Wake into voice each silent string, The shrill echoes rebound:, While, in more lengthen'd notes and slow, Now louder, and yet louder rise, And fill with spreading sounds the skies; And melt away In a dying, dying fall. II. By music, minds an equal temper know, Or, when the soul is press'd with cares, Warriors she fires with animated sounds; Morpheus rouzes from his bed, Sloth unfolds her arms and wakes, use in inspiring the heroic passions in particular; the fourth, fifth and sixth their power over all nature in the fable of Orpheus's expedition to hell; which subject of illustration arose naturally out of the preceding mention of the Argonautic expedition, where Orpheus gives the example of the use of music to inspire the heroic passions. The seventh concludes in praise of Music, and the advantages of the sacred above the prophane. Man findet eine schöne Nachbildung dieser Ode von C. F. Weifse, in dessen kleinen lyrischen Gedichten, Theil III. S. 175. Intestine war no more our passions wage, III. But when our country's cause provokes to arms So when the first bold vessel dar'd the seas, High on the stern *) the Thracian **) ráis'd his strain, Transported demi-gods stood round, IV. But when through all th' infernal bounds, Love, strong as death, the Poet led What scenes appear'd, O'er all the dreary coasts! Dreadful gleams, Dismal screams, Fires that glow, Shrieks of woe, Sullen moans, Hollow groans, And cries of tortur'd ghosts! But hark! he strikes the golden lyre; *) Stern, der hintere Theil des Schiffes, wo sich der Steuer mann befindet. **) Orpheus. ***) Argo, Name des Schiffs, auf welchem die Argonauten den Zug zur Eroberung des golde nen Vliefses unternahmen. Es war aus dem Holze des Waldes bei Dodona verfertigt. Thy stone, O Sisyphus, stands still, And the pale spectres dance! The furies sink upon their iron beds *), And snakes, uncurl'd, hang list'ning round their heads. V. By the streams that ever flow, By those happy souls who dwell By the hero's armed shades, To hear the Poet's prayer: Stern Proserpine relented, And gave him back the fair: Thus song could prevail O'er death, and o'er hell, ▲ conquest how hard, and how glorious! Though fate had fast bound her With Styx nine times round her, Yet music and love were victorious. VI. But soon, too soon, the lover turns his eyes: Now under hanging mountains, Beside the falls of fountains, Or where Hebrus wanders, *) Vermuthlich eine Anspielung auf die Ferrei Eumenidum thalami, im 6ten Buche von Virgil's Aneide, Vers 280. Rolling in meanders, Unheard, unknown, For, ever, ever, ever lost! Amidst Rhodope's snows: See, wild as the winds, o'er the desert he flies; Hark! Hamus resounds with the Bacchanal's cries Ah, see, he dies! Yet, even in death Eurydice he sung, Eurydice still trembled on his tongue; Eurydice the woods, Eurydice the floods, Eurydice the rocks and hollow mountains rung. VII. Music the fiercest grief can charm, And fate's severest rage disarm: Music can soften pain to ease, And make despair and madness please: And antedate the bliss above. This the divine Cecilia found, And to her Maker's praise confin'd the sound. Th' immortal pow'rs incline their ear: 3) ELRGY *), [To the memory of an unfortunate Lady **)]. What beckoning ghost, along the moonlight shade Invites my steps, and points to yonder glade? 'Tis she! but why that bleeding bosom gor'd? Why bade ye else, ye Pow'rs! her soul aspire And, close confin'd to their own palace, sleep, From these, perhaps, (ere nature bade her die) Fate snatch'd her early to the pitying sky. As into air the purer spirits flow, And separate from their kindred dregs below, Nor left one virtue to redeem her race. But thou, false guardian of a charge too good, Eine wohlgelungene Nachbildung des Originals von G. L. Spalding findet man in dessen Versuch didaktischer Gedichte, Berlin 1804, S. 64. **) Dieses Frauenzimmer entleibte sich in Frankreich, verfolgt in der Liebe von ihrem Oheim, der ihr Vormund war. |