My songs shall to the Colchian ears,
And German that conceals his fears

Of Roman troops be known:

The Moors, and in my numerous verse

The Scythians skilled, shall songs rehearse ; The Spaniard too, and he that drinks the Rhone.

Mourn not; no friendly drops must fall,

No sighs attend my funeral;

Those, common deaths may crave!
Let no disgraceful grief appear,

Nor damp my glory with a tear;

And spare the useless honours of a grave.

HORACE, Ode 20, book 2.

'Tis finished! I have raised a monument More strong than brass, and of a vast extent; Higher than Egypt's stateliest pyramid,

That costly monument of kingly pride;

As high as Heaven the top, as Earth the basis wide:
Which eating showers nor north wind's feeble blast,
Nor whirling time, nor flight of years can waste.
Whole Horace shall not die,-his songs shall save
The greatest portion from the greedy grave:
Still fresh I'll grow, still green in future praise,
Till time is lost, and Rome itself decays;
Till the chief priest and silent maid no more
Ascend the capitol, and Jove adore.

Where violent Aufid rolls through humble plains,
And where scorched Daunus ruled the lab'ring swains,
There shall my fame resound; there all shall cry
'Twas I, the great from mean descent, 'twas I,
That first did dare to bind the Grecian song,
And unknown numbers in the Roman tongue!
Muse! take thy merits due, and proudly raise
Thy head, and gladly crown my brows with bays.

HORACE, Ode 30, book 3.

OVID.

OVID, another famous poet, was born at Sulmo, and sent by his father to Rome, and thence to Athens, for the purpose of studying eloquence, as he was intended for the bar; but he early manifested his talents as a poet, and again visited Rome, where he was noticed for some time by Augustus, and the literary galaxy assembled there. Falling into disgrace with his patron, he was banished to Tomos, on the Euxine sea, where he remained until his death, notwithstanding repeated entreaties from himself and his friends for his recal. His principal works are his Fasti, of which six books are lost, his Tristia, his Metamorphoses, and his Elegies: he wrote many other poems, but only fragments of most of them remain.

The work is finished, which nor dreads the rage
Of tempests, fire, or war, or wasting age :
Come, soon or late, death's undetermined day,
This mortal being only can decay;

My nobler part, my fame shall reach the skies,
And to late times with blooming honours rise:
Whate'er th' unbounded Roman power obeys,
All climes and nations shall record my praise.
If 'tis allowed to poets to divine,
One half of round eternity is mine.

OVID'S Metamorphoses, book 15.

LUCAN.

MARCUS ANNEUS LUCANIUS, although generally classed with the Latin poets, does not, strictly speaking, belong to them, his birth-place having been Corduba, in Spain: he was born about A. D. 39, of an illustrious Roman family, and was early sent for his education to Rome. Lucan was the nephew of Seneca, who shared his disgrace and death, both equally falling under the displeasure of the tyrannical Nero, on account of the discovery of a conspiracy, in which they, with many others, were engaged. He had before this incurred the anger of the emperor, by imprudently contending with him, and

bearing off the prize, in poetry,—a circumstance which the tyrant never forgave.

Lucan is said to have greatly excelled in rhetorical declamation, and gained for it unanimous applause at a very early age. The Pharsalia" (a narration of the wars between Cæsar and Pompey,) is his only work that has been preserved; and that, owing to his premature death, was left unfinished: he was executed at the age of twenty-six.

Lucan appears to have had a presentiment that his poem was destined to descend with honour to posterity, and that it would excite sensations of interest for his hero in far distant times.

Oh, poesy divine! oh sacred song!

To thee, bright fame and length of days belong.
Thou, goddess! thou eternity canst give!

And bid secure the mortal hero live.

Nor Cæsar, thou disdain that I rehearse
Thee, and thy wars, in no ignoble verse;
Since, if in aught the Latian muse excel,
My name and thine immortal I foretel.
Eternity our labours shall reward;

And Lucan flourish like the Grecian bard :
My numbers shall to latest times convey
The tyrant Cæsar, and Pharsalia's day.

LUCAN.

A SYNOPSIS

OF

Proper Names,

MENTIONED BY GRECIAN AND ROMAN WRITERS.

Amymone, a daughter of Danaus, changed into a fountain near Argos, flowing into the lake Lerna.

Amphion, a son of Jupiter and Antiope, famed for his musical talents.

Amphion too, (as story goes) could call
Obedient stones to make the Theban wall;
He led them as he pleased, the rocks obeyed,
And danced in order to the tunes he played.

Até, the goddess of revenge.

Agenoria, the goddess of industry.

HORACE.

Amphitrité, the goddess of the sea, and wife of Neptune, sometimes considered as a personification of the sea.

Her, whose azure trident awes the main.

HOMER.

Abyla, a mountain in Africa, one of the pillars of Hercules, who is said

to have opened the passage between Spain and Africa, now known as the Straits of Gibraltar.

Aristodeme, a daughter of Priam.