non puduit solvere vota deis ;
Moeniaque intrantem vidi: longo agmine duxit
Turba salutantum, purpureique patres.
Fœminea ante omnes longe admiratur euntem

20

25

30

V. 18. See Sil. Italicus. ii. 239; vi. 346; xiv. 257. V. 20. "Pallet, et hostiles credit adesse manus," Ov. Fast. ii. 468.

V. 21. "Non annis revocare tuis," Ov. Met. vii. 177. V. 26. "Aut ubi cessaras, causa ruboris eram,'

دو

Ov. Trist. iii. vii. 26.

V. 27. Here the last syllable of ego is again made long. See the note to the Sapphic Ode to West, ver. 45, p. 230. I have only to add to that note, that ego is said to be found with this quantity in the Diræ Catonis,' ver. 156; but which line is thus given by Wernsdorf, vol. iii. p. 19:

"Ausus egon' primus custos violare pudores?" and by all the other editors prior to him. See Pithæi Catul. p. 219. Scaligeri Collect. p. 61. Boxhornii Poet. Sat. p. 117. Burmanni Anthol. ii. 674; but erroneously: see Bentley's Canon, Heavt. Terentii, act v. sc. 1. and Clas. Journ. No. lxii. p. 352.

V. 30. 66

Turba salutantum," Claudian. iii. 213, p. 30. ed. Gesn. Virgil. Georg. ii. 462.

V. 31. "Omnia foemineis quare dilecta catervis," Martial. xi. 48. " Venit in exsequias tota caterva meas," Prop. iv. xi. 68. And" aspectu hæsit," Virg. Æn. iii. 597.

Hæret et aspectu tota caterva tuo. Jam flexi, regale decus, per colla capilli, Jam decet ardenti fuscus in ore color!

Commendat frontis generosa modestia formam, 35 Seque cupit laudi surripuisse suæ.

Prima genas tenui signat vix flore juventas,

Et dextræ soli credimus esse virum.

Dum faciles gradiens oculos per singula jactas,
(Seu rexit casus lumina, sive Venus)
In me (vel certè visum est) conversa morari
Sensi; virgineus perculit ora pudor.
Nescio quid vultum molle spirare tuendo,
Credideramque tuos lentius ire pedes.
Quærebam, juxta æqualis si dignior esset,
Quæ poterat visus detinuisse tuos :
Nulla fuit circum æqualis quæ dignior esset,

40

45

V. 34. "Et enim fusco grata colore Venus," Ov. Amor. ii. 440. And Propert. El. ii. xix. 78.

V. 35. Ov. Medicam. ver. 1. "Quæ faciem commendat cura." And ad Liv. 259.

V. 37. "Ora puer prima signans intonsa juventa," Virg. En. ix. 181. Also Ovid. Met. xiii. 754. Virg. Æn. vii.

162. viii. 160.

V. 39. " Facilesque oculos fert omnia circum," Virg. En. viii. 310.

V. 40. "Ad fratrem casu lumina flexa tulit," Ov. Trist. iii. ix. 22.

V. 43. Gray has in this instance preserved a metrical canon, which has been broken through by many of the modern Latin poets:-repeatedly by Milton, Addison, Buchanan, and T. Warton. See the Classical Journal, 1. 71. 283, xxi. 174. xxii. 364. and Barthius and Burman on Nemesian Eclog. ii. 32. see Poet. Lat. Minor. vol. i. p. 570. and Dawes. Misc. Crit. ed. Kidd, p. 3.

V. 46. " ii. 520.

Sæpe oculos etiam detinuisse tuos," Ov. Trist.

Asseruitque decus conscia forma suum. Pompæ finis erat. Totâ vix nocte quievi,

50

Sin premat invitæ lumina victa sopor, Somnus habet pompas, eademque recursat imago; Atque iterum hesterno munere victor ades.+

DIDACTIC POEM UNFINISHED:

ENTITLED,

DE PRINCIPIIS COGITANDI.

LIBER PRIMUS. AD FAVONIUM.

[See Mason's Memoirs, vol. iii. p. 55.]

UNDE Animus scire incipiat; quibus inchoet orsa Principiis seriem rerum, tenuemque catenam Mnemosyne Ratio unde rudi sub pectore tardum Augeat imperium; et primum mortalibus ægris

V. 49. " Infelix, totâ quicumque quiescere nocte," Ovid.

Amor. ii. 9. 39.

V. 50. "Lumina cum placido victa sopore jacent," Ov. Ep. xvi. 100.

Ellis, in his Historical Sketch of English Poetry, (p. 224,) thinks that the description of the entry of Troilus into Troy, in Chaucer's romance of Troilus and Creseida, suggested to Gray some very beautiful lines in this Epistle: "Jam flexi, regale decus," &c. (See Chaucer, b. xi. st. 83. fol. 151. ed. 1602.)

"This Troilus sat on his baye steed,

All armed, save his head, full richely," &c. V. 4. Virg. Georg. i. 237, "Mortalibus ægris," and Lucret. vi. 1. Luke.

5

Ira, Dolor, Metus, et Curæ nascantur inanes,
Hinc canere aggredior. Nec dedignare canentem,
O decus! Angliacæ certe O lux altera gentis!
Si quà primus iter monstras, vestigia conor
Signare incertâ, tremulâque insistere plantâ.
Quin potius duc ipse (potes namque omnia) sanctum
Ad limen (si ritè adeo, si pectore puro,)
Obscure reserans Naturæ ingentia claustra.
Tu cæcas rerum causas, fontemque severum
Pande, Pater; tibi enim, tibi, veri magne Sacerdos,
Corda patent hominum, atque altæ penetralia

Mentis.

11

15

Tuque aures adhibe vacuas, facilesque, Favonî, (Quod tibi crescit opus) simplex nec despice carmen, Nec vatem non illa leves primordia motus, Quanquam parva, dabunt. Lætum vel amabile

quicquid

[auras, Usquam oritur, trahit hinc ortum; nec surgit ad Quin ea conspirent simul, eventusque secundent.

V. 5. Virg. Georg. iv. 345, " Curam Clymene narrabat inanem." Luke.

V. 7. "Magnæ spes altera Romæ," Virg. Æn. xii. 168. This apostrophe is addressed to 'Locke.'

V. 9. "Tremulis possunt insistere plantis," Juv. Sat. vi. 96.

V. 12. Nature primus portarum claustra cupiret," Lucret. i. 72. "Cæcas causas," Ibid. iii. 317. Virg. Æn. vii. 15, "portarum ingentia claustra." Luke.

V. 13. " Amnemque severum," Virg. Æn. vi. 374. And Georg. iii. 7; Amnemque severum Cocyti metuet."

V. 15. "Mentis penetralia nudat," Claud. Rap. Pros. i. 213.

V. 16. "Faciles habuit aures," Quintil. Inst. Orat. vi. v. p, 576. "Vacuas aures adhibe," Lucret. i. 45.

V. 21. "Eventusque secundet," Virg. Georg. iv. 397.

26

Hinc variæ vitaï artes, ac mollior usus,
Dulce et amicitiæ vinclum : Sapientia dia
Hinc roseum accendit lumen, vultuque sereno
Humanas aperit mentes, nova gaudia monstrans
Deformesque fugat curas, vanosque timores :
Scilicet et rerum crescit pulcherrima Virtus.
Illa etiam, quæ te (mirùm) noctesque diesque
Assiduè fovet inspirans, linguamque sequentem
Temperat in numeros, atque horas mulcet inertes;
Aurea non aliâ se jactat origine Musa.

Principio, ut magnum fœdus Natura creatrix
Firmavit, tardis jussitque inolescere membris
Sublimes animas; tenebroso in carcere partem
Noluit ætheream longo torpere veterno:
Nec per se proprium passa exercere vigorem est,
Ne sociæ molis conjunctos sperneret artus,
Ponderis oblita, et cœlestis conscia flammæ.

31

35

V. 24. "Rubens accendit lumina Vesper," Virg. Georg.

i. 251.

V. 26. Hor. Epod. xiii. 18, “Deformis ægrimoniæ."

Luke. V. 27. "Scilicet et rerum facta est pulcherrima Roma," Georg. ii. 534.

V. 31. "At non Venus aurea contra," Virg. Æn. x. 16. "Qui nunc te fruitur credulus aurea," Hor. Öd. i. v. 9.

V. 32. "Rerum natura creatrix," Lucret. i. 623.

V. 33. See note at p. 176, on the position of "que," and Burman on Antholog Lat. vol. i. p. 607.

V. 35. "Nec torpere gravi passus sua regna veterno," Virg. Georg. i. 124.

V. 45. "Sequenti concita plaga," Lucret. iv. 189. "Exernis plagis," Ibid. ii. 1140.

V. 48

Stetit unus in arcem

Erectus capitis." Manil. Astron. iv. 905.
Penitusque supremum,

[ocr errors]

In cerebrum."

Claud. xviii. 52.

« ForrigeFortsett »