ANTIS.

Haste, thy early office know;
Branch of beauteous laurel come,
Sweep Apollo's sacred dome,
Cropt this temple's base beneath,
Where th' immortal gardens breath,
And eternal dews, that round
Water the delicious ground,
Bathe the myrtle's tresses fair.
Lightly thus with constant care
The pavement of the god I sweep,
When o'er the Parnassian steep
Flames the bright sun's mounting ray;
This my task each rising day.

Son of Latona, Pæan, Pæan, hail:
Never, O never may thy honours fail!
Grateful is my task, who wait
Serving, Phoebus, at thy gate;
Honouring thus thy hallow'd shrine,
Honour for the task is mine.
Labouring with unwilling hands
Me no mortal man commands:
But, immortal gods, to you
All my pleasing toil is due.
Phœbus is to me a sire,

Grateful thoughts my soul inspire;
Nurtur'd by thy bounty here

Thee, Apollo, I revere;

And thy name in this rich seat

As a father's I repeat.

Son of Latona, Pæan, Pæan, hail:

Never, O never may thy honours fail!

Rhyme

Now from this labour with the laurel bough

I cease; and sprinkling from the golden vase

Apollo for the purposes here mentioned, and the tree constantly produced a fresh branch against the next morning; it is therefore called vinDaλns: so the vine on the summit sacred to Bacchus produced the daily-ripening bunch of grapes, from which the libation was made to that god. Vid. Phoeniss. v. 287.

1

CHO.

The chaste drops which Castalia's fountain rolls,
Bedew the pavement. Never may I quit
This office to the god; or, if I quit it,

Be it, good Fortune, at thy favouring call!
But see, the early birds have left their nests,
And this way from Parnassus wing their flight.
Come not, I charge you, near the battlements,
1
Nor near the golden dome. Herald of Jove,
Strong though thy beak beyond the feather'd kind,
My bow shall reach thee. Tow'rds the altar, see,
A swan comes sailing: elsewhere wilt thou move
Thy scarlet-tinctur'd foot? or from my bow
The lyre of Phoebus to thy notes attun'd
Will not protect thee; further stretch thy wings;
Go, wanton, skim along the Delian lake,

Or thou wilt steep thy melody in blood.

Look, what strange bird comes onwards: wou'dst thou fix
Beneath the battlements thy straw-built nest?
My singing bow shall drive thee hence; begone,
Or to the banks of Alpheus, gulfy stream,

Or to the Isthmian grove; there hatch thy young;
Mar not these pendant ornaments, nor soil
The temple of the god: I would not kill you,
'Twere pity, for to mortal man you bear
The message of the gods; yet my due task
Must be perform'd, and never will I cease
My service to the god, who nurtur❜d me.
ION, CHORUS.
The stately column, and the gorgeous dome
Rais'd to the gods are not the boast alone
Of our magnificent Athens; nor the statues
That grace her streets: this temple of the god,
Son of Latona, beauteous to behold,

Beams the resplendent light of both her children.

187. This is a passage of acknowledged difficulty. Διδύμων προσώπων καλλιβλί Pagor pas. Barnesius de duplici oculorum lumine nescio quid somniat, as Dr. Musgrave expresses himself. Carmeli translates it thus:

ION.

сно.

ION.

сно.

ION.

Turn thine eyes this way: look, the son of Jove
Lops with his golden scimitar the heads
Of the Lernean Hydra: view it well.
I see him.

And this other standing nigh,
Who snatches from the fire the blazing brand.
What is his name? The subject, on the web
Design'd, these hands have wrought in ductile gold.
The shield-supporting Iolaus, who bears

The toils in common with the son of Jove.
View now this hero; on his winged steed

Divino Vate scorge
Il vago amato lume
Delli due nostri rai

Quegli ornamenti stessi.

Dr. Musgrave says, duplex ædium facies intelligenda mihi videtur, and shews from Pindar that wgóramov is sometimes used in that sense: we allow the learned Editor's authority, but cannot allow that the two fronts of the temple could be seen in one view. At Athens the Chorus had been accustomed not only to magnificent temples, but to the statues of Apollo in their streets, signified by ̓Αγυιάτιδες θεραπεῖαι. ̓Αγυιεῖ i. e. ἐν τοῖς προπυλαίοις ιδρυμένο. Schol. ad Phæniss. v. 634: their wonder was to find the same magnificence at Delphi, the temple there as stately as any at Athens, and the same profusion of statues as they advanced to it. Pausanias, Phocic. c. ix. &c. enumerates these statues, and says particularly τὰ ἐν τοῖς αετοῖς ἔσιν "Αρτεμις, καὶ Λητώ, καὶ ̓Απόλλων. Brodeus then had reason to explain didúμwv wgosww by the statues of Apollo and Diana; and na22.62iqagov qãs may be supposed to mark their attributes, clarissima mundi Jumina. These statues were in the Pediment, i rois drois; for which the translator has the authority of Mr. Stuart, who understands the Grecian Archi. tecture better than all the Scholiasts that ever wrote. The learned reader will consider the following passage of Pindar, Olymp. Ode xiii. Epod. 1. and perhaps be of opinion that it gives light both to Pausanius and Euripides:

192. Iolaus is here plainly described as in the act of lifting the burning brand from the fire to sear the neck from which Hercules had lopt the head: to come at this sense for πτανὸν Barnes reads πυρσον, Pierson minima mutatione πανὸν, which he supports with good authorities: daλov is perhaps the word which the classic reader would wish to supply.

· 197. Bellerophon mounted on the winged Pegasus, engaging with the Chimæra.

The triple-bodied monster's dreadful force
He conquers through the flames his jaws emit.
I view it all attentively.

Observe

The battle of the giants, on the walls

Sculptur'd in stone.

Let us note this, my friends.

See where against Enceladus she shakes
Her gorgon shield.

I see my goddess, Pallas.
Mark the tempestuous thunder's flaming bolt
Launch'd by the hand of Jove.

The furious Mimas
Here blazes in the vollied fires; and there
Another earth-born monster falls beneath
The wand of Bacchus wreath'd with ivy round,
No martial spear. But, as 'tis thine to tend
This temple, let me ask thee, is it lawful,
Leaving our sandals, its interior parts
To visit?

Strangers, this is not permitted.
Yet may we make enquiries of thee?

What wou'dst thou know?

Be the earth's centre.

Speak;

Whether this temple's site

ION.

Aye; with garlands hung,

And gorgons

all around.

сно.

So fame reports.

ION.

If at the gate the honied cake be offer'd,
Would you consult the oracle, advance.

202. Chorus. This is a fine touch: as Athenians nothing could be so agreeable to them as the honours paid to their tutelary goddess.

216. Ion. It is ingeniously conjectured by Dr. Musgrave, that Ion here points to a marble pillar thus adorned, fixed on the very point which they deemed the centre of the earth; he supports his opinion from this passage of Pausanias, rè δὲ ὑπὸ Δελφῶν καλούμενον ἐμφαλὸν, λίθου πεποιημένον λευκοῦ, τοῦτο εἶναι τὸ ἐν μέσῳ γῆς πάσης αὐτοὶ λίγουσιν οἱ Δελφοὶ, ἐν ὠδῇ τινι Πίνδαρος ὁμολογοῦντά σφισιν ἐποίησε. Phocic. c. xvi.

CHO.

ION.

CHO.

ION.

сно.

ION.

To th' altar: 'till the hallow'd lamb has bled
In sacrifice approach not the recess.

I am instructed: what the god appoints
As laws we wish not to transgress: without
Enough of ornament delights our eyes.
Take a full view of all; that is allow'd.

To view the inmost shrine was our lord's order.
Who are you call'd? Attendants on what house?
Our lords inhabit the magnific domes

Of Pallas.-But she comes, of whom thou askest.

ION, CREUSA, CHORUS.

Lady, whoe'er thou art, that liberal air
Speaks an exalted mind: there is a grace,
A dignity in those of noble birth,

That marks their high rank. Yet I marvel much That from thy closed lids the trickling tear Water'd thy beauteous cheeks, soon as thine eye Beheld this chaste oracular seat of Phoebus. What brings this sorrow, lady? All besides, Viewing the temple of the god, are struck With joy; thy melting eye o'erflows with tears. CREU. Not without reason, stranger, art thou seiz'd With wonder at my tears; this sacred dome Awakes the sad remembrance of things past. I had my mind at home, though present here. How wretched is our sex? And, O ye gods, What deeds are yours? Where may we hope for right, If by th' injustice of your pow'r undone?

ION.

Why, lady, this inexplicable grief?

CREU. It matters not: my mind resumes its firmness:
I say no more; cease thy concern for me.

ION.

But say who art thou? whence? what country boasts Thy birth? and by what name may we address thee? CREU. Creusa is my name, drawn from Erectheus My high-born lineage, Athens gave me birth. Illustrious is thy state, thy ancestry

ION.

So noble, that I look with reverence on thee.