REVIEW OF BOOKS. PROBATQUE CULPATQUE. A Poetical Translation of the Works of Horace, with the original Text and critical Notes, by P. Francis, D. D. a new Edition, with additional Notes, by Edward Du Bois, Esq. of the Hon. Society of the the Inner Temple. 4 vols. 12mo. 21s. all the Booksellers. The works of Horace are, it is true, not for to-day or to-morrow, but like those of our Shakspeare, "for all time," and for every season of life, boyhood and old age. What Mr. Du Bois has also said of the translator, may with at least equal propriety be affirmed of the original bard : "His literary labours have passed the ordeal of many years of criticism, and his reputation is fixed.”— Introduction, iii. It is now no time to canvass his merits, and Mr. D. has justly admitted the inequality of Dr. Francis's adding, after critically pointing out the difficulty of the undertaking, that it is not too much to affirm, in justice to Dr. Francis, that it will be long before any one shall be found amongst Englishmen, to dispute his right to share the favor due to the Roman poet, and to pursue him with honour in his unrivalled course." p. iv. In this opinion we perfectly concur, and, before we quote several of the comments, congratulate the public on this improved edition of Francis's Horace, which is not only enriched with many new notes by Mr. Du Bois, and his friends, Sir Philip Francis, and the Rev. Stephen Weston, but also by a purified text, and the judicious restoration of odes and passages, omitted in former editions of this work. As a specimen of the additional commentary, we shall select one or two notes, in the substance of which we differ, as well as some of the remainder, on which we entertain no dissimilarity of opinion. Mr. Weston's comments are numerous, and for the most part display considerable acuteness and discrimination. His learning, however, appears occasionally to be more curious and fanciful than sound and convincing. On the passage he remarks" on reading this passage, the mixture of metaphor brings to our recollection the words of Quintilian "Sunt qui cum ab incendio initium sumpserint, tempestate finiunt." Here Horace begins with water and ends with fire. Perhaps the text is not quite correct. It is possible that the poet might have written Quantâ laboras in Chalybdi ! What an iron-hearted damsel you are in love with! Chalybdis is a lady of the Chalybes, a people that excelled in iron. Horace had authority for the formation of this word, as we find χαλυβδικs in Euripides : ατερ χαλυβδικές sine ferro, and the country where the iron mines were is, xaxußdinn. See Eurip. Heraclid. ver. 162, and Lycophron 1109, where χαλυβδικω is olicè for χαλυβικώ: thus Chalybis from Chalybs is Chalybdis.” 66 Mr. Du Bois seems to be of our opinion, for he observes on this interpretation, a perusal of the above note may, perhaps, tempt some pleasant critic to represent my friend Mr. Weston as having shown that he is able laborare in Charybdi in a new sense of the phrase. There is however much ingenuity in his comment; but I must confess that I think with Dacier, who gives laborare in Charybdi as a proverbial expression, signifying se trouver dans un pas fâcheux; and Desprez considers the allusion to be to an avaricious prostitute, avara meretrix.” Dr. F. reads "ferro, et" in lib. 111. od. 27. v. 46, but Mr. D. makes this judicious comment " Et weakens the energy of this passage. So after copiam, ver. 9. and negotio, ver. 49. ode 29. lib. 3. where it is in both cases an incumbrance. The same may be said of that noble passage in Virgil: Micat auribus et tremit artus Intremit is, I have no doubt, the true reading. In ver. 21. lib. 11. Carm. 3. I have omitted et with Wakefield and others. Many of Mr. Du Bois' notes have much pleasantry in them, as well as critical taste and erudition. We shall give one previous to some observation on a singular passage in the odes. 66 Infamis Helena. Stesichorus was the poet, who in his verses exposed Helen to infamy. His reward was the loss of his eyes, which, on his singing a Palinodia, were restored to him. The infamy of Helen seems to be a little softened down by Coluthus Lycopolites, a Theban poet, when he calls his poem, The Rape of Helen. On this title, however, as I learn from a commentator on the work, Sir Edward Sherburne, makes the following, not unpleasant remark: The word rape must not be taken in the common acceptation of the expression. For Paris was more courtly than to offer, and Helen more kind hearted than to suffer such a violence.' The annotator continues to observe, "that Virgil, in the first book of the Eneid, says, Pergama cum peteret; and the word peteret implies, that the quitting of her country and going with Paris was an act she desired as well as consented to; and thus much the poem itself makes good. on "The beginning of the Palinodia of Stesichorus is preserved by Plato; and there we find this phrase, Οίκεο Περγαμα Τροιης, which contradicts the assertion of the Roman poet; and from a line quoted by the Scholiast Lycophron, Stesichorus would make us believe that the Trojans only took away her picture. Infidels, on the subject of Troy and all its concerns, will consult Mr. Bryant with great satisfaction." Lib. v. od. 27. v. 42. The passage just now alluded to is in lib. xi. od. 20. Non ego, pauperum Sanguis parentum, non ego (quem vocant) Nec Stygia cohibebor undâ. Dr. F. reads quem vocant, and we have here a most ingenious comment by Mr. Fowke of Calcutta, furnished to Mr. D. by Sir Philip Francis, to prove that quem vocas is the true reading; and to this reading he gives an interpretation never before thought of. Omitting much of the illustration, we shall give the substance briefly. "The poet supposes himself changed into a bird, and mounting into the skies. Cycnum-in altos nubium tractus. Cann. 1. iv. 2. with Mecenas anxiously looking up and calling after him: "whom you call," que vous rappellez. Siste gradum, teque aspectu ne subtrahe nostro. Quem fugis? Æn. lib. vi. There can be no better illustration of quem vocas." Joseph Fowke told Mr. Francis" (now Sir Philip) "that he had mentioned this criticism many years ago to Samuel Johnson, who, after rolling himself about suo more, said, Sir, you are right!" Mr. Wakefield also said" that there could be no doubt of it." 6 New and very ingenious as this is, with all the above authority at its back, it does not quite satisfy us, though it leads us to something.which may. That quem vocas is the true reading we have no doubt. All the MSS. run so -but when we reject Mr. Fowke's interpretation we are by no means led by the ambiguity of the collocation to fall in with the common one, quem vocas dilecte, i.e. tibi dilectum, but to submit a construction, which we think preferable to both. Horace had before applied the epithet of Cycnus Dircæus to Pindar: and had contrasted his own various but humbler flights by comparing them to those of a Bee: Multa Dircæum levat aura Cycnum, Tendit, Antoní, quoties in altos Nubium tractus. Ego apis Matinæ More modoque. Grata carpentis thy ma per laborem Carmina fingo. Lib. iv. 2. Now we know that Mæcenas was not only a man of taste and literature, a lover of poetry and a friend to poets, but that, in some degree at least, he cultivated poetry himself. He probably was charmed with the numbers and lyric spirit of Horace, and had complimented him as the Ausonian Swan, with a friendly censure on his modesty in claiming no other character than that of a bee. We suppose then that Horace replies in this ascribed character. And this at the same time takes off from the apparent arrogance of the assumption.Non ego quem vocas, that is, quem vocas Cycnum, ov Kunλov καλεις ; as in Homer, δν Βριάρεω καλεςσι Θεοί, Γ whom you call a swan shall indeed become so. I shall, as such be known and revered by posterity. Every river of the habitable earth will recognize me! This, we venture to confess, appears to us the most probable interpretation. It is certainly as easy to supply Cycnum, if this were any answer to a little poem, in which Mecenas had so called him, as to supply pauperum sanguis parentum, or any other expression, which is included in the elliptic expression quem vocas or quem vocant, according to the general construction; and which indeed must be included, unless Mr. Fowke's conjecture should be the truth. Now tho' xa and vocare are both occasionally used as inclamare, yet when nothing further appears in the context, their more obvious construction is appellare hoc vet illud. Sed de his et omnibus suum cuique liberum esto judicium. We can spare no more space than will afford us room to say, that the new notes present an abundance of entertainment as well as instruction, and that this edition of Horace, its arrangement and correctness are highly honorable to the elegant and learned author of the Wreath. Travelling Recreations, By William Parsons, Esq. 12mo. Longman, 1807. Mr. Parsons, who we believe has not ventured before the public since the Baviad's stinging notice of his one ode, three sonnets, and an epigram, is not ambitious of being separated from the mob of gentlemen who write with ease: with these humble pretentions, he has afforded us a very agreeable amusement, and that our readers may participate in the pleasure we have received from the perusal of this collection, we shall extract the following sONG, for a dinner given when the author was studying CHEMISTRY at Edinburgh in the year 1800. A student I am, and a chemist I'll live, Galoric's a fluid repulsive, they say; But here is a fluid, which all these surpasses, But this maxim I knew, ere I came o'er the Tweed, * The Chemical Professor. The Mathematical Professor. The Professor of Moral Philosophy. 1 |