282 
Dissertation on the 
account of this interesting poet. We - 
iave already suggested the idea which 
may be formed of him, and the same 
character will be found to prevail in his 
works. They are the careless and spon- 
taneous effusions of a mind indolent and 
voluptuous, which had the happy talent 
of expressing, with ease and sensibility, 
the various sensations that affected it. 
His amatory odes are tender and elegant; 
and there is, in general, a delicacy in 
his flattery, and in the praise of tie 
beauties whom he celebrates, which is 
rarely observable in any other ancient 
poet. In this he excels Horace; and Ca- 
tullus and Ausonius sink infinitely below 
him. Insome it must be confessed, that 
the warmth of his ideas hurries him into 
2 ireedom of description bordering on 
imdecency ; but the indecency is in the 
allusions, and never in the words. The 
two odes we have already pointed out, 
it is true, admit of no defence. 
The great merit of Anacreon is sim- 
plicity. His odes are not the laboured 
productions of art, but the spontaneous 
effusions of a lively old man, to whom 
poetry was an amusement. This peculiar 
feature, which no other ancient possesses 
in sv eminent a degree, seldom fails to 
conciliate the love and admiration of his 
readers, who sympathize even in his ex- 
cesses. His puetic invention-is displayed 
in those. allegorical’ fictions which have 
since been so frequently imitated. Many, 
too, have endeavoured to imitate the 
happy facility of his manner, and that 
amiable negligence which defies all corm- 
parison. His metre has been frequently 
acopted by the modern Latin poets, such 
as Scaliger, Taubman, Barthius, and 
others. Angesianus, ‘to whom our Prior 
was so much indebted, is, perhaps, his 
most successful imitator. In France, 
the lighter productions of Chaulieu, La 
Farre, and others,‘ were professedly upon 
the style of Anacreon: nor are we in 
this country without some specimens of 
‘lyric poetry, in which, perhaps, his man- - 
ner is still mere happily preserved. 
ANACREON—-H,. Stephani, princeps editio, 
+* Lutet. 4to. 1554, 
Morel. and Steph. Lutet. Svo. — 
1556. 
edit. does not appear to have 
been known to Maittaire, De 
Bure, or Clement. It -was 
- found in the Biblioth. Askew. 
No. 957. . 
eee — Fabri; Salm. 8va. 1660-80-90. 
Gr. and.Lat. 
Liberti; Paris, 8vo. 1694. This 
Series Homerie, [Nov. ly 
AnacrEeon—Baxter; Lond. 1695. 
Barnes ;$Lond. 1721. 
Maittaire ; Lond. 1725. 
Pauwii; 4to. Tr. Rhen, 1732.1 
Fischeri; 8vo. Lips. 1733-76 93. 
Spaletti; Rom. 1784. - 
———— Brunckii; Argent, 1778. 
——-—— Bodoni; Parm. 8vo. 17384. . 
——  Fosteri ; 12mo. Lond. 1802. 
Bothii ; 12mo. Lips. 1805. 
SE 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
HISTORICAL DISSERTATION, on the SORTI~ 
LEGES of thé ANCIENTS, called SoRTES 
HOMERIC, SORTES VIRGILIANE, &c.. 
and on those known among the CuRIs- 
TIANS, by the name 0 " SORTES SANC- 
TORUM, 
a a manner of inquiring into futuri= 
ty, unquestionably, took its rise 
from a general custom of the oracular 
priests, of delivering their answers in 
verse. It subsisted a long time among 
the Greeks and Romans; and being from 
thenr adopted by the Christians, it was 
not till after a long succession of ages, 
that it became exploded. 
Among the Romans, it consisted in 
casually opening some celebrated poet, 
and among the Christians, the Scriptures ; 
and drawing from the first passage which 
presented itself to the eye, a prognostick 
of what would befal the person, who thus 
made the experiment, or as a guidance 
under some particular exigency. This di- 
vination, the Greeks called, comyewuavreta 
exladouaviesa; among the Romans, it 
went bythe names of Sortes Homerice, 
Sortes Virgiliane, Sortes Ciaudtane, &c. ; - 
and among the Christians, by that of 
Sortes Sanctorum. ‘ 
Pagan antiquity, is known to have-con- 
sidered eminent poets as men inspired ; 
they represented themselves as sucli; 
they affirmed that they uttered the lan- _ 
guage of the gods, and their word was, in . 
general, taken for it. The Iliad, Odys- 
sey, and /Eneid, being more particularly 
full of such a number of religious and 
moral passages, containing such a prodi- 
gious variety of events, sentences, and 
maxims, applicable to all circumstances 
of life, it is not at all surprising, that 
they who accidentally or designedly 
looked into those poems, should imagine ~ 
they had discovered certain predicuons 
or admonitions. If the result happened 
sometimes to justify the curiosity of the 
persons, who, in a case of perplexity, had 
recourse te them, this was sufhicient gra- 
dually to beget ia belief, that the writings 
ef the poets were anoracle, always ready 
“a ; te 
ato 
