in the Greek language has been supposed to refer. To represent the thunderbolt, the ancient artists joined two obelisks pointing contrary ways from one centre, with spikes or arrows diverging from them; thus signifying its luminous essence and destructive power. Wings were sometimes added, to signify its swiftness and activity; and the obelisks were twisted into spiral forms, to show the whirl in the air caused by the vacuum proceeding from the explosion; the origin of which, as well as the productive attribute, was signified by the aquatic plants, from which they sprang. DEFENCE OF PLAGIARISM. MUCH has lately been said respecting the plagiarisms of Lord Byron; and reference has been made to compositions, in prose more particularly, to prove the case against him. I am inclined to doubt the fairness of that criticism. Are not the mightiest productions of genius effected by comparison, by combining impressions made on the mind by external objects, or by resources originally emanating from the labors and writings of others, and from historical facts and relations? Nor can I easily be persuaded that the last are not legitimate sources of composition, when I consider that to them we either are, or appear to be, indebted for the noblest poems. The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer are, with every presumption of truth, supposed to be founded on historical facts, highly embellished with the ornaments of poetry, and owing many of their graces to the fictions of imagination. Yet could we believe, as some have endeavoured to maintain, that the war of Troy and the whole series of events and circumstances connected with it never existed but in the mind of the poet, I doubt whether the bard would be at all raised in our estimation 1 Οι μαι και το θείον ωνομάσθαι τη ὁμοιότητι της οσμης, ἣν τα παιόμενα τοις κεραύνοις apina. Plutarch. Symposiac. lib. iv. qu. 2. 2 See coins of Syracuse, Seleucia, Alexander I. king of Epirus, Elis, &c. Upon some of the most ancient of the latter, however, it is more simply composed of flames only, diverging both ways. by such an admission. The Æneid is not only founded on historical facts and relations connected with the Iliad and Odyssey, but is largely indebted to them for its poetical embellishments, for its fictitious graces, and for the construction of its plan, and on many occasions copies the incidents, if not the language, of Homer. The tragedies of the ancients are generally composed from the writings of that great poet, or from historical circumstances of Grecian history, either transmitted in writing, or subjects of traditional relation at the time. And assuredly a poem, which has reality for its basis and support, and which is adorned and ennobled by the imagination of the poet with all the variety of fictitious ornament and all the charms of composition, ought not to be less interesting or praiseworthy than what is merely fabulous. What says Horace? Publica materies privati juris erit, si Nec circa vilem patulumque moraberis orbem; Unde pedem proferre pudor vetet aut operis lex. And his poems abound in references and allusions to the writings of Homer, Euripides, and Pindar, with not unfrequent imitations and occasional plagiarisms, since we must so call them, from those immortal bards. In the Supplices of Euripides occurs the following passage: او χρῆν γὰρ οὔτε σώματα * Αδικα δικαίοις τὸν σοφὸν συμμιγνύναι, Εὐδαιμονοῦντας δ' εἰς φόβους κτᾶσθαι φίλους. Τοῖς τοῦ νοσοῦντος πήμασιν διώλεσεν Τὸν οὐ νοσοῦντα, κοὐδὲν ἠδικηκότα. The second Ode of the third book of Horace has towards its termination the following sentence: Vetabo qui Cereris sacrum Vulgârit arcanum sub iisdem Sit trabibus, fragilemque mecum A strong analogy may be traced in both, and an almost literal translation in one part. The case stands nearly thus. Adrastus solicits the aid of Theseus in recovering, the bodies of the Argive leaders slain under the walls of Thebes. Theseus, after a beautiful dissertation on the bounty of Providence, in bestowing on man the gifts of speech and knowledge, the fruits of the earth, the benefits of commerce, the means of ascertaining things unknown by the inspection of entrails and the flight of birds, upbraids Adrastus as belonging to that class of mortals, who deem themselves wiser than the gods, because in misinterpretation of the oracle of Apollo, which had pronounced that he should give them to a lion and a boar, he had married his daughters to Tydeus and Polynices, and thus ruined the fortunes of his house by espousing them to strangers (here Musgrave prefers ὡς χρώντων θεῶν to ὡς ζώντων BEY). It became not a wise man to unite pure with impure blood, but rather to secure friends enjoying the favor of Heaven, of whose assistance he might avail himself in time of fear or danger; for that God, or Jupiter, who governs the common fortunes of mankind, was apt to confound in the same destruction him not laboring under any divine malediction, and who had committed no injustice, with him whose guilt had rendered him obnoxious to punish ment. Horace, in the true spirit of a lyric bard, quits the commendation of valor and patriotism, which open a path to Heaven for those deserving immortality, and says that faithful silence also has its reward-silence in affairs of state, it is presumed he means; and goes on to say: "I will forbid him who violates the sacred mysteries of Ceres, or the religion of silence, to remain under the same roof, or to loosen the fragile bark with me. Often Jupiter neglected has added the innocent to the guilty." It is evident that Horace had in view the sentiment of the dramatist. He would not unite pure with impure blood, nor for a moment trust himself in company with one who had rendered himself obnoxious to punishment by violating the mysteries of Ceres. There would be peril in being under the same roof with such a person; and to embark with him on the same vessel would be to augment the perils of a voyage, as from him only contamination was to be expected, not assistance in time of difficulty or danger.-Then comes the more immediate and palpable imitation. "Often Jupiter has added the innocent to the guilty." The Latin expressions integrum and incesto are not susceptible of a literal translation, and bear a closer affinity to τοῦ νοσοῦντος and to οὐ νοσοῦντα than those which I have used; and voσouvтos Typowy must be translated with a reference to those calamities to which the off spring of Edipus were rendered obnoxious by their father's guilt. The 12th Ode of Horace Book the 1st begins : 'Quem virum aut heroa lyra vel acri Tibia sumes celebrare Clio? Quem Deum? Cujus recinet jocosa The Carmen II. of Pindar commences thus: Τίνα δ' ἄνδρα κελαδήσομεν ; Here the imitation is too close to require tracing; but it is otherwise in the following example, where the resemblance exists rather in the sentiment and turn of thought than in the expressions; and is perhaps attributable to the prevalence of Grecian literature in the mind of the poet, and his intimate acquaintance with the dramatic writers in particular. And it is probable that he was unconscious from what source he had drawn the lines referred to at the time of their composition. I allude to the sentiments put into the mouth of Hecuba in the Troades of Euripides, who had previously expressed her apprehension of being carried as a slave of the detested Helen, the cause of the overthrow of Troy, to the banks of the Eurotas, rather than to the more fortunate regions now described. Τὰν Πηνειοῦ σεμνὰν χώραν, Καὶ τὴν Αἰτναίαν Ηφαίστου, Φοινίκας ἀντήρη χώραν, Σικελῶν ὀρέων ματέρ ̓ ἀκούω, Κηρύσσεσθαι, στεφάνοις τ ̓ ἀρετὰς, Τάν τ' ἀγχιστεύουσαν γᾶν Ιονίῳ ναίεσθαι πόντῳ, &c. Horace, in the 6th Ode of his second Book, addresses Septimius in a strain of regret, when they were preparing to accompany Augustus on an expedition, that they were to incur the perils and privations of a voyage to Spain and the chance of being engulphed in the Syrtes, then indulging the desire of his heart in these beautiful stanzas: Tibur Argao positum colono Unde si Parcæ prohibent iniquæ; Ille terrarum mihi præter omnes Although the imitation here is not servile, the line of thought and turn of expression is similar; and I cannot doubt that the lyric bard was indebted in this instance to the choral strains of the dramatist. Other instances may doubtless be adduced. Then ought we eagerly to convict Lord Byron, who has a right to claim originality of genius as much as most English poets, because he may occasionally have borrowed from writers ancient or modern; or can we pretend too severely to criticise even that more servile imitator Gray for having done what the acknowledged master in the art of poetry did not scruple to do before him? Gray may perhaps be accused of being too close a copyist, trusting little to his own powers, and building the structure of his celebrity on the authority of others. A line of conduct which may be said to argue want of confidence rather than sterility of genius. Take the following example: To each his sufferings, all are men Condemn'd alike to groan, The tender for another's pain, *Η πολύμοχθον ἆρ ̓ ἦν γένος, Δύσποτμον ἀνδράσιν ἀνευρεῖν ; G. C. F. |