me, the white arm'd Juno, from whom strife and contention arise among the immortals." This plain answer is rendered by Pope,

"Abash'd, she names his own imperial spouse;

1

And the pale crescent fades upon her brows." Now these lines are obviously deficient in not saying one word of the character of Juno, who is pointed out in the original as the cause of all these disputes; and they are redundant in using the word abashed, and in the whole of the second line, of which not one word or syllable, nor even the slightest allusion to the thought, is to be found in Homer. And it is a singular instance of bad taste to put a concetto into the mouth of the venerable Grecian, which would be a prettiness scarcely endurable in a modern Italian sonnet. Yet with all its faults, Pope's translation will be read and admired while its rivals either repose in quiet on their shelves, or jog on in vicum vendentem thus et odores. P. M.

N° LXXI.

Latin Translation of Gray's Elegy.

The following Latin translation of GRAY'S ELEGY; being printed in the form of a fugitive pamphlet, and the name of the translator being unknown to me

If the epithet applied to Diana in the preceding line, svotepavor, be supposed to allude at all to her crescent, it must be in a sense precisely opposite to that which Pope has given it, and to point out its beauty, and not its fading.

(the

(the title page in which perhaps the name appeared being lost) my classical readers will not be displeased to have it here preserved.

"Ad Poetam.

"Nos quoque per tumulos, et amica Silentia dulcis
Raptat Amor; Tecum liceat, Divine Poeta,
Ire simul, tacitâque lyram pulsare sub umbrâ.
Non tua securos fastidit Musa Penates,
Non humiles habitare casas, et sordida Rura ;
Quamvis radere iter liquidum super ardua Cœli
Cærula, Pindaricâ non expallesceret Alâ.
Quod si Te Latiæ numeros audire Camœnæ
Non piget, et nostro vacat indulgere labori;
Fortè erit, ut vitreas recubans Anienas ad undas,
Te doceat resonare nemus, Te flumina, Pastor,
Et tua cæruleâ discet Tiberinus in Urnâ
Carmina, cum tumulos præterlabetur agrestes.
Et cum pallentes inter numeraberis Umbras,
Cum neque Te vocale melos, neque murmura fontis
Castalii, citharæve sonus, quam strinxit Apollo,
Ex humili ulteriùs poterint revocare cubili;
Quamvis nulla tuum decorent Insignia Bustum,
At pia Musa super, nostræ nihil indiga Laudis,
Perpetuas aget excubias, Jacrymâque perenni
Nutriet ambrosios in odoro Cespite flores."

"Audin' ut occiduæ signum Campana Diei
Vespertina sonet! flectunt se tarda per agros
Mugitusque armenta cient, vestigia Arator
Fessa domum trahit, et solus sub nocte reliquor.

Nune

Nunc rerum species evanida cedit, et omnis Aura silet, nisi quà pigro Scarabæus in orbes Murmure se volvat, nisi tintinnabula longè Dent sonitum, faciles pecori suadentia somnos;

Aut nisi sola sedens hederoso in culmine Turris
Ad Lunani effundat lugubres Noctua cantus,
Visa queri, propter secretos fortè recessus
Si quis eat, turbetque antiqua et inhospita Regna.

7

Hic subterque rudes ulmos, Taxique sub umbrâ Quà super ingestus crebro tumet aggere Cespes, Æternùm posuere angusto in Carcere duri Villarum Patres, et longa oblivia ducunt.

Non vox Aurora croceos spirantis odores,
Non quæ stramineo de tegmine stridit Hirundo,
Non Galli tuba clara, neque hos resonabile Cornu,
Ex humili ulteriùs poterunt revocare cubili :

Non illis splendente foco renovabitur ignis, Sedula nec curas urgebit vespere Conjux ; Non Patris ad reditum tenero balbubtiet ore Certatimve amplexa genu petet Oscula Proles.

Illis sæpe seges maturâ cessit Aristâ
Illi sæpe graves fregerunt vomere glebas;
Ah! quoties læti sub plaustra egere Juvencos!
Ah! quoties duro nemora ingemuere sub ictu!

Nec vitam utilibus quæ incumbit provida curis,
Nec sortem ignotam, securaque gaudia Ruris
Rideat Ambitio, tumidove Superbia fastu
Annales Inopum quoscunque audire recuset.

Sceptri grande decus, generosæ stirpis honores, Quicquid opes, aut forma dedit, commune sepulchrum Opprimit, et leti non evitabilis hora.

Ducit Laudis iter tantùm ad nonfinia Mortis..

VOL. X.

Y

Parcite

Parcite sic tellure sitis (ita fata volebant)
Si nulla in memori surgant Insignia Busto,
Quà longos per Templi aditus, laqueataque tecta,
Divinas iterare solent gravia Organa Laudes.

Inscriptæne valent Urnæ, spirantiaque æra,
Ad sedes fugientem animam revocare relictas?
Dicite, sollicitet cineres si fama repostos?
Gloria si gelidas Fatorum mulceat Aures?

Quis scit, an hìc Animus neglectâ in sede quiescat Qui prius incaluit cœlestis semine flammæ ?

Quis scit, an hìc sceptri Manus haud indigna recumbat, Quæve lyræ poterat magicum inspirâsse furorem?

Annales sed nulla suos His Musa reclusit,
Dives opum variarum, et longo fertilis ævo:
Pauperies angusta sacros compescuit ignes,
Et vivos animi glaciavit frigore cursus.

Sæpe coruscantes puro fulgore sub antris
Abdidit Oceanus, cæcoque in gurgite gemmas;
Neglectus sæpe, in solis qui nascitur agris,
Flos rubet, inque auras frustra disperdit Odorem.
Hic aliquis fortè Hamdenus, qui pectore firmo
Obstitit Imperio parvi in sua rura Tyranni,
Miltonus tumulo rudis atque inglorius illo
Dormiat, aut patrii Cromvellus sanguinis insons.

Eloquio attenti moderarier ora Senatûs,
Exitium sævique minas ridere doloris,
Per patriam largos Fortunæ divitis imbres
Spargere, et in læto populi se agnoscere vultu,

Hos sua sors vetuit; tenuique in Limite clausit
Virtutes, scelerisque simul compescuit ortum ;
Ad solium cursus per cædem urgere cruentos,
Atque tuas vetuit, Clementia, claudere portas,

Conatus

Conatus premere occultos, quos conscia Veri Mehs fovet, ingenuique extinguere signa pudoris, Luxuriæque focos cumulare, Ædemque superbam, Thure, quod in sacris Musarum adoleverat aris.

Insanæ procul amotis certamine turbæ Sobria non illis didicerunt Vota vagari; Securum vitæ per iter, vallemque reductam, Servabant placidum, cursu fallente, tenorem.

His tamen incautus tumulis ne fortè Viator Insultet, videas circum monimenta caduca, Quà numeris incompositis, rudibusque figuris Ossa tegit lapis, et suspiria poscit euntem.

Pro mœstis Elegis, culto pro carmine, scribit Quicquid musa potest incondita, Nomen et Annos: Multaque queis animum moriens soletur Agrestis, Dogmata dispergit sacraï Scripturaï.

Sollicita quis enim, quis amatæ dulcia Vitæ Tædia, sustinuit mutare silentibus unibris; Deseruitve almæ confinia læta diei,

Nec desiderio cunctantia Lumina flexit?

Projicit in gremium sese moriturus amicum, Deficiensque oculus lacrymas, pia munera, poscit; Quinetiam fida ex ipso Natura Sepulchro Exclamat, solitoque relucent igne favillæ.

At te, cui curæ tumulo sine honore jacentes, Incomptoque memor qui pingis agrestia versu; Si quis erit, tua qui cognato pectore quondam Fata roget, solâ secum meditatus in umbrâ,

Fortè aliquis memoret, canus jam Tempora Pastor, "Illum sæpe novo sub Lucis vidimus ortu "Verrentem propero matutinos pede Rores, "Nascenti super arva jugosa occurrere Soli.