For Ceres, who the veil undrew,

That screen'd her mysteries from his view, Propitious this kind truth reveal'd,

That woman close besieg'd will yield.

Old Hesiod too his native shade
Made vocal to th' Ascrean maid,
The bard his heav'n-directed lore
Forsook, and hymn'd the gods no more :
Soft love-sick ditties now he sung,

Love touch'd his harp, love tun'd his tongue,
Silent his Heliconian lyre,

And love's put out religion's fire.

Homer, of all past bards the prime,
And wonder of all future time,
Whom Jove with wit sublimely blest,
And touch'd with purest fire his breast,
From gods and heroes turn'd away
To warble the domestic lay,

And wand'ring to the desart isle,

On whose parch'd sands no seasons smile,
In distant Ithaca was seen
Chaunting the suit-repelling Queen.

Mimnermus tun'd his am'rous lay,
When time had turn'd his temples grey;
Love revell'd in his aged veins,
Soft was his lyre, and sweet his strains;
Frequenter of the wanton feast,

Nanno his theme, and youth his guest.

Antimachus with tender art
Pour'd forth the sorrows of his heart;
In her Dardanian grave he laid
Chryseis his beloved maid;
And thence returning sad beside
Pactolus' melancholy tide,

To Colophon the minstrel came,
Still sighing forth the mournful name,
Till lenient time his grief appeas'd,
And tears by long indulgence ceas'd.

Alcæus strung his sounding lyre, And smote it with a hand of fire,

To Sappho, fondest of the fair,

Chaunting the loud and lofty air.

Whilst old Anacreon, wet with wine, And crown'd with wreaths of Lesbian vine, To his unnatural minion sung

Ditties that put to blush the young.

Ev'n Sophocles, whose honey'd lore Rivals the bee's delicious store, Chorus'd the praise of wine and love, Choicest of all the gifts of Jove.

Euripides, whose tragic breast
No yielding fair one ever prest,
At length in his obdurate heart
Felt love's revengeful rankling dart,
Thro' Macedon with furious joy
Panting he chas'd the pathic boy;
"Till vengeance met him in the way,
And blood-hounds made the bard their prey.

Philoxenus, by wood-nymphs bred
On fam'd Cithæron's sacred head,
And train'd to music, wine and song,
'Midst orgies of the frantic throng,
When beauteous Galatea died,
His flute and thyrsus cast aside;
And wand'ring to thy pensive coast,
Sad Melos, where his love was lost,
Each night thro' the responsive air
Thy echoes witness'd his despair:
Still, still his plaintive harp was heard,
Soft as the nightly-singing bird.

Philotas too in Battis' praise
Sung his long-winded roundelays;
His statue in the Coan grove
Now breathes in brass perpetual love.

The mortified abstemious sage,
Deep read in learning's crabbed page,
Pythagoras, whose boundless soul
Scal'd the wide globe from pole to pole,

Earth, planets, seas and heav'n above,
Yet found no spot secure from love;
With love declines unequal war,

And trembling drags his conqueror's car,
Theano clasp'd him in her arms,
And wisdom stoop'd to beauty's charms.

Ev'n Socrates, whose moral mind
With truth enlighten'd all mankind,
When at Aspasia's side he sate,
Still found no end to love's debate,
For strong indeed must be that heart
Where love finds no unguarded part.

Sage Aristippus by right rule
Of logic purg'd the Sophist's school,
Check'd folly in its headlong course,
And swept it down by reason's force;
"Till Venus aim'd the heart-felt blow
And laid the mighty victor low.

A little before the time that Pisistratus established his tyranny at Athens, the people of Greece had distinguished certain of their most eminent sages by the denomination of the Seven Wise Men. This flattering pre-eminence seems to have been distributed with more attention to the separate claims of the different states, than to the particular pretensions of the persons, who composed this celebrated junto: if any one community had affected to monopolize the prerogative of wisdom, others would hardly have subscribed their assent to so partial a distribution; and yet when such distinguished characters as Pythagoras, Anacharsis the Scythian, Mison, Pherecydes, Epimenides, and Pisistratus himself, were excluded, or at best rated only as wisemen-extraordinary, many of their admirers complained of the exclusion, and insisted on their being rated in the list; hence arises a difficulty in determining the precise number of the principals: the

To Sappho, fondest of the fair,

Chaunting the loud and lofty air.

Whilst old Anacreon, wet with wine, And crown'd with wreaths of Lesbian vine, To his unnatural minion sung

Ditties that put to blush the young.

Ev'n Sophocles, whose honey'd lore Rivals the bee's delicious store, Chorus'd the praise of wine and love, Choicest of all the gifts of Jove.

Euripides, whose tragic breast No yielding fair one ever prest, At length in his obdurate heart Felt love's revengeful rankling dart, Thro' Macedon with furious joy Panting he chas'd the pathic boy; "Till vengeance met him in the way, And blood-hounds made the bard their prey.

Philoxenus, by wood-nymphs bred
On fam'd Citharon's sacred head,
And train'd to music, wine and song,
'Midst orgies of the frantic throng,
When beauteous Galatea died,
His flute and thyrsus cast aside;
And wand'ring to thy pensive coast,
Sad Melos, where his love was lost,
Each night thro' the responsive air
Thy echoes witness'd his despair:
Still, still his plaintive harp was heard,
Soft as the nightly-singing bird.

Philotas too in Battis' praise
Sung his long-winded roundelays;
His statue in the Coan grove
Now breathes in brass perpetual love.

The mortified abstemious sage,
Deep read in learning's crabbed page,
Pythagoras, whose boundless soul

Scal'd the wide globe from pole to pole,

Earth, planets, seas and heav'n above,
Yet found no spot secure from love;
With love declines unequal war,

And trembling drags his conqueror's car,
Theano clasp'd him in her arms,

And wisdom stoop'd to beauty's charms.

Ev'n Socrates, whose moral mind
With truth enlighten'd all mankind,
When at Aspasia's side he sate,
Still found no end to love's debate,
For strong indeed must be that heart
Where love finds no unguarded part.

Sage Aristippus by right rule
Of logic purg'd the Sophist's school,
Check'd folly in its headlong course,
And swept it down by reason's force;
"Till Venus aim'd the heart-felt blow
And laid the mighty victor low.

A little before the time that Pisistratus established his tyranny at Athens, the people of Greece had distinguished certain of their most eminent sages by the denomination of the Seven Wise Men. This flattering pre-eminence seems to have been distributed with more attention to the separate claims of the different states, than to the particular pretensions of the persons, who composed this celebrated junto: if any one community had affected to monopolize the prerogative of wisdom, others would hardly have subscribed their assent to so partial a distribution; and yet when such distinguished cha racters as Pythagoras, Anacharsis the Scythian, Mison, Pherecydes, Epimenides, and Pisistratus himself, were excluded, or at best rated only as wisenen-extraordinary, many of their admirers complained of the exclusion, and insisted on their being rated in the list; hence arises a difficulty in deter mining the precise number of the principals: the