been generally faid to allude to the Cumaan fybil to our poet: Ultima Cumai venit jam carminis ætas. This line, fay they, has an allufion to the golden age of Hefiod; Virgil therefore is fuppofed to fay, the laft age of the Cumaan poet now approaches. By laft, he means the most remote from his time; which Fabricius explains by antiquiffima, and quotes an expreffion from Cornelius Severus, in which he ufes the word in the same sense, ultima certamina for antiquiffima certamina. The only method by which we can add any weight to this reading, is by comparing the Eclogue of Virgil with fome fimilar paffages in Hefiod. To begin, let us therefore read the line before quoted with the two following: Ultima Cumai venit jam carmina etas; | Here we see several natural allufions to our poet, whence it is not unreasonable, for such as mistake the country of Hefiod, to imagine, that all Virgil would fay to compliment Pollio, on the birth of his fon, is, that now fuch a fon is born, the golden age, as defcribed by Heliod, shall return; and granting the word cumei to carry this sense with it, there is nothing of a prophecy mentioned, or hinted at, in the whole eclogue, any more than Virgil's own, by poetical license. A learned prelate of our own church afferts fomething fo very extraordinary on this head, that I cannot avoid quoting it, and making fome few remarks upon it: his words are thefe," Virgil "could not have Hefiod in his eye in fpeaking of "the four ages of the world, because Hefiod makes "five ages before the commencement of the golden." And foon after, continues he, "the predictions in the prophet (meaning Daniel) of "four fucceffive empires, that should arise in dif"ferent ages of the world, gave occafion to the Magnus ab integro faclorum nafcitur ordo; Jam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna. Which will bear this paraphrafe. The remotest poets, who had the knowledge of thefe things age mentioned in the verse of the Cumaan poet only by report, to apply them to the state of now approaches; the great order, or round, of "the world in fo many ages, and to describe the ages, as defcribed in the faid poet, revolves; now "renovation of the golden age in the expreffions returns the virgin Juftice, which, in his iron age, "of the prophet concerning the future age of the he tells us, left the earth; and now the reign of" Meffiah, which in Daniel is the fifth kingdom." Saturn, which is described in his golden age, is Bp. Chandler towards the conclufion of his Vincome again. If we turn to the golden and iron dication of his Defence of Christianity. What ages, in the Works and Days, we shall find this this learned parade was introduced for, I am at a allufion very natural. lofs to conceive! First, In that beautiful eclogue, Virgil fpeaks not of the four ages of the world. Secondly, Hefiod, fo far from making five ages before the commencement of the golden, makes the golden age the first. Thirdly, Hefiod could not be one of the poets who applied the predictions in the prophet Daniel to the ftate of the world in fo many ages, because he happened to live fome hun. dred years before the time of Daniel. Let us proceed in our connection, and comparifon, of the verses. Virgil goes on in his compliment to Pollio on his new-born fon : Ille deum vitam accipiet. He fhall receive, or lead, the life of gods, as the fame poet tells us they did in the reign of Saturn. Ως τε θεοι δ' εζωον This great objection to their interpretation of cumai ftill remains, which cannot very easily be They liv'd like gods, and entirely without labour. conquered, that Cuma was not the country of He -feret omnia tellus; Non raftros patietur humus, non vinea falcem : Robuftus quoque jam tauris juga folvet arator. The earth fhall bear all things; there fhall be no occafion for inftruments of husbandry, to rake the ground, or prune the vine; the sturdy ploughman shall unyoke his oxen, and live in eafe; as they did in the reign of Saturn, as we are told by the fame Cumaan poet. καρπον δ' έφερε ζείδωρος αρουρα Αυτοματη, πολλον τε και άφθονον, The fertile earth bore its fruit fpontaneously, and in abundance. fiod, as I have proved in my Difcourfe on the life of our poet, but of his father; and, what will be a ftrong argument against it, all the ancient poets, who have used an epithet taken from his country, have chofe that of Afcræus. Ovid, who mention him as often as any poet, never ufes any other; and, what is the most remarkable, Virgil himself makes ufe of it in every paffage in which he name him; and thofe monuments of him, exhibited by Uranus and Boiffard, have this infcription: ΙΣΙΟΔΟΣ Aferaan Hefiod, the son of Dicg INDEX TO THE WORKS AND DAYS. A. ADDISON, his effay on the Georgic examined. The golden age, book i. ver. 156. The age of heroes, book i. ver. 210, and note. The iron age, book i. ver. 234. Byblian wine, book ii, ver. 284. C. Chastity in love, and inducements to it, book i. ver. 504. Crane, and figne from her, book ii. ver. 92, and note to ver. 94. Chandler (Bishop) on the ages mentioned in Hefiod, &c. examined. View of the Works, &c. fe&. 5. D. Days, lucky and unlucky. All book iii., and the notes, and the table of the ancient Greek month, at the end of the 3d book. Dew, book ii. ver. 233, and note. , ver. 76, and note. and Days, fect. 4. Pluto, book ii. ver. 114. fage in the note. The auroyer and xThe View of the Works A criticism on the pas Polypus, book ii. ver. 203, and note. Prune the vines (when to), book ii. ver. 250. Righteous, their felicity, book i. ver. 304, 372, and 379. Rudder, the fenfe in which the word is ufed, book i. ver. 67, and note. S. Sloth, the effects of it, book i. ver. 400. Habit of the ancient Greeks, book ii. ver. 15, and Solftice, winter and fummer, book ii. note to ver. note. Harvest, book ii. ver. 256. Hawk and nightingale, a fable, book i. ver. 268, and note. Helicon and Pieria, the diftinction, book i. note to ver. 1. 137, and to ver. 250. Spirits (aerial), obfervers of human actions, book i. ver. 172, 294, 328, and note to ver. 173. Superftitious precepts, book ii. from ver. 480 to 531. T. Threshing the corn, the feafon, book ii. ver. 284. Industry, the effects of it, book i. ver. 404, and Tools of hufbandry, book ii. ver. 60, and notes to 486. Jove, his power, book i. ver. 1, and 350. verfes 60 and 76. Tripod, book ii. ver. 365, and note. Iles of the bleffed, book i. ver. 226, and note to The tropic, or folftice, winter and fummer, book ii, notes to verfes 137 and 250. ver. 239. THE THEOGONY; OR, THE GENERATION OF THE GODS. MY LORD, To the Moft Honourable, GEORGE MARQUIS OF ANNANDALE *. THE reverence I bear to the memory of your late grandfather, with whom I had the honour to be particularly acquainted, and the obligations I have received from the incomparable lady your mother, would make it a duty in me to continue my regard to their heir; but stronger than those are the mo. tives of this addrefs; fince I have had the happinefs to know you, which has been as long as you have been capable of diftinguishing perfons, I have often difcovered fomething in you that furpaffes your years, and which gives fair promises of an early great man; this has converted what would otherwise be but gratitude to them to a real esteem for yourself. Proceed, my Lord, to make glad the heart of an indulgent mother with your daily progrefs in learning, wildom, and virtue. Your friends, in their different spheres, are all folicitous to form you; and among them, permit me to offer my tribute, which may be no fmall means to the bringing you more readily to an understanding of the claffics: for on the theology of the moft ancient Greeks, which is the subject of the following * Lord George Johnston, when this was first pubifbed in the year 1728. poem, much of fucceeding authors depends. Few are the writers, either Greek or Roman, who have not made ufe of the fables of antiquity; hiftorians have frequent allufions to them; and they are fometimes the very foul of poetry: for thefe reafons let me admonish you to become foon familiar with Homer and Hefiod, by tranflations of them: you will perceive the advantage in your future ftudies; nor will you repent of it when you read the great originals. I have, in my notes, fpared no pains to let you into the nature of the Theogony, and to explain the allegories to you; and, indeed, I have been more elaborate for your fake than I fhould otherwife have been. While I am paying my refpect to your Lordship, I would not be thought forgetful of your brother, directing what I have here faid, at the fame time, to him. Go on, my Lord, to answer the great expectations which your friends have from you; and be your chief ambition to deserve the praife of all wife and good men.---I am, my Lord, with the greatest respect, and most sincere affection, your most obedient and most humble fervant, THOMAS COOKE. THE ARGUMENT. AFTER the propofition and invocation, the poet begins the generation of the gods. This poem, befides the genealogy of the deities and heroes, contains the ftory of Heaven, and the confpiracy of his wife and fons against him, the ftory of Styx and her offsprings, of Saturn and his fons, and of Prometheus and Pandora: hence the poet proceeds to relate the war of the gods, which is the subject of above three hundred verfes. The reader is often relieved, from the narrative part of the Theogony, with feveral beautiful descriptions, and other poetical embellishments. BEGIN my fong, with the melodious nine Now round the fable font in order move, Now round the altar of Saturnian Jove; Or if the cooling ftreams to bathe invite, In thee, Permeffus, they awhile delight; ΙΟ Or now to Hippocrene refort the fair, And Venus charming with the bending brow, Nor thou, Aurora, nor the day's great light, 21 They chant; thee, Ocean, with an ample breast, 40 50 So fpoke the maids of Jove, the facred nine, Makes their great fire, Olympian Jove, rejoice; race, And shows the produce of the god's embrace, 90 Great Jove, their fire, who rules th' ethereal plains, All honours flow from him, of gods the god; The first, in honour, of the tuneful nine; 120 } 130 Reafon alone his upright judgment guides, 150 By their good counfels bid the tumult ceafe, Hail maids celeftial, feed of heav'n's great king, 171 Whence the wide fea that fpreads from fhore to fhore, Whofe furges foam with rage, and billows roar, Whence rivers which in various channels flow, And whence the stars which light the world below, And whence the wide expanfe of heav'n, and whence 180 The gods, to mortals who their good difpenfe; How they arriv'd to the ethereal plains, 180 And hence does Love his ancient lineage tract, Earth first an equal to herself in fame 21€ At length the Ocean, with his pools profound, Whose whirling ftreams pursue their rapid round, Of Heaven and Earth is born; Coeus his birth From them derives, and Creus, fons of Earth; Hyperion and Japhet, brothers, join : Thea, and Rhea, of this ancient line Defcend; and Themis boafts the fource divin And thou, Mnemofyne, and Phoebe crown'd With gold, and Tethys for her charms renown'd; To thefe fucceffive wily Saturn came, 219 As fire and fon in each a barb'rous name. The Cyclops bold, in heart a haughty race, Their ftrength, and vigour, to perform their will. 240 |