The Poetical Works of Mark Akenside Part 23

ODE XIII.

TO THE AUTHOR OF MEMOIRS OF THE HOUSE OF BRANDENBURG. 1751.

1 The men renown'd as chiefs of human race, And born to lead in counsels or in arms, Have seldom turn'd their feet from glory's chase To dwell with books, or court the Muse's charms.

Yet, to our eyes if haply time hath brought Some genuine transcript of their calmer thought, There still we own the wise, the great, or good; And Caesar there and Xenophon are seen, As clear in spirit and sublime of mien, As on Pharsalian plains, or by the a.s.syrian flood.

2 Say thou too, Frederic, was not this thy aim?

Thy vigils could the student's lamp engage, Except for this, except that future Fame Might read thy genius in the faithful page?

That if hereafter Envy shall presume With words irreverent to inscribe thy tomb, And baser weeds upon thy palms to fling, That hence posterity may try thy reign, a.s.sert thy treaties, and thy wars explain, And view in native lights the hero and the king.

3 O evil foresight and pernicious care!

Wilt thou indeed abide by this appeal?

Shall we the lessons of thy pen compare With private honour or with public zeal?

Whence, then, at things divine those darts of scorn?

Why are the woes, which virtuous men have borne For sacred truth, a prey to laughter given?

What fiend, what foe of Nature urged thy arm The Almighty of his sceptre to disarm, To push this earth adrift and leave it loose from Heaven?

4 Ye G.o.dlike shades of legislators old, Ye who made Rome victorious, Athens wise, Ye first of mortals with the bless'd enroll'd, Say, did not horror in your bosoms rise, When thus, by impious vanity impell'd, A magistrate, a monarch, ye beheld Affronting civil order's holiest bands, Those bands which ye so labour'd to improve, Those hopes and fears of justice from above, Which tamed the savage world to your divine commands?

ODE XIV.

THE COMPLAINT.

1 Away! away!

Tempt me no more, insidious love: Thy soothing sway Long did my youthful bosom prove: At length thy treason is discern'd, At length some dear-bought caution earn'd: Away! nor hope my riper age to move.

2 I know, I see Her merit. Needs it now be shown, Alas, to me?

How often, to myself unknown, The graceful, gentle, virtuous maid Have I admired! How often said, What joy to call a heart like hers one's own!

3 But, flattering G.o.d, O squanderer of content and ease, In thy abode Will care's rude lesson learn to please?

O say, deceiver, hast thou won Proud Fortune to attend thy throne, Or placed thy friends above her stern decrees?

ODE XV.

ON DOMESTIC MANNERS.

(UNFINISHED.)

1 Meek Honour, female shame, Oh! whither, sweetest offspring of the sky, From Albion dost thou fly, Of Albion's daughters once the favourite fame?

O beauty's only friend, Who giv'st her pleasing reverence to inspire; Who selfish, bold desire Dost to esteem and dear affection turn; Alas, of thee forlorn What joy, what praise, what hope can life pretend?

2 Behold, our youths in vain Concerning nuptial happiness inquire: Our maids no more aspire The arts of bashful Hymen to attain; But with triumphant eyes And cheeks impa.s.sive, as they move along, Ask homage of the throng.

The lover swears that in a harlot's arms Are found the self-same charms, And worthless and deserted lives and dies.

3 Behold, unbless'd at home, The father of the cheerless household mourns: The night in vain returns, For Love and glad Content at distance roam; While she, in whom his mind Seeks refuge from the day's dull task of cares, To meet him she prepares, Through noise and spleen and all the gamester's art, A listless, hara.s.s'd heart, Where not one tender thought can welcome find.

4 'Twas thus, along the sh.o.r.e Of Thames, Britannia's guardian Genius heard, From many a tongue preferr'd, Of strife and grief the fond invective lore: At which the queen divine Indignant, with her adamantine spear Like thunder sounding near, Smote the red cross upon her silver s.h.i.+eld, And thus her wrath reveal'd; (I watch'd her awful words, and made them mine.)

NOTES.

BOOK FIRST.

ODE XVIII, STANZA II.--2.

Lycurgus the Lacedemonian lawgiver brought into Greece from Asia Minor the first complete copy of Homer's works. At Plataea was fought the decisive battle between the Persian army and the united militia of Greece under Pausanias and Aristides. Cimon the Athenian erected a trophy in Cyprus for two great victories gained on the same day over the Persians by sea and land. Diodorus Siculus has preserved the inscription which the Athenians affixed to the consecrated spoils, after this great success; in which it is very remarkable that the greatness of the occasion has raised the manner of expression above the usual simplicity and modesty of all other ancient inscriptions. It is this:--

[Greek: EX. OU. G. EUROPAeN. ASIAS. DIChA. PONTOS. ENEIME.

KAI. POLEAS. ONAeTON. ThOUROS. ARAeS. EPEChEI.

OUDEN. PO. TOIOUTON. EPIChThONION. GENET. ANDRON.

ERGON. EN. AePEIROI. KAI. KATA. PONOTON. AMA.

OIAE. GAR. EN. KUPROI. MAeDOUS. POLLOUS. OLESANTES.

PhOINIKON. EKATON. NAUS. ELON. EN. PELAGEI.

ANDRON. PLAeThOUSAS. META. D. ESENEN. ASIS. UP. AUTON.

PLAeGEIS. AMPhOTERAIS. ChERSI. KRATEI. POLEMOU.]

The following translation is almost literal:--

Since first the sea from Asia's hostile coast Divided Europe, and the G.o.d of war a.s.sail'd imperious cities; never yet, At once among the waves and on the sh.o.r.e, Hath such a labour been achieved by men Who earth inhabit. They, whose arms the Medes In Cyprus felt pernicious, they, the same, Have won from skilful Tyre an hundred s.h.i.+ps Crowded with warriors. Asia groans, in both Her hands sore smitten, by the might of war.

STANZA II.--3.

Pindar was contemporary with Aristides and Cimon, in whom the glory of ancient Greece was at its height. When Xerxes invaded Greece, Pindar was true to the common interest of his country; though his fellow-citizens, the Thebans, had sold themselves to the Persian king.

In one of his odes he expresses the great distress and anxiety of his mind, occasioned by the vast preparations of Xerxes against Greece (_Isthm_. 8). In another he celebrates the victories of Salamis, Plataea, and Himera (_Pyth_. 1). It will be necessary to add two or three other particulars of his life, real or fabulous, in order to explain what follows in the text concerning him. First, then, he was thought to be so great a favourite of Apollo, that the priests of that deity allotted him a constant share of their offerings. It was said of him, as of some other ill.u.s.trious men, that at his birth a swarm of bees lighted on his lips, and fed him with their honey. It was also a tradition concerning him, that Pan was heard to recite his poetry, and seen dancing to one of his hymns on the mountains near Thebes. But a real historical fact in his life is, that the Thebans imposed a large fine upon him on account of the veneration which he expressed in his poems for that heroic spirit shown by the people of Athens in defence of the common liberty, which his own fellow-citizens had shamefully betrayed. And as the argument of this ode implies, that great poetical talents and high sentiments of liberty do reciprocally produce and a.s.sist each other, so Pindar is perhaps the most exemplary proof of this connexion which occurs in history. The Thebans were remarkable, in general, for a slavish disposition through all the fortunes of their commonwealth; at the time of its ruin by Philip; and even in its best state, under the administration of Pelopidas and Epaminondas: and every one knows they were no less remarkable for great dulness and want of all genius.

That Pindar should have equally distinguished himself from the rest of his fellow-citizens in both these respects seems somewhat extraordinary, and is scarce to be accounted for but by the preceding observation.

STANZA III.--3.