the stories of Atlas, of Dido, of the Philæni, and, in short, the history of Africa in general. Lælius, at the request of the monarch, gives a sketch of the origin and growth of the Roman state; the stories of Curtius and the Decii, and especially that of Lucretia, are commemorated at length. The descent of Curtius into the gulph is vividly described: Dicens hæc, lumina coelo

Erexit, templumque Jovis quod præsidet arci

Suspiciens, tendensque manus sursum atque deorsum,
Atque omnes superosque Deos, manesque precatus,
Ad quos tendebat, validum calcaribus ultro
Urget equum, barathroque volens infertur aperto.
Arma ruente viro lucem sonitumque dedere.

Fit strepitus: coëunt ripæ, et junguntur in unum.

The death of Lucretia, with which the book concludes, is feebly told.

In book IV. Lælius describes the person, manners, and character of Scipio to the king.

The whole is written completely con amore: no poet, indeed, was ever more in love with his hero than Petrarch. The rest of the book is taken up with a narration of various exploits of Scipio's; his behavior in the secret assembly of the young nobility after the battle of Cannæ, his taking of New Carthage, and his reconciling the rival candidates for the obsidional crown. The effect of his presence in tranquillising the tumults attendant on a sanguinary victory, is thus illustrated:

Sic atra serenat

Nubila pacifico despectans Jupiter ore,

Continuoque silent venti, fugiuntque procellæ,
Sol nitet, emergunt fuscis sua noctibus astra,
Et mundo sua forma redit

PARALLEL PASSAGES.

Ir may not be uninteresting to trace a few more instances of resemblance. For this purpose I have selected the Prometheus of Æschylus.

In the first instance, to renew the charge of imitation, Oceanus addressing Prometheus is represented as warning him not to incur the augmented wrath of Jupiter,

Εἰ δ ̓ ὧδε τραχεῖς καὶ τεθηγμένους λόγους
Ρίψεις, τάχ ̓ ἄν σου, καὶ μακρὰν ἀνωτέρω
Θακῶν, κλύοι Ζεὺς, ὥστε σοι τὸν νῦν χόλον
Πάροντα μόχθων παιδιὰν εἶναι δοκεῖν.

And Milton, in the first book of his Paradise Lost, makes Beelzebub say to Satan,

But what if he, our conqueror, (whom I now

Of force believe almighty, since no less

Than such could have o'erpowered such force as ours)
Have left us this our spirit and force entire
Strongly to suffer and support our pains,
That we may so suffice his vengeful ire,
Or do him mightier service as his thralls
By right of war.

Again, Eschylus puts this language into the mouth of Oce

anus.

Τὸν γηγενῆ τε Κιλικίων οἰκήτορα
*Αντρων ἰδὼν ᾤκτειρα, δάϊον τέρας,
Εκατοντακάρηνον, πρὸς βίαν χειρούμενον
Τυφῶνα θοῦρον, πᾶσιν ὃς ἀντέστη θεοῖς,
Σμερδναῖσι γαμφηλῇσι συρίζων φόνον.

And Milton describes the arch-rebel :

Thus Satan talking to his nearest mate
With head uplift above the wave, and eyes
That sparkling blaz'd; his other parts besides
Prone on the flood, extended long and large,
Lay floating many a rood; in bulk as huge
As whom the fables name of monstrous size
Titanian, or earth-born, that warr'd on Jove
Briareos or Typhon.

Also, immediately after, the dramatist says :

Εξ ὀμμάτων δ' ἤστραπτε γοργωπὸν σέλας,
Ως τὴν Διὸς τυραννίδ ̓ ἐκπέρσων βία

̓Αλλ ̓ ἦλθεν αὐτῷ Ζηνὸς ἄγρυπνον βέλος,
Καταιβάτης κεραυνὸς ἐκπνέων φλόγα,
Ος αὐτὸν ἐξέπληξε τῶν ὑψηγόρων

Κομπασμάτων. Φρένας γὰρ εἰς αὐτὰς τυπεὶς
Εφεψαλώθη κἀξεβροντήθη σθένος·

Milton has it

and, with ambitious aim
Against the throne and monarchy of God,
Rais'd impious war in Heaven, and battle proud,
With vain attempt. Him the Almighty power
Hurl'd headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky,
With hideous ruin and combustion down
To bottomless perdition; there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire,

Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms.

Horace, a poet celebrated for felicitous originality of genius,
has not scorned to imitate the dramatist in one of his finest odes.
Γυνὴ γὰρ ἄνδρ ̓ ἕκαστον αἰῶνος στερεῖ,
Δίθηκτον ἐν σφαγαῖσι βάψασα ξίφος.
Τοιάδ ̓ ἐπ ̓ ἐχθροὺς τοὺς ἐμοὺς ἔλθοι Κύπρις.
Μίαν δὲ παίδων ἵμερος θέλξει, τὸ μὴ
Κτεῖναι ξύνευνον, ἀλλ ̓ ἀπαμβλυνθήσεται·
Γνώμαιν δυεῖν δὲ θάτερον βουλήσεται
Κλύειν ἄναλκις μᾶλλον, ἢ μιαιφόνος.
Audiat Lyde scelus atque notas
Virginum pœnas, et inane lymphæ
Dolium fundo pereuntis imo;
Seraque fata,

Quæ manent culpas etiam sub Orco.
Impiæ nam quid potuere majus?
Impiæ sponsos potuere duro

I trust sufficient proof has now been afforded, that illustrious poets, ancient and modern, did not scruple freely to borrow the sentiments, and even the language of their predecessors; and that, therefore, we ought to make allowances for minor bards, whose minds, formed on the model of Greece and Rome, are almost unconsciously led into the same line of thought and expression. G. C. F.

VOL. XXVIII.

Cl. Jl.

NO. LV.

C

OXFORD LATIN PRIZE POEM.

PETRUS MAGNUS.

DUM tibi Russiacum primus qui attollere nomen,
Primus qui patriæ potuisti ingentia fata
Præcepisse animo et primordia ponere regni;
Dum tibi, magne Parens, pietate accensa fideli
Rite triumphales instaurat Russia pompas,'
Ipse etiam Britonum longinquis hospes ab oris
Qualiacumque licet, magno perculsus amore,
Dona feram, et sacra cingam tibi tempora lauro.
Auspice te, late Arctoas sibi Russia gentes
Subjecit sceptro, atque altam super æthera tollit
Imperii molem, majestatemque perennem,
Bello opibusque potens: utcumque aut acrior armis
Omnia tentaris vasto, Frederice, tumultu
Miscere et turbare odiis, aut Austria contra
Surgentis regni tantarumque invida rerum
Adversos varia molita est arte labores;

Illa obluctantem tamen, incassumque frementem
Contudit, et justa devinxit pace Polonum.
Illa etiam extremas Ægei ad littoris oras,
Ausa ingens facinus, Byzanti moenia propter,
Hellespontiacum constravit classibus æquor,
Et solium, Mahumeda, tibi tremefecit avitum.

Nec vero tantis quamquam decorata triumphis,
Non tamen ipsa lubens Petro Catharina fatetur
Omnia deberi, neque enim non omnia primus,
Maxime Alexiada! rerum incrementa dedisti.
Ergo etiam merito jam nunc in vota vocaris
Grande decus patriæ, seclisque recentibus audis
Imperii Pater atque ævi melioris origo.

Nimirum hic olim per centum immania regna Horrida Barbaries tristes effuderat umbras. Vixere effrænes populi, nullisque domandi Legibus. Ergo alii vasta in deserta locorum Cum castris armenta sequi, cursuque vaganti Tranare ingenti porrectos limite campos.

⚫ Statuam nimirum summa cum solennitate nuper Petriburgi ab Imperatrice Catharina Petro dicatam.

Nec jam triticeas scibant sibi condere messes,
Nec læti norant felicia dona Lyæi,
Agresti victu nutriti et lacte ferino.

Atqui alii studio sævi fera munera belli
Perpetuo tractare, et durum vi colere ævum.
Qualis nunc etiam Sinensibus accola terris
Præcipites glomerat turmas Scytha, et agmine facto
Ante expectatum cursu se effundit anhelo,
Et pavidos late fines circumstrepit armis.
Qualis et ipse olim Maracandæ monia linquens
Temirus, Eoo horrendum grassatus in orbe,
Antiquas Indorum arces, felicia regna
Vastavit, sacrumque infecit sanguine Gangem.

Ipsa adeo imperii quamquam sibi regia formam Moscua jactabat, quamvis et splendida luxu Altam ostentabat turritis moenibus arcem; Quamquam et nonnullo saltem sub fœdere legum Conjunctos lata populos ditione tenebat; Illa tamen vano splendebat barbara fastu Undique res miseræ circum, atque imbelle jacebat Imperium et propria nimium sub mole gravatum. Nequicquam magnis ingressis Alexius ausis In melius vitæ normam revocare jacentis Tentarat, cultuque animas mollire feroces Nequicquam audaci Carambucis ostia cursu Appulerant Britones, stabant ad littora gentes, Miratæ missas externa per æquora classes, Miratæ varias merces; necdum æmula virtus Mentem accendebat vastos conscendere fluctus, Aut artes tentare pares, sed mersa tenebris Et victa ignavo torpebant secla veterno.

At neque Hyperboreas adverso numine terras Æternum premere, et nebulis obvolvere cæcis Fas superis visum est-tandem magno ordine fata Assurgunt alia. Immissæ lux clara diei Paulatim radiis tardam disrumpere noctem Incipit, ætheriumque ostendere gentibus ortum, Inclytus atque auctor venientis nascitur ævi.

Ille arces primus patrias, et inania sceptra, Abditaque in mediis rerum cunabula terris Deseruisse ausus, jam tum sibi mente capaci Providus æternæ posuit fundamina famæ.

Jamque ergo Codani descendens primus ad oras Equoris, ingentem fugiens qua Neva Ladogam, Vorticibus rapidis se immiscet turbida ponto,