owing to their anxiety: but it is so far truly urged, as it thews that we are never really content in the height of our enjoyments, and therefore may be made a motive to perfuade us to place our affections on fuch an Object, whofe perfections are large enough to fatisfy our utmost wifhes, and excellent enough to fill the whole capacity of our Soul with admiration and delight. But fuch an Object is not to be found in the erroneous and impious Doctrine of Epicurus. I fhall make this one obfervation more, concerning this and the preceding paffage; that they fully juftify Epicurus, from the imputation of encouraging fenfual pleasure; the main Drift of all the moral parts of Lucretius's Writings being, on the contrary, to recommend Sobriety and Temperance.
Ut bibere in fomnis fitiens cum quærit, & humor
Non datur, ardorem in membris qui ftinguere poffit:
Sed laticum fimulacra petit, fruftraque laborat:
In medioque fitit torrenti flumine potans:
Sic in amore venus fimulacris ludit amantes.
As he who in a dream with drought is curs'd,
And finds no real drink to quench his thirst,
Runs to imagin'd lakes, his heat to steep,
And vainly fwills, and labours in his fleep:
So Love with phantoms cheats our longing Eyes.
DRYDEN.
To convince Men of the folly of their being uneasy to die, he puts them in mind that the greatest Heroes have undergone the fame fate before them. This paffage is very fublime.
Ille quoque ipfe, viam qui quondam per mare magnum
Stravit, iterque dedit legionibus ire per altum,
Ac pedibus falfas docuit fuperare lacunas :
Et contempfit, aquis infultans, murmura ponti,
Lumine adempto, animam moribundo corpore fudit.
Scipiades belli fulmen, Carthaginis horror,
Offa dedit terra, proinde ac famul infimus effet.
Adde repertores do&rinarum, atque leporum;
Adde Heliconiadum comites; quorum unus Homerus
Sceptra potitus, eadem aliis fopitu' quiete eft:
Denique Democritum poftquam matura vetuftas
Admonuit memores motus languefcere mentis,
Sponte fua letho caput obvius obtulit ipfe.
Ipfe Epicurus obit decurfo limite vita,
Qui genus humanum ingenio fuperavit, & omnes
Praftrinxit ftellas, exortus uti ethereus Sol.
Tu vero dubitabis & indignabere abire?
Confider even He, that mighty He,
Who laugh'd at all the threat'ning of the Sea;
Who chain'd the Ocean once, and proudly led
His Legions o'er the fetter'd waves, is dead.
Scipio, that Scourge of Carthage, now the grave
Keeps pris'ner, like the meanelt common flave:
Nay, greatest Wits, and Poets too, that give
Eternity to others, ceafe to live.
Homer, their Prince, that darling of the nine,
(What Troy would at a fecond Fall repine,
To be thus fung ?) is nothing now but fame;
A lafting, far diffus'd, but empty name.
Democritus, as feeble age came on,
And told him it was time he should be gone ;
For then his mind's brifk powers grew weak; he cry'd,
I will obey thy fummons, Fate, and dy'd.
Nay, Epicurus' race of Life is run;
That Man of Wit, who other Men out-fhone,
As far as meaner Stars, the mid-day Sun.
Then how dar'ft thou repine to die and grieve? Creech.
THE effects of unlawful Love, with all the inconveniences attending it, are ftrongly painted in thefe lines, which have fomething of the fatirick spirit in them.
Adde quod alterius fub nutu degitur ætas.
Labitur interea res, & vadimonia fiunt,
Languent officia, atque ægrotat fama vacillans;
Unguenta, & pulcra in pedibus Sicyonia rident:
Scilicet & grandes viridi cum luce Smaragdi
Auro includuntur, teriturque thalafina veftis
Affidue, & veneris fudorem exercita potat :
Et bene parta patrum fiunt anademata, mitræ:
Interdum in pallam, ac Melitenfia, Ceaque vertunt.
Eximia vefte & vi&tu convivia, ludi,
Pocula crebra, unguenta, coronæ, ferta parantur :
Nequicquam: quoniam medio de fonte leporum
Surgit amari aliquid, quod in ipfis floribus angat :
Aut quod confcius ipfe animus fe forte remordet,
Defidiosè agere ætatem, luftrifque perire. Lib.IV. v.1116.
Befides, they wafte their ftrength, their vigour kill,
And live poor Slaves unto another's will:
Debts they contract apace, their money flies;
Their fame, their honour too, grows fick and dies:
Rich fhoes, and jewels fet in gold, adorn
The feet; the richest purple vefts are worn:
The wealth their fathers toil'd, and fought to gain,
Now buys a coat, a mitre, and a chain.
Great fhows and fports are made, and royal feafts,
Where choiceft meats and wines provoke the guests:
Where gaudy tapestry, and odours fpread
O'er all the room, and crowns grace ev'ry head,
In vain; for ftill fome bitter thought destroys
His fancy'd mirth, and poifons all his joys.
Firft guilty confcience does that mirror bring,
Then tharp remorfe shoots out her angry fting;
And anxious thoughts, within themselves at ftrife,
Upbraid the long, mifpent, luxurious life. CREECH.
INDEED the whole paffage is admirable, and goes on to describe the torments of jealoufy, and all the vexatious circumstances of unfuccessful Love: In a word, the frongeft paffages in Horace, Ovid, and other Poets, have not been able to furnifli more lively defcriptions of this paffion, than LUCRETIUS. In fome other places, as well as here, the Poet has fufficiently discovered his abilities to write in the fatirick ftyle, had he cared to apply himself that way, as the Reader will better perceive, by eading over this whole paffage; part of which we have already
already quoted, from v. 1115, of Book IV. to v. 1184; and from v. 45, of Book III. to v. 90. These Examples, I hope, will be enough to juftify his claim to the bays, and make the Reader allow him that merit, which our Author has afferted to himself in the beginning of Book IV. where he fings his own Panegyrick; with which I conclude the Account of his Life and Writings.
Avia Pieridum peragro loca, nullius ante
Trita folo: juvat integros accedere fontes,
Atque haurire; juvatque novos decerpere flores,
Infignemque meo capiti petere inde coronam,
Unde prius nulli velârunt tempora mufa.
Primum quod magnis doceo de rebus, & artis
Religionum animum nodis exfolvere pergo:
Deinde quod obfcura de re tam lucida pango
Carmina, mufæo contingens cun&a lepore.
I feel, I rifing feel, Poetick heats,
And now infpir'd, trace o'er the Mufes feats
Untrodden yet; 'tis fweet to vifit first
Untouch'd and virgin ftreams, and quench my thirft.
I joy to crop fresh flowers, and get a crown
For new and rare inventions of my own :
So noble, great, and gen'rous the defign,
That none of all the mighty tuneful Nine
E'er grac'd a head with laurels like to mine.
For first I teach great things in lofty ftrains,
And loose men from religion's grievous chains:
Next, tho' my fubject's dark, my verfe is clear,
And sweet, with tanfy flowing every where.
AIUS VALERIUS CATULLUS was born in the Peninsula of Sirmio, formed by the Lake Benacus, in the territory of Verona, about eighty years before the Birth of Chrift. He was defcended of a good Family in Verona, and his Father was familiarly acquainted with Julius Cæfar. Our Poet was carried to Rome in his youth, by Manlius, a Nobleman, and one of his best Patrons, to whom he has infcribed feveral of his Poems. Here he foon difcovered the vivacity of his Genius, and the elegance of his Style ; and fo distinguished himself by his pleafantry and wit, that he became univerfally efteemed, and gained Cicero for his Patron. In one of his pieces, CATULLUS thus ingenioufly thanks the Orator for his Patronage.
Differtiffime Romuli nepotum,
Quot funt, quotque fuere, Marce Tulli,
Quotque poft aliis erunt in annis,
Gratias tibi maximes CA TULLUS
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