Poetical Works of Akenside
M >>
Mark Akenside >> Poetical Works of Akenside
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 | 17 |
18 |
19 |
20
NOTES.
* * * * *
[Footnote A: '_Love,.... Elder than Chaos_.'--L. 25.
Hesiod in his Theogony gives a different account, and makes Chaos the
eldest of beings, though he assigns to Love neither father nor
superior; which circumstance is particularly mentioned by Phaedrus,
in Plato's Banquet, as being observable not only in Hesiod, but in
all other writers both of verse and prose; and on the same occasion
he cites a line from Parmenides, in which Love is expressly styled
the eldest of all the gods. Yet Aristophanes, in 'The Birds,' affirms,
that 'Chaos, and Night, and Erebus, and Tartarus were first; and
that Love was produced from an egg, which the sable-winged Night
deposited in the immense bosom of Erebus.' But it must be observed,
that the Love designed by this comic poet was always distinguished
from the other, from that original and self-existent being the TO ON
[Greek] or AGAThON [Greek] of Plato, and meant only the
DAeMIOURGOS [Greek] or second person of the old Grecian Trinity; to
whom is inscribed a hymn among those which pass under the name of
Orpheus, where he is called Protogonos, or the first-begotten, is
said to have been born of an egg, and is represented as the
principal or origin of all these external appearances of nature. In
the fragments of Orpheus, collected by Henry Stephens, he is named
Phanes, the discoverer or discloser, who unfolded the ideas of the
supreme intelligence, and exposed them to the perception of inferior
beings in this visible frame of the world; as Macrobius, and Proclus,
and Athenagoras, all agree to interpret the several passages of
Orpheus which they have preserved.
But the Love designed in our text is the one self-existent and
infinite mind; whom if the generality of ancient mythologists have
not introduced or truly described in accounting for the production
of the world and its appearances, yet, to a modern poet, it can be
no objection that he hath ventured to differ from them in this
particular, though in other respects he professeth to imitate their
manner and conform to their opinions; for, in these great points of
natural theology, they differ no less remarkably among themselves,
and are perpetually confounding the philosophical relations of
things with the traditionary circumstances of mythic history; upon
which very account Callimachus, in his hymn to Jupiter, declareth
his dissent from them concerning even an article of the national
creed, adding, that the ancient bards were by no means to be
depended on. And yet in the exordium of the old Argonautic poem,
ascribed to Orpheus, it is said, that 'Love, whom mortals in later
times call Phanes, was the father of the eternally-begotten Night;'
who is generally represented by these mythological poets as being
herself the parent of all things; and who, in the 'Indigitamenta,'
or Orphic Hymns, is said to be the same with Cypris, or Love itself.
Moreover, in the body of this Argonautic poem, where the personated
Orpheus introduceth himself singing to his lyre in reply to Chiron,
he celebrateth 'the obscure memory of Chaos, and the natures which
it contained within itself in a state of perpetual vicissitude; how
the heaven had its boundary determined, the generation of the earth,
the depth of the ocean, and also the sapient Love, the most ancient,
the self-sufficient, with all the beings which he produced when he
separated one thing from another.' Which noble passage is more
directly to Aristotle's purpose in the first book of his metaphysics
than any of those which he has there quoted, to show that the
ancient poets and mythologists agreed with Empedocles, Anaxagoras,
and the other more sober philosophers, in that natural anticipation
and common notion of mankind concerning the necessity of mind and
reason to account for the connexion, motion, and good order of the
world. For though neither this poem, nor the hymns which pass under
the same name, are, it should seem, the work of the real Orpheus,
yet beyond all question they are very ancient. The hymns, more
particularly, are allowed to be older than the invasion of Greece by
Xerxes, and were probably a set of public and solemn forms of
devotion, as appears by a passage in one of them which Demosthenes
hath almost literally cited in his first oration against Aristogiton,
as the saying of Orpheus, the founder of their most holy mysteries.
On this account, they are of higher authority than any other
mythological work now extant, the Theogony of Hesiod himself not
excepted. The poetry of them is often extremely noble; and the
mysterious air which prevails in them, together with its delightful
impression upon the mind, cannot be better expressed than in that
remarkable description with which they inspired the German editor,
Eschenbach, when he accidentally met with them at Leipsic:
--'Thesaurum me reperisse credidi,' says he, 'et profecto thesaurum
reperi. Incredibile dictu quo me sacro horrore afflaverint
indigitamenta ista deorum: nam et tempus ad illorum lectionem
eligere cogebar, quod vel solum horrorem incutere animo potest,
nocturnum; cum enim totam diem consumserim in contemplando urbis
splendore, et in adeundis, quibus scatet urbs illa, viris doctis;
sola nox restabat, quam Orpheo consecrare potui. In abyesum quendam
mysteriorum venerandae antiquitatis descendere videbar, quotiescunque
silente mundo, solis vigilantibus astris et luna, [Greek:
melanaephutous] istos hymnos ad manus sumsi.']
[Footnote B: '_Love, the sire of Fate_.'--L. 25. Fate is the
universal system of natural causes; the work of the Omnipotent Mind,
or of Love: so Minucius Felix:--'Quid enim aliud est fatum, quam
quod de unoquoque nostrum deus fatus est.' So also Cicero, in the
First Book on Divination:--'Fatum autem id appello, quod Graeci
EIMAPMENIIN: id est, ordinem seriemque causarum, cum causa causae nexa
rem ex se gignat--ex quo intelligitur, ut fatum sit non id quod
superstitiose, sed id quod physice dicitur causa asterna rerum.' To
the same purpose is the doctrine of Hierocles, in that excellent
fragment concerning Providence and Destiny. As to the three Fates,
or Destinies of the poets, they represented that part of the general
system of natural causes which relates to man, and to other mortal
beings: for so we are told in the hymn addressed to them among the
Orphic Indigitamenta, where they are called the daughters of Night
(or Love), and, contrary to the vulgar notion, are distinguished by
the epithets of gentle and tender-hearted. According to Hesiod, Theog.
ver. 904, they were the daughters of Jupiter and Themis: but in the
Orphic hymn to Venus, or Love, that goddess is directly styled the
mother of Necessity, and is represented, immediately after, as
governing the three Destinies, and conducting the whole system of
natural causes.]
[Footnote C: '_Chaos_.'--L. 26. The unformed, undigested mass of
Moses and Plato; which Milton calls 'The womb of nature.']
[Footnote D: '_Born of Fate was Time_.'--L. 26. Chronos, Saturn, or
Time, was, according to Apollodorus, the son of Caelum and Tellus.
But the author of the hymns gives it quite undisguised by
mythological language, and calls him plainly the offspring of the
earth and the starry heaven; that is, of Fate, as explained in the
preceding note.]
[Footnote E: '_Who many sons ... devour'd_.'--L. 27. The known fable
of Saturn devouring his children was certainly meant to imply the
dissolution of natural bodies, which are produced and destroyed by
Time.]
[Footnote F: '_The Child of Rhea_.'-L. 29. Jupiter, so called by
Pindar.]
[Footnote G: '_Drove him from the upper sky_.'--L. 29. That Jupiter
dethroned his father Saturn is recorded by all the mythologists.
Phurnutus, or Cornutus, the author of a little Greek treatise on the
nature of the gods, informs us that by Jupiter was meant the
vegetable soul of the world, which restrained and prevented those
uncertain alterations which Saturn, or Time, used formerly to cause
in the mundane system.]
[Footnote H: '_Then social reign'd The kindred powers_.'--L. 31.
Our mythology here supposeth, that before the establishment of the
vital, vegetative, plastic nature (represented by Jupiter), the four
elements were in a variable and unsettled condition, but afterwards
well-disposed, and at peace among themselves. Tethys was the wife
of the Ocean; Ops, or Rhea, the Earth; Vesta, the eldest daughter
of Saturn, Fire; and the Cloud-Compeller, or [Greek: Zeus
nephelaegeretaes], the Air, though he also represented the plastic
principle of nature, as may be seen in the Orphic hymn inscribed to
him.]
NOTE I.
'_The sedgy-crowned race_.'--L. 34.
The river-gods, who, according to Hesiod's Theogony, were the sons of
Oceanus and Tethys.
NOTE J.
'_From them are ye, O Naiads_.'--L. 37.
The descent of the Naiads is less certain than most points of the
Greek mythology. Homer, Odyss. xiii. [Greek: kourai Dios]. Virgil,
in the eighth book of the AEneid, speaks as if the Nymphs, or Naiads,
were the parents of the rivers: but in this he contradicts the
testimony of Hesiod, and evidently departs from the orthodox system,
which represented several nymphs as retaining to every single river.
On the other hand, Callimachus, who was very learned in all the
school-divinity of those times, in his hymn to Delos, maketh Peneus,
the great Thessalian river-god, the father of his nymphs: and Ovid,
in the fourteenth book of his Metamorphoses, mentions the Naiads of
Latium as the immediate daughters of the neighbouring river-gods.
Accordingly, the Naiads of particular rivers are occasionally, both
by Ovid and Statius, called by patronymic, from the name of the
river to which they belong.
NOTE K.
'_Syrian Daphne_.'--L. 40.
The grove of Daphne in Syria, near Antioch, was famous for its
delightful fountains.
NOTE L.
'_The tribes beloved by Paeon_.'--L. 40.
Mineral and medicinal springs. Paeon was the physician of the gods.
NOTE M.
'_The winged offspring_.'--L. 43.
The winds; who, according to Hesiod and Apollodorus, were the sons of
Astraeus and Aurora.
NOTE N.
'_Hyperion_.'--L. 46.
A son of Caelum and Tellus, and father of the Sun, who is thence
called, by Pindar, Hyperionides. But Hyperion is put by Homer in the
same manner as here, for the Sun himself.
NOTE O.
'_Your sallying streams_.'--L. 49.
The state of the atmosphere with respect to rest and motion is, in
several ways, affected by rivers and running streams; and that more
especially in hot seasons: first, they destroy its equilibrium, by
cooling those parts of it with which they are in contact; and
secondly, they communicate their own motion: and the air which is
thus moved by them, being left heated, is of consequence more
elastic than other parts of the atmosphere, and therefore fitter to
preserve and to propagate that motion.
NOTE P.
'_Delian king_.'--L. 70.
One of the epithets of Apollo, or the Sun, in the Orphic hymn
inscribed to him.
NOTE Q.
'_Chloris_.'--L. 79.
The ancient Greek name for Flora.
NOTE R.
'_Amalthea_.'--L. 83.
The mother of the first Bacchus, whose birth and education was
written, as Diodorus Siculus informs us, in the old Pelasgic
character, by Thymoetes, grandson to Laomedon, and contemporary with
Orpheus. Thymoetes had travelled over Libya to the country which
borders on the western ocean; there he saw the island of Nysa, and
learned from the inhabitants, that 'Ammon, King of Libya, was
married in former ages to Rhea, sister of Saturn and the Titans:
that he afterwards fell in love with a beautiful virgin whose name
was Amalthea; had by her a son, and gave her possession of a
neighbouring tract of land, wonderfully fertile; which in shape
nearly resembling the horn of an ox, was thence called the Hesperian
horn, and afterwards the horn of Amalthea: that fearing the jealousy
of Rhea, he concealed the young Bacchus in the island of Nysa;' the
beauty of which, Diodorus describes with great dignity and pomp of
style. This fable is one of the noblest in all the ancient mythology,
and seems to have made a particular impression on the imagination of
Milton; the only modern poet (unless perhaps it be necessary to
except Spenser) who, in these mysterious traditions of the poetic
story, had a heart to feel, and words to express, the simple and
solitary genius of antiquity. To raise the idea of his Paradise, he
prefers it even to--
'That Nysean isle
Girt by the river Triton, where old Cham
(Whom Gentiles Ammon call, and Libyan Jove)
Hid Amalthea and her florid son,
Young Bacchus, from his stepdame Rhea's eye.'
NOTE S.
'_Edonian band_.'--L. 94.
The priestesses and other ministers of Bacchus: so called from Edonus,
a mountain of Thrace, where his rites were celebrated.
NOTE T.
'_When Hermes_.'--L. 105.
Hermes, or Mercury, was the patron of commerce; in which benevolent
character he is addressed by the author of the Indigitamenta in
these beautiful lines:--
[Greek:
_Ermaeuen panton, kerdempore, lusimerimue,
O? cheiresthiu echei? oplun aremphe_?]
NOTE U.
_'Dispense the mineral treasure'_.--L. 121.
The merchants of Sidon and Tyre made frequent voyages to the coast of
Cornwall, from whence they carried home great quantities of tin.
NOTE V.
_'Hath he not won'_?--L. 136.
Mercury, the patron of commerce, being so greatly dependent on the
good offices of the Naiads, in return obtains for them the
friendship of Minerva, the goddess of war: for military power, at
least the naval part of it, hath constantly followed the
establishment of trade; which exemplifies the preceding observation,
that 'from bounty issueth power.'
NOTE W.
_'C'alpe ... Cantabrian surge'_--L. 143.
Gibraltar and the Bay of Biscay.
NOTE X.
_'AEgina's gloomy surge'_--L. 150.
Near this island, the Athenians obtained the victory of Salamis,
over the Persian navy.
NOTE Y.
_'Xerxes saw'_--L. 160.
This circumstance is recorded in that passage, perhaps the most
splendid among all the remains of ancient history, where Plutarch,
in his Life of Themistocles, describes the sea-fights of Artemisium
and Salamis.
NOTE Z.
_'Thyrsus'_--L. 204.
A staff, or spear, wreathed round with ivy: of constant use in the
bacchanalian mysteries.
NOTE AA.
_'Io Paean.'_--L. 227.
An exclamation of victory and triumph, derived from Apollo's
encounter with Python.
NOTE BB.
_'Rocky Cirrha'_--L. 252.
One of the summits of Parnassus, and sacred to Apollo. Near it were
several fountains, said to be frequented by the Muses. Nysa, the
other eminence of the same mountain, was dedicated to Bacchus.
NOTE CC.
_'Charm the mind of gods'_--L. 263.
This whole passage, concerning the effects of sacred music among the
gods, is taken from Pindar's first Pythian ode.
NOTE DD.
'_Phrygian pipe_.'--L. 297.
The Phrygian music was fantastic and turbulent, and fit to excite
disorderly passions.
NOTE EE.
'_The gates where Pallas holds
The guardian key_.'--L. 302.
It was the office of Minerva to be the guardian of walled cities;
whence she was named IIOAIAS and HOAIOYXOS, and had her statues
placed in their gates, being supposed to keep the keys; and on that
account styled KAHAOYXOS.
NOTE FF.
'Fate of sober Pentheus.'--L. 311.
Pentheus was torn in pieces by the bacchanalian priests and women,
for despising their mysteries.
NOTE GG.
'The cave Corycian:--L. 318.
Of this cave Pausanias, in his tenth book, gives the following
description:--'Between Delphi and the eminences of Parnassus is a
road to the grotto of Corycium, which has its name from the nymph
Corycia, and is by far the most remarkable which I have seen. One
may walk a great way into it without a torch. 'Tis of a considerable
height, and hath several springs within it; and yet a much greater
quantity of water distils from the shell and roof, so as to be
continually dropping on the ground. The people round Parnassus hold
it sacred to the Corycian nymphs and to Pan.'
NOTE HH.
'Delphic mount.'--L. 319.
Delphi, the seat and oracle of Apollo, had a mountainous and rocky
situation, on the skirts of Parnassus.
NOTE II.
'Cyrenaic shell.'--L. 327.
Cyrene was the native country of Callimachus, whose hymns are the
most remarkable example of that mythological passion which is
assumed in the preceding poem, and have always afforded particular
pleasure to the author of it, by reason of the mysterious solemnity
with which they affect the mind. On this account he was induced to
attempt somewhat in the same manner; solely by way of exercise: the
manner itself being now almost entirely abandoned in poetry. And as
the mere genealogy, or the personal adventures of heathen gods,
could have been but little interesting to a modern reader, it was
therefore thought proper to select some convenient part of the
history of nature, and to employ these ancient divinities as it is
probable they were first employed; to wit, in personifying natural
causes, and in representing the mutual agreement or opposition of
the corporeal and moral powers of the world: which hath been
accounted the very highest office of poetry.
INSCRIPTIONS.
I.
FOR A GROTTO.
To me, whom in their lays the shepherds call
Actaea, daughter of the neighbouring stream,
This cave belongs. The fig-tree and the vine,
Which o'er the rocky entrance downward shoot,
Were placed by Glycou. He with cowslips pale,
Primrose, and purple lychnis, deck'd the green
Before my threshold, and my shelving walls
With honeysuckle cover'd. Here at noon,
Lull'd by the murmur of my rising fount,
I slumber; here my clustering fruits I tend;
Or from the humid flowers, at break of day,
Fresh garlands weave, and chase from all my bounds
Each thing impure or noxious. Enter in,
O stranger, undismay'd. Nor bat, nor toad
Here lurks; and if thy breast of blameless thoughts
Approve thee, not unwelcome shalt thou tread
My quiet mansion; chiefly, if thy name
Wise Pallas and the immortal Muses own.
II.
FOR A STATUE OF CHAUCER AT WOODSTOCK.
Such was old Chaucer; such the placid mien
Of him who first with harmony inform'd
The language of our fathers. Here he dwelt
For many a cheerful day. These ancient walls
Have often heard him, while his legends blithe
He sang; of love, or knighthood, or the wiles
Of homely life; through each estate and age,
The fashions and the follies of the world
With cunning hand portraying. Though perchance
From Blenheim's towers, O stranger, thou art come
Glowing with Churchill's trophies; yet in vain
Dost thou applaud them if thy breast be cold
To him, this other hero; who, in times
Dark and untaught, began with charming verse
To tame the rudeness of his native land.
III.
Whoe'er thou art whose path in summer lies
Through yonder village, turn thee where the grove
Of branching oaks a rural palace old
Embosoms. There dwells Albert, generous lord
Of all the harvest round. And onward thence
A low plain chapel fronts the morning light
Fast by a silent rivulet. Humbly walk,
O stranger, o'er the consecrated ground;
And on that verdant hillock, which thou seest
Beset with osiers, let thy pious hand
Sprinkle fresh water from the brook, and strew
Sweet-smelling flowers. For there doth Edmund rest,
The learned shepherd; for each rural art
Famed, and for songs harmonious, and the woes
Of ill-requited love. The faithless pride
Of fair Matilda sank him to the grave
In manhood's prime. But soon did righteous Heaven,
With tears, with sharp remorse, and pining care,
Avenge her falsehood. Nor could all the gold
And nuptial pomp, which lured her plighted faith
From Edmund to a loftier husband's home,
Relieve her breaking heart, or turn aside
The strokes of death. Go, traveller; relate
The mournful story. Haply some fair maid
May hold it in remembrance, and be taught
That riches cannot pay for truth or love.
IV.
O youths and virgins: O declining eld:
O pale misfortune's slaves: O ye who dwell
Unknown with humble quiet; ye who wait
In courts, or fill the golden seat of kings:
O sons of sport and pleasure: O thou wretch
That weep'st for jealous love, or the sore wounds
Of conscious guilt, or death's rapacious hand
Which left thee void of hope: O ye who roam
In exile; ye who through the embattled field
Seek bright renown; or who for nobler palms
Contend, the leaders of a public cause;
Approach: behold this marble. Know ye not
The features'? Hath not oft his faithful tongue
Told you the fashion of your own estate,
The secrets of your bosom? Here then, round
His monument with reverence while ye stand,
Say to each other:-'This was Shakspeare's form;
Who walk'd in every path of human life,
Felt every passion; and to all mankind
Doth now, will ever, that experience yield
Which his own genius only could acquire.'
V.
GVLIELMVS III. FORTIS, PIVS, LIBERATOR, CVM INEVNTE
AETATE PATRIAE LABENTI ADFVISSET SALTS IPSE VNICA;
CVM MOX ITIDEM REIPVBLICAE BRITANNICAE VINDEX RENVNCIATVS
ESSET ATQVE STATOR; TVM DENIQVE AD ID SE
NATVM RECOGNOVIT ET REGEM FACTVM, VT CVRARET NE
DOMINO IMPOTENTI CEDERENT PAX, FIDES, FORTVNA,
GENERIS HVMANI. AVCTORI PVBLICAE FELICITATIS
P.G. A.M. A.
VI.
FOR A COLUMN AT RUNNYMEDE.
Thou, who the verdant plain dost traverse here,
While Thames among his willows from thy view
Retires; O stranger, stay thee, and the scene
Around contemplate well. This is the place
Where England's ancient barons, clad in arms
And stern with conquest, from their tyrant king
(Then render'd tame) did challenge and secure
The charter of thy freedom. Pass not on
Till thou hast bless'd their memory, and paid
Those thanks which God appointed the reward
Of public virtue. And if chance thy home
Salute thee with a father's honour'd name,
Go, call thy sons; instruct them what a debt
They owe their ancestors; and make them swear
To pay it, by transmitting down entire
Those sacred rights to which themselves were born.
VII.
THE WOOD NYMPH.
Approach in silence. 'Tis no vulgar tale
Which I, the Dryad of this hoary oak,
Pronounce to mortal ears. The second age
Now hasteneth to its period, since I rose
On this fair lawn. The groves of yonder vale
Are all my offspring: and each Nymph who guards
The copses and the furrow'd fields beyond,
Obeys me. Many changes have I seen
In human things, and many awful deeds
Of justice, when the ruling hand of Jove
Against the tyrants of the land, against
The unhallow'd sons of luxury and guile,
Was arm'd for retribution. Thus at length
Expert in laws divine, I know the paths
Of wisdom, and erroneous folly's end
Have oft presaged; and now well-pleased I wait
Each evening till a noble youth, who loves
My shade, a while released from public cares,
Yon peaceful gate shall enter, and sit down
Beneath my branches. Then his musing mind
I prompt, unseen; and place before his view
Sincerest forms of good; and move his heart
With the dread bounties of the Sire Supreme
Of gods and men, with freedom's generous deeds,
The lofty voice of glory and the faith
Of sacred friendship. Stranger, I have told
My function. If within thy bosom dwell
Aught which may challenge praise, thou wilt not leave
Unhonour'd my abode, nor shall I hear
A sparing benediction from thy tongue.
VIII.
Ye powers unseen, to whom, the bards of Greece
Erected altars; ye who to the mind
More lofty views unfold, and prompt the heart
With more divine emotions; if erewhile
Not quite uupleasing have my votive rites
Of you been deem'd, when oft this lonely seat
To you I consecrated; then vouchsafe
Here with your instant energy to crown
My happy solitude. It is the hour
When most I love to invoke you, and have felt
Most frequent your glad ministry divine.
The air is calm: the sun's unveiled orb
Shines in the middle heaven. The harvest round
Stands quiet, and among the golden sheaves
The reapers lie reclined. The neighbouring groves
Are mute, nor even a linnet's random strain
Echoeth amid the silence. Let me feel
Your influence, ye kind powers. Aloft in heaven,
Abide ye? or on those transparent clouds
Pass ye from hill to hill? or on the shades
Which yonder elms cast o'er the lake below
Do you converse retired? From what loved haunt
Shall I expect you? Let me once more feel
Your influence, O ye kind inspiring powers:
And I will guard it well; nor shall a thought
Rise in my mind, nor shall a passion move
Across my bosom unobserved, unstored
By faithful memory. And then at some
More active moment, will I call them forth
Anew; and join them in majestic forms,
And give them utterance in harmonious strains;
That all mankind shall wonder at your sway.
IX.
Me though in life's sequester'd vale
The Almighty Sire ordain'd to dwell,
Remote from glory's toilsome ways,
And the great scenes of public praise;
Yet let me still with grateful pride
Remember how my infant frame
He temper'd with prophetic flame,
And early music to my tongue supplied.
'Twas then my future fate he weigh'd,
And, this be thy concern, he said,
At once with Passion's keen alarms,
And Beauty's pleasurable charms,
And sacred Truth's eternal light,
To move the various mind of Man;
Till, under one unblemish'd plan,
His Reason, Fancy, and his Heart unite.
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 | 17 |
18 |
19 |
20