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HOR.

Non civium ardor prava jubentium,
Non vultus instantis tyranni,
Mente quatit solidâ, neque Auster
Dux inquietæ turbidus Adriæ, &c.
The man resolved, and steady to his trust,
Inflexible to ill, and obstinately just,
May the rude rabble's insolence despise,
Their senseless clamours and tumultuous cries;

The tyrant's fierceness he beguiles,
And the stern brow and the harsh voice defies,

And with superior greatness smiles.
Not the rough whirlwind that deforms
Adria's black gulf- &c.

MR. CREECH.

I am apt to think it was on devices of this nature that Horace had his eye in his Ode to Fortune. It is certain he alludes to a pillar that figured out Security, or something very like it; and, till anybody finds out another that will stand better in its place, I think we may content ourselves with this before us.

Te Dacus asper, te profugi Scythæ
Urbesque gentesque et Latium ferox,

Regumque matres barbarorum, et
Purpurei metuunt tyranni:

Injurioso nè pede proruas

Stantem columnam; neu populus frequens

Ad arma cessantes, ad arma

Concitet, imperiumque frangat.

AD FORTUNAM. HOR. lib. i. Od. 35.

To thee their vows rough Germans pay,
To thee the wandering Scythians bend,
Thee mighty Rome proclaims a friend:

And for their tyrant sons

The barbarous mothers pray

To thee, the greatest guardian of their thrones.
They bend, they vow, and still they fear,
Lest you should kick their column down,

And cloud the glory of their crown;
They fear that you would raise

The lazy crowd to war,

And break their empire, or confine their praise. MR. CREECH.

I must, however, be so fair as to let you know that Peace and Felicity have their pillars in several medals, as well as Security, so that if you do not like one of them, you may take the other.

The next figure is that of Chastity, who was worshipped as a goddess, and had her temple.

1 Fig. 10.

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-deinde ad superos Astræa recessit

Hâc comite, atque duæ pariter fugere sorores.

DE PUDICITIA, JUV. Sat. 6.

At length uneasy Justice upwards flew,
And both the sisters to the stars withdrew. MR. DRYDEN.

Templa pudicitiæ quid opus statuisse puellis,

ТIB. lib. ii.

Si cuivis nuptæ quidlibet esse licet ?
Since wives whate'er they please unblamed can be,
Why rear we useless fanes to Chastity?

How her posture and dress become her, you may see in the following verses.

Ergo sedens velat vultus, obnubit ocellos
Ista verecundi signa Pudoris erant.

ALCIAT.

She sits, her visage veiled, her eyes concealed,
By marks like these was Chastity revealed.
Ite procul vittæ tenues, insigne pudoris,,

Qæuque tegit medios instita longa pedes.

OV. DE ART. AMAN.

-frontem limbo velata pudicam. CLAUD. DE THEOD. CONS.

Hence! ye smooth fillets on the forehead bound,
Whose bands the brows of Chastity surround,

And her coy robe that lengthens to the ground. MR. CREECH.

She is represented in the habit of a Roman matron.
Matronæ præter faciem nil cernere possis,
Cætera, ni Catia est, demissâ veste tegentis.

HOR. Sat. 2. lib. i.

Besides, a matron's face is seen alone;
But Kate's, that female bully of the town,
For all the rest is covered with a gown.

MR. CREECH.

That, ni Catia est, says Cynthio, is a beauty unknown to most of our English satirists. Horace knew how to stab with address, and to give a thrust where he was least expected. Boileau has nicely imitated him in this, as well as his other beauties. But our English libellers are for hewing a man downright, and for letting him see at a distance that he is to look for no mercy. I own to you, says Eugenius, I have often admired this piece of art in the two satirists you mention, and have been surprised to meet with a man in a satire that I never in the least expected to find there. They have a particular way of hiding their ill-nature, and introduce a criminal rather to illustrate a precept or passage, than out of any seeming design to abuse him. Our English poets, on the contrary, show a kind of malice prepense in their satires, and instead of bringing in the person to give light to any part of the poem, let you see they writ the whole poem on purpose to abuse the person. But we must not leave the ladies thus. Pray what kind of head-dress is that of Piety?

As Chastity,1 says Philander, appears in the habit of a Roman matron, in whom that virtue was supposed to reign in its perfection, Piety wears the dress of the vestal virgins, who were the greatest and most shining examples of it. Vittata Sacerdos is, you know, an expression among the Latin poets. I do not question but you have seen, in the Duke of Florence's gallery, a beautiful antique figure of a woman standing before an altar, which some of the antiquarians call a Piety, and others a vestal virgin. The woman, altar, and fire burning on it, are seen in marble exactly as in this coin, and bring to my mind a part of a speech that religion makes in Phædrus's fables.

Sed ne ignis noster facinori præluceat,
Per quem verendos excolit Pietas deos.

Fab. 10, lib. iv.

It is to this goddess that Statius addresses himself in the following lines :

Summa deum Pietas! cujus gratissima cœlo

Rara profanatas inspectant numina terras,

Huc vittata comam, niveoque insignis amictu,
Qualis adhuc præsens, nullâque expulsa nocentum
Fraude rudes populos atque aurea regna colebas,

Mitibus exequiis ades, et lugentis Hetrusci

Cerne pios fletus, laudataque lumina terge. STATIUS SIL. lib. iii.

Chief of the skies, celestial Piety!

Whose godhead, prized by those of heavenly birth,
Revisits rare these tainted realms of earth,
Mild in thy milk-white vest, to soothe my friend,
With holy fillets on thy brows descend,
Such as of old (ere chased by Guilt and Rage)
A race unpolished, and a golden age,
Beheld thee frequent. Once more come below,
Mixt in the soft solemnities of woe,
See, see, thy own Hetruscus wastes the day
In pious grief; and wipe his tears away.

The little trunk she holds in her left hand is the acerra that
you so often find among the poets, in which the frankincense
was preserved that Piety is here supposed to strew on the fire.
Dantque sacerdoti custodem thuris acerram. Ov. MET. lib. xiii.
Hæc tibi pro nato plenâ dat lætus acerrâ
Phœbe-

1 Fig. 11.

MART. lib. iv. Epig. 45.

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