Page images
PDF
EPUB

Hærent sub omni nam folio nigri
Phoebea lucî (credite) somnia,
Argutiusque et lympha et auræ
Nescio quid solito loquuntur.

FRAGMENT OF A LATIN POEM* ON THE GAURUS.

[See Mason's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 145.]

NEC procul infelix se tollit in æthera Gaurus,
Prospiciens vitreum lugenti vertice pontum :
Tristior ille diu, et veteri desuetus olivâ
Gaurus, pampineæque eheu jam nescius umbræ ;

to save any trouble to those desirous of seeing them: i. xvii. 7, i. xxix. 7, i. xxxv. 15, i. xxxvii. 15, ii. iii. 3, ii. xvii. 3, ii. xx. 11, iii. iii. 71, iii. xxix. 11.

V. 31, 32. There is no instance in Horace of a broken word ending the third line of the Alcaic stanza, or, indeed, of its being used at all; and therefore it must be considered as not defended by authority; though it may be found ending the third line of the Sapphic stanza, in Horace, i. xxv. 11. i. ii. 19, ii. xvi. 7, iii. xxvii. 60, but, I believe, that no example even of this can be found in the Sapphics of Seneca. It ends the first line, in Hor. Od. iv. ii. 1, and the second line in ii. ii. 18, and iv. ii. 22, in which latter passage it is to be observed, that the "divisio vocis " takes place in two successive lines. "Quam sedem Somnia vulgò Vana tenere ferunt, foliisque sub omnibus hærent.” Virg. Æn. vi. 283. *Sent by Gray to his friend West, with a reference to Sandys's Travels, book iv. pag. 275, 277, and 278. A translation of this poem may be seen in the Gent. Mag. for July, 1775. V. 2. "Vitreo ponto," Hor. Od. iv. ii. 3. "Vitrea unda," Virg. Æn. vii. 759. Georg. iv. 350.

99.

V. 33.

V. 4. " Bacchei vineta madentia Gauri," Statii Silv. iii. v. "Icario nemorosus palmite Gaurus," Silv. iii. i. 147.

[blocks in formation]

5

10

Horrendi tam sæva premit vicinia montis,
Attonitumque urget latus, exuritque ferentem.
Nam fama est olim, mediâ dum rura silebant
Nocte, Deo victa, et molli perfusa quiete,
Infremuisse æquor ponti, auditamque per omnes
Latè tellurem surdùm immugire cavernas:
Quo sonitu nemora alta tremunt: tremit excita tuto
Parthenopea sinu, flammantisque ora Vesevi.
At subitò se aperire solum, vastosque recessus
Pandere sub pedibus, nigrâque voragine fauces;
Tum piceas cinerum glomerare sub æthere nubes
Vorticibus rapidis, ardentique imbre procellam. 16
Præcipites fugere feræ, perque avia longè
Sylvarum fugit pastor, juga per deserta,

Ah, miser! increpitans sæpè altâ voce per umbram
Nequicquam natos, creditque audire sequentes. 20
Atque ille excelso rupis de vertice solus
Respectans notasque domos, et dulcia regna,
Nil usquam videt infelix præter mare tristi
Lumine percussum, et pallentes sulphure campos

V. 5. "Vicinia Persidis urget," Georg. iv. 290. neas invidit collibus umbras," Virg. Ec. vii. 58.

V. 9. "Immania ponti æquora," Lucret. vi. 624.

"Pampi

V. 10. "Curvisque immugiit Etna cavernis." Æn. iii. 674. V. 11. "Tum sonitu Prochyta alta tremit."

Virg. Æn. ix. 715. Luke. V. 15. "Piceâ crassam caligine nubem," Virg. Georg. ii. 309. "6 Vorago, pestiferas aperit fauces," En. vii. 569. V. 17. "Terra tremit: fugere feræ," Virg. Georg. i. 330.

V. 24.

"tum longo limite sulcus

Dat lucem, et latè circùm loca sulphure fumant.”
Virg. Æn. ii. 698.

Fumumque, flammasque, rotataque turbine saxa.
Quin ubi detonuit fragor, et lux reddita colo;
Mæstos confluere agricolas, passuque videres
Tandem iterum timido deserta requirere tecta :
Sperantes, si forte oculis, si forte darentur
Uxorum cineres, miserorumve ossa parentum 30
(Tenuia, sed tanti saltem solatia luctûs)
Una colligere et justâ componere in urnâ.
Uxorum nusquam cineres, nusquam ossa parentum

And, "Sulphurei cum per juga consita Gauri," Ausonii Mosell. p. 387, ed. Tollii. "Anhelantem coelesti sulfure campum,"

v. Stat. Theb. xi. 17.

V. 25. In the modern Latin poetry, this license of lengthening the " que "before the mute and liquid, even with the power of the cæsura, ought to be avoided, as it is supported by so few examples. See Virg. Æn. vii. 186. Georg. i. 164. And see also En. iii. 91. Ov. Met. v. 484, and Class. Journal, No. xxi. p. 174, xxii. 364.

V. 26. This is not a common expression in Latin poetry. Val. Flaccus has, " Dum detonet ira: " iv. 294. See also Quintilian (Gesn. xii. ix. 4): "Cum illa dicendi vitiosa jactatio inter plausores sero detonuit." Petron. Sat. c. xvii.

p. 37. Sid. Apollin. c. xiv. 24.

And

V. 31. See Virg. Georg. i. 397: "Tenuia nec lanæ," &c.— ii. 121: "Depectant tenuia Seres." Lucret. iv. 747. Terent. Maur. ver. 474.

V. 31.

"Solatia luctûs

Exigua ingentis misero sed debita patri."

Æn. xi. 62.

[ocr errors]

V. 32. I should conceive the proper phrase to be "Colligere in unum," and not und. Virg. Ecl. vii. 2: "Compulerantque greges Corydon et Thyrsis in unum." Cicero de Inventione, i. 56: "Colligere et conferre in unum. Again, "Militibus in unum conductis." And Philip. ix.: "Si omnes juris consulti in unum conferantur." Ovidii Met. iii. 715. See the note on Ovid. Metam. xiii. 910.

[blocks in formation]

Nor wife, nor children more shall he behold,
Nor friends, nor sacred home."

Thomson. Winter, 315.

41

(Spem miseram!) assuetosve Lares, aut rura vide-
Quippe ubi planities campi diffusa jacebat; [bunt.
Mons novus: ille supercilium, frontemque favillâ
Incanum ostentans, ambustis cautibus, æquor
Subjectum, stragemque suam, mæsta arva, minaci
Despicit imperio, soloque in littore regnat.
Hinc infame loci nomen, multosque per annos
Immemor antiquæ laudis, nescire labores
Vomeris, et nullo tellus revirescere cultu.
Non avium colles, non carmine matutino
Pastorum resonare; adeò undique dirus habebat
Informes latè horror agros saltusque vacantes. 45
Sæpius et longè detorquens navita proram
Monstrabat digito littus, sævæque revolvens
Funera narrabat noctis, veteremque ruinam.
Montis adhuc facies manet hirta atque aspera

saxis:

49

Sed furor extinctus jamdudum, et flamma quievit,
Quæ nascenti aderat; seu fortè bituminis atri
Defluxere olìm rivi, atque effœta lacuna
Pabula sufficere ardori, viresque recusat;
Sive in visceribus meditans incendia jam nunc
(Horrendùm) arcanis glomerat genti esse futuræ
Exitio, sparsos tacitusque recolligit ignes.

56

V. 41. "Res antiquæ laudis," Virg. Georg. ii. 174.
V. 43. "Matutini cantus," Æn. viii. 456. Par. Lost, v. 7.
V. 45. "Longe saltus, lateque vacantes."

Virg. Georg. iii. 476. Luke. V. 47. "Indice monstraret digito," Hor. Sat. ii. viii. 26. And Pers. i. 28.

V. 56. "Sparsosque recolligit ignes," Lucan. i. 157. “Dum tacitas vires, et flammam colligit ignis," Sil. Ital. iv. 307;

Raro per clivos haud secius ordine vidi Canescentem oleam: longum post tempus amicti Vite virent tumuli; patriamque revisere gaudens Bacchus in assuetis tenerum caput exerit arvis 60 Vix tandem, infidoque audet se credere cœlo.

A FAREWELL TO FLORENCE.

[See Mason's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 157.]

**Он Fæsulæ amœna

5

Frigoribus juga, nec nimiùm spirantibus auris!
Alma quibus Tusci Pallas decus Apennini
Esse dedit, glaucâque suâ canescere sylvâ!
Non ego vos posthac Arni de valle videbo
Porticibus circum, et candenti cincta coronâ
Villarum longè nitido consurgere dorso,
Antiquamve Edem, et veteres præferre Cupres-
Mirabor, tectisque super pendentia tecta.

[sus

and Virg. Georg. i. 427. The position of "que" is wrong. See note to Burm. Ovid. Metam. xiv. 30; but also consult Class. Journal. No. xxii. p. 22.

V. 58. "Foetum canentis olivæ," Ov. Met. vi. 81.

V. 60. "Jam modò cœruleo nitidum caput exsere ponto," Ov. Met. xiii. 838. And Fast. i. 458.

V. 61. "Pennis ausus se credere cœlo," Virg. Æn. vi. 15. V. 1. In Sil. Ital. Pun. viii. 478, the second syllable of this word is short: "Fæsula, et antiquus Romanis moenibus horPolybius also (lib. ii. cap. 9,) writes Paiooλa. In other authors, as Appian. Civ. Bell. ii. c. 2. Dion. xxxvii. it

ror."

« PreviousContinue »