The conclusion of the hymn to Apollo shows that he had a satirical turn, even in his religious compositions. His enemies alleged, that he was incompetent to the composition of any extended work. He answers them sarcastically by versifying the proverb, Μέγα βιβλίον, μέγα κακόν. But he wrote his Hecate, a lost work of magnitude, to refute the calumny.

Ο φθόνος ̓Απόλλωνος ἐς οὔαλα λάθριος εἶπεν,
Οὐκ ἄγαμαι τὸν ἀοιδὸν, ὃς οὐχ, ὅσα πόνος, ἀείδει.
Τὸν φθόνον ̓Απόλλων ποδί τ ̓ ἤλασεν, ὧδέ τ ̓ ἔειπεν·
Ασσυρίου ποταμοῖο μέγας ῥόος, ἀλλὰ τὰ πολλὰ
Λύματα γῆς καὶ πολλὸν ἐφ ̓ ὕδατι συρφετὸν ἕλκει·
Δηοῖ δ ̓ οὐκ ἀπὸ παντὸς ὕδωρ φορέουσι Μέλισσαι,
̓Αλλ' ἥτις καθαρή τε καὶ ἀχράανος ἀνέρπει
Πίδακος ἐξ ἱερῆς ὀλίγη λιβὰς, ἄκρον ἄωλον.

The following passage, in the hymn to Jupiter, contains an important sentiment. The poet is speaking of Jupiter's title to the empire of Heaven, as acknowledged without jealousy by his two brothers; and he is philosopher enough to question the rationality of the old story; which makes the three sons of Saturn divide the three kingdoms by lot:

Δηναιοὶ δ ̓ οὐ πάμπαν ἀληθέες ἦσαν ἀοιδοί·

Φάνιο πάλον Κρονίδῃσι διὰ τρίχα δώματα νεῖμαι·
Τίς δέ κ' ἐπ ̓ Οὐλύμπῳ τε καὶ ἄΐδι κλῆρον ἐρύσσαι,
Ος μάλα μὴ νενίηλος; ἐπ ̓ ἰσαίῃ γὰρ ἔοικε

Πήλασθαι τὰ δὲ τόσσον ὅσον διὰ πλεῖςον ἔχουσι.

The farewell prayer to the deity has an extraordinary mixture, which in a very early poet might

be considered as simple and natural, but in a courtier savours of sarcasm or luxury:

Χαῖρε μέγα, Κρονίδη πανυπέρτατε, δῶτος ἐάων,
Δῶτος ἀπημονίης· τεὰ δ ̓ ἔργμαῖα τίς κεν ἀείδοι
Οὐ γένετ', οὐκ ἔςαι· τίς κεν Διὸς ἔργματ ̓ ἀείσαι ;
Χαῖρε, πάτερ, χαῖρ ̓ αὖθι· δίδου δ' ἀρειήν τ ̓ ἄφενόν τε.
Οὔτ ̓ ἀρελῆς ἄτες ὄλβος ἐπίςαλαι ἄνδρας ἄεξειν,
Οὔτ ̓ ἀρετὴ ἀφένοιο· δίδου δ ̓ ἀρετήν τε καὶ ὄλβον.

As a specimen of his sepulchral poetry, we may take, in addition to his inscription on his father, the following epitaph on a friend drowned at sea:

Ωφελε μηδ' ἐγένοντο θοαὶ νέες· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἡμεῖς

Παῖδα Διοκλείδου Σώπολιν ἐςένομεν·

Νῦν δ' ὁ μὲν εἶν ἁλι που φέρεται νέκυς· ἀντὶ δ ̓ ἐκείνου
Οὔνομα καὶ κενεὸν σῆμα παρερχόμεθα.

But the most distinguished of his very numerous pieces were those in the elegiac strain, of which only Minerva's Bath has come down to posterity. Yet his compositions in this line constituted the firm foundation of his character among the ancients, who estimated his merit in this elegant and pathetic style most highly. The poem on Queen Berenice's hair still lives in the translation of Catullus, and proves that he was worthy to rank with the Roman triumvirate in the expression of such natural thoughts, as Ovid, who imputes art without genius to him, could not equal with all his wit and refined imagery. It seems that Ovid was like le commun des Martyrs; and saw most clearly those faults in others, which were most rank, but to which he was completely blind, in himself. The following lines will give some notion of the turn of

thought. The star is supposed to speak in the language of compliment to its mistress :

Sed quamquam me nocte premunt vestigia Divûm,
Luce autem canæ Tethyi restituor;
(Pace tua fari hæc liceat, Rhamnusia virgo;
Namque ego non ullo vera timore tegam ;
Non, si me infestis discerpant sidera dictis,
Condita quin veri pectoris evolüam)

Non his tam lætor rebus, quam me abfore, semper
Abfore me a dominæ vertice discrucior :

Quîcum ego, dum virgo quondam fuit, omnibus expers
Unguentis, una millia multa bibi.

Sidera cur retinent? utinam coma regia fiam:
Proximus Hydrochoi fulgeret Oarion.

The general character of the hymns, which constitute the largest portion of this Greek poet's extant works, partakes much of the lyric, though written in heroic verse; they are composed in a free style, with much spirit, and full of curious matter, illustrative of other authors on subjects of rites, ceremonies, and, mythology. The accumulation of epithets and proper names, or what the French call sobriquets, may appear tiresome to the reader who reads only for momentary entertainment; but the mythologist, the enquirer into early antiquity, the comparer of idolatrous errors with the true knowledge, the investigator of the fallacious paths which polytheism trod, after its descent from the immoveable mountain of one and undivided truth; of the labyrinth and the darkness in which it wandered after the light was hidden from its eyes, and the guide withdrawn from its steps, in consequence of its waywardness and obstinacy, may find much food for speculation in the Hymns of Callimachus.

ON HORACE.

Sapiens, vitatu quidque petitu

Sit melius, causas reddet tibi: mî satis est, si
Traditum ab antiquis morem servare, tuamque,
Dum custodis eges, vitam famamque tueri
Incolumem possim : simul ac duraverit ætas
Membra animumque tuum, nabis sine cortice.
HOR. lib. i. sat. 4.

HORACE, as an article in biography, lies within a very narrow compass. Suetonius despatches him in three pages. His story may be told almost in three lines. He was a man of humble birth, pa. tronised for his talents, which were of the most marketable kind: brilliant, and convivial. He became a court poet, and consequently a rake. Had he not been a time-server and a turn-coat, he could not so have risen: but he was not a malignant turn-coat, and he did not vilify his brother poets of more strict principle, either alive or dead. In fact, he lived on terms of friendship and good-will with all of them who were respectable. He was a poet of that class in society, which in modern language is termed the man of fashion; and however his life or his writings might fall short, or even offend against what the strict moralist or the divine might require, we shall find him to have retained more right principle, more genuine feeling, more heart, than a licentious court usually leaves to the

ministers or the masters of its revels. In this point of view it is interesting to examine Horace's character, as exhibited by himself in his Satires and Epistles.

His filial piety was most creditable to good feeling. He was far from the affectation of wishing to sink his parentage: on the contrary, he delights in talking of his father; and represents him, both in the passage at the head of this essay, and in others, in a most interesting light. Yet Horace, with his usual good taste, is not led by partiality to make too much of his father. The old man was libertinus: consequently must have been plain in his habits, and appears to have been of more than average soundness in understanding: but the propriety of the character is strictly preserved, and has been warmly eulogised by the critics. The father disclaims any power of argumentation, and tells his son that Sapiens, the philosopher, will not only teach him what is better to be avoided, and what to be pursued, but will assign the reasons why one action is right and another wrong, and will give him that insight into the nature of things, which none but a professor or a habitual student can communicate. The knowledge necessary for this purpose he disclaims, and is too modest to consider himself as qualified to engage in a discussion on morals as an abstract question. But he can tell his son what custom will exact from him; he can preserve vitam famamque; the object of his care is to guard him against rashness, and to hinder him from incurring those dangers, which dissolute habits of life never fail to produce.

The passage, of which I have quoted a portion, may be considered as a summary of parental duty,