L'Histoire des Odes d'Anacréon, by Monsieur Gacon; Rotterdam, 1712. A translation in English verse, by several hands, 1713, in which the odes by Cowley are inserted. The edition by Barnes; London, 1721. The edition by Dr. Trapp, 1733, with a Latin version in elegiac metre. A translation in English verse, by John Addison, 1735. A collection of Italian translations of Anacreon, published at Venice, 1736, consisting of those by Corsini, Regnier, Salvini, Marchetti, and one by several anonymous authors. A translation in English verse, by Fawkes and Dr. Broome, 1760.1 Another, anonymous, 1768. The edition, by Spaletti, at Rome, 1781; with the fac-simile of the Vatican MS. The edition by Degen, 1786, who published also a German translation of Anacreon, esteemed the best. A translation in English verse, by Urquhart, 1787. The edition by Citoyen Gail, at Paris, seventh year, 1799, with a prose translation. This is the most complete of the English translations. ODES OF ANACREON. H ODE I.1 I SAW the smiling bard of pleasure, Quick from his glowing brows he drew I hung it o'er my thoughtless brow, ODE II. GIVE me the harp of epic song, 1 This ode is the first of the series in the Vatican manuscript, which attributes it to no other poet than Anacreon. They who assert that the manuscript imputes it to Basilius have been misled by the words in the margin, which are merely intended as a title to the following ode. Whether it be the production of Anacreon or not, it has all the features of ancient simplicity, and is a beautiful imitation of the poet's happiest manner. 2 The eyes that are humid and fluctuating show a propensity to pleasure and love; they bespeak, too, a mind of integrity and beneficence, a generosity of disposition, and a genius for poetry. Baptista Porta tells us some strange opinions of the ancient physiognomists on this subject, their reasons for which were curious, and perhaps not altogether fanciful.-Vide Physiognom. Johan, Baptist. Porta. But tear away the sanguine string, And flash around such sparks of thought, As Bacchus could alone have taught ! ODE III.5 LISTEN to the Muse's lyre, 3 This idea, as Longepierre remarks, is in an epigram of the seventh book of the Anthologia: Εξοτε μοι πινοντι συνεσταουσα Χαρικλώ Λαθρη τους ιδιους αμφέβαλε στεφανους, While I unconscious quaffed my wine, Which since has maddened all my soul! 4 The ancients prescribed certain laws of drinking at their festivals, for an account of which see the commentators. Anacreon here acts the symposiarch, or master of the festival. 5 La Fosse has thought proper to lengthen this poem by considerable interpolations of his own, which he thinks are indispensably neces sary to the completion of the description. Roundelay or shepherd-song. Paint me next, if painting may Such a theme as this portray, All the happy heaven of love, These elect of Cupid prove. ODE IV.1 VULCAN! hear your glorious task; Their blushing tendrils round the bowl. While many a rose-lipped bacchant maid2 Is culling clusters in their shade. ODE V.3 GRAVE me a cup with brilliant grace, Deep as the rich and holy vase, Which on the shrine of Spring reposes, When shepherds hail that hour of roses. Grave it with themes of chaste design, Formed for a heavenly bowl like mine. Display not there the barbarous rites In which religious zeal delights; Nor any tale of tragic fate, Which history trembles to relate ! No-cull thy fancies from above, Themes of heaven and themes of love. Let Bacchus, Jove's ambrosial boy, Distil the grape in drops of joy; And while he smiles at every tear, Let warm-eyed Venus, dancing near, With spirits of the genial bed, The dewy herbage deftly tread. Let Love be there, without his arms, In timid nakedness of charms; And all the Graces linked with Love, While rosy boys, disporting round, Blushing through the shadowy grove, In circlets trip the velvet ground; But ah! if there Apollo toys, I tremble for my rosy boys !4 ODE VI.5 As late I sought the spangled bowers, To cull a wreath of matin flowers, 4 An allusion to the fable that Apollo had killed his beloved boy Hyacinth while playing with him at quoits. This,' says La Fosse, 'is assuredly the sense of the text, and it cannot admit of any other.' The Italian translators, to save themselves the trouble of a note, have taken the liberty of making Anacreon explain this fable. Thus Salvini, the most literal of any of them: Ma con lor non giuochi Apollo; Che in fiero risco Col duro disco A Giacinto fiaccò il collo. 5 The Vatican MS. pronounces this beautiful fiction to be the genuine offspring of Anacreon. It has all the features of the parent: et facile insciis Noscitetur ab omnibus. The commentators, however, have attributed it to Julian, a royal poet. |