Winds, thunder, lightnings, from the hand of Jove Their track of ruin through mid battle drove. Loud and stupendous thus the raging fight, Whilst warr'd the Titans with an equal might: At length the battle turns;-Cottus the fierce, Gyges, and Briareus, through mid ranks pierce; From their strong arms three hundred rocks they throw, And with these monstrous darts o'ercloud the foe; Then forc'd the Titans deep beneath the ground, And with afflictive chains the rebels bound; Despite their pride, beneath the earth they lie, Far as that earth is distant from the sky. THE CONFLICT OF JUPITER WITH TYPHŒEUS. BUT when from Heaven Jove had his foes exil'd, And feet unwearied, of this fiend of night. Sometimes as though a lion's whelps had scream'd; Sometimes a dragon's hissing rose around, Had not the Almighty Father seen the birth, Roared Sea and Ocean, and the abysmal Hell. ful roar, And burning billows raged along the shore. In nether Hades trembled with affright, And, from Olympus plunging on his foe, Deep in the dismal regions of the dead, Homer's Battle of the Gods, II. xx. FROM THE SHIELD OF HERCULES. A well-tower'd city, by seven golden gates torch Borne in the hands of slaves. Preceded, and the dancers followed blithe: Of youths was elsewhere imag'd, to the flute Vaulted on steeds, and madden'd for the goal. A field thick set with depth of corn; where some Others into bands And some again hard-by were seen Holding the vine-sickle, who clusters cut From the ripe vines, which from the vintagers Others in pails receiv'd, or bore away In baskets thus up-piled the cluster'd grapes, Or black, or pearly white, cut from deep ranks Of spreading vines, whose tendrils curling twin'd In silver, heavy-foliag'd: near them rose The ranks of vines, by Vulcan's curious craft Figur'd in gold. The vines leaf-shaking curl'd Round silver props. They therefore on their way Pass'd jocund, to one minstrel's flageolet, Burthen'd with grapes that blacken'd in the sun. Some also trod the wine-press, and some quaff'd The foaming must. But in another part Were men who wrestled, or in gymnic fight Wielded the cæstus. Elsewhere men of chase Were taking the fleet hares; two keen-tooth'd dogs Bounded beside: these ardent in pursuit, made To win the prize of contest and hard toil. High o'er the well-compacted chariots hung At their full stretch, and shook the floating reins. Endless; nor conquest yet at any time CERBERUS. A grisly dog Implacable, holds watch before the gates; A BATTLE-PIECE. Warrior men Waged battle, grasping weapons in their hands. |In very life, by Vulcan's glorious craft. Behind them stood the Fates, of aspect black, For those who fell;-each fiercely thirsting sought snatched, Prostrate, or staggering with the fresh-made wound, On him their talons huge they stuck-the soul With dead men's gore; behind them cast the corse, They all around one man in savage fight Ghastly and withered, and with hunger-pains All wide disclosed, in grinning agony CALLINUS. [About 782 B. C.] Or this poet we know nothing more than that he was the supposed inventor of the Elegiac Couplet. A FRAGMENT. How long will ye slumber? when will ye take heart, Death comes not the sooner!-no soldier shall fall Ere his thread is spun out by the sisters above! And fear the reproach of your neighbours at Once to die is man's doom! rush, rush to the hand? Fy! comrades, to think ye have peace for your part, our land! Shame! grasp the shield close! cover well the bold breast! Aloft raise the spear as ye march on the foe! With no thought of retreat-with no terror confess'd, Hurl your last dart in dying, or strike your last blow! Oh! 'tis noble and glorious to fight for our allFor our country-our cldren-the wife of our love! ARCHILOCHUS. [About 688 B. C.] Or a noble family in the isle of Paros, and | struction. His lampoons are lost, and nothing equally famed for his genius and his malignity. remains of him but some few fragments of a Touch me who dare—Apxíñoxov rates—was his grave and philosophic cast. He is celebrated motto, and various stories are told concerning by Horace, as the inventor of the Iambic foot, his obscenities and defamations, by the infliction and by Cicero, as being one of the greatest poets of which, on one occasion, he is said to have that ever lived, and only equalled by Homer, driven Lycambes and his daughter to self-de- | Pindar, and Sophocles. EQUANIMITY. Mr soul, my soul, though cureless seem the ills that vex thy rest; Bear up; subdue the hostile crew, with right opposing breast. Take thou thy stand within spear-reach, and if thou win the day, Boast not; nor, beaten once, at home with vain repining, stay; But, in misfortune wisely mourn; in joy rejoice with heed, And bear in mind, to all mankind, the measure that's decreed. ON AN ECLIPSE OF THE SUN. The Olympic father hangs a noon-day night PATIENCE UNDER SUFFERING. OH, Pericles! in vain the feast is spread: ON THE LOSS OF HIS SHIELD IN A Relictâ non bene parmulâ. A PAIR OF MILITARY PORTRAITS. strutting fierce with measur'd stride, firm of foot, with curved knee; Heart of oak in limb and feature, and of courage bold and free. THE MIND OF MAN. THE STORM. BEHOLD, my Glaucus, how the deep Heaves, while the sweeping billows howl, And round the promontory-steep The big black clouds portentous scowl, With thunder fraught, and lightning's glare, While Terror rules, and wild Despair. FRAGMENT. LEAVE the gods to order all things: LIFE AND DEATH. JOVE sits in highest heaven, and opes the springs, THAT shield some Saian decks, which 'gainst Man dies, and leaves no guardian of his name. my grain I left-fair, flawless shield!-beside the wood. Applause awaits us only while we live, TYRTEUS. [About 681 B. C.] TYRTEUS was the son of Archimbrotus, and Pausanias, however, does not call him General, presided over a school of some kind-probably of music and poetry-at Athens. The further tradition concerning him is (as all know,) that the Spartans, being worsted in their war with the Messenians, were directed by the oracle to apply to the Athenians for a general, who, in ridicule, presented them with their lame poet, Tyrtæus. but Counsellor, (Evμßovλos,) adding, that his exertions were confined to composing the dissensions and rousing the fallen spirits of his new allies. He left three kinds of poems;-first, his Military Elegies;-second, his Eunomia, or political ones; and third, his Embateria or marching songs. Only a few of the first have descended to our times. COURAGE AND PATRIOTISM. Unaltering friends still love his hairs of snow, Draw the keen blade, and let the battle rage! Yes, it is sweet in death's first ranks to fall Where our loved country's threatening dangers call! NE'ER Would I praise that man, nor deign to sing, Would ye, like him, the wond'ring world engage, The man whom blood and danger fail to daunt, His household gods, his own parental land But he who flies dishonour'd from his home, -What indignation at his cowardice How shall he stain, for ever stain his blood, But let us firmly stand, and scorn to fly, Of brothers fighting for our native land; Let us not leave him in the midst of foes, D ALCMAN OR ALCMEON. [About 680 B. C.] ALCMAN is said to have been born at Sardis, | him the title of гauxus-the sweet. Nothing and numbered amongst the fathers of lyric poetry. but a few scattered sentences, and disjointed His Parthenia, composed in praise of women, lines-affording the most inadequate materials and sung by chorusses of virgins, were very for any judgment of his merits-have come popular amongst the Spartans, and procured for down to us. A NATIVE of Himera in Sicily, and contem-ments, are all that have descended to us. He porary with Sappho and Alcæus. It is said that his original name was Tisias, and that he acquired the more expressive one by which he is known, from having first established, and generally arranged the movements of the Chorus, or from having first introduced the episode or stationary union of the two parts or divisions. Whatever may be thought of this (says Mr. Coleridge,) certain it is, that the Strophe, Antistrophe, and Epode of the Chorus, became associated throughout Greece, with the name of Stesichorus. His principal poems were the "Destruction of Troy,"-the "Orestea," the "Rhadine," the "Scylla,"-and the "Geryoneis,"*of which the titles, with a few scattered frag was the inventor of the fable of "the Horse and the Stag," which has been imitated by Horace and other poets, and which he wrote in order to prevent his countrymen from making an alliance with the tyrant, Phalaris. His poems have been highly extolled by ancient writers, and there are few who will not join in the regret expressed by a modern one for the loss of them. "Utinam profecto (says Lowth,) Stesichorum non invidisset nobis vetustas, cujus gravitatem et magnificentiam omnes prædicant; quem præ cæteris laudat Dionysius quod et argumenta sumeret grandia imprimis et splendide, et in iis tractandis mores et personarum dignitatem egregiè servaret." FROM THE GERYONEIS." VOYAGE OF THE SUN. BUT now the sun, great Hyperion's child, And westward steered where, far o'er ocean wild, Sleeps the dim Night in solitary valleys, Where dwell his mother and his consort mild, And infant sons, in his sequestered palace; sun's passing over the sea in a golden cup, which was lent to Hercules for his voyage through the Mediterranean, and which has given occasion to more learned criticism, than any other cup, heathen or Christian, glass, metal, or wood, ever fabricated or dreamed of. |