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Ye valorous youths, in squadrons close combined,
Rush, with a noble impulse, to the fight!
Let not a thought of life glance o'er your mind,
And not a momentary dream of flight.

Watch your

hoar seniors bent by feeble age, Whose weak knees fail, though strong their ardour glows;

Nor leave such warriors to the battle's rage,
But round their awful spirits firmly close.

Base-base the sight, if, foremost on the plain, In dust and carnage the fallen veteran roll; And, ah! while youths shrink back, unshielded, stain

His silver temples, and breathe out his soul!

END OF TYRTÆUS.

Dissertation on Theocritus.

THE literary productions of every age have either exhibited the primary resemblances of nature, or reflected her features from each other, through the medium of secondary imitation. The greater number of compositions, constructed of these derivative materials, must be considered as artificial copies. Common abilities, invigorated by study, may be adequate to the task of modifying and expanding the works of others: but the sources of original writing can only be discovered in superior genius; and a peculiar concurrence of circumstances assisting its operations.

A happy coincidence, such as this, of external and internal causes, is necessary to poetic originality. For though genius seem absolutely independent on time or place, we can best contemplate it, as assuming a fixed and decisive character in connexion with composition; which must, of necessity, exhibit nature under her abstract or visible forms; and which generally represents the characteristics of the age or country where it first appears, in customs, manners, or religion.

The powers of man are variously modified by the adventitious circumstances of soil or climate; but they are chiefly affected by the increase of civilized manners. They are improved by slow gradations; and arrive, after the labour of ages,

to maturity. The conceptions of the barbarian may indicate a fervid imagination; yet are they always expressed with that incoherence and extravagance which mark primeval rudeness. In the progress of society, when the obstacles which had circumscribed invention are removed, the prospects of literature grow more extensive and luminous; whilst to the description of magnificent scenery and marvellous achievement, are added the more particular delineations of nature, and the pictures of fluctuating manners.

There is little room for the calm contemplations and minute portraitures of the poet even in an age just emerged from barbarism, where the bold contrasted features of virtue and vice are almost the only discriminations of character; where none but the prominent appearances of the natural world can interest the fancy; and where the violent efforts of passion still give the principal colouring to every literary production. Such an age may be distinguished by the grandeur of poetic conception, by a striking boldness of combination. It may be termed indeed the very crisis of sublimities; since we find the sublime most commonly originating in dark and indistinct imagery. But to introduce into a picture the peculiar attributes of the object we paint; to hold up a diversity of character to the view; to particularize every attitude and gesture of our personages; to represent a variety of natural circumstances in lively and distinct colours, and to bring every thing before our eyes—these are the criteria of original genius, in the midst of polished life.

If we survey the period in which Theocritus flourished, we shall find our remarks abundantly illustrated and confirmed, in the consideration of the advantages he enjoyed, subsidiary to his genius; and of those pieces, which, amidst his numerous productions, have escaped the ravages of time. We have little transmitted to us concerning the life of Theocritus; and this little is involved in contradiction, and obscured by conjecture'. Even his age and country have been the subjects of controversy with grammarians and commentators. The relations of Suidas and Gyraldus, among others, are strangely confused and indeterminate. But from his own works we might extract enough to convince us, that he was a Syracusian-that Praxagoras and Philina were his parents-and that he flourished under Hiero and Ptolemy Philadelphus, both in Sicily and in Egypt. Of the former his twenty-second epigram is a sufficient testimony; and of the latter his two famous panegyrical Idyllia. From the commentator on Polybius we learn, that Hiero, the king of Syracuse, began his reign about 275 years before the Christian era.

As our poet seems to have been dissatisfied with the cold attentions of the Syracusian monarch, who was more distinguished in the character of a warrior than a patron of learning; we may attribute to this circumstance, his departure from Sicily into Egypt: the court of Alexandria was the nurse of the Muses. It is rather remarkable that we know scarcely any thing of Theocritus, but what may be gathered 1 See Barnes's Life,' corrected by Warton.

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from himself. Independently of this internal evidence, we might determine the place of his birth, from the allusions of his imitator Virgil, and the casual intimations of Julian, Terentianus, Maurus, and Manilius. But here our views are circumscribed; and we vainly look around us for a detail of his life.

As a pastoral writer, he found every advantage in the delicious climate and luxuriant landscapes of Sicily. No country could have presented him with a more beautiful assemblage of rural images. The picturesque scenery of the hills and the valleys diversified beyond description; an almost infinite variety of trees and shrubs; the grottoes, precipices, and fountains, of the most romantic appearance; and the sweetness and serenity of the skies; all these concurred with the tranquillity of retirement, in awakening the Muse, and inspiring the pastoral numbers.

The pieces of Theocritus are the result of his own accurate observation. He described what he saw and felt. His characters, as well as his scenes, are the immediate transcript of nature. We may well imagine, that the shepherds and the herdsmen, surrounded by their flocks and their cattle, piped before him the current ditties of the times: and that he was frequently a witness of their dialogues and contentions; heard their proverbial speeches, transcribed their manner, and caught from their lips the very vulgarisms which characterize his ruder Idyllia. Such was the foundation of his Pastorals, original both in matter and form; the more rustic of which were probably composed in the earlier

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