DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9260#0085
50 P. OVTOII METAMOR-
Omnia concutiens paullum fubfedit,- & infra,
Quam folet effe ,fuit: ficcaque it a 'voce locuta
eft:
51 placet hoc, meruique, quid b tua fulmina
ceffant,
Summe Deum ? liceat periturae viribus ignis,
280
Jgne per ire tuo; clademque auBore lev are.
Vix equidem fauces haec ipfa in verba refolvo.
(Prefferat or a vapor) toftos en adfpice crines?
Inque oculis tantum, tantum fuper or afavillae.
Hosne mihi fruttus ,hunc fertilitatis honor em
285
Ojficiique refers quod adunci vulnera aratri,
Raftrorumque fero, totoque exerceor anno ?
Quod pecori frondes , alimentaque mitia,
fruges,
Humano generi, vobis quod tura minijlro ?
Sed tamen exitium fac me meruiffe : quid
undae, 2() O
Quid meruit frater ? cur illi tradita forte
Aequora decrefcunt, & ab aethere longius
abfunt ?
Quod fi nec fratris, nec te me a gratia tangit ,*
At coeli miferere tut. circumfpice utrumque;
Fumat uterque polus : quos fi vitiaverit
ignis, 295
Atria veftra ruent. Atlas en ipfe labor at:
Vixque fuis bumeris candentem fufinet axem.
Si fret a, fi terrae pereunt, fi regia coeli >•
In chaos antiquum confundimur. eripe flam-
mis,
Si quid adhuc fuperejl : & rerum confule
fummae. goo
Dixerat haec Tellus : neque enim tolerare
vaporem
Ulterius potuit, nec dicere plura: fuumque
Retulit os in fe, propioraque manibus antra.
P.OVID'S METAMOR-
(But firft, impatient of the fultry Heat,
Sunk deeper down, and fought a cooler Seat:)
If you, great King of Gods, my Death approve,
j, And I deferve it, let me die by Jove j
„ If I muft perifli by the Force of Fire,
„ Let me tranfix'd with Thunderbolts expire.
See,whilft I fpeak,my Breath the Vapours choak,
(For now her Face lay wrapt in Clouds of Smoak)
See my finge'd Hair, behold my faded Eye,
And wither'd Face, where Heaps of Cinders lye!
And does the Plow for This my Body tear ? ")
„ This the Reward for all the Fruits I bear,
,, Tortur'd with Rakes,and harrafs'd all the Year ? \
,, That Herbs for Cattle daily I renew,
,, And Food for Man, and Frankincenfe for You ?
,, But grant Me guilty; what has Neptune done ?
Why are his Waters boiling in the Sun ?
The wavy Empire, which by Lot was giv'n,
Why does it wafte, and further flirink from
Heav'n ?
If I nor He your Pity can provoke,
See your own Heav'ns, the Heav'ns begin to
{moke!
„ Shou'd once the Sparkles catch thofe bright
Abodes,
„ Deftruction feizes on the Heav'ns and Gods;
„ Atlas becomes unequal to his Freight,
„ And almoft faints beneath the glowing Weight.
„ If Heav'n, and Earth, and Sea, together burn,
All muft again into their Chaos turn.
Apply fbme fpeedy Cure, prevent our Fate,
And fuccour Nature, e'er it be too late.
She ceas'd, for choak'd with Vapours round her
fpread,
Down to the deepeft Shades flie funk her Head.
3i
3i
3i
33
33
33
33
THE EXPLICATION OF THE FIRST FABLE.
IT cannot be denyed that Fables have feveral Mean-
ings: But it is certain that Hiftory is always the
Foundation of them. Events that happen'd in the
early Ages of the World , and the Adventures of
Thofe that conduded Colonies, and founded King-
doms , were , for a while , preferved by Tradition;
but pa fling through the Hands of the Poets , who
were the nrft Hiftorians, they receiv'd, from the Pri-
vilege that Poetry aflumes, all thofe Ornaments which
have fo much disguifed them. Touches of Morality
taken from thefe Subjects, Allufions to Natural Philo-
fophy and Politicks, when they would allow of them,
have all been made ufe of in the moft ingenious man-
ner imaginable. This was the firft Condition of Fa-
bles, which, being in their Origine merely Hiftorical,
became , in Procefs of Time, Moral, Philofophical,
Political, &c. The Platonick Philofophers, prefled
by the Primitive Fathers of the Church, who quite
beat down and deftroyed the Syflrem of Idolatry, had
recourfe to fuch Allegories as thofe Fables would ad-
mit of; and pafling over the Hiftorical part, which
was the Foundation of them , they endeavour'd to
force out a Moral that might skreen them from Abfur-
dity. It is thus that they cover'd the greateft part of the
Follies and Crimes of their Gods: And from thence
has proceeded that vaft Number of Moral Explications
which we meet with in their Writings, and which fe-
veral other Authors adopted in the fucceeding Ages.
If we look upon the Fable in this Light only, the
Explication of it will not coft us much Pains: We
mall immediatly fay that the Adventure of Phaeton
reprefents the Undertaking of a hot-headed rafh young
Man i who confults his Courage much more than
Wisdom and Prudence. But this very Phaeton is a
real Perfon, Apollodorus (1) has given us his Genea-
logy ;
(0 Lib. Ill
Omnia concutiens paullum fubfedit,- & infra,
Quam folet effe ,fuit: ficcaque it a 'voce locuta
eft:
51 placet hoc, meruique, quid b tua fulmina
ceffant,
Summe Deum ? liceat periturae viribus ignis,
280
Jgne per ire tuo; clademque auBore lev are.
Vix equidem fauces haec ipfa in verba refolvo.
(Prefferat or a vapor) toftos en adfpice crines?
Inque oculis tantum, tantum fuper or afavillae.
Hosne mihi fruttus ,hunc fertilitatis honor em
285
Ojficiique refers quod adunci vulnera aratri,
Raftrorumque fero, totoque exerceor anno ?
Quod pecori frondes , alimentaque mitia,
fruges,
Humano generi, vobis quod tura minijlro ?
Sed tamen exitium fac me meruiffe : quid
undae, 2() O
Quid meruit frater ? cur illi tradita forte
Aequora decrefcunt, & ab aethere longius
abfunt ?
Quod fi nec fratris, nec te me a gratia tangit ,*
At coeli miferere tut. circumfpice utrumque;
Fumat uterque polus : quos fi vitiaverit
ignis, 295
Atria veftra ruent. Atlas en ipfe labor at:
Vixque fuis bumeris candentem fufinet axem.
Si fret a, fi terrae pereunt, fi regia coeli >•
In chaos antiquum confundimur. eripe flam-
mis,
Si quid adhuc fuperejl : & rerum confule
fummae. goo
Dixerat haec Tellus : neque enim tolerare
vaporem
Ulterius potuit, nec dicere plura: fuumque
Retulit os in fe, propioraque manibus antra.
P.OVID'S METAMOR-
(But firft, impatient of the fultry Heat,
Sunk deeper down, and fought a cooler Seat:)
If you, great King of Gods, my Death approve,
j, And I deferve it, let me die by Jove j
„ If I muft perifli by the Force of Fire,
„ Let me tranfix'd with Thunderbolts expire.
See,whilft I fpeak,my Breath the Vapours choak,
(For now her Face lay wrapt in Clouds of Smoak)
See my finge'd Hair, behold my faded Eye,
And wither'd Face, where Heaps of Cinders lye!
And does the Plow for This my Body tear ? ")
„ This the Reward for all the Fruits I bear,
,, Tortur'd with Rakes,and harrafs'd all the Year ? \
,, That Herbs for Cattle daily I renew,
,, And Food for Man, and Frankincenfe for You ?
,, But grant Me guilty; what has Neptune done ?
Why are his Waters boiling in the Sun ?
The wavy Empire, which by Lot was giv'n,
Why does it wafte, and further flirink from
Heav'n ?
If I nor He your Pity can provoke,
See your own Heav'ns, the Heav'ns begin to
{moke!
„ Shou'd once the Sparkles catch thofe bright
Abodes,
„ Deftruction feizes on the Heav'ns and Gods;
„ Atlas becomes unequal to his Freight,
„ And almoft faints beneath the glowing Weight.
„ If Heav'n, and Earth, and Sea, together burn,
All muft again into their Chaos turn.
Apply fbme fpeedy Cure, prevent our Fate,
And fuccour Nature, e'er it be too late.
She ceas'd, for choak'd with Vapours round her
fpread,
Down to the deepeft Shades flie funk her Head.
3i
3i
3i
33
33
33
33
THE EXPLICATION OF THE FIRST FABLE.
IT cannot be denyed that Fables have feveral Mean-
ings: But it is certain that Hiftory is always the
Foundation of them. Events that happen'd in the
early Ages of the World , and the Adventures of
Thofe that conduded Colonies, and founded King-
doms , were , for a while , preferved by Tradition;
but pa fling through the Hands of the Poets , who
were the nrft Hiftorians, they receiv'd, from the Pri-
vilege that Poetry aflumes, all thofe Ornaments which
have fo much disguifed them. Touches of Morality
taken from thefe Subjects, Allufions to Natural Philo-
fophy and Politicks, when they would allow of them,
have all been made ufe of in the moft ingenious man-
ner imaginable. This was the firft Condition of Fa-
bles, which, being in their Origine merely Hiftorical,
became , in Procefs of Time, Moral, Philofophical,
Political, &c. The Platonick Philofophers, prefled
by the Primitive Fathers of the Church, who quite
beat down and deftroyed the Syflrem of Idolatry, had
recourfe to fuch Allegories as thofe Fables would ad-
mit of; and pafling over the Hiftorical part, which
was the Foundation of them , they endeavour'd to
force out a Moral that might skreen them from Abfur-
dity. It is thus that they cover'd the greateft part of the
Follies and Crimes of their Gods: And from thence
has proceeded that vaft Number of Moral Explications
which we meet with in their Writings, and which fe-
veral other Authors adopted in the fucceeding Ages.
If we look upon the Fable in this Light only, the
Explication of it will not coft us much Pains: We
mall immediatly fay that the Adventure of Phaeton
reprefents the Undertaking of a hot-headed rafh young
Man i who confults his Courage much more than
Wisdom and Prudence. But this very Phaeton is a
real Perfon, Apollodorus (1) has given us his Genea-
logy ;
(0 Lib. Ill