« 
1303.] Epigrams, Fragments, and Fugitive Pieces, from the Greek, 457 
Even this poet, gloomy and melan- 
choly as he now appears, was once, ac- 
‘cording to Pliny, “ omnis luxuria inter- 
pres ;” in the language of Plutarch, ¢* the 
conitant worthipper, the chief prieft of the 
God of Love, who, like (ome univerfal {pi- 
rit, pervaded and conneéted- all his 
works.” Yet his love was fo refined, and 
his voluptuoufnefs fo guarded by delicacy, 
that he was placed, without fcruple or 
danger, in the hands of youths and vir- 
gins : 
Fabula jucundi nulla €{t fine amore Menan- 
dri, 
Et folet hic pueris virginibufque legi. 
Ovip. 
Many ages after his death, a flatue 
was ereCted to his memory, and placed by 
the fide of the image of Cupid. 
Two or three epigrams made upon this 
ftatue, are preferved, which difplay, in the 
figurative but forcible language of bis 
countrymen, the eftimation in which he 
was held, and give him a diltinguifhed 
rank among the gay and amorous poets of 
antiquity. 
I. Dardpoy “erratpoy Epwroc, &c, 
Behold Menander, fyren of the ftage, 
Who charm’d, with love allied, a happier 
age 5 
Light wanton wreathes, that never fhall be 
dead, 
Are curl’d luxuriant o’er the poet’s head, 
Who drefs’d the fcene in colours bright and 
S3y, 
And breath’d inchantmeit o’er the living 
lay. 
2. “Exph Mev cncas cuv Epwrts 
Menander, fweet Thalia’s pride, 
Well art thou placed by Cupid’s fide ; 
Prieft to the God of foft delights, 
Thou fpread’ft on earth his joyous rites ; 
And fure the boy himfelf we fee 
To {mile and pleafe and breathe in thee ; 
For, mufing o’er yon imag’d ftone, 
To fee thee and to love are one. 
«© In fupporting the characters of fa- 
thers, fons, hufbands, foidiers, peafants, 
the rich and the poor, the violent and the 
gentle, Menander furpaffzd all in confift- 
ency, and by the brilliancy of his imagery 
threw every rival into the fhade,”” Such 
is the chara&er given of him by Quinti- 
lian. 
his countrymen, only permits him to give 
‘a fecondary place to Terence, the imitator 
of the elegant, but not of the witty, Gre- 
cian. Aufonius couples our poet with 
Homer ; and he is extolled by all thofe 
Who had accefs to his works with an en- 
thufiafm not inferior to that with which 
the name of that prince of poets is men- 
tioned. 
» MONTHLY Mac. No, 129. 
The natural partiality of Czfar for > 
I have heard that a great Englith ora- 
tor now living, the only fcholar who has 
made the ftyle of Demothenes his own, 
and adapted it to prefent politics and the 
events of the times, has frequently de- 
clared his opinion, founded on the fpeci- 
mens of our poets which yet remain, and 
the praifes of all the difcerning ancients, 
that the lofs of his dramas is more to be 
deplored than of any other ancient writ- 
ings whatever. Alas! Menander is na 
more; and all the praifes of antiquity and 
the regret of fubfequent ages refemble 
only the rich mantle which wraps the 
corpfe of a monarch or the frankincenfe 
which burns upon his pile! He is ems 
balmed in the eulogies of antiquity, and 
only lives in the mouths of men who 
mourn his lofs. 
A. few relics, among thofe of leffer note 
yet remaining to us (which, like the 
bones of fome giant picked up in the 
field, once the theatre of his exploits, 
cannot be fitted to any other than the huge » 
body to which they belonged) give us 
fome idea of the vaftnefs of Menander. 
—But ‘ quantum mutaius ab illo!” 
Where are ithe flowers, perfumes, gar- 
lands, the breathings of gallantry and 
tendernefs, the fprightly fallies of wit, . 
and allthe apparatus and circumflance of 
love, youth, and delight, that con- 
veyed and recommended morality to the 
gay and thoughtlefs, by attiring her ina | 
drefs that enamouréd her beholders ? 
That his aim was morality, is evident 
from the praifes, beftowed on him by 
Plutarch and other writers. ‘This end he 
kept in view ‘* unmixed with bafer mat-~ 
ter,” and by a fort of UeiWaveyxn, by an 
equal exertion of force and perfuafion, 
commanded the hearts of his readers and 
auditors. And yet the fragments that 
have come down to us ftamp him with the 
chara¢ter of morofe, farcaitic, and que- 
rulous. But thefe fentiments were put by 
him into the mouths of characters whom 
he defigned to hold up to deteftation or 
ridicule—and what remains of him does 
not mark fo ftrongly his own peculiar ge- 
nius as the tafte of thofe felectors who 
have chofen his words to illuftrate their 
own ideas. ‘Thus to the faturnine and 
melancholy feleftor we owe the furvival 
of the fad, peevifh, and infantine com- 
plaints on the many forrowful | items 
‘© which flefh is heir to,”’ and which, in- 
flead of offering an alleviation to the evils 
we fuffer, tend to aggravate their load 
and ‘debilitate the bearer. On the othes 
hand, the firikingly moral paflages with 
which his works abounded, alone caught 
the attention of the fathers of the primi- 
3.N "tive 
