SIR, LETTER V. Holt, April 27. N SECTION X. our Critic attempts to shew, befides Loftiness of Conception, that, in Defcriptions of any Kind, a Judicious Collection of the principal Effects and strongest concomitant Circumftances, ranged in their proper Order, hath a wonderful and potent Influence on the Mind of a Reader; and as fuch is also a Caufe of Sublimity. He gives, for his firft Instance, the following Love-Ode of SAPPHO which (as it is a Fragment of great Reputation among the Poets and Critics, and preferv'd only here) I beg leave to transcribe in the Original, in the Latin of CATULLUS, and in Mr. PHILLIPS's English; all three being writ with the fame Elegance and Sublimity, as far as the Genius of each Language will permit. We are, SIR, then to fuppofe it spoken in the Perfon of a Lover fitting by his Mistress The GREEK by SAPPHO, Anno ante CHRISTUM 310. ̓Αλλὰ καμμὲν γλῶσα ἔαγε· λεπτόν δ' Καδδ' ιδρώς ψυχρὸς χέει, τρόμω δέ Φαίνομαι ἄπνους. The LATIN by CATULLUS; Anno ante ILL CHRISTUM 47. LLE mî par effe Deo videtur, Ille, fi fas eft, fuperare Divos, Qui fedens adverfus identidem Te, Spectat & audit Dulce ridentem; mifero quod omnes Quod loquar amens. Lingua fed torpet, tenuis sub artus Lumina nocte. Manat & fudor gelidus; tremorque Proxime credor. The The ENGLISH by Mr. PHILLIPS, Anno Dom. 1711. LEST as th' Immortal Gods is he, BLEST The Youth, who fondly fits by thee, 'Twas this depriv'd my Soul of Reft,' I Fainted, Sunk, and Dy'd away. Here, fays LONGINUS, are collected from all Sides the ufual Confequences that the Paffion of Love has both on the Mind and Body. But where pray is the Sublimity? Where! Why in as much as the Poet has chofe none but the principal and strongest Circumftances; all which fhe has ranged together and stretch'd to their very Height. Here's Soul, Body, Ears, Tongue, Eyes, Countenance, all faultering and ready to leave their proper Stations. The Lover, thro' oppofite Perturbations, is at one and the fame fame time enflam'd and chill'd, fenfible and fenfelefs, enliven❜d and fainting even to Death. All which Circumftances, notwithstanding their feeming Repugnancy to each other, being an exact Copy of Nature, and often found in the Phrenfies of Love, convey this Ode to the very Height of Sublimity. IN like Manner HOMER in defcribing Tempefts always heaps together the most terrible Circumftances imaginable. But ARISTÆUS PROCONNESIUS, Author of Arimafpia, is in this respect rather florid than fublime, where he fays. Θαῦμ ̓ ἡμῖν καὶ τῖτο, &c. Oft has my Mind been with Amazement ftruck, How unlike this is HOMER's Description of a Tempest in Il. o. ver. 624. to which the Poet compares Hector affifted by Jupiter? Thus τ Εν δ' ἔπεσ', ὡς ὅτε κῦμα τοῦ ἐν νηῒ πέσησε Λάβρον ὑπαὶ νεφέων, ἀνεμοτρεφές, ἡ δέ τε πᾶσα ANNOTATION S. OBS. XVII. r Compare this mer with Virgil's in Æn. 1. of Ho- -ver. 88. Incubuere Mari, totumque à Sedibus imis And with the fublime Tempeft of the Pfalmift, Pfalm cvii. 25. &c. ̓Αχνῃ ὑπεκρύφθη, ανέμοιο δὲ δεινὸς ἀήτης On 'em he fell, like a Tempestuous Storm S Upon which ARATUS has meanly thought to refine thus: — Ολίγον δὲ διὰ ξύλον ἀϊδ ̓ ἐρύκει. But a thin Piece of Wood fav'd'em from Death. Low indeed in refpect to the Terrour HOMER every where raises. In tranflating which, I have endeavour'd to imitate that Horrour, which, as LONGINUS observes, the Original in every Verfe incultates over and over; the Sound of the Syllables livelily reprefenting the foaming Surges and Dashing of the Waves into and over the Ship. Besides which, very ANNOTATIONS. OBS. XVIII. ARATUS was a Greek Poet, whofe Book of Phanomena Cicero and others tranflated into Latin Verfe. SAPPHO was a Lesbian Poetefs, the Inventrefs of Sapphic Verfes, of whofe Works fcarce any thing remains but the foregoing Ode. One ARISTEUS PROCONNESIUS is the fuppos'd Author of the Poem call'd Arimafpia, which Longinus here mentions. As to Homer, who is fuppos'd to be born 1034 Years before Chrift, Hefiod 800, Anacreon 532, Herodotus 482, Thucydides 429, Xenophon 387, Demofthenes 356, Theophraftus 311, Ariftotle 384, Cicero 103, Mofes, and Zoilus, where their Names occur, they all are so well known, as to want no Annotations. the |