ever, is in hexameter verse, and treats of the Alexandrine war. It evidently contains a description of the death of Cleopatra. On the four sheets which M. Andrès kindly presented to me, there are sixty-one verses, contained in the eight columns, but most of them mutilated. These sheets do not contain the whole of the poem; indeed I was told that a much greater number remained to be printed. In the second verse of the first column, we read the name of CESAR. In the third of the second column, PELVSIA, and CÆSAR. The eighth verse of the same column has these words: VINDICAT .... MVLAM. ROMAM. COTE....NDEM. "The poem, as I have said, evidently describes the Alexandrine war: these verses relate to the time of the arrival of Augustus in Egypt. Antony kills himself, and Cleopatra, by likewise committing suicide, avoids the disgrace of slavery. Even by consulting Plutarch and Dion, it is scarcely possible to supply the rest of the subject; for they only describe the principal facts. In the first columns, the poet speaks of the arrival of Octavianus and his army. He advances towards Alexandria, while the main body of the army proceeds by the Hippodrome. Antony attacks the cavalry of Octavianus with success, and causes his fleet to advance. On the second charge he is betrayed, and his fleet is dispersed. This was the signal for his overthrow: and to this event the following verses of the fourth column appear to relate: Qualis, ad instantis acies cum bella parantur, Signa tubae classesque, simul terrestribus armis, Instrumenta necis, multo congesta paratu, Omne vagabatur leti genus, omne timoris. "In his despair, Antony calls for Octavianus, that he may be witness to his deplorable end. (Ut)-præberetque sua specta cula tristria mortis! "Then follows the description of the dismay and confusion which prevail among the queen's courtiers, several of whom kill themselves in different ways. "After a long hiatus, we find in the seventh column the attempts which Proculeius made, by order of Octavianus, to induce Cleopatra to surrender at discretion. "Octavianus enters Alexandria, which city cannot be said to have been besieged. Meanwhile night comes on, and the poem does not describe the last moments of Cleopatra.” M. Morgenstern has promised to give some further illustrations of this poem, in the Travels which he intends to publish. He thinks there may be perceived, in the above extracts, the spirit of the composition: the author evinces the genius of the rhetorician; and he cannot but be viewed as a contemporary or emulator of Lucan and Petronius. ACCOUNT OF A SCARCE AND CURIOUS LETTER OF COLUMBUS, LATELY PUBLISHED BY THE GHEVAlier moreLLI, OF THE ROYAL LIBRARY AT VENICE. COLUMBUS addressed this long letter to the king and queen of Spain on the seventh of July, 1503, at which time he was at Jamaica, where he had arrived on his fourth voyage to the West Indies. It contains an account of the events of his passage. He sailed from Cadiz on the ninth of May, 1502, and, passing the Canaries, arrived at Dominica, at which Isle his misfortunes commenced. "When I reached this island," says he," I addressed a packet of letters to your majesty, in which I earnestly requested a ship and some money; one of the vessels I had with me was no longer sea-worthy. Your majesty knows whether or not my letter reached you; in your majesty's answer you forbid me from remaining on shore, or even from debarking." This news it seems, caused despair amongst the companions of Columbus. "The danger was great (continues he) and I still remembered the night when, the ships having been dispersed, we had nothing to expect but death: each man looked his companion in the face and gave himself up as lost! And who is he, not even excepting Job, who would not have died of despair: when, under my circumstances, I was forbidden to find, for my son, my brother, my friends, and myself, a refuge in that very land, and in those very ports, where, by divine grace, I had arrived, after unparalleled fatigues? (Sudanda Sangue.") Columbus continued his route towards Jamaica, where he was surprised by the violent currents (occasioned by the trade-winds) and, after eighty-eight days' suffering from storms and tempests, the wind dropped on the 12th of September. But, during these events, Columbus felt as much for the misfortunes of others as for himself, and particularly on account of the terrible experiment made by his son, scarcely thirteen years old, and his own brother, who had unwillingly followed him in his perilous voyages: "For I am so unfortunate (says Columbus) that after twenty years of services and dangers, I have done no good for myself, I have not a single place of shelter in all Castile, nor any other means of procuring food and rest than by living at an inn, and even there I have seldom the means of paying my expenses. I had also another cause for vexation (says he) in the case of my son, Don Diego, whom I left in Spain an orphan, without fortune or employment." On this point it appears Columbus relied on the liberality of the king. He arrived at a country called Cariac, where he learned that there were gold mines in the province of Ciamba: he took with him two of the natives, who conducted him to another country, named Carambara, the inhabitants of which went naked, and wore from the neck a gold mirror, which they would neither sell nor exchange. They told him, in the language of the country, of many other places, situated on the coast, where there were considerable gold mines: the last of these was Beragna, twenty-five leagues distant; he set off to discover these mines, accompanied by his two guides, who entertained him by talking of the profusion of gold they contained, which was so great, they said, that he ought to be satisfied if he could obtain even the tenth part of it. He verified the truth of their assertions, and returned well satisfied. He was succesively driven into the ports of Bastimentos, Retrete, and Postogrone, where he procured provisions, and afterwards sailed towards Beragna, where he arrived on the day of the Epiphany; he reconnoitered the island, and, after meeting with several adventures, he sailed again, and on the thirteenth of May he was off the country of Magna, and by the end of June at Jamaica. On this passage also he was assailed by severe storms, and his ships were no longer fit for sea. "I do not (says he to the king) here mention an hundredth part of my misfortunes, as my companions can testify; if your majesty would be graciously pleased to send to our aid a ship of 64 tons, laden with 200 quintals of biscuit, and other provisions, this would be sufficient to bring us back to Spain. Jamaica is distant from Spagnola only twenty-eight leagues, but I could not proceed there, even were my ships in good trim, after the orders which your majesty has given me." Columbus then communicates to the king the observations he made on the riches, population, manners, and customs of the people he had seen, and particularly those of the isle of Beragna; he descants on the utility of this island, and the ease with which it may be taken; "There is (says he) more gold to be seen here in two days than can be met with at Spagnola in four years. Gold (continues he) is the most precious of metals; it is gold which fills all treasuries; and he who possesses gold can do what he will in the world! In short, gold serves to send souls into Paradise! The inhabitants of Beragna bury with their dead all the gold they possessed while living: such is their custom. They brought at one time to Solomon as much gold as six hundred and fifty quintals, not including the quantity for the use of the seamen and merchants, and that which it was necessary to send in payment to Arabia, and each of these quintals weighed an hundred and fifty pounds." Columbus proceeds to exhaust all his eloquence; he quotes Josephus, the Book of Kings, and the Paralipipomenes, in proof that the Ophir of Solomon and the Aurea of Josephus, were the same as Beragna (Veragua) where nothing but gold was to be Columbus, throughout, does not wish to seize upon this treasure by main force, but is only anxious that some means may be found for transporting it to the coffers of the king. seen. Although entirely occupied with the interests of his sovereign, Columbus is reduced to the necessity of imploring his clemency and justice. "I asked your majesty (says he) provided I succeeded in discovering these islands and this continent, to give me the government of them in your majesty's name. My request was granted in the most solemn manner. I took the title of viceroy, admiral, and governor-general; and my limits were fixed at a hundred leagues beyond the isles of the Artori, and that of Cape Verd.-I remained seven years at your majesty's court, and every day this enterprise was spoken of, which, in the general opinion, could be attended with nothing but misfortune. At present, courtiers and flatterers ask, as a favour, permission to set out on voyages of discovery, and, if your majesty were to comply with their solicitations, they would discover nothing.-At the very time when I expected the ship which I entreated of your majesty to convey me home, that I might do homage to your majesty for my success and my riches, I was forcibly seized, and thrown into a ship with my two brothers, plundered, loaded with irons, and subjected to the most infamous treatment; and all this without having been either heard or condemned! And who would believe that a poor foreigner would have been induced to turn traitor here against your majesty, without any motive, or without the encouragement of any other sovereign. I have served your majesty for the space of twenty-eight years, and have gained nothing but infirmities. -I cannot believe that your majesty has sanctioned the oppression which I have experienced. Let then the authors of it be punished, and give me back my property and my honour.-I came here only to serve your majesty;-I entreat your majesty, if it be God's will that I am to quit these parts, to permit me to go to Rome, and to make other pilgrimages. May the Holy Ghost preserve your life and increase your grandeur. Given in the Indies, at the island of Jamaica, the 7th of July, in the year 1503." The above is a brief analysis of a letter which contains thirty-two octavo pages, from which the reader may judge of its interest. It was written in Spanish, and, having been translated into Italian, it was printed at Venice by Simon de Lorere, 7th of May, 1505. It is this early translation, with some trifling corVOL. II. ૧ ૧ |