Part 17 (1/2)
~Houto de proiza katedrathes, o phile gambre;~
The colour of imitation is still stronger in the following pa.s.sage:
??? a?te????sa ?a??? d?efa??e p??s?p??, ??t??a ??? ?te, ?e???? ea? ?e????? a?e?t??; H?de ?a? ? ???sea ??e?a d?efa??et' e? a??, ??e??a e?a?a ?t' a?ed?ae ??s?? a????a.
H? ?ap? ??pa??ss??, ? ??at? Tessa??? ?pp??.
~Aos antelloisa kalon diephaine prosopon, Potnia nyx hate, leukon ear cheimonos anentos?
Hode kai ha chrysea Helena diephainet' en amin, Pieira megala hat' anedrame kosmos aroura.
He kapo kyparissos, e harmati Thessalos hippos.~
This description of Helen is infinitely above the style and figure of the Sicilian pastoral: ”She is like the rising of the golden morning, when the night departeth, and when the winter is over and gone. She resembleth the cypress in the garden, the horse in the chariots of Thessaly.” These figures plainly declare their origin; and others, equally imitative, might be pointed out in the same idyllium.
This beautiful and luxuriant marriage pastoral of Solomon is the only perfect form of the oriental eclogue that has survived the ruins of time; a happiness for which it is, probably, more indebted to its sacred character than to its intrinsic merit. Not that it is by any means dest.i.tute of poetical excellence: like all the eastern poetry, it is bold, wild, and unconnected in its figures, allusions, and parts, and has all that graceful and magnificent daring which characterizes its metaphorical and comparative imagery.
In consequence of these peculiarities, so ill adapted to the frigid genius of the north, Mr. Collins could make but little use of it as a precedent for his Oriental Eclogues; and even in his third eclogue, where the subject is of a similar nature, he has chosen rather to follow the mode of the Doric and the Latian pastoral.
The scenery and subjects then of the foregoing eclogues alone are oriental; the style and colouring are purely European; and, for this reason, the author's preface, in which he intimates that he had the originals from a merchant who traded to the east, is omitted, as being now altogether superfluous.[70]
With regard to the merit of these eclogues, it may justly be a.s.serted, that in simplicity of description and expression, in delicacy and softness of numbers, and in natural and unaffected tenderness, they are not to be equaled by any thing of the pastoral kind in the English language.
FOOTNOTES:
[70] In the present edition the preface is restored.
ECLOGUE I.
This eclogue, which is ent.i.tled Selim, or the Shepherd's Moral, as there is nothing dramatic in the subject, may be thought the least entertaining of the four: but it is by no means the least valuable.
The moral precepts which the intelligent shepherd delivers to his fellow-swains, and the virgins their companions, are such as would infallibly promote the happiness of the pastoral life.
In impersonating the private virtues, the poet has observed great propriety, and has formed their genealogy with the most perfect judgment, when he represents them as the daughters of truth and wisdom.
The characteristics of modesty and chast.i.ty are extremely happy and _peinturesque_:
”Come thou, whose thoughts as limpid springs are clear, To lead the train, sweet Modesty, appear; With thee be Chast.i.ty, of all afraid, Distrusting all, a wise, suspicious maid; Cold is her breast, like flowers that drink the dew; A silken veil conceals her from the view.”
The two similes borrowed from rural objects are not only much in character, but perfectly natural and expressive. There is, notwithstanding, this defect in the former, that it wants a peculiar propriety; for purity of thought may as well be applied to chast.i.ty as to modesty; and from this instance, as well as from a thousand more, we may see the necessity of distinguis.h.i.+ng, in characteristic poetry, every object by marks and attributes peculiarly its own.
It cannot be objected to this eclogue, that it wants both those essential criteria of the pastoral, love and the drama; for though it partakes not of the latter, the former still retains an interest in it, and that too very material, as it professedly consults the virtue and happiness of the lover, while it informs what are the qualities
----that must lead to love.
ECLOGUE II.
All the advantages that any species of poetry can derive from the novelty of the subject and scenery, this eclogue possesses. The route of a camel-driver is a scene that scarce could exist in the imagination of a European, and of its attendant distresses he could have no idea.--These are very happily and minutely painted by our descriptive poet. What sublime simplicity of expression! what nervous plainness in the opening of the poem!