which the Romans lov'd so well that they appropriated it to themselves: majestas populi Romani. This title, applied to kings, is very modern; and that is all I will say of it at present, tho' the word requires a larger note. In the word tuorum is included the sense of my translation, your father's land, because Saturn, the father of Jove, had govern'd that part of Italy after his expulsion from Crete. But that on which I most insist is the address of the poet in this speech of Juno. Virgil was sufficiently sensible, as I have said in the preface, that whatever the common opinion was concerning the descent of the Romans from the Trojans, yet the ancient customs, rites, laws, and habits of those Trojans were wholly lost, and perhaps also that they had never been; and, for this reason, he introduces Juno in this place, requesting of Jupiter that no memory might remain of Troy (the town she hated), that the people hereafter should not be call'd Trojans, nor retain anything which belong'd to their predecessors. And why might not this also be concerted betwixt our author and his friend Horace, to hinder Augustus from rebuilding Troy, and removing thither the seat of empire, a design so unpleasing to the Romans? But of this I am not positive, because I have not consulted Dacier and the rest of the critics, to ascertain the time in which Horace writ the ode relating to that subject. Line 1224. Deep in the dismal regions void of light, Three sisters at a birth were born to Night. The father of these (not here mention'd) was Acheron; the names of the three were Alecto, Megæra, and Tisiphone. They were call'd Furies in hell, on earth Harpies, and in heaven Diræ. Two of these assisted at the throne of Probably this Dira, unnam'd by the poet in this place, might be Tisiphone; for, tho' we find her in hell, in the Sixth Eneid, employ'd in the punishment of the damn'd: Continuo sontes ultrix accincta flagello yet afterwards she is on earth, in the Tenth TRANSLATIONS FROM OVID'S ART OF LOVE AND AMOURS [None of the following translations were published during Dryden's lifetime. The only information that the present editor can find in regard to them is in a letter from Dryden to Tonson, written just before the second edition of the Virgil, 1698: "You told me not, but the town says you are printing Ovid de Arte Amandi. I know my translation is very uncorrect; but at the same time I know, nobody else can do it better, with all their paines" (Malone, I, 2, 63). Thus it is at least probable that Dryden made his translation from The Art of Love while at work on his Virgil, or just after finishing it. Had he done the piece earlier, he would probably have inserted it in The Annual Miscellany for the Year 1694. It seems convenient also, in the absence of any exact information, to assign the two elegies from the Amores to the same period. For some unknown reason, Tonson delayed the publication of these translations; the town talk to which Dryden refers apparently lacked foundation. In Poetical Miscellanies, the Fifth Part, 1704, he inserted the two elegies from the Amores, with titles as below; and two episodes from The Art of Love, lines 111-151 and 590-635, under the titles of The Rape of the Sabines and The Meeting of Bacchus with Ariadne. Finally, in 1709, he published a complete translation of Ovid's Art of Love, of which the first book is ascribed to Dryden and the third to Congreve; the translator of the second book is not named.] The bull, reclaim'd and yok'd, the burden draws; The horse receives the bit within his jaws; And stubborn Love shall bend beneath my sway, Tho' struggling oft he strives to disobey. He shakes his torch, he wounds me with his darts; But vain his force, and vainer are his arts. The more he burns my soul, or wounds my sight, The more he teaches to revenge the spite. 30 Nor Clio, nor her sisters have I seen, You may believe; and Venus be my guide. Far hence, you vestals be, who bind your hair; To Pompey's cool and shady portico, Or Venus' temple, where, on annual nights, On Sabbaths, rest from everything but love; Nor Isis' temple, for that sacred whore Makes others what to Jove she was before. And if the hall itself be not belied, There eloquence is nonplus'd in the suit, And lawyers, who had words at will, are mute. Venus, from her adjoining temple, smiles, To see them caught in their litigious wiles. Grave senators lead home the youthful dame, Returning clients, when they patrons came. But above all, the playhouse is the place; There's choice of quarry in that narrow chase. There take thy stand, and sharply looking out, 100 Soon mayst thou find a mistress in the rout, For length of time, or for a single bout. It may be said, they to that place belong. Thither they swarm, who have the public voice: There choose, if plenty not distracts thy choice. To see and to be seen, in heaps they run; Some to undo, and some to be undone. From Romulus the rise of plays began, To his new subjects a commodious man; Who, his unmarried soldiers to supply, Took care the commonwealth should multiply; Providing Sabine women for his braves, Like a true king, to get a race of slaves: His playhouse not of Parian marble made, Nor was it spread with purple sails for shade. The stage with rushes or with leaves they strow'd: 119 No scenes in prospect, no machining god. On rows of homely turf they sate to see, Crown'd with the wreaths of every common tree. There, while they sit in rustic majesty, Each lover had his mistress in his eye; And whom he saw most suiting to his mind, For joys of matrimonial rape design'd. Scarce could they wait the plaudit in their haste; But, ere the dances and the song were past, The monarch gave the signal from his throne; And, rising, bade his merry men fall on. The martial crew, like soldiers ready press'd, 131 Just at the word (the word too was, The Best) With joyful cries each other animate; Some choose, and some at hazard seize their mate. As doves from eagles, or from wolves the lambs, So from their lawless lovers fly the dames. Their fear was one, but not one face of You have a father, and his rights maintain. Arm'd by your country's parent, and your own, Redeem your country, and restore his throne. Your enemies assert an impious cause; You fight both for divine and human laws. Already in their cause they are o'ercome: Subject them too, by force of arms, to Rome. Great Father Mars with greater Cæsar join, 230 To give a prosperous omen to your line: Speak in my verse, exhort to loud alarms: O when will come the day, by Heaven design'd, When thou, the best and fairest of mankind, Drawn by white horses shalt in triumph ride, With conquer'd slaves attending on thy side: And wholesome streams from sulphur fountains glide; Where wounded youths are by experience taught, |