OUR own poetry, rich in all depart ments, possesses numberless fair and fragrant flowers of feeling and fancy, of the same kind with those that compose the Greek Anthology. But the many beautiful little compositions which, under that name, have been garlanded by different collectors, have a melancholy charm to us, as in many cases the sole remains of some of the finest spirits of the ancient world. They are epigrams; and it is hardly necessary, at this time of day, to mention the impropriety (to use the judicious language of Mr Bland) of "combining in our minds with the word epigram, when applied to the poetry of the Greeks, any of the ideas which that term is apt to excite in the mind of a mere English reader." The origin of the Greek epigram is indicated by its name. They who devoted offerings to the gods, says Grotius,

no

men suum deique breviter signabant aut soluta oratione aut sermone vincto." The most ancient verses in Greece, which we now call heroic, were then called Pythian, because in them the prophet uttered the Pythian responses. From Donaria the inscriptions were naturally transferred to the gates of temples-from them to every great public workto the statues of gods and heroesto the tombs of men who had died fighting for their country. But, in time, the use of the word was greatly extended; for "grata res legentibus manavit longius in epistolia quibus amici aut amicæ salutarentur, semelque recepto hoc velut colloquiiinvitamento, nulla jam materia fuit seria seu jocosa, quæ non epigrammata admitteret, nec aliud jam a prima origine mansit quam brevitas." Above all other qualities, he justly says, the more antique Greek epigrams are distinguished by perspicuous elegance, and by lively expression of the strongest affections, such as love

and grief. The mightiest power in elevating the minds of men belongs to those which breathe of the passion of love, and to their sepulchral inscriptions. But their subjects are infinite; and Grotius finely says, "felicitatis nostræ est quod non unus hic alterve Epigrammatum scriptor, sed innumeri, et ipsa quoque varietate, ut distincta floribus prata, spectabilis." He mentions, among them, with enthusiasm, many illustrious names-of a later agekings and emperors-Philippus Macedo, Cæsar Germanicus, Adrianus Imperator, Julianus Magnus, "if indeed he had not destroyed his greatness by his apostasy from the Christian faith;" and others who were even more famous, because they owed their celebrity to their genius and wisdom, Plato, Aristoteles, Crates, and Themistius. By the study of such compositions were the knowledge and use of the utmost elegance of the Greek language to be attained, and the genius of all such students strengthened, and prepared to utter its conceptions in the noblest speech. He then elegantly describes the wide range of subjects which they embrace; and especially dwells with delight on the countless important precepts they so beautifully express, on every part of morals, the duties of private and of public life. It was not surprising, therefore, that so many men, as well in ancient as modern days, had been happy to make versions of those epigrams, and he gives a long list of the names of the most distinguished translators, whose number and splendour had not deterred him from venturing to essay the like achievement.

De Bosch, in an animated address to the genius of Grotius, in an edition of his Latin Versions from the Anthology, characterises very finely the subjects and the style of the Greek epigrams.

By the late Robert Bland and Others. Early Lyric Poetry, with Specimens of Longman and Co. and John Murray,

Jacobs, in his eloquent preface to his edition of the Anthology, in which he follows the order of Brunck's

Analecta, does not fear that, in the light of letters which we now enjoy, any apology will be necessary for his having devoted so much labour to the elucidation of such compositions. Their beauty is his defence. But were he to take his stand on utility on the utility of such labours as his, regarding literature, knowledge, and humanity, he could easily point to many a wise saw" and salutary precept, to many things worthy of note and knowledge appertaining to history, the manners and morals of

the Ancients, and indeed to all ancient life. But not even thus ought men to judge of the exceeding worth of poetry. For, setting all these considerations entirely aside, we ought, independently of all utility, to admire, love, and embrace whatever shines forth by its own beauty, dignity, and grace.

Such sentiments and opinions, thus nobly expressed by such minds, are decisive on the merits of such collections. In our own day, Samuel Johnson, the wise, pious, and tender-hearted, filled up the intervals of pain, during his last illness, in translating Greek epigrams into Latin. Of him it may be said, in the words De Bosch, addressed so feelingly to the spirit of Grotius, who died before he had completed his whole scheme of a Latin Anthology,

"Hæc indefessi postrema fuere laboris Munera !"

And after such "praise of poetry," from the "protectors of the Greek epigrams," what shall we think of

the scorn of their enemies? "From bad specimens of the later poets. «Lord Chesterfield," (Lord Chesterbably led to utter his interdict against field!!) says Mr Bland, "was piothe whole body. Nay, such was that nobleman's vivacity in thinking and speaking, that he not improbably formed his opinion from a hint dropped in conversation, and not from any intimate acquaintance with the species of composition which he Very like. In the first place, he was has most inconsiderately reviled.” not able to construe correctly the easiest epigram in the Anthology; been able to do so, he had not heart, and in the second place, if he had feel their virtue. A pretty judge of or soul, and probably not mind, to Greek epigram must he have been, the strong or sweet simplicity of a who, in his highest flight and loftiest aspirations, could get no greater gulp breathed forth in this poetical advice of empyrean air than what he to young ladies and gentlemen"The dews of the evening most carefully shun,

They are the tears of the sky for the loss

of the sun!"

There is puling sentimentality for you with a vengeance, from a noble

man who was said truly, by no very sarcastic person, to unite "the morals of a gambler with the manners of a dancing-master." And on that model he was anxious, as may be gathered from his letters, to build up his own cub of a son. He has uttered-he has indeed-" his interdict against the whole body." Mr Merivale is a man of other metal; and he says, "I am well convinced that no genuine scholar will ever regard the bulk of the poems which constitute what is called the Greek Anthology in a point of view so disparaging" (as his friend Bland had inconsiderately done in an accidental passage in his excellent preface, where he speaks of them as "trifles,")" or refuse to admit that it forms an essential portion of what remains to us of Grecian literature."

In his preface, Mr Bland has given a slight sketch (from Jacobs' Prolegomena) of the history of the different collections known by the name, from Meleager to Brunck. Meleager, a Syrian, flourished under the last of the Seleucidæ, and Mr Fynes Clinton has shewn that he is not to be confounded with another Meleager who was a native of Gadara, and the companion of the cynic Menippus, who barked a century before Meleager the poet sung. The poet collected the numerous fragments of Greece, which were intrusted before his time to the memory of men, engraven on marbles, or dispersed as fugitive pieces. These he named his Garland; and in what Jacobs calls "nobilissimum illud Prooemium," a set of elegant and ingenious verses, he characterises each of the writers by a flower or plant, emblematical of his peculiar genius. "His own compositions bespeak a mind," says Mr Bland, woven of the finest texture -shaded but not darkened by melancholy-easily affected by change of place or season-soft and pliable to guilty excess-but in no one instance do they betray a propensity to sneer, or a struggle to conceal it." As a composer of Greek epigrams, Mr Merivale considers him superior to any of those inserted in his Garland, and his style has been characterised as purely Grecian, well

adapted to the nature of his subject, bold in the composition of words, and capable of exciting the most tender as well as the most vehement affections; so distinguished, at the same time, for acuteness of argument, and playfulness of amorous fancy, that the poet may be said to have paid himself no unmerited compliment, when he boasts of having united Love with the Muses, and called in the aid of the Graces to temper the severity of Philosophy." His epigrams, as first brought together by the industry of Brunck, and reprinted by Jacobs, are one hundred and thirty-one in number; and Mr Meri vale and his friends have furnished us with many specimens of his genius.

After an interval of 150 years, the work was continued by Philip of Thessalonica. "During the lapse of more than 500 years the lyre of Greece had hung silent and unstrung; and when Agathias, in the sixth century, attempted to give it a sound, a feeble tinkling was returned to the touch, before it lay mute for ever." That language of Mr Bland's is rather too strong, and still more so, when he says, "this collector raked together the loose miscellanies and scattered fragments of his time; and knew not that by his exertions he was bequeathing and perpetuating to succeeding ages the figure of his country, enfeebled, helpless, exhausted, and nearly sunk into dotage." Mr Bland, however, allows that some of his own productions may be brought forward to redeem it from this second childishness; that in some of his works a tenderness and justness of expression are perceivable which would have done honour to better times; and he adds, "that the tribute offered to the Ereutho of Agathias, would not have been disregarded by the Heliodora of Meleager." We have looked over with pleasure some of his compositions; and at our request, our friend William Hay has given us versions of the lines Mr Bland speaks of, and of another epigram. To these he has added something elegant from Agathias' friend, Paul the Silentiary (Houxoros), who at the court of Justinian held an office corresponding to that of Gentleman Usher.

a few versions by Wrangham, once the "Star of Cam," and the successful competitor in Greek scholarship with Tweddell, the "Marcellus;" and we feel highly honoured by such kindness and courtesy from one who adorns a character dignified by the discharge of the highest duties belonging to the sacred profession, by the cultivation of the "literæ humaniores" which were so bright an ornament of his accomplished youth. We are not without hopes that others of our classical friends may follow his example; and that our third article may be better than our second, and only inferior to our fourth,

In the Museum Criticum (No. II. October, 1813) there is a review of the second edition of this work, attributed by Mr Merivale to that distinguished scholar, now Bishop of London. It is acute, and generally just. He there says that the editor (Mr Bland) thinks the following epicedium (by the virgin Anyte) recommended but by its simplicity, and that he seems to have forgotten "the efficacy inherent in the charms of poetical expression, and the melody of numbers." He therefore gives a version of his own, in which such qualities may perhaps be found. Let us see how the matter stands.

lines solely for their simplicity, should deprive them of their only merit in their paraphrase. Besides its diffuseness and quaintness of ex