DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9260#0030
PREFACE.
Quodque cupit, fperat; fuaque ilium Oracula fallunt.
And again,
The River Achelous combats Hercules, and afliimes feveral Shapes in vain, then puts on at laft that of a
Snake, the Heroe fmiles in Contempt.
Cunarum labor eft angues fuperare mearum.
Ovid never excells himfelf fo much, as when he takes Occafion to touch upon the Paflion of Love > all
Hearts are in a manner fenfible of the fame Emotions> and, like Inftruments tun'd Unifons, if a String of
any one of them be ftruck, the reft by confent, vibrate.
Trocris is jealous of Cephalus me endeavours to be confirm'd in her Fears, but hopes the contrary,
, Speratque miferrima falli.
The next is not lefs Natural,
,_ Sed cunbta timemus amantes.
Biblis is in love with Caunus. The Struggle is betwixt her unlawful Flame, and her Honour.
She's all Confufion at the Thoughts of dilcovering her Paflion -
—— miferere fatentis amorem.
She attempts to write,
Incipit & dubitat: fcribit, damnatque tabellas,
Et not at i & dolet: mutat, culpatque, probatque.
In the End, Inclination, as it does always, gets the better of Difcretion.
This laft Fable mows how touching! y the Poet argues in Love Affairs, as well as thofe of Medea, and
Scylla. The two laft are left by their Heroes, and their Reflections are very Natural, and Affecting. Ovid
feem'd here to have had Virgil's Paflion of Dido in his Eye, but with this difference ■, the one had convers'd
much with Ladies, and knew they lov'd to talk a great deal: The other confider'd no lefs, what was natural
for them to fay, than what became them to fay.
Virzd has , through the whole Management of this Rencounter , difcover d a mod finifiYd Judgment.
t/Eneas like other Men, likes for Convenience, and leaves for greater. T>ido, like other Ladies, refents
the Ne^left, enumerates the Obligations the Lover is under, upbraids him with Ingratitude, threatens him
with Revenue, them by and by fubmits, begs for Companion, and has recourfe to Tears.
It appears0 from this Piece, that Virgil was a difcerning Matter in the Paflion of Love: And they that con-
fider the Spirit, and Turn of that inimitable Line - Qui Bavium non odit - cannot doubt but he
had an equal Talent for Satyr. .
Nor does the Genius of Ovid more exert on the Subject or Love, than on all others. In the Contention
of Aiax, Ulyjfes his Elocution is mod nervous, and perfwading. Where he endeavours to diflwade Mankind
from indulging carnivorous Appetites in his Pythagorean Philofophy, how emphatical is his Reafoning!
Quid meruere boves, animal fine fraude, dolifque,
Innocuum, fimplex, natum tolerare labor em ?
Immemor eft demum, nec frugum munere dignus
Qui potuit curvi dempto modb pondere aratri
Ruricolam maclare fuum - Met. B. i f.
I think Agricolam had been ftronger, but the Authority of Manufcripts does not warrant that Emendation.
Through the whole Texture of his Work, Ovid difcovers the higheft Humanity, and a moft exceeding
good Nature. The Virtuous in Diftrefs are always his Concern; and his Wit contrives to give them an Im-
mortality with himfelf.
He feems to have taken the moft Pains in the Firft, and Second Book of the Metamorphofes , though the
Thirteenth abounds with Sentiments moft moving, and with calamitous Incidents, introduced with great Art.
The Poet had here in View, the Tragedy of Hecuba in Euripides •, and 'tis a wonder, it has never been at-
tempted in our own Tongue. The Houfe of Triam is deftroy'd, his Royal Daughter a Sacrifice to the Manes
of him that occafion'd it. She is fore'd from the Arms of her unhappy Friends, and hurry'd to the Altar,
where fhe behaves her felf with a Decency becoming her Sex, and a Magnanimity equal to her Blood, and
fo very affecting, that even the Prieft wept.
Ipfe etiam ft ens, invitufque facer do s, &c.
She fhows no Concern at approaching Death, but on the Account of her old, unfortunate Mother,
Mors tantum vellem matrem mea fallere pojfit.
Mater obeft, minuitque necis mea gaudiaquamvis
Non mea mors illi: verum fua vita gemenda eft.
Then begs her Body may be deliver'd to her without Ranfom,
Genetrici corpus inemptum
Redditei neve, auro redimat jus trifle fepulchri,
Sed lacrymis: tunc, cum poterat, re dime bat & auro.
The unhappy Queen laments, fhe is not able to give her Daughter royal Burial,
Non h£c eft fortuna domus -
Then takes the Body in her decrepid Arms, and halts to the Sea to wafh off the Blood,
—— Ad littus pajfu procejfit anili
Albentes laniata comas. > The
t
Quodque cupit, fperat; fuaque ilium Oracula fallunt.
And again,
The River Achelous combats Hercules, and afliimes feveral Shapes in vain, then puts on at laft that of a
Snake, the Heroe fmiles in Contempt.
Cunarum labor eft angues fuperare mearum.
Ovid never excells himfelf fo much, as when he takes Occafion to touch upon the Paflion of Love > all
Hearts are in a manner fenfible of the fame Emotions> and, like Inftruments tun'd Unifons, if a String of
any one of them be ftruck, the reft by confent, vibrate.
Trocris is jealous of Cephalus me endeavours to be confirm'd in her Fears, but hopes the contrary,
, Speratque miferrima falli.
The next is not lefs Natural,
,_ Sed cunbta timemus amantes.
Biblis is in love with Caunus. The Struggle is betwixt her unlawful Flame, and her Honour.
She's all Confufion at the Thoughts of dilcovering her Paflion -
—— miferere fatentis amorem.
She attempts to write,
Incipit & dubitat: fcribit, damnatque tabellas,
Et not at i & dolet: mutat, culpatque, probatque.
In the End, Inclination, as it does always, gets the better of Difcretion.
This laft Fable mows how touching! y the Poet argues in Love Affairs, as well as thofe of Medea, and
Scylla. The two laft are left by their Heroes, and their Reflections are very Natural, and Affecting. Ovid
feem'd here to have had Virgil's Paflion of Dido in his Eye, but with this difference ■, the one had convers'd
much with Ladies, and knew they lov'd to talk a great deal: The other confider'd no lefs, what was natural
for them to fay, than what became them to fay.
Virzd has , through the whole Management of this Rencounter , difcover d a mod finifiYd Judgment.
t/Eneas like other Men, likes for Convenience, and leaves for greater. T>ido, like other Ladies, refents
the Ne^left, enumerates the Obligations the Lover is under, upbraids him with Ingratitude, threatens him
with Revenue, them by and by fubmits, begs for Companion, and has recourfe to Tears.
It appears0 from this Piece, that Virgil was a difcerning Matter in the Paflion of Love: And they that con-
fider the Spirit, and Turn of that inimitable Line - Qui Bavium non odit - cannot doubt but he
had an equal Talent for Satyr. .
Nor does the Genius of Ovid more exert on the Subject or Love, than on all others. In the Contention
of Aiax, Ulyjfes his Elocution is mod nervous, and perfwading. Where he endeavours to diflwade Mankind
from indulging carnivorous Appetites in his Pythagorean Philofophy, how emphatical is his Reafoning!
Quid meruere boves, animal fine fraude, dolifque,
Innocuum, fimplex, natum tolerare labor em ?
Immemor eft demum, nec frugum munere dignus
Qui potuit curvi dempto modb pondere aratri
Ruricolam maclare fuum - Met. B. i f.
I think Agricolam had been ftronger, but the Authority of Manufcripts does not warrant that Emendation.
Through the whole Texture of his Work, Ovid difcovers the higheft Humanity, and a moft exceeding
good Nature. The Virtuous in Diftrefs are always his Concern; and his Wit contrives to give them an Im-
mortality with himfelf.
He feems to have taken the moft Pains in the Firft, and Second Book of the Metamorphofes , though the
Thirteenth abounds with Sentiments moft moving, and with calamitous Incidents, introduced with great Art.
The Poet had here in View, the Tragedy of Hecuba in Euripides •, and 'tis a wonder, it has never been at-
tempted in our own Tongue. The Houfe of Triam is deftroy'd, his Royal Daughter a Sacrifice to the Manes
of him that occafion'd it. She is fore'd from the Arms of her unhappy Friends, and hurry'd to the Altar,
where fhe behaves her felf with a Decency becoming her Sex, and a Magnanimity equal to her Blood, and
fo very affecting, that even the Prieft wept.
Ipfe etiam ft ens, invitufque facer do s, &c.
She fhows no Concern at approaching Death, but on the Account of her old, unfortunate Mother,
Mors tantum vellem matrem mea fallere pojfit.
Mater obeft, minuitque necis mea gaudiaquamvis
Non mea mors illi: verum fua vita gemenda eft.
Then begs her Body may be deliver'd to her without Ranfom,
Genetrici corpus inemptum
Redditei neve, auro redimat jus trifle fepulchri,
Sed lacrymis: tunc, cum poterat, re dime bat & auro.
The unhappy Queen laments, fhe is not able to give her Daughter royal Burial,
Non h£c eft fortuna domus -
Then takes the Body in her decrepid Arms, and halts to the Sea to wafh off the Blood,
—— Ad littus pajfu procejfit anili
Albentes laniata comas. > The
t