1805.] Epigrams., Fragments, and Fugitive Pieces., from the Greek. 21 



erved by Stobaeus, are moft exquifitely 

 ad and feeling. They contain the re- 

 monftrance of an old man who has long 

 fince forgotten the tafte of bappinefs, and, 

 in a ftut of gloomy reconciliation to evil, 

 ceafed to feel the abftnce of it. His re- 

 coileition is fuddenly aroiifed by fome 

 exprelTions of ibofe around him, and he 

 exclaims, " I am a milerable old man, one 

 who had begun to forget his fufferings, 

 and you have reficflied my memory, and 

 caufed me to become a lecond time un- 

 happy." 



Nefiun maegior dolore 



Che ricordarfi del tempo felice 



Nel'a miferia ! Dante, Inferno, c. iii. 



Thefe are obfervations very commonly 

 fo be found in the pathetic poems of the 

 Greek writers, and they ftiil, perhaps, 

 occafion (he moft melancholy fenlations 

 that even our better philofouhy can expe- 

 rience. 



Optima quasqucDies miferJs mortalibus zvl 

 Prima fugit, fobeunt morhi, trljlisjuejcne^usy 

 Et labor, & duri rapit inclementia mortis. 



Yet fuch the deftiny of all on earth ; 

 So flourifhes and fades mjjertic mjn. 

 Fair is the bud his vernal morn brings forth. 

 And foftering gales awhile the nurfling 

 Ian— * • * 

 • • * Borne on the fwift, though filent, 



wings of Time, 

 Old- Age comes on a-pace to ravage all the 

 clime. Beattie's A//«/?rcA 



An epigram of two lines by Lucillius, 

 (hews in one view, and in the (hongeft 

 manner, the melnnrholy ideas which the 

 e'echne of life preftnted to the minds of 

 the ancients, and the contempt in which 

 they held that fond attachmeni, or natural 

 wcaknefs, which clings to life even among 

 Calamities the moft oppreftive and in fitua- 

 lions the molt unhappy. 



When for long-life the old man pours his 



pray'rs. 

 Grant, Jove, an endlefs life of growing 



years ! 



The pain which is generally found in 

 this life to tread dole on the heels of our 

 pieatcft p'e.'ifures, is ;irother verv fertile 

 lubjt£l for complaints of human mifery. 



'Ai yap 'r.ivmi 



Avvai Kai 770V01 AnTIPHANES. 



Nay, the very pleafuret we enjoy are often 

 Inarcs in our way to entrap us info mii'ery. 

 " Munera ifla Fortui:.i pu'.alis ? InftJia; 

 fuiit.'^ Seneca. — Under the influence 



of ficknefs and pain, what a wretched ani- 

 mal is man I But when the raging pefti- 

 lence fcizes on a whole people, when pri, 

 vate calamities are fwallowed up in one 

 great public n;in, how truly terrible is the 

 picture ! how hiimirating the afpe5t of 

 human nature ! Then all is awful, 

 gloomy, fufpenfe, and horror. The voice 

 of chearfulnefs is difjjuftingand rcpulfive. 

 The admonitions of philofophy can fcarce- 

 ly be felt or heard. 



KiiJsa ixiv covoE'/Ta. 



(Archilocus apud Stob ) 

 Oh Peiiclss ! in vain thou fpread'ft thefeaft 

 To drive away the heart's unwelcome gueft. 

 When o'er the ftate difeafe and death impend. 

 And heaven's high arch the people's cla- 

 mours rend ! 

 Like the wild billows of the deeps profound. 

 The tide of peftilence rolls wide around. 

 Their bofoms fweli with pangs unfelt be- 

 fore — 

 But yet th' immortal Gods referve In ftore 

 E'en for their fierceil ills a fovereign cure. 

 With patient fouls thofe evils to endure. 

 Heav'n's vengeance will not always laft— If 



we 

 Nov/ weep in blood our nature's mifery, 

 Soon fhall the heavy fcale of evil turn. 

 And our full draught augment another's urn ; 

 Oh I fuffer then the common trials fent. 

 And caft away your womanifli lament. 



Poverty is of itfclf an evil fr.fficiently 

 diftrefTing, and hard to be endured. The 

 poor man has need of thefmiles and atten- 

 tions and protection of the favourites of . 

 fortune ; of encouragements to induftry 

 and incentives to hope for better things. 

 How pernicious is the tendency of the fol- 

 lowing fentimcnt preferved in a paflage of 

 Menander's : 



For mere fubfiftence hard Indeed was he 

 Who train'd the beggar's hand to induftry ; 

 For hence the wretch who builds, or ploughs 



the foil, 

 Prolongs a life of poverty by toll. 

 The grave alone to quiet opes the door, 

 And breaks the fetters of the wearied poor. 



But it would be endlefs to quote to our 

 purpol'e the many palTa^es in the Greek 

 writers refpecting the evils of poverty.— 

 The Anthologia lurnifties us, among ieve- 

 ral, with the tollowmg epigram on the 

 fubje6l,* which, notwiihftanding its want 



of 



• A great proportion of thefe little poems 

 confift of a fingle thought fuggefted by 

 the feeling and cloathed in the language 

 of the moment ; and, when thus confidered, 

 even the r;)olt fimple among them, and fonie 

 (which, to the faftidious or undiltinguilhing, 



may 



