404 Epigrams, Fragments^ ^c.from the Greek. [Dec. 1, 



cibly lUiiftratts the beautiful maxim of rhe 

 poet, but evide'"tly fuggpf^e.! v to him. 



But he does not appear t . n ve bcei> aU 

 waj s ib hnpourably treated. If we are to 

 believe /^- ri.fophon ( ithcnseus, lib. xiii.), 

 we find ihjt he was di'"gracefnlly ejected 

 from the fynod o' the guds as a l-^ditiou* 

 tuibulci' demagogue, wholiu-.J to throw 

 evciy tiling into confu'ion, and hat he 

 then hid his wings clpped, ihtt He rniy 

 never more be a le to Hy back to heaven, 

 but be conftrained to livi. annoDg men, 

 where ht- is ftill at liberty to do hs much 

 mifchicf as he pieafes. Here he his ever 

 fince been the fource of confufion and dif- 

 order of every k'nd. The unfortunate 

 viftim to his power muft from ihat in- 

 ftant bid fare'vel to his reafon and his 

 iiidgnient ; he mult not even p'el'erve the 

 fli.^hteii pretcniions to ft fe or wit ; and 

 it was perhaps in allufion tothefiameof 

 mind to which it is abfohitcly necdl'ary 

 that he fliould be reduced, th't the Gie- 

 cian fliepherd tore the g-irland from his 

 head and fattened it at he door of his mif- 

 tre;j, not fo much toi a picl. nt to uer as 

 foi a propitiate: y offering to the God of 

 Love. 



Ao alleviation to the amorous forrow* 

 of a female mind is prettily offered in the 

 following lines. 



viflory was dcubtful, and the danger of 

 Sparta imminent. It was then that the 

 valour of the gallant Aerotat.s dilpiayed 

 itftlf in aftions that almoll lurpafs belief. 

 The lalt affaul ended in the total difrom- 

 fiture of the Epiro s and of tne unfortu 

 r^te Cleonynius ; and Acrotatas, as he 

 was returning viftorijus from the place 

 which he hid fignalized by his concluding 

 expluis, ws hailed by the acclamaiions 

 of the pe j.pie, *• Now return and enjoy t.'iy 

 beautiful C' elidonis I" 



This fttry has about it very much of the 

 air of a Gcthic fa hie. The difcomfiture 

 of the Uiifortunaie hufband, and the tri- 

 unrip'.-, of the fuccefsful lover, isexaiitly in 

 t'.^e liyle of the Breton lays and thu fabli- 

 aux of tie Troubadours.* The whole 

 adventure feems to belong rather to an 

 Amadis de Gaul or a Lancil.t du Lac 

 than to an ancient Greek, and above all 

 to a Spartan; and the lecitalof it, both 

 for its ftntiments aid its morality, woulJ 

 have founded better from the mouth of 

 Guillaume dc Loiri ,f ban fiom iliat 

 of the grave and philoOphic fage o': Chae- 

 ronea. Hut the Spar'a ol the age of Pyr- 

 ihus was no longer that of Lcugns. — 

 However in much earlier tinits we find 

 that her ancient heroes facrificed to Cu- 

 pid before a battle. It friay perhaps be 

 too much to affert that this pra8ice ob- 

 tained in conformiiy with the maxim of 

 Euripides which I have quoted, and that 

 thefe honours were aftually paid to love 

 as the principle of generous and worthy 

 actions ; but the conjecture appears tu 

 ntie much more realonable than the far- 

 fetched conihu^ion of Athcuxus, whofe 

 account of the faiSt and cblervation uion 

 it are as t'ollows ; — ;" The LaceJasinj- 

 niaiis, before they drew out tluir army in 

 Older of battle, iacrificc to love, becauCe 

 vivtory and lafety conilit in the friendly 

 tini.n of the loijieis." Would n^ t Cat 

 tor an.i Pollux have been more pro. er ob- 

 jects of woidup, if that alor.e v^ere the 

 motive, th:-n of the God of Love ? But 

 if the motive of the Lacedaemonians in 

 this initance nny be atiended with fome 

 doubts, that of the Athenians cannot ad- 

 mit oi any ; who, in heir Parthenrn, 

 placed the ftatue of Cupid next to tnat ot 

 their p .tron-g. dilefs, . and faci ificed to 

 bothjoindy. This cuftoin not only mod for. 



• See the ■' L.y or Sir Gugimcr," and 

 one or two utiiers, u, Mr. Way's Franflations 

 irom Ls Gi»i.i. 



f The author of the "Roman de la 

 Utile." 



V/hy lOw'rs my lovely Carolin , and why 

 Thofe trefl'es torn, that river in thine eye ? 

 I have a charm for bleeding hearts that 



mourn 

 Love's flckle wanderings, cold negleft, and 



fcorn. 

 Oh v.iinly mute ! thofe fpeaking eyes reveal 

 The pang that gloomy lilencc wuull conceal. 



" Abraham H ffmannu- (fays Burton) 

 relates cut of Plato how that Empedocles 

 t!ie philolbpher was prefeot at the curting 

 up of one that died for h ve. ' H:s heart 

 was comhull, his liver fmoky, his lungs 

 dr^ed up, iniomuch that he verily beiieved 

 his Ibul was either fod or roaHed through 

 the vehemency of love's fiie.* Which, 

 belike, made a modern wi iter of amorous 

 emb'ems exprefs love's fury by a pot hang- 

 ing over the fire, and Cupid blowing the 

 coals." 



Th?t W'^uld frm a good parallel to the 

 hidory ol H. nnihalat Capua, which is re- 

 lated by Polyluus of Antiochus Magnut, 

 who, at the age of fifty-two yeais, hav- 

 ing then two gi and deligns in contempla. 

 ti-on (ttie ledoration of liberty to the 

 Greeks, and the abatement of the Roman 

 pov«er), lutFered a whole winter to pals 

 away while he lay in the embraces of a 

 young 



