NUMERICAL REFERENCES TO ENABLE THE READER OF THE GREEK TEXT OF THEOGNIS, OR OF THE MR. FRERE'S POETIC VERSION. GREEK TEXT. (Gaisford.) (Pages.) FRERE'S VERSN. PROSE TRANS. GREEK TEXT.FRERE'S VERSN. PROSE TRANS. (Gaisford.) (No. of Fragm.) (Pages.) THEOGNIS. THE verses of Theognis which in a regular arrangement of his Fragments appear entitled to stand as the first of the series, are those which represent him as a prosperous young heir just entering into life, and looking forward to the enjoyment of pleasure and happiness. His vows are addressed to Jupiter as the sovereign deity, and to his own immediate patron, Apollo, the founder and protector of Megara.-We shall see, that at a later period (in anticipation of the Persian invasion) his vows are addressed separately to the same two deities. I. Guided and aided by their holy will, Jove and Apollo, may they guard me still, Gaisford. 1115-18 His amusements and accomplishments at this time, his fondness for the pipe, which he delighted to accompany, and the lyre, are expressed in another fragment. II. My heart exults the lively call obeying, When the shrill merry pipes are sweetly playing: To carol and carouse is my delight: Or in a stedfast tone, bolder and higher, 531-4 Other verses, evidently composed in his early years, terminate in professing his fondness for this kind of music. III. To revel with the pipe, to chaunt and sing, 1060-4 Give me but ease and pleasure! What care I The eagerness of Theognis in the pursuit of knowledge is strongly marked in a passage which (in whatever period it may have been produced) serves to indicate a feeling, which is always strongest in early youth. IV. Learning and wealth the wise and wealthy find 1153-6 A craving eagerness remains behind; Something is left for which we cannot rest; Something unknown, or something unpossest. Theognis, after a successful intrigue, determines to extend the range of his gallantries. V. My thirst was sated at a secret source, 953-6 We may now proceed to the congenial and equally edifying subject of wine. Even here Theognis exhibits traces of a peculiar mind, in a tendency to general remark and fixed method. VI. To prove our gold or silver coarse or fine, And bring to shame the proudest intellect, 499-502 The following lines are curious, as affording a chronological approximation. Onomacritus, to whom they are addressed, (būt whose name could not easily be brought into an English verse,) was a favourite of Hipparchus, but afterwards banished by him for a sacrilegious forgery. Being at the time the Curator of a collection of oracles in the possession of the sons of Pisistratus, he had been detected in a wilful interpolation.-If we take the middle of the fourteen years of Hipparchus' reign as the probable date of these lines, they would have been composed by Theognis at the age of twenty-three or twenty-four, which, considering the nature of the subject, seems probable enough. VII. My brain grows dizzy, whirl'd and overthrown For fear of idle language and offence. 503-8 The next fragment is addressed to Simonides; invited to Athens by Hipparchus, and attached to his service by liberal presents. Onomacritus and he were probably joint visitors at Megara, or Theognis might have joined their society at Athens. The lines seem to have been written about the same time, and during the same paroxysm of experimental conviviality, as the preceding. Theognis, who in his own opinion is not more drunk than a man ought to be, remonstrates with Simonides, who, being president of the meeting and further advanced in liquor, had become overbearing and absurd. Theognis, as in the former fragment, takes his leave, being apprehensive of exceeding the precise bounds of inebriety which he had prescribed to himself. VIII. Never oblige your company to stay! 467-96 Nor rouse from his repose, the weary guest, |