88. And future victors, &c.] Thus Virgil ; Another Tiphys shall new seas explore, 92. Where Ilus' tomb] Homer has, Jus Taça onμat. I. Iliad, b. 11. 415. From ancient Ilus' ruin'd monument. Pope. 96. And bend, &c.] Thus Virgil, And for the shield, the pliant sallow bend. Pitt. Pindar seems to make an allusion to this circumstance, in his first Pythian Ode, which I shal! give in the excellent translation of the late Gilbert West, esq. And do thou aid Sicilia's hoary lord, To form and rule his son's obedient mind; And still in golden days of sweet accord, And mutual peace the friendly people bind, Then grant, O son of Saturn, grant my pray'r! The bold Phoenician on his shore detain, &c. 08. And on his helmet, &c.] Cristâ hirsutus equinâ. Æn. 10.869. High on his head the crested helm he wore. Pitt. 99. O Jupiter, &c.] Aı yap, Zeu xudi51 MUTɛg X, T. X. This verse is an imitation of that of Homer; 100. Proserpine and Ceres] These deities were Worshipped by the Syracusians. 102, Lysimelia.] A lake not far from Syracuse. Oh, may the fates, in pity to our woes, 104. Our foes] These were the Carthaginians, who used frequently to invade Sicily. 105. The few] The Greek is, agarwe, numerabiles, easy to be told, which is elegantly used for populus numerabilis, utpote parvus. a few: Horace has the same expression, 2uo sane Art Post. 206. 110. Flocks of thousands, &c.] Thus the Psalmist, That our flocks may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets; that is, in their pastures or walks; or, may they increase so as not only to fill our pastures, but the streets of our villages. 114. Sole sub ardenti resonant arbusta cicadis. Virg. Ec. 2, 115. In foribus laxos suspendit aranea casses. Virg. Geor. 4. 247, 119. Beyond the walls, &c.] Thus Ovid; -Ubi ducitur altam -Where proud Semiramis, for state, Eusden. 125. Ye Graces Eteoclean] By the Graces are meant the Muses: Eteocles was the elder son of Edipus by Jocasta: he is said to have first sacriticed to the Muses at Orchomenos; whence they are called the Eteoclean deities, or Graces. Homer mentions the river Minyas. Iliad. b. 11. Soft Minyas rolls his waters to the main. Pope. 130, O may I ever with the Graces live] Milton seems to allude to this, These delights if thou canst give, There is a beautiful passage in my friend Mr, William Whitehead's excellent poem called The IDYLLIUM XVII*. PTOLEMY. ARGUMENT. Theocritus rises above his pastoral style when he celebrates the praises of Ptolemy Philadelphus, the son of Ptolemy Lagus and Berenice: he derives his race from Hercules; enumerates his many cities; describes his immense treasures; and though he extols him for his military preparations, he commends his love of peace: but above all he commemorates his royal munificence to the sons of the Muses. WITH Jove begin, ye Nine, and end with Jove, Danger of writing Verse, which I shall beg leave to Yet let ev'n these be taught in mystic rhyme, Consign'd to Phoebus, catch the favour'd name, +Ptolemy Philadelphus. Heroes of old, from demigods that sprung, For in his line are both these heroes class'd, 20 30 On Earth join all ye creatures to extol end. Milton has greatly improved this by adding, "and without end;" as he is celebrating God, and Theocritus only a man. 8. Hymns, &c.] Carmine Di superi placantur, carmine manes. Hor. b. 2. Ep. 1. Verse can the gods of Heaven and Hell appease. 16. Lagus] Ptolemy Lagus was one of Alexander's captains, who upon that monarch's death, and the division of his empire, had Egypt, Libya, and that part of Arabia which borders upon Egypt, allotted to his share: but at the time of his death, he held several other countries, which are enumerated below, see ver. 97, &c. 21. Near him, &c.] Quos inter Augustus reHor. b. 3. 0.3. wise, &c.] I would choose to read, alohojentas, varium consilium habens, and not αιολομίτρας with Casaubon, 24. Who slew, &c.] Tu Cressia mactas The common title of this Idyllium is The En-cumbens. comium of Ptolemy. Heinsius makes no doubt but that the inscription should be simply Ptolemy: for Theocritus had written two poems, one was called Ptolemy, the other Berenice; the first celebrated the virtues of that illustrious monarch, the second those of his royal mother, who at that time was enrolled among the gods. For Ptolemy's character, see Idyllium XIV. and the note on verse 82. 1. With Jove begin, &c.] The Greek is Ex Ao05& αρχώμεσθα, which are the very words with which Aratus begins his poem called Phænomina: as Theocritus and Aratus were intimate friends, and flourished nearly at the same time, though the Sicilian bard was older, it is hard to say which borrowed from the other: Virgil has, A Jove principium, Musæ. 4. Let Ptolemy be first, and midst, and last] Bilton has, Pitt. Prodigia. En. 8. 294. Hor. b. 4. O. S. 30. Julius, a magno demissum nomen Julo. En. 1. 288. 1 Thence, when the nectar'd bow! his love inspires, How Berenice shone! her parents pride; 40 49. Their births are known] The Greek is, Pridia, de yoval, which is wrong translated, faciles quidem partus sunt, their births are easy; whereas itshould be rendered, as Casaubon rightly observes, their births are easily to be judged of, viz. that they are adulterous; the latter part of the verse explains the former, Phidias de yoval, Texva d' SHOT' TTT, their births are easy to be judged, for the children do not resemble their father. The ancients imagined those childrer not to be legiti mate who were unlike their parents; and therefore Hesiod reckons it among the felicities which attend good men, that The wives bear sons resembling their own sires. Ver. 233. 56. Portitor has horrendus aquas et flumina servat Terribili squalore Charon. n. b. 6. 298. But Berenice nobler praise hath won, Who bore great Ptolemy as great a son: Who sends, to those that suffer child-bed, aid. 70 As Phoebus Delos:-on fam'd Triops' brow, As the god views with joy Rhenæa's fertile isle." 90 Unnumber'd nations view their happy plains, 94. Genial Nile] The Nile is the greatest won- Where'er thy navy spreads her canvass wings, der of Egypt: as it seldom rains there, this river, Homage to thee, and peace to all she brings. which waters the whole country by its regular in- Which Creech stuck in his translation. Ptolemy úndations, supplies that defect, by bringing, as a intended to engross the whole trade of the east and yearly tribute, the rains of the other countries. west to himself, and therefore fitted out two great To multiply so beneficent a river, Egypt was cut fleets to protect his trading subjects; one of these into numberless canals, of a length and breadth he kept in the Red-sea, the other in the Mediterproportioned to the different situation and wants ranean: the latter was very numerous, and had of the lands; the Nile brought fertility every several ships of an extraordinary size; two of where with its salutary streams; it united cities them in particular had thirty oars on a side, one one with another, and the Mediterranean with the of twenty, four of fourteen, two of twelve, fourteen Red-sea; maintained trade at home and abroad, of eleven, thirty of nine, thirty-seven of seven, and fortified the kingdom against the enemy; so five of six, seventeen of five, and besides these, an that it was at once the nourisher and protector incredible number of vessels with four and three of Egypt. There cannot be a more delightful oars on a side. By this means, the whole trade prospect than the Nile affords at two seasons of being fixed at Alexandria, that place became the the year; for if you ascend some mountain, or chief mart of all the traffic that was carried on beone of the great pyramids of Grand Cairo, about tween the east and the west, and continued to be the months of July and August, you behold a vast the greatest emporium in the world above sevensea, in which a prodigious number of towns, vilteen hundred years, till another passage was found lages, turrets, and spires appear, like the isles in out by the Cape of Good Hope: but as the road the Ægean sea, with causeys leading from place to the Red-sea lay cross the deserts, where no to place, intermixed with groves and fruit trees, water could be bad, nor any convenience of towns whose tops only are visible; this view is terminated or houses for lodging passengers, Ptolemy, to reby mountains and woods, which, at a distance, medy both these evils, opened a canal along the form the most agreeable perspective that can be great road, into which he conveyed the water of imagined. But in the winter, that is, in the the Nile, and built on it houses at proper distanmonths of January and February, the whole counces; so that passengers found every night convetry is like one continued scene of beautiful mea-nient lodgings, and necessary refreshments for dows, enamelled with all kinds of flowers: you see themselves, and their beasts of burden. on every side herds and flocks scatter'd over the plain, with infinite numbers of husbandmen and gardeners: the air is then embalmed by the great quantity of blossoms on the orange, lemon, and other trees; and is so pure, that a wholesomer and more agreeable is not to be found in the world: so that nature, which is then as it were dead in so many other climates, seems to revive only for the sake of so delightful an abode. Rollin's Anc. Hist. 97. Three times ten thousand] The original is extremely perplexing, literally translated it would run thus, He has three hundred cities, Add three thousand To thirty thousand, Twice three, Univ. Hist. vol. ix. 8vo. p. 383. 111. His peaceful, &c.] The amiable picture Theocritus here gives us of the happiness the Egyptians enjoyed under the mild administration of Ptolemy, very much resembles that which Paterculus gives us of the happiness of the Romans, in the reign of Augustus, b. 2. ch. 89, Finita vicesimo anno bella civilia, sepulta externa, revocata pax, sopitus ubique armorum furor; restituta vis legibus, judiciis auctoritas, senatui majestas, &c. prisca illa et antiqua reipublicæ forma revocata; rediit cultus agris, sacris honos, securitas hominibus, certa cuique rerum suarum possessio; "In his 300 leges emendatæ utiliter, late salubriter. 3000 twentieth year all wars, both civil and foreign, were happily extinguished; peace returned; the rage of arms ceased; vigour was restored to the 33 laws; authority to the tribunals; majesty to the senate, &c. the ancient and venerable form of the republic revived; the fields were again cultivated; religion honoured, and every one enjoyed his own possessions with the utmost security; the old laws were revised and improved, and excellent 30000 6 33339 I have made it the round number of thirty thousand. We meet with an embarrassed method of numeration in the 14th Idyl. ver. 55. 104. Whose fleets, &c.] Waller has a passage resembling this, new ones added." 118. Guards, &c.] Thus Horace; Like a wise king, the conquests of his sire He knows to keep, and new ones to acquire. 120 And yet he hoards not up his useless store Like ants, still labouring, still amassing more; The holy shrines and temples are his care, For they the first-fruits of his favour share: To mighty kings his bounties he extends, To states confederate, and illustrious friends. No bard at Bacchus' festival appears, Whose lyre has power to charm the ravish'd ears, But he bright honours and rewards imparts, Due to his merits, equal to his arts: And poets hence, for deathless song renown'd, The generous fame of Ptolemy resound. At what more glorious can the wealthy aim, Than thus to purchase fair and lasting fame? The great Atridæ this alone enjoy, 130 140 While all the wealth and spoil of plunder'd Troy, 123. The holy shrines, &c.] Hor. b. 1. S. 1. Tua largâ Sæpe manu multisque oneravit limina donis. Virg. Æn. b. 10. 619. To thy great name due honours has he paid, And rich oblations on thy altars laid. Pitt. 151. And poets, &c.] The fame of Ptolemy's munificence drew several celebrated poets to his court. See the note to verse 82 of Idyl. xiv. 139. Close trode, &c.] The original is a little perplexed, but I follow Heinsius, and take the sense to be this; Ptolemy alone treading close in the footsteps of his forefathers, yet warm in the dust, defaced and rose over them. Theocritus alludes to a contest usual among the ancients, wherein the antagonist used to place his right foot in the left footstep of his competitor, who went before him, and his left foot in the right footstep, which if he could exceed, he would cry aloud, Επιβέβηκα σοι, Υπερανω ειμι, I have stept over you, I am beyond you. Homer, speaking of Ulysses contending with Ajax in the race, has something very similar. Iliad, b. 23. 763. His hands the thighs for holy flames divide, IDYLLIUM XVIII. THE EPITHALAMIUM OF HELEN*. ARGUMENT. 150 160 Twelve Spartan virgins of the first rank are here introduced singing this song at the nuptials of Helen, before the bride-chamber: first they are jocular; then they congratulate Menelaus on his being preferred to so many rival princes, and made the son-in-law of Jupiter: they ce lebrate the beauty of Helen, and conclude with wishing the married couple prosperity. WHEN Sparta's monarch, Menelaus, led The beauteous Helen to his bridal bed, 150. Virgil thus speaks of Venus embracing Vulcan; -Niveis hince atque hinc, &c. n. b. 8. 387. -Her arms, that match the winter snows, Around her unresolving lord she throws. Pitt. 158. His sister and his bride] Juno, speaking of herself, says, Ast ego, quæ divûm incedo regina, Jovisque But I, who move supreme in Heav'n's abodes, Pitt. having already celebrated Ptolemy's riches and 162. Fair virtue only ask of Jove] Theocritus wish an increase of them, nobly concludes his poem power, which were so great, that he could not even with this fine precept AgeTOY YE MEV EX AIDS aLTED, Ask virtue of Jupiter: as if he could not have too large a share of virtue, though eminently renowned for it: by this the poet proves himself an excellent moralist, and plainly hints at that maxim of the Stoics, who maintained that virtue was entirely sufficient for a happy life. There were two sorts of epithalamiums, or nuptial songs, among the ancients; the first was sung in the evening, after the bride was introduced into the bride-chamber, it was named Kolantixov, and intended to dispose the married couple to sleep; the second wassung in the morning, termed Eyegrixcy, and designed to awaken them: see the |