O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona nôrint, Georg. ii. 458-474. O happy, if he knew his happy state, And just returns of cultivated land! With antic vests, which, through their shady fold, He boasts no wool, whose native white is dy'd With purple poison of Assyrian pride: No costly drugs of Araby defile, With foreign scents, the sweetness of his oil: But easy quiet, a secure retreat, A harmless life that knows not how to cheat, And shady groves that easy sleep invite, And, after toilsome days, a soft repose at night. Wild beasts of nature in his woods abound; And youth, of labour patient, plough the ground, Nor venerable age is wanting there, In great examples to the youthful train ; Oh knew he but his happiness, of men Vile intercourse! What, though the glittering robe, Or floating loose, or stiff with mazy gold, The pride and gaze of fools, oppress him not? - Bleeds not, and his insatiate table heaps With luxury and death?-what, tho' his bowl In herbs and fruits, whatever greens the Spring, Or in the Wintry glebe whatever lies Conceal'd, and fattens with the richest sap ;- Into the guiltless breast, beneath the shade, Or thrown at large amid the fragrant hay; Nor aught besides of prospect, grove, or song, Autumn, 1233-1275. The resemblance between these two passages need not be particularly pointed out: every one of the least discernment must observe it. The latter is in fact an elegant translation of the former, with the addition of a few original ideas. It must, however, at the same time be confessed, that beautiful as is the description of Virgil, that of Thomson excels it. In the lines which have been already quoted, how much is the beauty of the original description improved in the more glowing page of our own poet, by representing the happiness of the retired man as increased by the pleasures of refined friendship and select society : "Who, far from public rage, Deep in the vale, with a choice few retired, With what felicity of imagination and elegance of expression is the "dives opum variarum" of Virgil expanded by Thomson into these beautiful lines: "Rich in content, in nature's bounty rich, In herbs and fruits; whatever greens the Spring And it will not, I think, be denied by any reader of taste, that these lines of the Latin poet "Speluncæ, vivique lacus; at frigida Tempe, Mugitusque boum, mollesque sub arbore somni," appear with increased beauty and additional charms in the following most elegant and poetical description: "Nor the milky drove, Luxuriant, spread o'er all the lowing vale, Or thrown at large amid the fragrant hay, Nor aught beside of prospect, grove, or song, Dim grottos, gleaming lakes, and fountains clear." In this passage, how much more lively is the description rendered in the page of Thomson by those expressive epithets," dim" and "gleaming," to the speluncæ vivique laers" of Virgil; by the change of the simple expression" mugitus," into that more beautiful image, "lowing vale;" and by the introduction of those original and truly poetical lines, in which the poet describes the mountains as bleating, the streams as chiding, and the bees as inviting sleep by their monotonous and pleasing hum. The remainder of these celebrated passages is too long to be all inserted. I shall therefore content myself with referring your classical readers to the great originals, where they are to be found at length, and with introducing here only those lines in which the resemblance is the most striking and exact. Of this kind are the following, which are selected from the lines that describe the conduct and occupation of those whose agitated and busy lives are contrasted with the peace and serenity of rural retirement. Exsilioque domos et dulcia limina mutant, To lands that lie beneath another sun.-Georg. ii. 511, 512. Let some, far distant from their native soil, Urg'd on by want or harden'd avarice, Find other lands beneath another sky.—Aut. There is not much resemblance between the following lines, except the general similarity of subject. I introduce them here for the purpose of showing with what a happy facility Thomson has improved upon the great original whom he has imitated :--- -penetrant aulas et limina regum And some with impudence invade the court.-Georg. ii. 504. and those of fairer front, But equal inhumanity, in courts, Delusive pomp, and dark cabals delight, Wreathe the deep brow, diffuse the lying smile, And tread the weary labyrinth of state.-Autumn. Two more powerful and expressive lines than the concluding ones of this quotation it would be difficult to find in all the pages of English poetry. What language could more admirably represent the mean unmanly conduct of the unprincipled sycophant, whose flexible countenance is never the index of his mind, and whose features are never lighted up with the sincere expressions of uncorrupted nature! The image in the last line, which likens the insincere conduct of the courtier to a labyrinth, cannot be too much admired, as it exactly expresses its dark, winding, and insinuating nature. In the following passage, which describes the peace of the man who lives retired from the world-a peace undisturbed by the commotions which shake the kingdoms of the earth-there is a coincidence, perhaps not entirely accidental, between the imitation of Thomson and the translation of Dryden : Without concern he hears, but hears from far, -Georg. ii. 709, 710. While he, from all the stormy passions free That restless men involve, hears and but hears At distance safe, the human tempest roar, Wrapt close in conscious peace.”— Autumn. How very beautiful, in the page of Thomson, is the description of the happiness which the philosophical inhabitant of the country enjoys through every season of the year, and how much superior to these lines of Virgil,. which probably suggested it: Quos rami fructus, quos ipsa volentia rura Sponte tulere suâ, carpsit.-Georg. ii. 501, 502. He, when young Spring protrudes the bursting gems, The mighty tempest and the hoary waste, Pour every lustre on th' exalted eye. A friend, a book, the stealing hours secure, And mark them down for Wisdom. Autumn, 1309-1332. The domestic enjoyments which Thomson has introduced into his picture of the happiness of a country-life, are very similar to those which Virgil has described : Interea dulces pendent circum oscula nati; Casta pudicitiam servat domus.- Georg. ii. 523–552. |