188 Epigrams, Fragments, and Fugitive Pieces from the Greek. | March, 
and (it has been well faid) that the lines in- 
dcribed by Pope to the illultrious dead, are 
** Epitapas to let..” Neither is the omif- 
fion of name the only defect ; the virtues 
which are {fo jiberally befowed on them, 
have no peculiar caftof character. ‘They 
are ‘* the fcourge of knaves.”’—‘* Honeitt 
courtiers.”"—-** Statefmen, yet friends to 
truth.’ —** Uncorrupted e’en amongft the 
great ;°’—and, ‘* They are all, all honour. 
able men.”—Yet the very perfons whole 
fame it is defigned to commemorate, are 
forgotten in the rhymes built to their im- 
mortality. hie 
As the defign of this effay is to encou- 
rage tranilations, and as no precept is 
equally forcible with exampie, { tzke the 
Hberty of offering 2 few inferiptions, which 
in general wiil not be found liable to the 
objegtions offered againit thole of our ad- 
mired countryman; and here [ wifli it to 
be underftood that the itru¢lure of. our 
language induces, or rather compels me 
to change the name, which would often 
impede the verfe if admitted—e2. ¢.— 
Clearifta—Heliodora—Zenophile; befides” 
which objetion te the admiilion of Gie- 
cian names (which only applies to very 
light and fhort poems), my intention of 
‘paturalizing the epigrams, and making 
thern in fome refpects ftriétly Englith, 
would prefent another reafon. 
“Ov yapeov, AAW? Aidov, &c. MELEAGER, 
Clarifla, when fhe loos’d her virgin zone, 
Found in the nuptial bed her early grave; 
Death claim’d the bridegroom’s rites ; to Death 
alone , 
The treafure, promis’d to her {poufe, the gave. 
To fweeteft founds the happy evening fled, 
The fute’s foft ftrains, and hymeneal 
choirs; 
At morn fad howlings echo round the bed, 
And the glad hymns on quivering lips ex- 
pire. 
_ ‘The very torches, that, at fall of night 
' Shed their bright radiance o’er the nuptial 
room, 
Thofe very torches, with the morning’s light, 
Conduét the lovely fufferer to her tomb. 
Meleager is fuppofed to have written 
the soliowing epigram on the death of nis 
wile. 
Aaxpva coz x, veer. 
Tears o’er my parted Thirza’s grave I thed, 
AffeGion’s fondett tribute tothe dead; 
Flow, bitter forrows, o’er a confort’s fhrine, 
Pledge of the love that bound her fou! to 
mine ; . 
Break, break my heart, o’erfranght. with 
buriting wee, 
An empty oficring to ihe world below; 
{pecimens, 
Ah plant regretted —death, remorfelefs power, 
With, duft unfruitful, choak’d thy full-blown 
flower. 
Take, earth, the gentle inmate to thy breaft, 
And foft-embofom’d bid my Thirza ref. 
The following infcribed to Anacreon, is 
evidently formed on the model of that in- 
{cribed by Simonides to Sophocles : 
Oardos TerpancpuyCos Avanpesy” aedize xiores. 
Grow, cluftering ivy, where Anacreon lies 5 
There may foft buds from purple meadow 
rife 5 
-Goufh, milky fprings, the poet’s turf to lave, 
And fragrant wine flow joyous from -his 
grave; 
Thus charm’d his bones fhall prefs their nar- 
row bed, 
If aught of pleafure ever reach the dead. 
In thefe delights he footh’d his age above, 
‘His life devoting to the lyre and love. 
The following epigram is an exception to 
the rule of Dr. Johnifon, which direéts the 
infertion of the name. It is hoped that 
fore other excelience may make amends 
for the omifion. A father laments the 
death of a daughter at a time when he ex- 
pected to have tolemnized her nuptials. 
Agxrpa cor ayts-yayey exityytia, &c. 
Sweet maid, thy parents fondiy thought — 
To ftrew thy bride-bed, not thy bier ; 
But thou haf left a world o’erfraught 
With wiles, and toils, and many atear ¢ 
Fer us remains a journey drear ; 
For thee a bleft and calm repofe, 
Uniting in thy fhort career 
The fruit of age—of youth the rofe. 
Having devoted my leifure hours for 
fome time paft to a perufal of the lighter 
pieces of Grecian poefy, I was infenfibly 
led fr to admire, and afterwards to at- 
tempt a tranflation of thofe which fuited 
my talte—Matter fwells under our hands 
—The tranflations which I have already 
fioifhed are numerous: the plea‘ure of 
tranflating induced me to engniie into the 
hifiory of the authors to whom I owed my 
amufement. All the. knowledge we have 
gained in a favourite purfuit appears trif- 
ling while any thing remains to be known ; 
and upen this principle I have drawnup 
an account from the firit tothe lateft col- 
lef&tors, which, together with tranflated 
fucceffian. 
In the two next numbers I propofe giv- 
ing a fhort account of the perfons to whom 
we are mdebted for the Anthologia, with 
a few felect epigrams from the work its 
felf, ; 
Narva. 
me 
I will deal ont in monthly... 
ep 
—) Fe 
es 
ry 
