When we attempt to appreciate the rank and character of Apollonius, it will appear, from a recurrence to the few circumstances and incidents of his life, which have been transmitted to us, that his genius was highly cultivated by education and study; and that, while most of his beauties were wholly his own; his peculiarities, or what may now be considered as his blemishes, are to be ascribed to the place of his birth, to the course of his education, and a certain style and manner, which he found already established, in the Alexandrian school of poetry, by his master Callimachus, and other eminent writers. The circumstances, which, in concurrence with innate talent, and a peculiar cast of thought, conformable to the peculiar temperament and constitution of the person, tend to give a decided tone and character to the productions of a writer, are the course and tenour of early education, and the situation and circumstances of life, in which he may afterwards be placed. In these respects, Apollonius, with the exception of his contest with Callimachus, seems to have been as much favoured by fortune, as he had originally been gifted by nature; and in him every attribute, and incident occurred, that is requisite to the formation of an accomplished poet. He was born in a country where genius was honoured, and its exertions cultivated, not only by barren praise, but substantial rewards; in his time, every department of art, and every branch of science, was studied, and improved, with the greatest assiduity; his youth was formed by the example and precepts of a most eminent scholar, and consummate master, in the art of poetry; he had full access to complete treasuries of all the learning that the age afforded. When we come to consider the poem of Apollonius Rhodius, we may trace the following excellencies-a knowledge knowledge of the human heart, and a display of the feelings powers of exhibiting the impassioned, the tender, and pathetic-a certain retired and chaste majesty, not unaccompanied with a genius for producing the great and terrible—an elaborate and romantic invention, such as bears more traces of poetical device, and approaches nearer to the fictions of romance, in modern. times, than most of the compositions of antiquity-a spirit of elegance and refinement, in sentiment and manner, something more recherché, and removed, from common apprehension, at the same time, that they are. recognised to be perfectly conformable to nature—a graphical distinctness, and accuracy of description-a precision in representing both spiritual and material nature-argumentative and declamatory powers-a chastised and musical ear, producing an uncommon sweetness and pomp of numbers-a curious felicity of expres-sion; and elegance of diction-descriptive powers--the appositeness and beauty of his similitudes. It must be confest, that, in certain particulars, Apol lonius is something of a mannerist; as were all the writers, of the school, to which he belonged. The objectionable peculiarities, which may be discerned in him, by the eye of censure, are these that follow:-his learning sometimes betrays him into parade and affectation, degenerates into pedantry, and produces obscurity-his picturesque talent, and graphical precision, are sometimes carried to excess; and pass into a minute 'accuracy, and superfluous detail of circumstances, that become tiresome. His inventive talent may, sometimes, in the opinion of many, have past into a romantic wildness, and extravagance, that suit the province of fable, rather than the sober majesty of the epos.*. His gran * As the circumstance of Argo speaking, the story of Talus. G3 deur, deur, sometimes, becomes obscurity; and he has indulged himself, too much, perhaps, in a certain majestical gloom, in the description of religious rites, cere`monies, and an allusion and reference to the mysteries of an occult mythology.-His attention to the harmony of versification, may have led him to sacrifice sense, in some instances, to sound, and to croud his lines with a number of proper names, merely to flatter the ear.— His choice of language may sometime be pursued, to a high pitch of refinement, with an excessive degree of solicitude, that becomes affectation, and betrays the writer, into a certain verbiage, and a wearisome multiplicity of epithets.We may observe, in Apollonius Rhodius, as well as in the other writers of the Alexandrine school, a sort of solemn mysticism, that abounds in far-fetched epithets, and in terms and expressions taken from the rituals of worship, and the forms of pious observances. Egypt, at the time when the Alexandrine school flourished, boasted of a line of learned, liberal, and accomplished princes, wholly unexampled before, and unequalled since that period. The fortunate writer, whose destiny seated him at Alexandria, saw every where science cultivated, and every liberal and ingenious art pursued, through all its branches. Elegant converse, opulence, ease, and leisure, free access to a magnificent library, where all the volumes of genius and learning, then known to the world, were assembled; and a museum, where all the productions of art and nature were deposited; the labours of the painter, the statuary, the sculptor, the architect, displayed around, with an un. sparing hand; a learned and intelligent population; a polite, accomplished, and splendid court; a literary and munificent sovereign:-all these concurred, to promote learning, learning, and foster talent, by example and encourage. ment, by rewards and patronage. The best exertions of the muse were called forth; while the poet found himself an esteemed and honourable character; and the tone and style of the times, produced among men of ge-. nius an active and productive emulation. Considered in every point of view, Egypt was a most extraordinary region.The standing miracle of the Nile, whose overflowings fertilized the country.-The high antiquity claimed by the Egyptian people, who boasted to have flourished, in arts and arms, in religion, and regular polity, long before most other nations, that afterwards became famous, had an existence. -The profound veneration, with which Egypt was regarded, by the philosophers, sages, and legislators of the whole civilised world, as the cradle, in which the arts and sciences had been nurtured; or as the sacred fountainhead, from whence the nations of the earth had been irrigated, by the streams of religion, morality, wisdom, and learning; has rendered the country peculiarly interesting at this day.-Egypt, in fact, was considered by the great luminaries, who profest to guide and en-lighten mankind, by laws and institutions, as the land, which it was absolutely incumbent on them to visit, before they proceeded to the task of public instruction; as we may see in the lives of Lycurgus, Orpheus, Pytha goras, and Plato. Greece, in particular, was indebted to Egypt, for her arts, her civilization, and her learning. Even Homer, the great father of poetry, seems to have there imbibed most of the various information, and extensive knowledge, which are displayed in his writings. He speaks familiarly of Thebes, and her hundred gates. Egypt presented, on every side, vast and stu-. pendous objects, to fill the imagination, and awaken enthusiasm enthusiasm those ancient and gigantic monuments, her pyramids, her catacombs, those vast and awful repositories of the dead; her labyrinth, her massive palaces, and temples, her colossal statues, her obelisks, her canals, and lakes, that seemed to be the labour of more than mortal hands; her art of embalming, that prolonged the presence of the deceased; her monuments, that, even in days of the most remote antiquity, were referred, such was, even then, their ancient date, to an unknown, or uncertain, and fabulous origin.-Such was Egypt, and such her circumstances.—It is easy to judge, how favourable a residence, in such a country, must have proved, to that enthusiasm, which is of the very essence of poetry. There were other particulars, in which a residence in Egypt was calculated, to excite solemn thoughts, and fill the mind with enthusiastic phantasies.—The venerable ancient traditions of the Egyptians-their use of hieroglyphical representations, and mysterious emblems, such as, at this day, cover the walls of the venerable ruins, that remain of the ancient edifices of the Egyptians the number of the priests-the variety of their religious rites and ceremonies-the awful and profound nature of the mysteries, which were celebrated with studied pomp, and at which the elect were called to assist; many of which were, in process of time, adopted from them, by the nations of Greece-the sublime and metaphysical theology of the Egyptians-their deep disquisitions, their grand and uncommon notions, their allegorical precepts, respecting the cosmogony, and other philosophical subjects, notions, and precepts, which were borrowed by Orpheus, the great introducer of the rites of the heathen worship, among the Greeks; and who was in such request, that he obtained, by way of |
