Dum stupet obtutu tacito vetus incola, longèque Ut quondam ignotum marmor, camposque natantes 85 90 95 NOTES. Ver. 83. Obtutu] "Obtutu tacito stetit," Æn. xii. 666. Ver. 84. Insolitas] "Innumeræ comitantur aves, stipantque volantem," Claud. Phoenix, 76. Ver. 85. Camposque] "Campique natantes," Georg. iii. 198. Ver. 89. Fata] "Foeta armis," Æn. ii. 238. "Non imitabile fulmen," En. vi. 590. Ver. 90. Commercia] "Geminoque facis commercia mundo," Claud. xxxiii. 90. Ver. 92. Pelagi] "Æquoreas habenas," Claud. viii. 422. Ver. 95. Victis] "Servitio premet, ac victis dominabitur Argis," Æn. i. 285. VOL. 1. 2 D * Mr. Mason considered this as the first original production of Gray's Muse; the two former poems being imposed as exercises, by the College. Ver. 3. Lis]" Lis nunquam, toga rara," Martial. Ep. x. 47. Ver. 4. Estuat] So Claudian, xi. 24 : "Quot estuantes ancipiti gradu Furtiva carpent oscula Naïdes." Ver. 5. Patulis] "Platanus... patulis est diffusa ramis," Cicero de Oratore, Lib. I. cap. vii. "Hospita umbra," Ovid. Trist. III. iii. 64. Ver. 6. Temere] There is no authority for the last syllable of "temere" being made long. Sæpe enim curis vagor expeditâ Mente; dum, blandam meditans Camænam, Vix malo rori, meminive seræ Cedere nocti ; 10 Yet Casimir Sarbievus (Sarbieuwsky) has erred in the quantity of this word, as well as Gray : In Horace, Virgil, and Ovid the final syllable of this word is always elided.—A friend has observed, that the last syllable of temere is made long in the 'Gradus' on the authority of Tertullian: "Immemor ille Dei temere committere tale." It is hardly necessary to observe that the authority of Tertullian on a question of a doubtful quantity would not be esteemed sufficient. The last syllable of temere being always elided by Virgil, Horace, and Ovid, sufficiently shows their opinion to have been, that it was short; and therefore that it could not be used in Hexameter verse, without lengthening its final syllable by elision. Ver. 7. Tenuique] "Tenui deducta poemata filo," Hor. Ep. II. i. 225. Musas," Propert. Eleg. II. x. S. Virg. Eclog. i. 2. Ver. 9. Vagor] ultra Terminum, curis vagor expeditis." "Graciles Hor. Od. I. xxii. 10. Ver. 13, 14. Pedes] " I, pedes quo te rapiunt," Hor. Od. III. xi.49. jam videor duces," Od. II. i. 21. "Videre magnos Ver. 17. Faciles] "Sed faciles nymphæ risere," Virg. Eclog. iii. 9. Ver. 22 Leves] "Levis cursu," Virg. Æn. xii. 489. 66 Cali in regione serenâ Ver. 26. Calum] Ver. 30. Clytie] See Ov. Metam. iv. 234. 264 Virg. Æn. viii. 528. Ver.31. Senescat] "Senescit ager," Ovid. Art. Am. iii. 82., ex Pont. I. iv. 14. "Molles anni," Ovid. Ep. iii. 3. Tristia, iv. 43. Ver. 45. O ego] The last syllable of ego is short, and so used by the best writers; nor will the example of Ausonius, or an instance or two of its being found long in Plautus and Catullus, authorize a modern poet in this licence. See the note by Heinsius on Ovid. Ep. xiii. 135, and Burmann on Propertii Eleg. I. viii. 41. "Recte Heinsius, qui nunquam a Nasone hujus voculæ ultimam produci notat; et falsos esse illos qui ab ullo Augustei ævi poetâ id factum contendunt, dicit ad Albinov. Epiced. Drusi. x. 193." See also Vossius de Arte Grammaticâ, lib. ii. cap. 27. Drakenborch in his note on Sil. Italicus xvii. 358, (where the last syllable of ego is long,) relies on the authorities produced by Vossius; and thinks that it may be lengthened, even without the power of the cæsura. Ver. 48. Fallere] "Natus moriensque fefellit," Hor. Ep. I. xvii. 10. Ver. 49. Multa] Mr. Mason has improperly accented this word, as if it were an adverb (multà). All the other editions have followed him. It is the "nomen pro adverbio," as Hor. Od. IV. ii. 25. 50 50 |