*Il suo carattere e per tutto grande, e maestoso e, per poterlo sempre sostenere, si trattiene il poeta, perlo più, sul generale, s'fugendo, a suo potere, tutte le cose minute, e particolari : alle quali Omero, che a voluto mutar corde, e varior tuono, e liberamente andato all' incontro. E siccome stimeremmo gran sallo biasimare percio Vergilio, che á saputo cose bene mantenere il carattere propostosi; così non possiamo non maravigliarci del torto, ch' ad Omero fa Giullo Cesare Scaligero, da cui e riputato basso, e vile, per aver voluto toccare i punti più fini del naturale: quasiche la magnificenza fosse posta solamante nello strepito delle parole-Nell' Egloghe pero si prese la liberta di rappresentar cos

VOL. I.

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tumi

* Vincenzo Gravina was of Naples, had great learning, and a clear head; was an admirable civilian, as well as critic. He wrote five tragedies on the model of the ancients, with chorusses; Il' Palamede, L'Andromeda, L'Appio Claudio, Il' Papiniano, Il' Servio Tullio. It is said that he missed a cardinal's hat, because of his satirical and severe turn of mind. When he was at Rome, he used to bow to coach horses; "Because, (said he,) was it not for these poor beasts, these great people would have men, and even philosophers, to draw their coaches." Metastasio, poet laureat to the empress queen at Vienna, so famous for operas, was his disciple. · Gravina founds his critical opinions on the solid principles of Aristotle; that is, in other words, on nature and good sense.

tumi alle volte troppo civili, ed innalzo sopra la semplicita pastorale lo stile, trattenendosi troppo sul generale onde quantò nella Georgica si lasciò addietro Esiodo, tanto nell' Egloghe cede a Teocrito, da cui raccolse i fiori: e nel poema eroico, siccome riman vinto da Omero cosi e ad ogn' altro superiore.*

15. Four swans sustain❜d a car of silver bright,

With heads advanc'd, and pinions stretch'd for flight:
Here, like some furious prophet, Pindar rode,
And seem'd to labour with th' inspiring God.
Across the harp a careless hand he flings,
And boldly sinks into the sounding strings.+

The character of Pindar, as commonly taken, seems not to be well understood. We hear of nothing but the impetuosity and the sublimity of his manner; whereas he abounds in strokes of domestic tenderness. We are perpetually told

* Gravina della Ragion poetica. In Napoli 1716. p. 308.

of

POPE, speaking to Mr. Spence concerning absurd comparisons, mentioned, as such, the comparing Homer with Virgil, Corneille with Racine, the little ivory statue of Polyclete with the Colossus. "These (he added) are magis pares quam

similes."

+ Ver. 210.

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of the boldness and violence of his transitions ; whereas, on a close inspection, they appear easy

and natural, are closely connected with, and arise appositely from, his subject. Even his stile has been represented as swelling and bombast; but carefully examined, it will appear far more pure and perspicuous than is generally imagined; not abounding with those harsh metaphors, and that profusion of florid epithets, which some of his imitators affect to use. One of * Pindar's arts, in which they frequently fail who copy him, is the introduction of many moral reflections. Mr. Gray seems thoroughly to have studied this writer. The following beautiful lines are closely translated from the first Pythian Ode. They describe the Power of music :

Oh, sovereign of the willing soul,
Parent of sweet and solemn-breathing airs,
Enchanting shell the sullen cares,

And frantic passions, hear thy soft controul.

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* Cui illud peculiare est (says Bacon finely) animos hominum, inopinatò, sententiolâ aliquâ mirabili, veluti Virgulà divinâ percutere.

De Augmentis. Scient. Lib. 8.

On

On Thracia's hills the lord of war
Has curb'd the fury of his car,

And dropp'd his thirsty lance at thy command.
Perching on the sceptred hand

Of Jove, thy magic lulls the feather'd king,
With ruffled plumes, and flagging wing:
Quench'd in dark clouds of slumber lie

The terror of his beak, and lightning of his eye.*

The reader will, doubtless, be pleased to see these striking images copied by another masterly hand:

With slacken'd wings,

While now the solemn concert breathes around,
Incumbent o'er the sceptre of his lord

Sleeps the stern eagle; by the number'd notes
Possess'd, and satiate with the melting tone;

Sovereign of birds. The furious God of war,
His darts forgetting, and the rapid wheels
That bear him vengeful o'er the embattled plains,
Relents.t

It is to be observed, that both these imitators have omitted a natural circumstance, very expressive of the strong feeling of the eagle;

* Dodsley's Collection, vol. VI. p. 322.

but

↑ Ibid. vol. VI. p. 13. HYMN to the Naiads, by Dr. Akenside.

but very difficult to be translated with becoming

elegance.

Ο δε κνώσσων

Υγρον νωτον αειρεί, τεχις
Ριπαισι κατασχομενος. *

*

May I venture to add, that this ode of Mr. Gray ends a little unhappily? That is, with an antithesis unsuited to the dignity of such a composition :

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Beneath

*Pindar, Pyth. I. Antistrophe i. v. 5.

This image puts me in mind of a fine stroke in Apollonius Rhodius, who thus describes the effects of Medea's enchantments on the dragon who watch'd the golden fleece:

αυταρ όγ ηδη

Οιμη θελγομεν, δολιχην αναλύετ' ακαιθαν

Γηγενε@ σπείρης,

δε μύρια κυκλα.

Lib IV. ver. 150.

Few moderns have boldness enough to enter on circumstances so MINUTELY NATURAL, and therefore highly expressive; they are afraid of being thought vulgar and flat. Apollonius has more merit than is usually allowed him, and deserves more consideration among the learned: the whole behaviour and passion of Medea is movingly described. He particularly abounds in such lively and delicate strokes as that quoted above,