The amours of the poet and the rivalship of the tyrant I shall pass over in silence; and there are few, I presume, who will regret the omission of most of those anecdotes, which the industry of some editors has not only promulged but discussed. Whatever is repugnant to modesty and virtue is considered in ethical science, by a supposition very favourable to humanity, as impossible; and this amiable persuasion should be much more strongly entertained where the transgression wars with nature as well as virtue. But why are we not allowed to indulge in the presumption? Why are we officiously reminded that there have been such instances of depravity? Hipparchus, who now maintained at Athens the power which his father Pisistratus had usurped, was one of those elegant princes who have polished the fetters of their subjects. He was the first, according to Plato, who edited the poems of Homer, and commanded them to be sung by the rhapsodists at the celebration of the Panathenæa. As his court was the galaxy of genius, Anacreon should not be absent. Hipparchus sent a barge for him; the poet embraced the invitation, and the muses and the loves were wafted with him to Athens. 2 The manner of Anacreon's death was singular. We are told that in the eighty-fifth year of his age he was choked by a grape-stone;3 and however we may smile at their enthusiastic partiality, who pretend that it was a peculiar indulgence of Heaven, which stole him from the world by this easy and characteristic death, we cannot help admiring that his fate should be so emblematic of his disposition. Cælius Calcagninus alludes to this catastrophe in the following epitaph on our poet: 4 Then, hallow'd sage, those lips which pour'd along Here let the ivy kiss the poet's tomb, Here let the rose he loved with laurels bloom, But far be thou, oh! far, unholy vine, By whom the favourite minstrel of the Nine Thy God himself now blushes to confess, Since poor Anacreon's death! In the romance of Clelia, the anecdote to which I allude is told of a young girl, with whom Anacreon fell in love, while she personated the god Apollo in a mask. But here Mademoiselle Scuderi consulted nature more than truth. There is a very interesting French poem founded upon this anecdote, imputed to Desyvetaux, and called « Anacreon Citoyen.» 3 Fabricius appears not to trust very implicitly in this story:Uvæ passæ acino tandem suffocatus, sic redimus Suida in otvoTOTS; alii enim hoc mortis genere perisse tradunt Sophoclem.. Fabricii Bibliothec. Græc. lib. ii, cap. 15. It must be confessed that Lucian, who tells us that Sophocles was choked by a grapestone, in the very same treatise mentions the longevity of Anacreon, and yet is silent on the manner of his death. Could he have been ignorant of such a remarkable coincidence, or knowing, could he have neglected to remark it? See Regnier's Introduction to his Anacreon. 4 At te, sancte senex, acinus sub tartara misit; Vos, hederæ, tumulum, tumulum vos, cingite lauri: At vitis procul hinc, procal hinc odiosa facessat, Calius Calcagninus has translated or imitated the epigrams els Typ There can scarcely be imagined a more delightful theme for the warmest speculations of fancy to wanton upon, than the idea of an intercourse between Anacreon and Sappho. I could wish to believe that they were contemporary: any thought of an interchange between hearts so congenial in warmth of passion and delicacy of genius gives such play to the imagination, that the mind loves to indulge in it: but the vision dissolves before historical truth; and Chamæleon and Hermesianax, who are the source of the supposition, are considered as having merely indulged in a poetical anachronism. To infer the moral dispositions of a poet from the tone of sentiment which pervades his works, is sometimes a very fallacious analogy: but the soul of Anacreon speaks so unequivocally through his odes, that we may consult them as the faithful mirrors of his heart." We find him there the elegant voluptuary, diffusing the seductive charm of sentiment over passions and prepensities at which rigid morality must frown. His heart, devoted to indolence, seems to think that there is wealth enough in happiness, but seldom happiness enough in wealth; and the cheerfulness with which he brightens his old age is interesting and endearing like his own rose, he is fragrant even in decay. But the most peculiar feature of his mind is that love of simplicity which he attributes to himself so very feelingly, and which breathes characteristically through all that he has sung. In truth, if we omit those vices in our estimate which ethnic religion not only connived at, but consecrated, we shall say that the disposition of our poet was amiable; his morality was relaxed, but not abandoned; and Virtue with her zone loosened may be an emblem of the character of Anacreon.3 1 Barnes is convinced of the synchronism of Anacreon and Sappho'; but very gratuitously. In citing his authorities, it is strange that he neglected the line which Fulvius Ursinus has quoted, as of Anacreon, among the testimonies to Sappho : Ειμι λαβών είσαρας Σαπφω παρθενον άθύφωνον. Fabricius thinks that they might have been contemporary, but considers their amour as a tale of imagination. Vossius rejects the idea entirely as also Olaus Barrichins, etc. * An Italian poet, in some verses on Belleau's translation of Ana- While sage Anacreon touch'd the lyre, Nor fill'd his bowl to Bacchus higher. When youth could act the lover's part; But never, never reach'd his heart. 3 Anacreon's character has been variously coloured. Barnes lingers on it with enthusiastic admiration, but he is always extravagant, if not sometimes even profane. Monsieur Baillet, who is in the opposite extreme, exaggerates too much the testimonies which he has consulted; and we cannot surely agree with bim when he cites such a compiler as Athenæus, as un des plus savans critiques de l'antiquité.-Jugement des Savans, M. C. V. Barnes could not have read the passage to which he refers, when he accuses Le Fevre of having censured our poet's character in a note on Longinus: the note in question is manifest irony, in allusion to some reprehension which Le Fevre had suffered for his Anacreon; and it is evident that praise rather than censure is intimated. See Johannes Vulpius de Utilitate Poetices, who vindicates our poet's reputation. Of his person and physiognomy time has preserved such uncertain memorials, that perhaps it were better to leave the pencil to fancy; and few can read the Odes of Anacreon without imagining the form of the animated old bard, crowned with roses, and singing to the lyre.' his excesses. them to be inimitable. Simplicity is the distinguishing feature of these odes, and they interest by their innocence, while they fascinate by their beauty; they are, indeed, the infants of the Muses, and may be said to lisp in numbers. I shall not be accused of enthusiastic partiality by those who have read and felt the original; but to others I am conscious that this should not be the language of a translator, whose faint reflection of these beauties can but little justify his admiration of them. feelings of the moment. The poems of Anacreon were sung at banquets as late as the time of Aulus Gellius, who tells us that he heard one of the odes performed at a birth-day entertainment." After the very enthusiastic eulogiums bestowed by the ancients and moderns upon the poems of Anacreon, 2 we need not be diffident in expressing our raptures at their beauty, nor hesitate to pronounce them the most polished remains of antiquity. 3 They In the age of Anacreon music and poetry were inseare all beauty, all enchantment.4 He steals us so in- parable. These kindred talents were for a long time sensibly along with him, that we sympathize even in associated, and the poet always sung his own compoIn his amatory odes there is a delicacy sitions to the lyre. It is probable that they were not of compliment not to be found in any other ancient set to any regular air, but rather a kind of musical repoet. Love at that period was rather an unrefined emo-citation, which was varied according to the fancy and tion; and the intercourse of the sexes was animated more by passion than sentiment. They knew not those little tendernesses which form the spiritual part of affection; their expression of feeling was therefore rude and unvaried, and the poetry of Love deprived of its most captivating graces. Anacreon, however, attained some ideas of this gallantry; and the same delicacy of mind which led him to this refinement prevented him from yielding to the freedom of language, which has sullied the pages of all the other poets. His descriptions are warm: but the warmth is in the ideas, not the words. He is sportive without being wanton, and ardent without being licentious. His poetic invention is most brilliantly displayed in those allegorical fictions which so many have endeavoured to imitate, because all have confessed Johannes Faber, in his description of the coin of Ursinus, mentions a head on a very beautiful cornelian, which he supposes was worn in a ring by some admirer of the poet. In the Iconographia of Canini there is a youthful head of Anacreon from a Grecian medal, with the letters TEIO2 around it; on the reverse there is a Neptune, holding a spear in his right hand, and a dolphin in the left, with the word TIANON, inscribed, « volendoci denotare (says Canini) che quelle cittadini la coniassero in honore del suo compatriota poeta. There is also among the coins of De Wilde one which, though it bears no effigy, was probably struck to the memory of Anacreon. It has the word THION, encircled with an ivy crown. At quidni respicit hæc corona Anacreontem, nobilem lyricum ?-De Wilde. 2 Besides those which are extant, he wrote hymns, elegies, epigrams, etc. Some of the epigrams still exist. Horace alludes to a poem of his upon the rivalry of Circe and Penelope in the affections of Ulysses, lib. i, od. 17. The scholiast upon Nicander cites a fragment from a poem upon sleep by Anacreon, and attributes to him likewise a medicinal treatise. Fulgentius mentions a work of his upon the war between Jupiter and the Titans, and the origin of the consecration of the eagle. 6 * See Horace, Maximus Tyrius, etc. His style (says Scaliger) is sweeter than the juice of the Indian reed. Poétices, lib. i, cap. 44. From the softness of his verses (says Olaus Borrichius) the ancients bestowed on him the epithets sweet, delicate, graceful, etc. Dissertationes Academica, de Poetis, diss. 2.-Scaliger again praises him in a pun; speaking of the usλos, or ode, Anacreon autem non solum dedit hæc eλn, sed etiam in ipsis mella.-See the passage of Rapin, quoted by all the editors. I cannot omit citing the following very spirited apostrophe of the author of the Commentary prefixed to the Parma edition: «O vos, sublimes animæ, vos, Apollinis alumni, qui post unum Alcmanem in tota Hellade lyricam poesim exsuscitastis, coluistis, amplificastis, quæso vos an ullus unquam fuerit vates qui Teio cantori vel nature candore vel metri suavitate palmam præripuerit. See likewise Vincenzo Gravini della Rag. Poetic. libro primo, p. 97.-Among the Ritratti del Cavalier Marino, there is one of Anacreon beginning Cingetemi la fronte, etc. etc. We may perceive, says Vossius, that the iteration of his words conduces very much to the sweetness of his style. Henry Stephen remarks the same beauty in a note on the forty-fourth ode. This figure of iteration is his most appropriate grace. The modern writers of Juvenilia and Basia have adopted it to an excess which destroys the effect. The singular beauty of our poet's style, and perhaps the careless facility with which he appears to have trifled, have induced, as I remarked, a number of imitations. Some have succeeded with wonderful felicity, as may be discerned in the few odes which are attributed to writers of a later period. But none of his emulators have been so dangerous to his fame as those Greek ecclesiastics of the early ages, who, conscious of inferiority to their prototypes, determined on removing the possibility of comparison, and, under a semblance of moral zeal, destroyed the most exquisite treasures of antiquity. 3 Sappho and Alcæus were among the victims of this violation; and the sweetest flowers of Grecian literature fell beneath the rude hand of ecclesiastical presumption. It is true they pretended that this sacrifice of genius was canonized by the interests of religion; but I have already assigned the most probable motive; 4 and if Gregorius Nazianzenus had not written Anacreontics, we might now perhaps have the works of the Teian unmutilated, and be empowered to say exultingly with Horace, Nec si quid olim lusit Anacreon The zeal by which these bishops professed to be actuated gave birth more innocently, indeed, to an absurd In the Paris edition there are four of the original odes set to music, by citizens Le Sueur, Gossec, Mehul, and Cherubini. - On les entendre; qui empêche que nous ne chantions des odes Grecchante du Latin et de l'Italien," says Gail, quelquefois même sans ques? The chromatic learning of these composers is very unlike what we are told of the simple melody of the ancients; and they have all mistaken the accentuation of the words. 2 The Parma commentator is rather careless in referring to this passage of Aulus Gellius (lib. xix, cap. 9).-The ode was not sung by the rhetorician Julianus, as he says, but by the minstrels of both sexes, who were introduced at the entertainment. from Alcyonius de Exilio; it may be found in Baxter. Colomesius, See wha: Colomesius, in his Literary Treasures, has quoted after citing the passage, adds, Hæc auro contra cara non potui non species of parody, as repugnant to piety as it is to taste, was then very young; and this discovery was considered where the poet of voluptuousness was made a preacher by some critics of that day as a literary imposition. In of the gospel, and his muse, like the Venus in armour 1554, however, he gave Anacreon to the world,' accomat Lacedæmon, was arrayed in all the severities of panied with Annotations and a Latin version of the priestly instruction. Such was the «Anacreon Recan- greater part of the odes. The learned still hesitated to tatus, by Carolus de Aquino, a Jesuit, published 1701, receive them as the relics of the Teian bard, and suswhich consisted of a series of palinodes to the several pected them to be the fabrication of some monks of the songs of our poet. Such too was the Christian Ana-sixteenth century. This was an idea from which the creon of Patrignanus, another Jesuit, who preposte- classic muse recoiled; and the Vatican manuscript, rously transferred to a most sacred subject all that Ana- consulted by Scaliger and Salmasius, confirmed the ancreon had sung to festivity. tiquity of most of the poems. A very inaccurate copy His metre has been very frequently adopted by the of this MS. was taken by Isaac Vossius, and this is the modern Latin poets. Scaliger, Taubmannus, Barthius, authority which Barnes has followed in his collation; and others, have evinced that it is by no means uncon-accordingly he misrepresents almost as often as he genial with that language.3 The Anacreontics of Sca-quotes; and the subsequent editors, relying upon him, liger, however, scarcely deserve the name; they are have spoken of the manuscript with not less confidence glittering with conceits, and, though often elegant, are always laboured. The beautiful fictions of Angerianus,4 have preserved, more happily than any, the delicate turn of those allegorical fables, which, frequently passing through the mediums of version and imitation, have generally lost their finest rays in the transmission. Many of the Italian poets have sported on the subjects, and in the manner of Anacreon. Bernardo Tasso first introduced the metre, which was afterwards polished and enriched by Chabriera and others. If we may judge by the references of Degen, the Gerinan language abounds in Anacreontic imitations: and Hagedorn 6 is one among many who have assumed him as a model. La Farre, Chaulieu, and the other light poets of France, have professed too to cultivate the muse of Téos; but they have attained all her negligence, with little of the The old French translations, by Ronsard and Belleau, grace that embellishes it. In the delicate bard of Schi--the former published in 1555, the latter in 1556. It ras7 we find the kindred spirit of Anacreon: some of appears that Henry Stephen communicated his manuhis gazelles, or songs, possess all the character of our script of Anacreon to Ronsard before he published it, by a note of Muretus upon one of the sonnets of that poet. creon. than ignorance. The literary world has, at length, been gratified with this curious memorial of the poet, by the industry of the Abbé Spaletti, who, in 1781, published at Rome a fac-simile of the pages of the Vatican manuscript, which contained the odes of Anacreon.3 Monsieur Gail has given a catalogue of all the editions and translations of Anacreon. I find their number to be much greater than I could possibly have had an opportunity of consulting. I shall therefore content myself with enumerating those editions only which I have been able to collect; they are very few, but I believe they are the most important:— The edition by Henry Stephen, 1554, at Paris-the Latin version is, by Colomesius, attributed to John Dorat.4 The edition by Le Fevre, 1660. The edition by Madame Dacier, 1681, with a prose translation.6 We come now to a retrospect of the editions of Ana-poet.5 To Henry Stephen we are indebted for having first recovered his remains from the obscurity in which they had reposed for so many ages. He found the seventh ode, as we are told, on the cover of an old book, and communicated it to Victorius, who mentions the circumstance in his « Various Readings. Stephen The edition by Longepierre, 1684, with a translation in verse. The edition by Baxter; London, 1695. 1 Robertellus, in his work De Ratione corrigendi,» pronounces these verses to be triflings of some insipid Græcist. 2 Ronsard commemorates this event: Who rescued from the gloom of night And brought his living lyre to light. This manuscript, which Spaletti thinks as old as the tenth century, was brought from the Palatine, into the Vatican library; it is a kind of anthology of Greek epigrams; and in the 676th page of it are found the txμбix svjπooixzz of Anacreon. 4 Le méme (M. Vossius) m'a dit qu'il avait possédé un Anacréon, où Scaliger avait marqué de sa main qu'Henri Etienne n'était pas l'auteur de la version Latine des odes de ce poête, mais Jean Dorat. Paulus Colomesius, Particularités. Colomesins, however, seems to have relied too implicitly on Vossius: almost all these Particularités begin with M. Vossius m'a dit. 5. La fiction de ce sonnet, comme l'auteur même m'a dit, est prise d'une ode d'Acacréon, encore non imprimée, qu'il a depuis traduite. où per çin yehid'ww.» The author of Nouvelles de la Repub, des Lett. praises this translation very liberally. I have always thought it vague and spiritless. 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 Doctor Broome, 1760.3 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. ODES OF ANACREON. ODE I. 4 I SAW the smiling bard of pleasure, He beam'd upon my wandering sight: I heard his voice, and warmly press'd The dear enthusiast to my breast. The notes of Regnier are not inserted in this edition: they must be interesting, as they were for the most part communicated by the ingenious Menage, who, we may perceive, bestowed some research on the subject, by a passage in the Menagiana-C'est aussi lui (M. Bigot) le qui s'est donné la peine de confirer des manuscrits en Italie dans temps que je travaillais sur Anacréon. -Menagiana, seconde partie. * I find in Haym's Notizia de' Libri rari, an Italian translation mentioned, by Caponne in Venice, 1670. This is the most complete of the English translations. 4 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 Tou zuto Basixixons 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. Sparkled in his eyes of fire, Through the mist of soft desire.] How could he know at the first look (says Baxter) that the poet was plaɛuvas? There are surely many tell-tales of this propensity; and the following are the indices, which the physiognomist gives, describing a disposition perhaps Οφθαλμοι κλυζομενοι, κυμαι not unlike that of Anacreon: νοντες εν αυτοίς, εις αφροδισια και ευπάθειαν επτοηνται ούτε δε αδικοι, ούτε κακουργοί, ούτε φυσεως pavans, oute apovsot.-Adamantius. 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. His lip exhaled, whene'er he sigh'd, It breathed of him and blush'd with wine! I feel that even his garland's touch ODE II. GIVE me the harp of epic song, And flash around such sparks of thought, I took the braid of wanton twine, It breathed of him, etc.] Philostratus has the same thought in one of his Epatina, where he speaks of the garland which he had sent to his mistr.ss. Ει δε βούλει τι φίλω χαρίζεσθαι, τα λείψανα αντιπέμψον, μηκέτι πνεοντα ῥόδων μόνον za xxl σov. If thou art inclined to gratify thy lover, send him back the remains of the garland, no longer breathing of roses only, but of thee! Which pretty conceit is borrowed (as the author of the Observer remarks) in a well-known little song of Ben Jon son's: But thou thereon didst only breathe, And sent it back to me; Since when, it looks and smells, I swear, Not of itself, but thee! And ah! I feel its magic now! This idea, as Longepierre re- While I unconscious quaff'd my wine, Which since has madden'd all my soul! Proclaim the laws of festal rite.] The ancients prescribed certain laws of drinking at their festivals, for an account of which see the commentators. Anacreon here acis the symposiarch, or master of the festival. I have translated according to those who consider κυπελλα θεσμών as an inversion of θεσμούς κυπελλων. VULCAN! hear your glorious task; For war was ne'er a sport of mine. No-let me have a silver bowl, Where I may cradle all my soul; But let not o'er its simple frame Your mimic constellations flame; Nor grave upon the swelling side Orion, scowling o'er the tide. I care not for the glittering wain, Nor yet the weeping sister train. But oh! let vines luxuriant roll Their blushing tendrils round the bowl. While many a rose-lipp'd bacchant maid Is culling clusters in their shade. Let sylvan gods, in antic shapes, Wildly press the gushing grapes; And flights of loves, in wanton ringlets, Flit around on golden winglets; While Venus, to her mystic bower, Beckons the rosy vintage-Power. ODE V.3 GRAVE me a cup with brilliant grace, Deep as the rich and holy vase, Monsieur La Fosse has thought proper to lengthen this poem by considerable interpolations of his own, which he thinks are indispensably necessary to the completion of the description. This is the ode which Aulus Gellius tells us was performed by minstrels at an entertainment where he was present. While many a rose-lipp'd bacchant maid, etc.] I have given this according to the Vatican manuscript, in which the ode concludes with the following lines, not inserted accurately in any of the editions: Ποίησον αμπελους μοι Και βοτρυας κατ' αυτών Και μαινάδας τρυγώσας, Ποιεί δε ληνον οίνου, Ληνοβατας πατούντας, Τους σατύρους γελώντας, Και χρυσούς τους έρωτας, Και Κυθέρην γελωσαν, Όμου καλῳ Λυκία, Ερωτα κ' Αφροδίτην. Degen thinks that this ode is a more modern imitation of the preceding. There is a poem by Cælius Calcagninus, in the manner of both, where he gives instructions about the making of a ring. Tornabis annulum mihi Et fabre, et apte, et commode, etc. etc. Which on the shrine of Spring reposes, When shepherds hail that hour of roses. Grave it with themes of chaste design, Form'd 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 link'd with Love, Blushing through the shadowy grove ; While rosy boys, disporting round, In circlets trip the velvet ground; But ah! if there Apollo toys I tremble for my rosy boys! ODE VI.' As late I sought the spangled bowers, Let Love be there, without his arms, etc.] Thus Sannazaro, in the eclogue of Gallicio nell' Arcadia : Vegnan li vaghi Amori Senza fiammelle, o strali, Scherzando insieme pargoletti e nudi. Fluttering on the busy wing, A train of naked Cupids came, And thus in the Pervigilium Veneris: Ite nymphæ, posuit arma, feriatus est amor. Love is disarm'd-ye nymphs, in safety stray, But ah! if there Apollo toys, I tremble for my rosy boys!] An allusion to the fable, that Apollo had killed his beloved boy Hyacinth, while playing with him at quoits. This (says M. la Fosse) is assuredly the sense of the text, and it cannot admit of any other.» have taken the liberty of making Anacreon explain this fable. Thus The Italian translators, to save themselves the trouble of a note, 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. 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. Where many an early rose was weeping, I found the urchin Cupid sleeping.] This idea is prettily imitated in the following epigram by Andreas Naugerius: Florentes dum forte vagans men Hyella per bortos |