1605.] 



Epigrams i Fragments, Iff c. from the Greek, 



405 



That the lover, fick to death, 

 Wifli'd himfelf the heav'n's breath : 

 " Air (quoth he) thy cheeks may blow; 

 Air, would I might triumph Co \" &c. 



What IS it but a more fanciful expan- 

 fion of the thought contained in the fiift 

 ttanza of the following epigram, though 

 fomewhat differently clothed in the lan- 

 guage of Dionyfius the Sophift ? 



Oh that I were feme gentle air, 



That, when the heats of fummer glow, 

 And lay thy panting bofom bare, 



I might upon that bofom blow ! 

 Oh that I were yon blufliing flow'r 



Which even now thy hands have preft, 

 To live, tho' but for one /hort hour. 



Within th' elyfium of thy bread ! 



To have done, for the prefent, with in- 

 flancesof reiemblance, whicli are certain- 

 ly net altogetiier fanciful, are we not 

 ftrongly reminded of the tender morning- 

 fcene between Romeo and his youthful 

 biide by the following lines of Antipater 

 Sidonius ? 



Oh hateful bird of morn, whofe harlh alarms 

 Drive me thus early from Chrylilla's arms, 

 Forc'd from th' embrace, fo newly tried, to 



With bitter foul to cursM fociety. 



Oil Age has fprinkled Tithon's brows with 



fiiow — 

 No more his veins in ruddy currents flow — 

 How cold his fenfe ! his wither'd hejrt how 



dead! 

 Who drives fo foon a goddefs from his bed, 



I have already lemarkedon the ftiiking 

 finiilai ty between our f.ivvurite ion?, 

 " D ink to me only with hine Eves,' 

 and an epigram of Agathias, the ir:tnfl3- 

 lion of which was prefentcd in a Joimer 

 Number, and I pointed out the fiurce 

 from vvhence ilie Eiglifh poem was ppj- 

 b.biy derived. Anide. very fimlar oc- 

 curs in thele few lines of Mele.iger's. 



To 2xu<foi nie ysytiSi. 

 Bled is the bowl — its fults declare 



Where lovely Lelbia's lips have been. 

 Oh might her (oul be f:.iteii'a there, 



And at one draught be fwallow'd in ! 



They all in fail allude to a piece of gal- 

 lantry not un'rrquently ufed amon>; the 

 Greeks, of which we find ilie following 

 account in Achilles Tatiu'i : 



" Whei'. wc A-ere all alTembled again at 

 Aipper, tlie cup-liesier lunufhcd us with a 

 newattficcot lov^- ; for in pourin;;; out 

 wine to Leucippe ard myftif, he changed 

 our cups ; and I, obferving that part of 

 the bum where her lips had been, diank 

 from the f^ine liJc and pleaftd mylelf with 



the image of a kifs ; which Leucippe 

 feeing, did the fame ; and the kind cup- 

 bearer frequently employing the fame ftra- 

 tagem to favour us, we confumed the 

 whole evening in pledging each other with 

 thefe fanciful kilTes.'" 



I have already faid ennugh of the high 

 eftimation in which the amorous deify was 

 held among the Greeks ; but he has not 

 yet been reprefented in the honourable 

 light in which he is held up to us l)y Euri- 

 pides, as " The alTiciaie of wifdom and 

 the beftowerof eveiy virfue." 



riavToiaf 'AjJETa? ^mt^ya;. 



Or by Plato, 



O Tnioov 

 'Eijiv>jv fxh A'vflfoJTroic, miXaySi h yaX^vuV, 

 Novi^iat t' AnifAoiy, xsituv te Znwv t' evi xniiu 



He fets the mind of man at peace, 

 He fmooths the billows of the main. 



He bids the raging temped ceafe. 

 And gives delicious left to pain. 



A certain independence and lofinefs of 

 charafter has been olttn placid an ong 

 the peculiar attributes ot thi-* pailiin, 

 which fo completely engr. ffes tie foul as 

 to leave no room for the indulgence of 

 more fordid or ambitious puifuits. 



Mij auy'' £7r' aAXoTpm;. 



Deign not to fawn upon a pamper'd lord. 

 Nor yield tiiy hoi. our for a cortiy board. 

 til<ame to theparafiti; who ftoops fo io,v 

 To low'r or hrigh ct from his patron's brow. 

 SUve tho' I am, my fetters love beguiles— 

 I fmileor weep as Julia weeps or fmiles. 



That love has been often theinfpirer of 

 generous and valiant aflions iniift cer- 

 tainly be admitted ; and ind nccs of this 

 fa£l aie not ro be fought f r only in the 

 tal.s of chivalry. Tlie ftory of Cheli- 

 dous, related by Plutarch, is a confirma- 

 tior. cf the reniaik. This wis a Lace- 

 daemonian lady who had the misfortune to 

 hem lined to a prince whom (he defpiled, 

 and to be violently attached to a lover 

 whofe anraifticns sre repiefcnted ro hnve 

 exceeded a4 ethers of his time, and wholi; 

 vaioiir proved him worthy oi being ho- 

 noured by the tiniles of the fir. Cleo- 

 nymus, ht-i biifband, being banrfhed the 

 itate in confequtnce . f fome civil commo- 

 tions, incited Pyirhus king of Epirus to 

 make w.jr on hi.f countrymen. The ene- 

 my was at the gates cf Spana, and Areus 

 abfen' with the bed p.irtuf hit foictji. lu 

 this exuemity the city was defended 

 againd the ficrced 4rriults of the Epnois 

 by the courage <■! the Spartan women till 

 the return ol the ai»fcnt ainny. Still the 

 3^1 vii^t^ry 



