* IL fuo carrattere e per tutto grande, e maeftofo: e, per poterlo fempre foftenere, fi trattiene il poeta, perlo più, ful generale, s'fugendo, a fuo potere, tutte le cofe minute, e particolari: alle quali Omero, che a voluto mutar corde, e varior tuono, e liberamente andanto all' incontro. E ficcome ftimeremmo gran fallo biafimare percio Vergilio, che á faputo cofe bene mantenere il carattere propoftofi; così non poffiamo non maravigliarci del torto, ch'ad Omero fa Giullo Cefare Scaligero, da cui e riputato baffo, e vile, peraver voluto toccare i punti più fini del naturale: quafiche la magnificenza foffe pofta folamente nello ftrepito delle parole-Nell' Egloghe pero

* 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 choruffes, Il' Palamede, L'Andromeda, L'Appio Claudio, Il Papiniano, Il' Servio Tullio. It is faid that he miffed a cardinal's hat because of his fatyrical and fevere turn of mind. When he was at Rome, he used to bow to coach horfes, because, said he, was it not for these poor beafts, these great people would have men, and even philofophers, to draw their coaches. Metastafio poet laureat to the empress queen at Vienna, fo famous for operas, was his difciple. Gravina founds his critical opinions on the folid principles of Ariftotle, that is, in other words, on nature and good fenfe. See Barretti, pag. 308.

fi prese la liberta di rappresentar coftumi alle volte troppo civili, ed innalzo fopra la femplicita paftorale lo ftile, trattenendofi troppo ful generale: onde quantò nella Georgica fi lasciò addietro Efiodo, tanto nell' Egloghe cede a Teocrito, da cui raccolfe i fiori: e nel poema eroico, ficcome riman vinto da Omero cofi e ad ogn' altro fuperiore *.

15. Four swans fuftain'd a car of filver bright,
With heads advanc'd, and pinions ftretch'd for flight:
Here, like fome furious prophet, Pindar rode,
And feem'd to labour with th' inspiring God.
Across the harp a careless hand he flings,
And boldly finks into the founding ftrings t.

We

THE character of Pindar, as commonly taken, seems not to be well understood. hear of nothing but the impetuofity, and the fublimity of his manner; whereas he abounds in ftrokes of domeftic tenderness. We are

perpetually

• Gravina della Ragion poetica. In Napoli 1716. p. 308. POPE fpeaking to one of his friends concerning abfurd comparisons, mentioned, as fuch, the comparing Homer with Virgil, Corneille with Racine, the little ivory ftatue of Polyclete with the Coloffus. Thefe, he added, are magis pares quam fimiles.

+ Ver. 210,

perpetually told of the boldness and violence of his tranfitions, whereas on a close inspection they appear easy and natural, are closely connected with, and arife appofitely from, his fubject. Even his ftile has been represented as fwelling and bombaft; but carefully examined, it will appear pure and perfpicuous, not abounding with those harsh metaphors, and that profufion of florid epithets, which fome 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 feems thoroughly to have studied this writer. The following beautiful lines are closely tranflated from the first Pythian Ode. They defcribe the Power of mufic.

Oh fovereign of the willing foul,

Parent of sweet and folemn-breathing airs,
Enchanting fhell! the fullen cares,

And frantic paffions hear thy foft controul.

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 fceptred hand

ΟΙ

Of Jove, thy magic lulls the feather'd king,
With ruffled plumes, and flagging wing:

Quench'd in dark clouds of flumber lie

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

THE reader will doubtlefs be pleased, to fee these ftriking images copied by another masterly hand.

With flacken'd wings,

While now the folemn concert breathes around,
Incumbent o'er the fceptre of his lord

Sleeps the ftern eagle; by the number'd notes
Poffefs'd; and fatiate 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 thefe imitations have omitted a natural circumstance, very expreffive of the ftrong feeling of the eagle; but very difficult to be tranflated with becoming elegance.

Dodfley's Collection, vol. VI. p. 322.

+Ibid. vol. VI. p. 13. HYMN to the Naiads, by Dr. Akenfide.

Vol. II.

Ο δε κνώσσων

Υγρον νωτον αειρεί, τεαις

Ριπαισι κατασκόμενος

MAY I venture to add, that this ode of Mr. Gray, ends a little unhappily? That is, with an antithefis unfuited to the dignity of fuch a compofition;

Beneath the Good how far, but far above the Great.

Ir may be alfo queftioned, whether his ode on the Druids might not have been better concluded without mentioning the manner

* Pindar, Pyth. I. Antiftrophe 1. v. 5.

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

αυταρ όγ ηδη

Οίμη θελγόμενο, δολιχην αναλύετ' ακανθαν
Σηγειες σπείρης, μηκύνε δε μυρία κυκλα.

Lib. IV. ver. 150.

Few moderns have boldness enough to enter on circumstances fo MINUTELY NATURAL, and therefore highly expreffive; they are afraid of being thought vulgar and flat. Apollonius has more merit than is usually allowed him, and deserves more confideration among the learned: the whole behaviour and paffion of Medea is movingly defcribed. He particularly a bounds in fuch lively and delicate ftrokes as that quoted above.