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1803.] Epicrams, Fragments, and Fugitive Pieces from the Greeks 217 
are fo entirely buried in oblivion, that 
confufion has even arifen concerning their 
author. Burlefques written to expofe the 
eccentricities of individuals are read with 
avidity, and are irrefiftible at their firft 
appedrance. The love of novelty, and 
curiofity, the felf-complacence and vanity 
which thofe perfons feel who have efcaped 
the Jafh, and the free indulgence of all 
that is malignant in human nature, con- 
{pire to adapt perfonal fatire to the tafte 
of the world. But the once dreaded {ting 
becomes blunted by time, and the tallies 
of raillery lofe their poignancy with their 
application, | 
Two epigrams of Meleager feem to fix 
the era in which he flourifhed. In one 
he commemorates the fall of Corinth. In 
another he endeavours to explain the em- 
blematical figures of a cock fupporting a 
branch of palm and a die, on the tomb of 
Antipater, the poet and philofopher of 
Sidon, many of whofe remains are inter- 
woven in the Anthologia. 
To this beautiful colle&tion Meleager 
prefixed a poem defcriptive of the work, 
and the authors by whofe contributions it 
was enriched. This preface is entitled 
the Garlaad, in which the choiceft flowers 
of every ancient and contemporary poet 
are wreathed together, and prefented to 
his friend Diocles 
ayucE peEV MeAEaypos, S&C. 
Implicuit Meleager opus, charoque Diocli 
Pignus amicitiz dedalaferta dedit; 
Lilia multa Anytz fubnectens, multaque 
Myrus 
Lilia; Lefbow pauca, fed illa rofas. 
Of Philip, Agathias, and Maximus 
Planudes, whofe labours have perpetuated 
in a great meafure a work fo judicioufly 
begun by Meleager, I intend to treat in a 
faubfeyuent number; and fhall, conform- 
ably with my plan, infert a few tranfla. 
tions as they occur to me, and without 
any regular order or arrangement. 
T.—eipoptos vies, dcc. by Meleager. 
Sea-wand’ring barks,that o’er the A‘gean fail, 
With pendants ftreaming to the nortuerngale, 
If in your courfe the Coan ftrand ye reach, 
And fze my Phania mufing on the beach, 
With eye intent upon the placid fea, 
And conftant heart that only beats for me 3 
‘Thus tell my love—‘* Sweet bride, for thee 
I hafte 
To greet thee landing from the watery 
wafte”’—~ 
Go heralds of my foul—to Phania’s ear, 
tn all your fhrouds the tender acc. ats bear ; 
Great, Jove fhall calm with fmiles the wave 
below, 
And bid for you the fofteft breezes blow. 
2.—Avoinmrns 6 veoyvos. 
On an Infant at the Edge of a Precipice. 
By Arcuias. 
When to the brink of fate her infant frayed, 
One {ftep had dafh’d- him on the rocks 
beneath ; 
The mother faw—her beating breaft difplay’d, 
And that which nourith’d life, now fav’d 
from death. 
3.—Tav ada Tay yaveay, &c. by Mofchus. 
O’er the f{mooth main, when fcarce a zephyr 
blows 
To break the dark-blue ocean’s deep repofey 
I feek the calmnefs of the breathing fhore, 
Delighted with the fields and woods no 
more. 
But when, white-foaming, heave the deeps 
on high, 
sw the wild fterm, and mingles fea with 
Vy 
Trembling I fly the black tempeftuous 
ftrand, 
And feek the clofe receffes of the land. 
Sweet are the founds that murmur thro’ the 
wood, 
While roaring ftorms upheave the dangerous 
flood ; 
Then if the winds more fiercely howl, they 
roufe 
But fweeter mufic in the pine’s tall boughs. 
Hard is the life the weary fither finds, 
Who trufts his floating manfion to the 
winds, 
Whofe daily food the fickle fea maintains, 
Unchanging labour, and uncertain gains. 
Be mine foft fleep beneath the fpreading 
fhade 
Of fome broad leafy plane inglorious laid, 
Lull’d by a fountain’s fall, that murm’ring 
near, 
Soothes, nor alarms, the toil-worn traveller’s 
ear. 
4e—Sxnn m5 6 Biog. All the world’sa flages 
By Palladas, of Alexandria, 
This life a theatre we well may call, 
Where every actor mutt perform with art, 
Or laugh it thro’, and make a farce of all, 
Or learn to bear with grace his tragic part. 
5-—By Praro. 
Eig GrEtAnve 
When Venus bade the Mutes to obey, 
Or Cupid, arin’d, fhould vindicate ker fway, 
The Mufes anfwered——“ Threat your warrior 
thus—— 
This little urchin has no wings for us.” 
From 
