420 
during his life, as their patron, atid 'be- 
nefactor, rather than as a‘banished man. 
Hisdezth happened on the same day that 
the historian Livy ended his life, inthe year 
of Rome 767, and about sixteen after the 
birth of Christ. 
The Metamorphoses lad been finish- 
ed only a short time betore he was com- 
pelled to leave his native country: but, 
despairing of ever being able to give 
tts’ proper pqlish and correction, he 1s 
said to have destroyed his own cupy, and 
it was sent into the world, daring his ab- 
sence, without his knowledge or consent. 
Itis evident that, upon the success of 
this singular poem, Ovid was desirous of 
founding his reputation—and for this 
production he lays his claim to'immor- 
tality—Jamgue opus evegt, Sc. We were 
at a lossin what class of poetry to place 
it. It is not an Epic. The Epic has 
peculiar laws, to which the writer is 
bound to submit; and Ovid seems to 
have set all the unities at defiance, tu the 
composition of this work. It is not an 
historical poem; nor is it, we must con- 
fess, a didactic poem, though we have 
been induced to rank it ander the pre- 
sent head. It is rather an’ ingenious 
compilation, of which the invention is 
due to the very early pogts of Greece, 
and the embellishments only are the 
work of Ovid. It isa picture drawn in 
the most glowing colours, of the loves of 
the gods and of men. In’ this poem, 
Ovid has proved that he possessed a ge- 
nius most happily formed tor poetry.” He 
is throughout pleasing, learned, and in- 
structive. Wild as the plan appears to 
be on the first imspection, an attentive 
observer will perceive a degree of con-, 
nection, without the appearance of art, 
that will surprise him, It is wondertul, 
indeed, that Ovid should have heen able 
to form, from so many different histories, 
each apparently unconnected with the 
rest, so comprehensive and regular ~~ de- 
sign; to maintain, by an imperceptible 
chain, an harmony of disposition whieh 
conducts the reader through a labyrinth | 
of marvellous adventures, without inter- 
ruption or disorder; from the separation 
of the elements wirich grew out of chaos, 
to the apotheosis of Augustus. It is im- 
possible nat to admire that variety of 
tancy, and flexibility of language, which 
enabled him to assume every style, ac- 
cSrding to the nature of his subject; and 
to diversify, by a rich variety of expres- 
son, such a succession of images. 
the great excellence of Ovid, that he has 
uniformly adapted the inost appropriate 
Lyceum of Aneient Literature—Ovid.- 
Tt is-s 
[June }, 
language and features to images which 
are always distinct ; sometimes noble and 
imposing, at others, familiar and pleas~ 
in23 those grand, terrible, and sublime; 
these gay, smiling, and innocent. Tlow- 
ever glowing his style, it appears to have 
cost him little labour: He alternately 
‘raises the imagination of the reader, by 
the grandeur of his-deseriptions, or melts 
his heart by the pathos of his ‘verse. 
He deseribes, with equal facility, the 
horver of battles, and the pleasures of 
voluptuousness ;/ the manly exploits of 
the hero, and the innocent occupations 
of the shepherd ; the splendour of Olym- 
pus, and the fragtaffce of the bower; 
the cavern of Envy, and the cottage of 
Philemon. His great fault is too much 
luxuriance of fancy, and an abundance 
of words, which sometimes weaken the 
force of his meaning. But it is not that 
kind of tedundance which sinks into de- 
clamation, and serves only to conceal the 
sterility of ideas; it is rather the over- 
flowing of substantial wealth. His em- 
bellishments, even when’ they appear 
with too much profusion, betray neither 
labour nor effort; and his’ occasional 
negligences, and _triviality of metaphor, 
are overlooked, or lost, in the beauty of 
“his language, the erace of his expression, 
and the facility of his style. With much 
greater truth it may be said of Ovid, 
than of Seneca, that he is pleasing even 
in his faults. We shall only add, that his 
‘first and) second books seem to be the 
most finished’ and correet, though none 
are entirely free from the redundancies 
of his fancy. In the first, he has proved 
‘himself a good philosopher, as well as a 
good poet. The description of chaos, 
and the first formation of things by an 
almighty, all-w:se Geing, is truly sub- 
lime; and the whole finely imagined. 
None of the ancients have set the cre- 
ation in-so beautiful a light, and drawn 
all its circumstances in a manner so con-= 
formable to truth. Even Plato himself ap« 
pears not to have had a proper conception 
of that wonderful work, when be niakes 
the world, not the workmanship, but the 
ouly son (Movoryerns); of God. ‘ ren 
This general notice of the Metamor- 
phoses of Ovid appeared to us to be suf 
ficient, as the poem is so common as to. 
_be in the hands of almost every school- 
boy; a minute account of its beauties, 
and defects would, therefore, have been 
equally tedious and unpxofitable. ‘To. 
Ovid, one of the most pleasing of the 
classics, we shall.have, hereafter, more 
than one occasion to return, 06 ats ; 
an Tha 
od 
