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'
Αὐτίκα χρῷ σὺς ὑποδεδςόμακεν·
Οππάτεσσιν δ' ἐδὲν ὅρημ', ἐπιρρομ
βάσι δ' ακέ

Καδδ' ιδρώς ψυχρὸς χέει, τρόμω δέ
Πᾶσαν αγρέ, χλωροτέρα δὲ ποίας
Ἐμμί. τεθνάκην δ' ὀλίγω πιδώσην

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
Eripit fenfus mihi: nam fimul Te,
Lefbia, afpexi, nihil eft fuper mî

Quod loquar amens.

Lingua fed torpet, tenuis sub artus
Flamma dimanat; fonitu fuopte
Tinniunt aures, gemina & teguntur

Lumina nocte.

Manat & fudor gelidus; tremorque
Occupat totum; velut herbæ pallent
Ora; fpirandi neque compos, Orco

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,
And bears and fees thee all the while
Softly Speak, and fweetly fmile.

'Twas this depriv'd my Soul of Reft,'
And rais'd fuch Tumults in my Breaft;
For while I gaz'd, in Transport toft,
My Breath was gone, my Voice was loft:
My Bofom glow'd; the fubtle Flame
Run quick through all my vital Frame;
O'er my dim Eyes a Darkness hung ;
My Ears with bollow Murmurs rung.
In dewy Damps my Limbs were chill'd;
My Blood with gentle Horrors thrill'd
My feeble Pulfe forgot to play;

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,
That Men fhould chufe to dwell on watry Waves,
So far remote from Land: Unbappy Race,
What Labours they endure! Their Eyes on Stars,
Their Hearts on Waters fix'd: Their Vows they pay
Wib lift up Hands, ftill fpewing as they pray.

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
Unà Eurufque Notufque ruunt, &c.

And with the fublime Tempeft of the Pfalmift, Pfalm cvii. 25.

&c.

̓Αχνῃ ὑπεκρύφθη, ανέμοιο δὲ δεινὸς ἀήτης
Ισίῳ ἐμβρέμεθ· τρομέεσι δέ τε φρένα ναῦς
Δειδιότες· τυτθὸν τὸ ὑπ ̓ ἐκ θανάτοιο φέρον).

On 'em he fell, like a Tempestuous Storm
Rous'd up by boisterousWinds; which,Waves o'er Waves
Whirling, and roaring dreadfully, defcends:
While in fierce Eddies rolls the frothy Ship;
The Sails all torn; th' Affrighted Mariners,
Agbaft, within Death's Jaws are hurl'd along.

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