REVIEW OF LITERATURE. FLECTERE NON ODIUM COGIT, NON GRATIA SUADET. MISCELLANEOUS. Odes of Anacreon, translated into English Verse. With Notes. By Thomas Moore, Esq. Stockdale. 4to. 1l. 15. 1800. SUCH small pieces as have been preserved to us*, sanctioned by the name of the bard of Teios (although many of them have their legitimacy disputed) we consider as forming a cabinet of gems, of a workmanship so delicate and exquisite, as to render them, in the eye of taste and genius, almost as inestimable as any other treasure to be found amongst the precious stores of antiquity. Notwithstanding the works of Anacreon are, if we may use such language, for ever redolent of wine and love, yet we must not think that man a mixture of an amorous satyr and a sottish Silenus, whom Plato distinguished by the appellation of " the wise ;""which," as it has been observed,t" is the foundation of M. Fontenelle's ingenious dialogue, where he introduces Anacreon and Aristotle disputing the prize of wisdom, and gives the advantage to our poet." We agree with Mr. Moore in his " Remarks," that little credibility is due to the trifling anecdotes collected by editors of our author, and arranged into what they call his life, but we confess that it still affords us pleasure to acknowledge his philosophy in the story reported of his having returned five talents given to him by his *His Elegies, Hymns, Iambics, &c. are lost. +Fawkes's Life of Anacreon. A Mr. M. not having mentioned this anecdote in his "Remarks on Anacreon," and only hinted at it in a note, we shall give in the words of L. G. Gyraldus, lib. 9, de Poët: Hist. "Tradunt Græci scriptores (quod et Arsenius in Græcis collectaneis retulit) Anacreontem, quum donatus quinque talentis ab ipso Polycrate fuisset, duabus noctibus ex cogitatione penè somno caruisse: qua ex re ea restituisse dicentem & τιμασθαι αυτα της φροντίδος. Stobæus, fol. 508. See also Baxter conjectures that ode 8 was written upon this occasion. Ode 8, according to the order of the Vatican MS. followed by Mr. M. This arrangement is so different from that in the hands of most people, that we wish the translator had pursued that of Barnes, and given us the other at the end. The reverse of which has been his plan, which makes a reference to the original somewhat troublesome. At ode 55, Barnes (note 902) observes, this is all that has reached our hands"salvum et integrum." The Vatican MS. ends the odes at ode 60, to which Mr. M. has added several of the fragments. 3 C- VOL. XII. friend, the tyrant Polycrates, the possession of which had deprived him of his rest for two nights; saying, at the same time, "that he did not think them worth the uneasiness." We could also wish with Mr. M. to believe that Anacreon and Sappho were cotemporary; for, as he feelingly expresses it, "there can scarcely be imagined a more delightful theme for the warmest speculations of fancy to wanton upon, than the idea of their intercourse;" and we much lament to find historical truth stepping in and dissolving the enchantment. Indeed, we even go so far as to hope it not false, that he who sung the praises of Bacchus, and was ever full of the care-dispelling god, at last died by the means of the grape, a stone of which is said to have choaked him in the 85th year of his age. Relying upon the poet's authority, that what we wish we easily believe, the inventors of these, and such fictions as these, respecting our author, were sure to meet with favour, and partial, if not general credit. So then, we will say, expired the Teian bard, the character of whose life and poetry cannot be more pleasingly, or perhaps more truly given, than in the lines of Cowley,† supposed to be spoken by the God of Love. "All thy verse is softer far Sweet as lovers' freshest kisses, Graceful, cleanly, smooth, and round, All with Venus' girdle bound; And thy life was all the while Kind and gentle as thy style: The smooth pac'd hours of ev'ry day Glided num'rously away; Like thy verse each hour did pass, Sweet and short like that it was." At p. 13, 14, of the "Remarks," Mr. M. characterizes the writings of Anacreon with excellent judgment and sensibility; and properly adds, that he "shall not be accused of enthusiastic partiality, by those who have read and felt the original; but," he continues, to others I am conscious that this should not be the language of a translator, whose faint reflection of these beauties can Herodotus, lib. 3, c. 121. + Elegy upon Anacreon. but little justify his admiration of them." Assuredly the man who had so just a sense of the perfection of his author, seemed the best qualified to undertake the task of transfusing as much of his spirit into another language, as could possibly be effected. We should have thought so from simply meeting with this prefatory observation, but having now read Mr. M.'s version, and compared it with the original, we are confirmed in our opinion. Evidence to attach respect to that opinion, is easily adduced. Ode 39 in the Vatican MS. 47 in Barnes, is thus translated by Mr. M. "How I love the festive boy, But his heart-his heart is young! This we conceive as the better done, because Mr. M. here adheres closer to the text than is generally his custom. Although often indebted to Longepierre's ingenious commentary on Anacreon, he frequently adds coincident passages from his own reading, which he invariably turns in the most true and lively manner. To the present we find a sonnet by Saint Pavin, which Mr. M. gives us as follows, accompanied by the French. Fair and young, thou bloomest now, But read the heart and not the brow, Thou shalt not find my love is old. My love's a child; and thou can'st say For he was born the very day That first I set my eyes on thee! In Longepierre we have, with another similitude, this from Guarini. O Corisca mia cara, D'anima Linco, e non di forze sono E'n questo vecchio tronco E più che fosse mai verde il desio. which Mr. Addison* has translated thus: *This name was, we believe, put to a translation of Anacreon, for the purpose of deception. If not, we are sorry for the supposition, which arose from knowing that it has sometimes been mistaken for the author of the Spectator. Yes, my Corisca, Lincus is the same, My heart is green, and Love still blossoms there. The beau ful odes 15, 16, V. 9, 28, B. are finely translated. At page 69, is a curious note to the latter of these odes, describing the lips that kiss the sweetest, and those best adapted for biting. This information, with Anacreon's authority at the end of this little piece, for the use and gracefulness of transparent dresses, cannot but be highly interesting to our fair countrywomen. Ode 17 V.-29 B. is the most objectionable in the original collection, but Mr. M. has succeeded in turning it with great taste and - delicacy. In an edition not alluded to by Mr. M. printed in 1796, with a prose translation, this ode is preserved, but not interpreted. Such care we condemn as a caution that defeats itself. It is as it were "hanging out lights," and will without doubt too often sharpen the edge of curiosity, and frustrate the moral end it proposes to obtain. We perfectly coincide with Mr. M. that “it is much to be regretted that the substitution of asterisks has been so much adopted in the popular interpretations of the classics; it serves but to bring whatever is exceptionable into notice, claramque facem præferre pudendis." To this ode, on the happy expression λaλa awn, or silent eloquence, Mr. M. has, in a note, pleasantly attacked the sex on a topic for ever in play against them. "The mistress of Petrarch," says he, " parla con silentio ; which is perhaps the best method of female eloquence:" and again, at p. 132, he quotes this bon mot of Xenarchus," are not the grasshoppers happy in having dumb wives.” Ode 4 V.-17 B. Mr. M. has followed the Vatican manuscript, and deserved our thanks by making his translation of this ode considerably longer than any other we have seen. The extraordinary lines in the text are subjoined. It would be far more agreeable to us, than convenient to our limits to dwell much longer on the numerous excellencies of Mr. M.'s translation; but our office requires that, after having thus viewed Mr. M. abstractedly, we should turn to those translators who have preceded him, and also, according to their merits, render them Here the first two verses of Dr. Broome give a perfect translation of Anacreon; the following idea about the heart belongs to the Doctor, and has been imitated by Mr. M. It must be acknowledged that our translator is often very diffuse, and that the mere English reader might by accident quote from his Anacreon, what the scholar would seek in vain for in the original. In this ode, the four lines beginning, "Yes, I would be a happy gem," are not the strongest proof of this assertion. This piece is, in our estimation, so highly beautiful and gallant, that we can never expect to hear any modern of taste agree with De Pauw in calling it miserable. The poet's fancy of wishing himself water, that he might bathe her person; a fillet, that he might encircle her bosom ; and even sandals, that she might tread upon him, long since reminded us of this passage in the Romeo and Ju-` liet of our immortal bard. "Oh! that I were a glove upon that hand That I might kiss that cheek." Mr. M. has observed this coincidence. He has also, in a note to this ode, translated a distich of Plato's, preserved by Laertius. It runs thus: TO STELLA. "Why dost thou gaze upon the sky? Oh! that I were that spangled sphere, And every star should be an eye, To wonder on thy beauties here! We transcribe this for the purpose of citing a speech of Juliet's respecting Romeo, where this idea appears reversed: "Take him and cut him out in little stars, Ode 21 V.-19 B. by Cowley, in what he calls his paraphrastical translations of Anacreon (although they are not much more so than many of Mr. Moore's) is done in a manner that pleases us more than any other version of it. |