Anacreon

“ Frees my soul from anxious thought,
Graver thoughts I fling away,
Sporting with the young and gay.
When I glow with generous wine,
Life's real blessings all are mine,
Joys beyond the reach of fate—
Death is sure in every state. ”

“ It was always introduced at entertainments; and it was customary on such occasions to employ flowers and perfumes, not merely for pleasure, but because they imagined their odours prevented the intoxicating effects of wine. With the Romans they were held in equal estimation, as appears from the following passage:—
"Here pour your wines, your odours shed;
Bring forth the rose's shortlived flower,
While fate yet spins thy mortal thread,
While youth and fortune give th' indulgent hour." ”

“ The subjects, though often simple and trifling in themselves, are by the master-hand of the poet rendered susceptible of so many beauties, that they deserved to be sung by the Graces to the harp of Apollo. ”

“ ODE XXIV.—LIFE TO BE ENJOYED. [1]
Born a mortal; doom'd to tread
Life's rough path of pain and wo,
All the past with ease is read,
But the future who can know?
Hence! away, distracting cares,
Make no fellowship with me ”

“ With what success these endeavours have been accomplished, it is the province of others to determine. Perhaps, however, I may here be permitted to observe, that I have never hesitated to sacrifice poetic beauty to purity of language and expression; happy if, by this means, I have rendered accessible to the cabinets of my fair countrywomen a poet whose beauties are many, and whose faults, which were those of his age and country, I have studiously endeavoured to conceal. ”

“ Just when the bright and glittering Bear [2]
Is yielding to her keeper's care;
When, spent with toil, with cares oppress'd,
Man's busy race has sunk to rest,
Sly Cupid, sent by cruel fate,
Stood loudly knocking at my gate. ”

“ Naught for woman has she more:
How does Nature prove her care?
Beauty's charms is woman's share,
Stronger far than warrior's dress
Is her helpless loveliness.
Safety smiles in beauty's eyes,
She the hostile flame defies:
Fiercest swords submissive fall—
Lovely woman conquers all!
↑ The sentiment of this little ode is natural and beautiful, and it has been imitated by many succeeding writers. The first of modern poets, Lord Byron, has in the following beautiful passage a similar idea to that contained in the latter part of it:—
"Oh, too convincing, dangerously dear! ”

“ The boiling bosom of tumultuous rage;
To clear the cloudy front of wrinkled care,
And dry the tearful sluices of despair.
Charm'd with that virtuous draught, th' exalted mind
All sense of wo delivers to the wind. ”

“ Poor Atys, [1] as old poets sing,
O'er the wild mountains wandering,
Degraded from his former state,
Cybele's love now turned to hate,
With plaintive cries invoked relief,
Till madness brought an end to grief. ”

“ The women, as I have intimated, are handsome; indeed, you rarely meet with an ugly face among them. The form of the head, the general cast of countenance, are classical; and in their profile I have frequently found that exquisite, gently curving line, we see in ancient Greek statues and medals, (and which we have been accustomed to consider the line of ideal beauty,) identified in 'real flesh and blood.' Their large, black eyes, with long lashes, and their delicately arched eyebrows ”

“ The prospect of death, considered merely as a termination of the pleasures of life, was too dreadful to be entertained, and therefore he resolves to banish all thoughts of such an event in scenes of mirth and festivity. ”

“ Rich, juicy clusters deck the vine,
Which soon shall ripen into wine:
The charming sight with joy I see,
To Bacchus welcome—and to me.
↑ The migratory habits of the crane are thus described by Goldsmith in his History of Animated Nature: "The crane changes place like a wanderer; he spends the autumn in Europe; he then flies off, probably to some more southern climate, to enjoy a part of the winter; returns to Europe in the spring; crosses up to the north in summer; visits those lakes that are never dry; and then comes down again to make depredations on our cultivated grounds in autumn." ”

“ Pope, no mean master of melody, has attempted it in that passage in his Art of Poetry intended to represent the whispering breeze and the flowing stream.
"Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows,
And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows." ”

“ With smiles she sees the threat'ning billows rise,
Spreads smooth the surge, and clears the low'ring skies;
Light o'er the deep, with fluttering Cupids crown'd,
The pearly conch and silver turtles bound ”

“ And again, "The Greek village of Panagea, situated on the seashore, to the south of Chesme, is celebrated for the beauty of its women; but throughout these regions the sex is universally handsome and graceful. Poverty, that cruel enemy to the charms of the person as well as of the mind, cannot destroy their attractions: the bright, intelligent, large black eye beams, the clear complexion, the exquisite Grecian nose, mouth, and chin, the classical contour, are there, in spite of its wrongs ”

“ ANACREON.
Of this delightful author, nothing, beyond what we are already acquainted with, can now be known. Antiquity has long since interposed its impenetrable veil; and however brief and unsatisfactory the accounts which have been handed down to us, with them we must still remain satisfied. Succeeding writers, it is true, may seek to impart an air of novelty to their relations, by a new and ingenious arrangement of the scanty materials they possess ”

“ The red wine is the most esteemed in the island: a small part only is exported, the Greeks making too good a use of it themselves. It cannot greatly sooth or propitiate a Turk's feelings towards the despised and infidel Greeks to see them quaffing with keen delight the rich juice of the grape, and giving loose in the moment to unbounded gayety ”

“ The heroes of antiquity, when in any desperate engagement they found their darts spent, their strength exhausted, and saw no prospect of surviving long, would collect all their spirits and strength, and rush headlong with amazing impetuosity on their enemies, that even in death the weight of their bodies, thus violently agitated, might bear down their adversaries."—Fawkes. ”

“ When they thought proper to write to their friends, they let one of these birds loose, with letters fastened to its neck: the bird, once released, would never cease its flight till it arrived at its nest and young ones. The same custom is still common among the Turks and other Eastern nations ↑ It is impossible not to admire the address and delicacy of this indirect compliment to his own writings. Venus, the goddess of beauty, and mother of the Graces, is represented as being willing to purchase a little hymn of his composing at the price of one of her favourite doves. ”

“ The Orientals love that everything should be sad and impressive round the abodes of their dead, which they never approach but with the deepest reverence; and they often sit for hours in their kiosks on the Bosphorus, gazing with mournful pleasure on the shores of Asia, where the ashes of their fathers are laid."—Carne's Letters from the East, p. 65. ↑ It seems not a little remarkable that the ancients, amid all their wild and extravagant fancies, never "affected the skies;" ”

“ Is it not to be feared that he has too many imitators, even among those who, enlightened by Revelation, know that this life is but a probationary state, and yet not only neglect its duties, but, judging from their conduct, seldom bestow a single thought on them? ”

“ It is derived from a Greek verb, signifying to loosen or free, and is, from the circumstance of wine freeing the mind from anxiety, appropriately assigned to him. ↑ There is a similar passage in one of Ovid's epistles; in that from Sappho to Phaon, so beautifully translated by Pope. I have transcribed it, in order that the reader may have the pleasure of comparing them:—
"Oh, night, more pleasing than the brightest day,
When fancy gives what absence takes away,
And dress'd in all its visionary charms,
Restored my fair deserted to my arms! ”

“ This he effected, but not without the queen's discovering the affront; who next morning sent for Gyges, and resolutely told him he must either suffer immediate death for what he had done, or despatch Candaules, and take her and the kingdom of Lydia for his recompense. The choice was difficult, as he greatly valued his master: however, the love of life prevailed: he stabbed Candaules, married the queen, and took possession of the kingdom. ”

“ The summer is already far advanced in this part of the world; and, for some miles round Adrianople, the whole ground is laid out in gardens, and the banks of the rivers are set with rows of fruit trees, under which all the most considerable Turks divert themselves every evening; not with walking, that is not one of their pleasures ”

“ Thus sings the bard; the magic of whose verse, in spite of reason, leads the fancy captive; the efforts of whose mighty genius will be regarded by future ages with sentiments of admiration, pleasure, and regret. For him the muses wove their brightest wreaths: why did he perversely mingle weeds, rank, poisonous weeds, with their sweet perennial flowers? ↑ The ancient poets are loud in their invectives against the "auri sacra fames." ”

“ Intent on life's best bus'ness—love.
↑ Allusion is here again made to the famous shield of Achilles, thus described by Homer:—
"Two cities radiant on the shield appear,
The image one of peace, and one of war;
Here sacred pomp and genial feast delight,
And solemn dance and hymeneal rite;
Along the streets the new-made brides are led,
With torches flaming, to the nuptial bed:
The youthful dancers in a circle bound
To the soft flute and cittern's silver sound ”

“ Orestes slew his mother Clytemnestra, to revenge the death of his father Agamemnon, who at his return from the Trojan war had been murdered by her and her lover Ægisthus. ↑ Iphitus was slain by Hercules, who carried off his bow. ↑ When the armour of Achilles was adjudged to Ulysses, Ajax was so enraged at the affront that he went mad; and falling on a flock of sheep, which he took for Grecians, he first slew them and then himself. ↑ Hector and Ajax made an exchange of presents, which gave birth to a proverb, "that the presents of enemies are generally fatal;" ”

“ Free from Nature's woes and pains,
Free from flesh, or blood-fill'd veins, [3]
Happy thing! thou seem'st to me
Almost a little god to be!
↑ This insect, though called a grasshopper, is certainly of a very different species of locust from that so common in our fields and meadows. Indeed, its habit of settling on trees is of itself a sufficient distinction. ”

“ Beauty's smiles and blissful love.
↑ There is an anecdote in the history of Anacreon, recorded by Stobæus, to which this ode may possibly bear some allusion. He relates that Anacreon, having received a present of five talents of gold from Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, was so embarrassed with cares and solicitudes about his treasure, that he could not sleep for two nights successively: whereon he sent back the present with this apology to his patron, "That however valuable the sum might be, it was not a sufficient price for the trouble and anxiety of keeping it." ”

“ The ancients, as may be proved by numerous passages, considered the liver to be the seat of the affections; and it is reasonable to suppose that the sympathy existing between this organ and the brain was as well known to them as it is to physicians in the present day. ”

“ When death's cold hand has closed these eyes
And stifled life's last struggling sighs,
In darkness and in dust must I,
Alas! for ever—ever lie!
↑ It is supposed by many that the five following odes were not written by Anacreon; but, as Barnes admits them into his edition, and they are given in most other translations, it was thought proper to insert them here. ↑ Let the reader contrast this exclamation of the despairing heathen philosopher, with the exulting language of "Paul the aged"—when ready to be offered, and the time of his departure at hand. ”

“ Am fettered now with stronger chains."
↑ Madame Dacier says that this is one of the finest and most gallant odes of antiquity, and if she for whom it was composed was as beautiful, all Greece could produce nothing more charming. Its meaning seems to be simply this: that passion suddenly conceived is generally transient and fleeting; but love founded on esteem and regulated by reason, though slow in its approaches, and imperceptible in its growth, makes an impression on the heart at once permanent and indelible. ”

“ If all things drink, why may not I?
↑ The poet here refers to the supply of moisture which trees receive by means of their roots and fibres. ↑ This passage, which seems to have given the commentators some trouble, is by many supposed to be an error in the text. I have followed the usual reading, though I think Fawkes's amendment very judicious. He has it, "the sea drinks up the rivers," certainly a much more natural idea. ↑ The moon is said to drink from the sun, because she borrows her light from that luminary. ”

“ This Scythian scene all peace destroys; [2]
Turns joy to madness, mirth to noise.
Let cheerful temperance rule the soul,
The best ingredient in the bowl.
↑ Hesiod, with all the minuteness of "narrative old age," gives many directions to be observed in the summer season. Among the rest, in book ii., he thus advises us:—
"With Byblian wine the rural feast be crown'd,
Three parts of water, let the bowl go round."—Cooke.
↑ The Scythians were particularly remarkable for their intemperance in drinking, and for quarrelling in their cups. ”

“ The Chinese ladies still wear fastened to their heads by springs small golden figures of a bird, the wings of which flutter with the slightest motion. ↑ Homer represents the gods as being free from blood ”

“ In short, while we condemn, and with justice, those licentious thoughts and expressions which occur but too frequently in almost every author of antiquity, and which, in a greater or less degree, debase and disfigure their brightest pages, we should Still remember that they are but the erroneous maxims of men who had only the dim light of nature to direct them ”

“ The youth to wild intemperate joys.
↑
"Fair maids and blooming youths, that smiling bear
The purple product of th' autumnal year."
Pope. ↑ We are informed by travellers that the ancient custom of treading the grapes is still practised in many of the wine countries. Matthews, in his "Diary of an Invalid," has given us a full description of this disgusting process, which he witnessed in Portugal. After the juice is crushed out it is put into vats to ferment itself fine, during which process all impurities are carefully removed. ”

“ This inward flame will never die!
↑ The custom of wearing garlands of flowers at entertainments has already been mentioned. ↑ The reflection here made by the poet is just and natural, and is similar to that at the conclusion of the fourteenth ode. When love has once taken possession of the heart, external defences cease to be useful. ”