The Poetical Works of Anna Seward With Extracts from her Literary Correspondence. Edited by Walter Scott ... In Three Volumes |
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TO
MÆCENAS.
|
The Poetical Works of Anna Seward | ||
TO MÆCENAS.
BOOK THE SECOND, ODE THE TWELFTH.
To wake my harp's enamour'd strings
To tones, that fright recumbent Peace,
That Pleasure flies on rapid wings!
Or Hannibal, that dauntless stood,
Tho' thrice he saw Ausonia's main
Redden with Carthaginian blood;
Hylæus' wild inebriate hours;
The Giants, who the Gods defied,
And shook old Saturn's splendid towers;
Each glory of they Cæsar's reign,
In eloquence, that scorns restraint,
And sweeter than the poet's strain;
Drag at his wheels their galling chain,
And the pale lip indignant bite
With mutter'd vengeance, wild and vain.
My Muse would these high themes decline,
Charm'd that the heart, the form, the face
Of matchless excellence is thine.
Of splendid, and resistless fire,
Lays all its pointed arrows by,
For the mild gleams of soft desire!
The pedant's meditated hit!
What happy archness in her smile!
What pointed meaning in her wit!
When with the Nymphs, in circling line,
Bending she twines her snowy arms,
And dances round Diana's shrine!
The treasures gorgeous Persia pours,
The wealth of Phrygia's fertile range,
Or warm Arabia's spicy shores,
Which shades thy sweet Licinia's face,
In that dear moment when the fair,
In flying from thy fond embrace,
To meet thy kisses half their way,
Or when her feign'd resentments check
The ardours thy warm lips convey?
Betrays a yielding wish to prove,
Amid her coy, yet playful flight,
The pleasing force of fervent love;
She snatches her fair self the kiss,
E'en at the instant she denies
Her lover the requested bliss?
Of that artful caution, which marks the character of Horace, this Ode forms a striking instance. He declines the task appointed by his patron, that of describing the Italian wars, because he foresees that in its execution he must either disoblige the Emperor and his Minister, by speaking too favourably of their enemies, or offend some friends, whom he yet retained amongst those, who had exerted themselves against the Cæsars. Horace endeavours to soften the effect of this noncompliance by a warm panegyric upon Licinia, the betrothed bride of Mæcenas.She is in other places called Terentia. Both these names have affinity to those of her brothers, Licinius, afterwards Augur, and her adopted brother, Terentius.
Horace mentions plainly the Numantian wars, and those with Hannibal, but artfully speaks of those of Brutus, and Cassius, and of the character of Antony, under fabulous denominations, sufficiently understood by Augustus, and his Minister. Dacier justly observes how easy it is to discern, that by the Lapithæ, and Giants, defeated by Hercules on the plains of Thessaly, the poet means the armies of Brutus, and Cassius, defeated by Augustus, almost in the same place, at the battle of Philippi. He concludes also that by Hylæus is meant Mark Antony, who assumed the name of Bacchus, and ruined himself by his profligate passion for Cleopatra. Another commentator observes, that as the Giants, and Lapithæ, are said to have made the palace of Saturn shake, so also did Brutus, and Cassius, and afterwards Mark Antony, make all Italy tremble, and that it is Rome itself that Horace would have to be understood by the magnificent Palace of Saturn. Some critics seek to destroy all the common sense, beauty, and character of this Ode, by denying the allegoric interpretation; and also by insisting that Licinia was the poet's own mistress, and not the mistress of his patron. It had been absurd, and inconceivably unmeaning, if, when he was requested to sing the triumphs of Augustus in the Italian wars, he should, during the brief mention of them, have adverted to old fables, uniting them, not as a simile, but in a line of continuation with the Numantian, and Carthaginian wars; unless, beneath those fables, he shadowed forth the Roman enemies of Augustus.
The idea that Licinia was the mistress of Horace, has surely little foundation:—for it were strange indeed if he could take pleasure in describing amorous familiarities between Mæcenas, and the person with whom himself was in love. One of these critics alleges, as the reason why this lady could not be the destined bride of Mæcenas, that it would have been as indiscreet in him to have admitted Horace to be a witness of his passion for Licinia-Terentia, as it would have been impertinent in the poet, to have invaded the privacies of his patron. It is not necessary, from this Ode, to conclude that Horace had witnessed the tender scene he describes. He might, without any hazard of imputed impertinence, venture to paint, from his imagination, the innocently playful endearments of betrothed lovers. The picture was much more likely to flatter than to disgust the gay, and gallant Mæcenas.
The Poetical Works of Anna Seward | ||