But see! the stars begin to steal away, And shine more faintly at approaching day; 825 tuneful lays 829 Once more resound the great Apollo's praise. Oh father Phoebus! whether Lycia's coast And snowy mountain, thy bright presence boast! Whether to sweet Castalia thou repair, And bathe in silver dews thy yellow hair; Or pleas'd to find fair Delos float no more, Delight in Cynthus, and the shady shore; 835 840 The change of Sceptres, and impending woe; Thy shafts aveng'd lewd Tityus' guilty flame, NOTES. 845 Ver. 829. Some of the most finished lines he has ever written, down to verse 854. Ver. 841. 'Tis thine] Far superior to the original are these four lines; and how mean is the Tityus of Statius, compared with the tremendous picture in Virgil! May I venture to add, that we have our language some translations that have excelled the originals; perhaps they are, Rowe's Lucan, Pitt's Vida, Hampton's Polybius, Melmoth's Pliny, and Carter's Epic tetus. Te viridis Python, Thebanaque mater ovantem NOTES. 855 Ver. 850. torva Megara] This expression, and premit and instimulat, are weakened in the translation; but mista fastidia is a harsh expression; as also is a line above, 842, Tu Phryga submittis citharœ. Thy hand slew Python, and the dame who lost 850 He views his food, but dreads, with lifted eye, Whether the stile of Titan please thee more, 860 In order to give young readers a just notion of chasteness and simplicity of style, I have seen it of use to let them compare the mild majesty of Virgil and the violent exuberance of Statius, by reading ten lines of each immediately after one another. The motto for the style of the age of Augustus may be the "Simplex Munditiis" of Horace; for the age of Domitian and the succeeding ages, the "Cultuque laborat Multiplici" of Lucan. After this censure of Statius's manner, it is but justice to add, that in the Thebais there are many strokes of a strong imagination; and indeed the picture of Amphiaraus, swallowed up suddenly by a chasm that opened in the ground, is truly sublime : "Illum ingens haurit specus, et transire parantes VOL. II. B. vii. v. 817. |