On a
Professor
who had a Small Class.
Universal Anthology - v05
90
THE LAST TWO ORACLES OF GREECE.
THE LAST TWO ORACLES OF GREECE. Translated by F. W. H. MYERS.
L
An Oracle Concerning the Eternal God.
0 God ineffable eternal Sire,
Throned on the whirling spheres, the astral fire,
Hid in whose heart thy whole creation lies, —
The whole world's wonder mirrored in thine eyes, — List thou thy children's voice, who draw anear,
Thou hast begotten us, thou too must hear !
Each life thy life her Fount, her Ocean knows,
Fed while it fosters, filling as it flows ;
Wrapt in thy light the star-set cycles roll,
And worlds within thee stir into a soul ;
But stars and souls shall keep their watch and way, Nor change the going of thy lonely day.
Some sons of thine, our Father, King of kings,
Rest in the sheen and shelter of thy wings, —
Some to strange hearts the unspoken message bear,
Sped on thy strength through the haunts and homes of air,—> Some where thine honor dwelleth hope and wait,
Sigh for thy courts and gather at thy gate ; These from afar to thee their praises bring, Of thee, albeit they have not seen thee, sing; Of thee the Father wise, the Mother mild, Thee in all children the eternal Child,
Thee the first Number and harmonious Whole, Form in all forms, and of all souls the Soul.
II.
To Amelius, who inquired, " Where is now Plotinus' Soul ? "
Pure spirit — once a man — pure spirits now
Greet thee rejoicing, and of these art thou;
Not vainly was thy whole soul alway bent
With one same battle and one the same intent Through eddying cloud and earth's bewildering roar To win her bright way to that stainless shore.
Ay, 'mid the salt spume of this troublous sea, This death in life, this sick perplexity,
THE LAST TWO ORACLES OF GREECE.
Oft on thy struggle through the obscure unrest
A revelation opened from the Blest —
Showed close at hand the goal thy hope would win, Heaven's kingdom round thee and thy God within. So sure a help the eternal Guardians gave,
From Life's confusion so were strong to save,
Upheld thy wandering steps that sought the day
And set them steadfast on the heavenly way.
Nor quite even here on thy broad brows was shed
The sleep which shrouds the living, who are dead; Once by God's grace was from thine eyes unfurled
This veil that screens the immense and whirling world, Once, while the spheres around thee in music ran,
Was very Beauty manifest to man ; —
Ah, once to have seen her, once to have known her there, For speech too sweet, for earth too heavenly fair !
But now the tomb where long thy soul had lain
Bursts, and thy tabernacle is rent in twain ;
Now from about thee, in thy new home above,
Has perished all but life, and all but love, —
And on all lives and on all loves outpoured
Free grace and full, a Spirit from the Lord,
High in that heaven whose windless vaults enfold
Just men made perfect, and an age all gold.
Thine own Pythagoras is with thee there,
And sacred Plato in that sacred air,
And whoso followed, and all high hearts that knew
In death's despite what deathless Love can do.
To God's right hand they have scaled the starry way— Pure spirits these, thy spirit pure as they.
Ah saint ! how many and many an anguish past,
To how fair haven art thou come at last !
On thy meek head what Powers their blessing pour, Filled full with life, and rich for evermore I
92
PERIODS OF GREEK HISTORY.
PERIODS OF GREEK HISTORY AFTER THE CON QUEST OF GREECE.
By GEORGE FINLAY.
(From " Greece under the Romans. ")
[Gbobge Finlay : An English historian ; born in Faversham, Kent, Decem ber 21, 1709 ; died in Athens, Greece, January 26, 1875. He was one of the early volunteers in the liberation of Greece, a companion of Byron at Missolonghi in 1823, and took up permanent residence there. He was for many years the Greek correspondent of the London Times. His fame, however, rests upon one great work, now collected as "Greece under Foreign Domination" (7 vols. , 1877), but the first volume published as " Greece under the Romans " (1844), and the last two volumes being a " History of the Greek Revolution. "]
The condition of Greece during its long period of servitude was not one of uniform degeneracy. Under the Romans, and subsequently under the Othomans, the Greeks formed only an insignificant portion of a vast empire. Their unwarlike char acter rendered them of little political importance, and many of the great changes and revolutions which occurred in the dominions of the emperors and of the sultans, exerted no direct influence on Greece. Consequently, neither the general history of the Roman nor of the Othoman empire forms a portion of Greek history. Under the Byzantine emperors the case was different : the Greeks became then identified with the imperial administration. The dissimilarity in the political position of the nation during these periods requires a different treatment from the historian to explain the characteristics of the times.
The changes which affected the political and social condi tion of the Greeks divide their history, as a subject people, into six distinct periods.
1. The first of these periods comprises the history of Greece under the Roman government. The physical and moral deg radation of the people deprived them of all political influence, until Greek society was at length regenerated by the Christian religion. After Christianity became the religion of the Roman emperors, the predominant power of the Greek clergy, in the ecclesiastical establishment of the Eastern Empire, restored to the Greeks some degree of influence in the government, and gave them a degree of social authority over human civiliza tion in the East which rivaled that which they had formerly obtained by the Macedonian conquests. In the portion of this work devoted to the condition of Greece under the Romans,
PERIODS OF GREEK HISTORY.
93
the author has confined his attention exclusively to the condi tion of the people, and to those branches of the Roman ad ministration which affected their condition. The predominant influence of Roman feelings and prejudices in the Eastern Empire terminates with the accession of Leo the Isaurian, who gave the administration at Constantinople a new character.
2. The second period embraces the history of the Eastern Roman Empire in its new form, under its conventional title of the Byzantine Empire. The records of this despotism, modi fied, renovated, and reinvigorated by the Iconoclast emperors, constitute one of the most remarkable and instructive lessons in the history of monarchial institutions. They teach us that a well-organized central government can with ease hold many subject nations in a state of political nullity. During this period the history of the Greeks is closely interwoven with the annals of the imperial government, so that the history of the Byzantine Empire forms a portion of the history of the Greek nation. Byzantine history extends from the accession of Leo the Isaurian, in the year 716, to the conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204.
3. After the destruction of the Eastern Roman Empire, Greek history diverges into many channels. The exiled Roman- Greeks of Constantinople fled to Asia, and established their capital at Nicaea ; they prolonged the Imperial administration in some provinces on the old model and with the old names. After the lapse of less than sixty years, they recovered posses sion of Constantinople ; but though the government they exer cised retained the proud title of the Roman Empire, it was only a degenerate representative even of the Byzantine state. This third period is characterized as the Greek Empire of Constantinople. Its feeble existence was terminated by the Othoman Turks at the taking of Constantinople in 1453.
4. When the Crusaders conquered the greater part of the Byzantine Empire, they divided their conquests with the Vene tians, and founded the Latin Empire of Romania, with its feudal principalities in Greece. The domination of the Latins is important, as marking the decline of Greek influence in the East, and as causing a rapid diminution in the wealth and numbers of the Greek nation. This period extends from the conquest of Constantinople in 1204, until the conquest of Naxos by the Othoman Turks in 1566.
5. The conquest of Constantinople in 1204 caused the
94 GLEANINGS FROM . THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY.
foundation of a new Greek state in the eastern provinces of the Byzantine Empire, called the Empire of Trebizond. Its existence is a curious episode in Greek history, though the government was characterized by peculiarities which indicated the influence of Asiatic rather than of European manners. It bore a strong resemblance to the Iberian and Armenian mon archies. During two centuries and a half it maintained a considerable degree of influence, based, however, rather on its commercial position and resources than on its political strength or its Greek civilization. Its existence exerted little influence on the fate or fortunes of Greece, and its conquest, in the year 1461, excited little sympathy.
6. The sixth and last period of the history of Greece under foreign domination extends from 1453 to 1821, and embraces the records both of the Othoman rule and of the temporary occupa tion of the Peloponnesus by the Venetian Republic, from 1685 to 1715. Nations have, perhaps, perpetuated their existence in an equally degraded position ; but history offers no other ex ample of a nation which had sunk to such a state of debasement making a successful effort to recover its independence.
GLEANINGS FROM THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY. By RICHARD GARNETT.
[Richard Garnett, C. B. , LL. D. , English poet and man of letters, was born at Lichfield, England, in 1835 ; son and namesake of the Assistant Keeper of Printed Books in the British Museum. He was himself in its service from 1851 to 1899, latterly as Keeper of Printed Books. He has published, besides vol umes of collected original poems, " Poems from the German," " A Chaplet from the Greek Anthology," "Sonnets from Dante, Petrarch, and Camoens" ; also "Io in Egypt," "Iphigenia in Delphi," "The Twilight of the Gods," etc. ; Lives of Milton, Carlyle, Emerson, William Blake, and Edward Gibbon Wake field ; " History of Italian Literature," etc. ]
I. — Bion.
Yottng was I, when I saw fair Venus stand,
Before me, leading in her lovely hand
Eros, whose drooping eye the herbage sought,
And thus, " Dear herdsman, let my child be taught Music by thee," therewith she went away.
GLEANINGS FROM THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY.
Then did I in all innocence essay
To teach, as though he could have learned of me, The sources of sweet-flowing melody : —
Pan's pipe and Pallas' flute, how Hermes bade The tortoise sing, and how Apollo made
The cittern. But, not heeding mine a whit,
He sang himself a song, and taught me it.
How Venus reigns, and all in heaven above
And land and sea is subject unto love.
And I forgot all I to Love did tell,
But all he taught me
Iremember well.
II. — Mnasalcas.
Vine that, not tarrying till the storm bereaves, Strewest on autumnal air thy glorious leaves, Reserve them for her couch whom I await ; Bacchus was ever Venus' willing mate.
III. — Makcus Argentabius.
Warble no more thy mellow melody,
Sweet Blackbird, from that knotty oaken tree, But where the clambering vine her tendril weaves,
Come winging to the hospitable eaves,
And chant uncaged, for that, thy race's foe, Fosters the birdlime-bearing mistletoe;
But this, the purple grape, so duly thine,
For Minstrelsy should ne'er be scant of wine.
IV. — Anonymous.
I send thee myrrh, not that thou mayest be By it perfumed, but it perfumed by thee.
Imitation by Ben Jonson.
I sent thee late a rosy wreath, Not so much honoring thee As giving it a hope that there
It could not withered be ;
But thou thereon didst only breathe
And sent'st it back to me ;
Since when it grows, and smells, I swear,
Not of itself, but thee.
GLEANINGS FROM THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY.
V. — Marcus Argentarius.
Call it not love when the delighted eye
Is lured by charm into captivity ;
But when wild fires for weak attractions waste - To pine for beauty is not love but taste.
VI. — Meleager.
O Love that flew so lightly to my heart, Why are thy wings so feeble to depart ?
Translation by H. H. Milman.
Still Love's sweet voice is trembling in mine ears, Still silent flow mine eyes with Love's sweet tears ; Nor night nor day I rest; by magic spells
Stamped on my soul the well-known image dwells. O Love ! how swift thy flight to reach the heart ! Thy wings are only powerless to depart.
VII. — Callimachus.
The hunter, Epicydes, will not spare
To follow on the trace of fawn and hare
Through snow and frost, so long as still they fly ; But if one say, " 'Tis hit," he passes by.
Even so my love, winged for no willing prize, Follows what flees, and flees what fallen lies.
VIII. — AXTIPATER OF SlDOK. THE SEA VENUS.
Not vast this shrine, where by wet sand I sit Ruling the sea that surges up to it ;
But dear, for much I love submissive sea,
And much the mariner preserved by me :
Entreat her then, whose smile thy speed can prove On the wild waves of Ocean and of Love.
IX. — Agathias.
My wreath, my hair, my girdle gratefully To Venus, Pallas, Dian offered be.
By whose concurring favor I enjoy
My wedded bliss, my chastity, my boy.
GLEANINGS FROM THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY.
X. — Leonidas of Tabentum.
Venus, at Rhodo's prayer this stick, and these Sandals, the spoil of sage Posoc hares ;
This dirty leather flask, this wallet torn, Suffer thy sanctuary to adorn :
Trophies not rich but glorious, for they prove Philosophy's subjection unto Love.
XI. — Mnasalcus.
The crooked bow and arrow-spending case Promachus hangs up in this holy place, Phoebus, to thee. The shafts remain apart, For each is buried in a foeman's heart.
XII. — Leonidas of Alexandria.
Menodotis's portrait here is kept : Most odd it is
How very like to all the world, except Menodotis.
XIII. — Lucian.
"plain living and high thinking. "
Stern Cynicus doth war austerely wage With endive, lentils, chicory, and sage ; Which shouldst thou thoughtless proffer,
"Wretch," saith he,
"Wouldst thou corrupt my life's simplicity ? " Yet is not his simplicity so great
But that he can digest a pomegranate ;
And peaches, he esteems, right well agree
With Spartan fare and sound philosophy.
XIV. NlCABCHUS.
A starry seer's oracular abodes
One sought, to know if he should sail for Rhodes, When thus the sage, " I rede thee, let thy ships Be new, and choose the summer for thy trips ; Safe then thou'lt leave, and safe regain this spot, If those confounded pirates catch thee not. "
vol. v. — 7
98 WIT AND SATIRE OF THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY, i
XV. — Antiphilus.
Eubule, craving Heaven's will to know,
Would poise a pebble. Wished she to hear no,
The stone was ponderous past all belief ;
If yes, 'twas lighter than a withered leaf ;
And did the divination prove at fault,
" Phoebus," she'd say, " thou art not worth thy salt. "
XVI. — LUCILLIU8. A MISER COMMENDED.
Great soul ! who nobly thus allots his pelf ; All to his heir and nothing to himself.
XVII. — Mabcus Abgentarius.
Thou art in danger, Cincius, on my word,
To die ere thou hast lived, which were absurd. Open thy ears to song, thy throat to wine,
Thy arms unto that pretty wife of thine. Philosophy, I have nowise forgot,
Is deathless, but philosophers are not.
XVIII. — Philodemus.
I loved, who not ? I drank, who doth not know
I raved, the gods would have it so.
Wine's joys ?
But love and wine adieu, for now my tress Whitens with Gaiety's hoar monitress. 'Twas well to sport, and well it is to see When gravity befits, and grave to be.
WIT AND SATIRE OF THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY.
Translated by LORD NEAVES, Senator of tkm Collkgi of Justice, Scotland.
It would not have been conformable either to human nature in general, or to Greek nature in particular, if the country and the literature that produced Aristophanes should not in its less
WIT AND SATIRE OF THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY. 99
serious compositions have given some place for wit and sarcasm. We find, accordingly, that these elements are not wanting. A great many epigrams both of a jocular and of a satirical kind are well deserving of notice, of which specimens shall now be given.
Nowhere, perhaps, are the proper objects of ridicule better set forth than in the Introduction to one of Foote's farces. He refuses to bring on the stage mere bodily defects or natural misfortunes ; and when asked to say at what things we may laugh with propriety, answers thus : " At an old beau, a superannuated beauty, a military coward, a stuttering orator, or a gouty dancer. In short, whoever affects to be what he is not, or strives to be what he cannot, is an object worthy the poet's pen and your mirth. "
We do not say that the Greek epigrammatist always ab stained from making merry at mere bodily defects ; but we shall avoid as much as possible those that have no other recom mendation. The proper object of ridicule is surely Folly, and the proper object of satire, Vice. Within the present section, however, will be included not merely the ridicule of sarcasm and the attacks of satire, but any also of those merry or witty views of nature and things that tend to produce sympathetic laughter.
Of bodily peculiarities there are some at which it is difficult not to smile ; and if it is done good-humoredly, and rather as a warning to abstain from vanity or conceit, there is no harm in it. Many of such epigrams were probably written upon merely imaginary persons : —
A New Use of a Human Face.
(Attributed to the Emperor Trajan: the translation old. )
With nose so long and mouth so wide, And those twelve grinders side by side, Dick, with a very little trial,
Would make an excellent sundial.
Some of the critics are greatly delighted to find that in this epigram the Emperor's knowledge of Greek was not such as to prevent him committing a false quantity.
100
WIT AND SATIRE OF THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY.
A Counterpart to Narcissus.
(By Lucilius : translated by Cowper. )
Beware, my friend ! of crystal brook Or fountain, lest that hideous hook,
Thy nose, thou chance to see ; Narcissus' fate would then be thine, And self-detested thou wouldst pine,
As self-enamored he.
Long and Short. (Anonymous : translated by Merivale. )
Dick cannot blow his nose whene'er he pleases, His nose so long is, and his arm so short; —
Nor ever cries, God bless me ! when he sneezes He cannot hear so distant a report.
A variety of trades and professions have been traditional objects of ridicule. Schoolmasters and professors come in for their share.
On a Schoolmaster who had a Gat Wife.
(By Lucilius. )
You in your school forever flog and flay us, Teaching what Paris did to Menelaus ;
But all the while, within your private dwelling, There's many a Paris courting of your Helen.
On a Professor who had a Small Class.
Hail, Aristides, Rhetoric's great professor!
Of wondrous words we own thee the possessor.
Hail ye, his pupils seven, that mutely hear him —
His room's four walls, and the three benches near him !
This that follows is on Cadmus, without whom there might have been no grammar, and little rhetoric. It is said to be by Zeno — not the philosopher, we presume. We give first a translation by Wellesley : —
Take it not ill that Cadmus, Phoenician though he be,
Can say that Greece was taught by him to write her A, B, C.
WIT AND SATIRE OF THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY. 101
This is good ; but even " English readers " may know that A, B, C, is not the right name of the Greek alphabet. Let us respectfully propose a slight change : —
Cadmus am I : then grudge me not the boast, that, though I am a Phoenician born, I taught you Greeks your Alpha, Beta, Gamma.
The medical profession as usual comes in for some of those touches which we are ready enough to give or to enjoy when we are not actually in their hands.
A Convenient Partnership. (Anonymous. )
Damon, who plied the Undertaker's trade, With Doctor Crateas an agreement made.
What linens Damon from the dead could seize, He to the doctor sent for bandages ;
While the good Doctor, here no promise breaker, Sent all his patients to the Undertaker.
Grammar and Medicine. (By Agathias. )
A thriving doctor sent his son to school
To gain some knowledge, should he prove no fool ; But took him soon away with little warning,
On finding out the lesson he was learning —
How great Pelides' wrath, in Homer's rhyme,
Sent many souls to Hades ere their time.
"No need for this my boy should hither come ; That lesson he can better learn at home —
For I myself, now, I make bold to say,
Send many souls to Hades ere their day,
Nor e'er find want of Grammar stop my way. "
Musical attempts, when unsuccessful, are a fruitful and fail subject of ridicule. The following is by Nicarchus : —
Men die when the night raven sings or cries : But when Dick sings, e'en the night raven dies.
102
WIT AND SATIRE OF THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY.
Compensation.
(By Leonidas. )
The harper Simylus, the whole night through, Harped till his music all the neighbors slew : All but deaf Origen, for whose dull ears Nature atoned by giving length of years.
The Musical Doctor.
(By Ammianus : the translation altered from Wellesley. )
Nicias, a doctor and musician, Lies under very foul suspicion. He sings, and without any shame
He murders all the finest music : Does he prescribe ? our fate's the same,
If he shall e'er find me or you sick.
Unsuccessful painters, too, are sneered at. This is by Lucilius : —
Eutychus many portraits made, and many sons begot ; But, strange to say ! none ever saw a likeness in the lot.
Compliments to the fair sex are often paid by the epigram matists in a manner at once witty and graceful.
We have seen how Sappho was described as a tenth Muse ; but this epigram by an unknown author goes further. The translation is old and anonymous, though borrowed apparently from one by Swift, on which it has improved. It has been slightly altered : —
The world must now two Venuses adore ; Ten are the Muses, and the Graces four. Such Dora's wit, so fair her form and face, She's a new Muse, a Venus, and a Grace.
We find an adaptation of this to an accomplished lady, in an old magazine : —
Now the Graces are four and the Venuses two, And ten is the number of Muses ;
For a Muse and a Grace and a Venus are you, My dear little Molly Trefusis.
Cornish
WIT AND SATIRE OF THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY. 103
Finally, we have another edition of this idea with a bit of satire at the end, which has been maliciously added by the translator: —
Of Graces four, of Muses ten,
Of Venuses now two are seen ;
Doris shines forth to dazzled men,
A Grace, a Muse, and Beauty's Queen ; —
But let me whisper one thing more ; The Furies now are likewise four.
The faults and foibles of women, springing often so natu rally from their innate wish to please, have not escaped such of the epigrammatists as were inclined to satire, and some of them are bitter enough. The first we give must have been occasioned by some irritating disappointment, or have sprung from an un worthy opinion of the sex. It is by our friend Palladas : —
All wives are plagues ; yet two blest times have they, — Their bridal first, and then their burial day.
The others we give are less sweeping, and more directed against individual failings, particularly the desire to appear more beautiful or more youthful than the facts warranted. This is by Lucilius : —
Chloe, those locks of raven hair, — Some people say you dye them black ;
But that's a libel, I can swear,
For I know where you buy them black.
Our next deals with a very systematic dyer and getter-up of artificial juvenility, who seems to have been her own Madame Rachel. The Greek is Lucian's, and the translation by Meri- vale. There is also one by Cowper, which will be found among his works : —
Yes, you may dye your hair, but not your age, Nor smooth, alas ! the wrinkles of your face :
Yes, you may varnish o'er the telltale page, And wear a mask for every vanished grace.
But there's an end. No Hecuba, by aid Of rouge and ceruse, is a Helen made. "
The inactive habits of most of the Greek women are thought to have created a temptation to the use of these artificial modes of heightening the complexion, which would have been better
104 WIT AND SATIRE OF THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY.
effected by the natural pigments laid on by fresh air and exercise.
This is by Nicarchus, upon an old woman wishing to be married at rather an advanced period of life : —
This Lucilius
Niconoe has doubtless reached her prime : Yes, for she did so in Deucalion's time.
We don't know as to that, but think her doom Less fitted for a husband than a tomb.
also is upon an old, or at least a plain woman, by : —
Gellia, your mirror's false ; you could not bear, If it were true, to see your image there.
On a Woman scornful in Youth plating the Coquette when Old.
(By Ruflnus. )
You now salute me graciously, when gone
Your beauty's power, that once like marble shone ; You now look sweet, though forced to hide away Those locks that o'er your proud neck used to stray. Vain are your arts : your faded charms I scorn;
The rose now past, I care not for the thorn.
Upon a Lady's Coy, Reluctant, "Unamorous" Delay.
(By Ruflnua. )
How long, hard Prodice, am I to kneel,
And pray and whine, to move that breast of steel ?
I
We soon shall be — just Hecuba and Priam.
You e'en are getting gray, as much as
am ;
Deafness is an infirmity which is a proper object, not of ridicule, but of pity ; but then the deaf person should not pre tend to hear when he or she cannot, as was the case with the old lady now to be noticed : —
On a Deaf Housekeeper.
(Paraphrased. )
Of all life's plagues I recommend to no man To hire as a domestic a deaf woman.
WIT AND SATIRE OF THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY. 105
I've got one who my orders does not hear, Mishears them rather, and keeps blundering near. Thirsty and hot, I asked her for a drink ;
She bustled out, and brought me back some ink. Eating a good rump steak, I called for mustard; Away she went, and whipped me up a custard.
I wanted with my chicken to have ham; Blundering once more, she brought a pot of jam. I wished in season for a cut of salmon,
And what she bought me was a huge fat gammon. I can't my voice raise higher and still higher,
As if I were a herald or town-crier.
'Twould better be if she were deaf outright;
But anyhow she quits my house this night.
Those ladies — generally, of course, such as were
in life — who unblushingly betook themselves to the bottle, are an inevitable subject of satire. It has already been mentioned that even men were considered intemperate who drank wine without a large admixture of water; but apparently the female topers, having once broken bounds, took their wine unmixed.
Epitaph on Mabonis.
This rudely sculptured Cup will show Where gray Maronis lies below.
She talked, and drank strong unmixed stuff, Both of them more than quantum suff.
She does not for her children grieve,
Nor their poor father grudge to leave ;
It only vexes her to think
This drinking cup's not filled with drink.
The last couplet might be more literally translated thus : —
But in the grave she scarcely can lie still,
To think, what Bacchus owns, she can't with Bacchus fill.
Love is sometimes treated of in a vein of pleasantry, very different from the deep and impassioned tone in which it is exhibited in more serious compositions. Take some ex amples : —
advanced
106 WIT AND SATIRE OF THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY.
Is A Black Woman one of the Fair Sex ? (By Meleager. )
By Didyma's beauty I'm carried away ;
I melt, when I see like wax before fire:
She black, true so are coals but even they,
When they're warmed, bright glow like the rose cup acquire.
This by Archias, Cicero's friend and client, written per haps to illustrate some piece of art —
What fly from Love vain hope there's no retreat, When he has wings and have only feet.
This by Crates, translated by Sayers, Southey's friend: —
Cures for Love.
Hunger, perhaps, may cure your love Or time your passion greatly alter
If both should unsuccessful prove, strongly recommend halter.
Venus and the Muses.
(By some said to be Plato's. )
To the Muses said Venus " Maids, mind what you do Honor me, or I'll set my boy Cupid on you. "
Then to Venus the Muses " To Mars chatter thus Your urchin ne'er ventures to fly upon us. "
The light and cheerful way in which poor men speak of their
poverty
often pleasant. Here are some examples
Want a Good Watchdog.
(By Julian the translation by Wellesley. )
Seek a more profitable job,
Good housebreakers, elsewhere
These premises you cannot rob, Want guards them with such care.
—
The Poor Scholar's Admonition to the Mice.
(By Arista)
mice here you come for food, you'd better go elsewhere, For in this cabin, small and rude, you'll find but slender fare.
O
! is if
is ! is is
:
:
:
? : a
it,
:
:
;
:
:
I
:
I it is
a
;
:
WIT AND SATIRE OF THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY. 107
Go where you'll meet with good fat cheese, and sweet dried figs in plenty,
Where even the scraps will yield with ease a banquet rich and dainty :
If to devour my books you come, you'll rue without question, And find them all, as find some, of very hard digestion.
The folly of fools fair subject of ridicule. This by
—
A blockhead bit by fleas put out the light,
And chuckling cried, Now you can't see to bite.
Lucian
Here — something which the Greeks considered folly, by
Lucian
While others tippled, Sam from drinking shrunk, Which made the rest think Sam alone was drunk.
Without recommending excess, there are good many in vitations to jollity. Here one —
Sober Eubulus, friends, lies here below
So then, let's drink to Hades all must go.
What follows favorite sentiment — perhaps too much so — with the old poets —
Wine to the poet winged steed
Those who drink water come but little speed.
One great poet has existed in our day who was signal excep tion to this alleged rule.
The following by the Emperor ulian, and refers to that substitute for wine which the Germans discovered by ferment ing, or, as Tacitus calls it, corrupting, grain. It does not seem to have pleased the imperial wine drinker. The translation necessarily paraphrastic —
Who whence this, Bacchus for by Bacchus' self, The son of Jove, know not this strange elf.
The other smells like nectar but thou here
Like the he-goat. Those wretched Celts, fear, For want of grapes made thee of ears of corn. Demetrius art thou, of Demeter born, —
Not Bacchus, Dionysus, nor yet wine
Those names but fit the products of the vine
Beer thou mayst be from Barley or, that failing, We'll call thee Ale, for thou wilt keep us ailing.
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108 WIT AND SATIRE OF THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY.
A bath to the Greeks, as we might expect — at least, in their later development — was a great enjoyment, if not a necessity of life. The epigrammatists supply us with many pleasant and playful inscriptions for baths or bathing places, illustrating their virtues and attractions. The purity and freshness of the water are natural themes of eulogium, and the patronage of divine beings is readily supposed. Here is a selection, all of them apparently anonymous : —
This bath may boast the Graces' own to be, — And for that reason it holds only three.
Here bathed the Graces, and at leaving gave Their choicest splendors to requite the wave.
Or thus, which we may suppose written of the draped Graces : —
Here bathed the Graces, and, by way of payment,
Left half their charms when they resumed their raiment.
Here Venus bathed, ere she to Paris' eyes
Displayed the immortal form that gained the prize.
Or thus : —
Straight from this bath went Venus, wet and dripping; To Paris showed herself — and won the pippin.
Either these waves gave Venus birth, or she, Her form here bathing, made them what we see.
On a. Small-sizeo Bath.
Blame not things little : Grace may on them wait. Cupid is little ; but his godhead's great.
We are warned, however, that excess in the use of the warm bath, as in other indulgences, may be injurious : —
Wine and the bath, and lawless love for ladies, Just send us quicker down the hill to Hades.
Some vices are particularly obnoxious to the satirical epi grammatist, especially avarice and envy : —
WIT AND SATIRE OF THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY. 109
Stinginess in Hospitality.
(By Pallas: translation altered from Wellesley. )
Most people dine but once, but when we've dined With our friend Salaminus,
We dine again at home, for faith ! we find He did not truly dine us.
Boabd ob Lodging.
(By Lucilius : translation altered from Cowper. )
Asclepiades, the Miser, in his house
Espied one day, with some surprise, a mouse :
" Tell me, dear mouse," he cried, " to what cause is it I owe this pleasant but unlooked-for visit ? "
The mouse said, smiling : " Fear not for your hoard : I
There are several vigorous denunciations of the vice of envy. This is anonymous : —
Envy is vile, but plays a useful part, Torturing in envious men both eyes and heart.
This is in that exaggerated style which the epigrams some times exhibit. It is by Lucilius — the translation from
Wellesley : —
Poor Diophon of envy died, His brother thief to see
Nailed near him, to be crucified, Upon a higher tree.
come, my friend, to lodge, and not to board. "
But the best epigram on this subject is to be found in one which seems to describe a picture of Momus the fault finder, the impersonation of Envy, perhaps also, some will say, of Criticism, — the Power who could produce nothing excellent himself, and who never saw unmixed excellence in the works of others. The picture is supposed to have been by Apelles. The epigram is anonymous ; the translation partly from Hay : —
Who here has formed, with faultless hand and skill, Fault-finding Momus, source of endless ill ?
On the bare earth his aged limbs are thrown,
110
WIT AND SATIRE OF THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY.
As if in life, to lie and sigh and groan.
His frame is wasted, and his scanty hairs
One trembling hand from his thin temple tears :
With his old staff the other strikes the ground,
Which all insensate to the blows is found.
In double row his gnashing teeth declare
How much his neighbor's weal o'erwhelms him with despair.
Swift made a well-known epitaph upon Vanbrugh as an
architect : —
Lie heavy on him, earth, for he Laid many a heavy load on thee.
This is nearly the counterpart of the following Greek epi gram : —
Hail, Mother Earth ! lie light on him Whose tombstone here we see :
^Esigenes, his form was slim, And light his weight on thee.
A similar request is made in another epigram by Ammianus, but with a very different feeling. The translation is by Merivale : —
Light lie the earth, Nearchus, on thy clay, — That so the dogs may easier find their prey.
This anonymous epigram is upon a matricide, who does not deserve burial : —
Bury him not ! no burial is for him :
Let hungry dogs devour him limb by limb.
Our general Mother, Earth, on her kind breast Will ne'er allow a matricide to rest.
The satirical epigrammatists indulge often in national in vective, and indeed the Greeks were too fond of abusing some of their neighbors. Here are specimens : —
A viper bit a Cappadocian's hide ;
But 'twas the viper, not the man, that died.
The natives of many other countries besides Cappadocia were called bad : among the rest the Lerians ; thus : —
Lerians are bad : not some bad, and some not,
But all ; there's not a Lerian in the lot, — Save Procles, that you could a good man call ; And Procles — is a Lerian after all.
WIT AND SATIRE OF THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY. Ill
Our readers will here recognize the original of a well-known epigram by Porson, which exists both in a Greek and English shape, and where the satirist, after denouncing the Germans as all ignorant of Greek meters, concludes : —
All, save only Hermann ; — And Hermann's a German.
It was unfortunate for poor Hermann that his name and his nationality rhymed so well together.
An epigram may here be given in conclusion on this head, as tending, perhaps, to illustrate the transition by which the satirical Greek epigram came to resemble the favorite style of Martial, which has been so much adopted in modern times.
The epigram we refer to is by Lucilius : —
On a Dkclamatoby Plkadek.
A little pig, an ox, a goat (my only one), I lost,
And Menecles, to plead my cause, I fee'd at some small cost.
I only wanted back my beasts, which seemed my simple due ; Then, Menecles, what had I with Othryades to do ?
I never thought in this affair to charge with any theft
The men who, at Thermopylae, their lives and bodies left.
My suit is with Eutychides ; and if I get decree,
Leonidas and Xerxes both are welcome to go free.
Plead my true case: lest I cry out (I can't my feelings " smother),
The little pig one story tells, and Menecles another. "
This chapter may be concluded with a mild satire upon the conditions of the times, with reference to the two ancient worthies, Heraclitus and Democritus, the weeping and the laughing philosopher. The translation is mainly from Prior : —
Sad Heraclitus with thy tears return ;
Life more than ever gives us cause to mourn. Democritus, dear droll, revisit earth :
Life more than ever gives us cause for mirth.
Between you both I stand in thoughtful pother,
How I should weep with one, how laugh with t'other.
112 FRAGMENTS OF EARLY ROMAN POETS.
FRAGMENTS OF EARLY ROMAN POETS. (In part translated for this work. )
Chant of the Arval Brothers.
Give to us thy help, O Lars !
Suffer not the plague to fall upon thy people, Mars !
Be thy fury sated, Mars ! — [To the dancers.
Leap on the sill :
Let the beating be still. —
Call on the demigods to shield us from ill.
Once again, Mars, we implore! —
Triumph, triumph, triumph, triumph, we will sing it o'er and o'er !
N^EVTUS.
[Flourished about b. c. 235-204. One of the earliest of Roman dramatists, ranked by them as third among their comedians ; but more important as poet, being the forerunner of Roman satiric poetry, and creator of the Roman epic]
On a Coquette.
As if in a ring at play, tossing a ball,
To one after another, the same with them all,
She turns : here a nod, there a wink she bestows :
To one she makes love, to another clings close ;
Here she busies her hand, there a foot she will press ; The next has her ring to inspect and caress ;
There's a kiss blown to one, and she sings with a second, While with signs on her fingers another is beckoned.
Epitaph on Himself.
If e'er o'er beings mortal might sorrow those divine,
Then o'er the poet Naevius would weep the heavenly Nine ; For since the bard was treasured old Orcus' store among, At Rome they have forgotten to speak the Latin tongue.
