The dear delusion to renew, I sigh'd, and sunk to sleep again. ODE IX.-ON A DOVE.1 PRETTY pigeon, tell me, pray, I dare not tell the name she bears, And dress'd in all its visionary charms, 1 To understand this ode properly, we must remember that it was a custom among the ancients, when they undertook long journeys, and were desirous of sending back any news with uncommon expedition, to take tame pigeons along with them. When they thought proper to write to their friends, they let one of these birds loose with letters fastened to its neck: the bird, once released, would never cease its flight till it arrived at its nest and young ones. The same custom is still common among the Turks and other eastern nations. 2 It is impossible not to admire the address and delicacy So now the poet's page am I, of this indirect compliment to his own writings. Venus, the goddess of beauty, and mother of the Graces, is represented as being willing to purchase a little hymn of his composing at the price of one of her favorite doves. This passage is cited by Fawkes as a proof that Anacreon wrote hymns in honor of the gods: but be this as it may, it is certain that few fragments have reached us, and those of doubtful authority. ODE X.-ON A WAXEN CUPID. A WAXEN Cupid, nicely wrought, A rustic youth for sale had brought. Say, what's your price, my friend,' I cried, In Doric phrase,' devoid of skill: But as for this young rogue you see, He must not-shall not dwell with me.' 6 If so, my pretty youth,' I said, Our bargain shall be quickly made: Or thou thyself shalt melt in flame.'3 1 The Doric dialect was remarkable for its broadness and harshness. It was the most ancient of the four, and was used only by the common people of Greece. It is not therefore without reason, as the commentators have remarked, that Anacreon makes this young rustic speak it, since he was so insensible to the charms of love as to wish to get rid even of his image. 2 In the Greek it is a drachm, an Attic coin worth about nine pence English, or, according to some, only seven pence three farthings, or eight pence farthing. 3 Barnes observes that the ancient heathens used to treat the images of their gods in the same manner as they fancied they had been treated by them. The modern Indians, when any calamity befalls them, are accustomed to chastise their idols with scourges. ODE XI.-ON HIMSELF.1 'ANACREON,' the lasses say, 'Old fellow, you have had your day : But this I know, that every day Shall see me sportive, blithe and gay; The nearer death appears in view. ODE XII.-ON A SWALLOW. WHAT punishment shall I decree, 1 However successfully the spirit and meaning of this author may sometimes be preserved, it is impossible to convey an adequate idea of that facility of thought and easiness of expression which are so peculiarly his own. What would in others justly be considered the perfection of art, in him appears perfectly natural; and one might almost imagine that his numbers flowed spontaneously to the warblings of his lyre. These remarks are particularly applicable to this ode, which, for simplicity and playfulness of expression, is inferior to no one in the collection. 2 Before the invention of glass mirrors were used made of brass or some other metal, and sometimes of stones highly polished. 3 It was remarked by an ancient author that Venus herself, if destitute of hair, would not, though surrounded by the Loves and Graces, have had charms sufficient to please her husband Vulcan. Say, shall I clip thy restless wing? ODE XIII.-ON HIMSELF. POOR Atys, as old poets sing, 1 Tereus, king of Thrace, for whose story the reader is referred to the sixth book of Ovid's Metamorphoses. Though Anacreon seems to adopt the less usual acceptation of the fable, that it was Philomela, and not Progne, who was transformed into a swallow. 2 Horace has a similar idea in the first ode of the fourth book, which has been thus admirably imitated by Pope : Thee, dress'd in fancy's airy beam, Absent I follow through th' extended dream; And now you burst (ah, cruel!) from my arms; Or softly glide by the canal ; Now shorn by Cynthia's silver ray, And now on rolling waters snatch'd away. 3 Atys was a young Phrygian of great beauty, beloved by Cybele, the mother of the gods, who afflicted him with madness for violating his vow of chastity. According to Ovid he was afterwards turned into a pine-tree. |