It is probable that the poet, during his abode in Egypt, became acquainted with the Jewish Scriptures, which were translated in the reign of Ptolemy into Greek, since we find him employing the same figures and similitudes as are used by the sacred writers, and particularly transferring imagery into his works borrowed from the Canticles of Solomon, to which as a pastoral allegory, his attention in composing Idyls might naturally be directed *. The instances of this are so numerous, that they can scarcely be considered as casual. Some Bucolics, written probably by other poets, became mixed by Artemidorus and other collectors with those of Theocritus, which H. Stephens, Ursinus and others endeavoured to separate. Fabricius still doubts whether the 20th Idyl, was not written by Moschus; and some Idyls ascribed to Moschus, belong to Theocritus. * Compare Cant. i. 9. with Idyl. xviii. I. 30. Cant. vi. 10. with Idyl. xviii. 1. 26. Cant. iv. 11. with Idyl. xx. 1. 26, 27. Cant. iv. 15. with Idyl. i. 1. 7, 8. Cant. ii. 15. with Idyl. i. l. 48, 49. Cant. i. 7. with Idyl. ii. 1. 69. Cant. v. 2. with Idyl. ii. 1. 127. Cant. viii. 6, 7. with Idyl. ii. 1. 133, 134. Cant. ii. 8, 9. with Idyl. viii. 1. 88, 89. Cant. viii. 7. with Idyl. xxiii. l. 25, 26. CHAP. XX. Moschus. MOSCHUS was a pastoral poet, who lived in the time of Theocritus, or according to Suidas somewhat later, since he was a disciple of Aristarchus who flourished in the reign of Ptolemy Philometor, before Christ 180. Some of his productions appear to have contributed to encrease the reputation of Theocritus, to whom they were erroneously ascribed. There is a passage in the Epitaph on Bion, written by Moschus, but attributed by Ursinus to Theocritus, (who is by some indeed called Moschus,) and published by Aldus; the lines may be thus rendered: Alas! alas! when flowers or shrubs decay, Επιλαφιον Βίωνος. L. 104. Compare these with the following passage in Job. "For there is hope of a tree if it be cut "down that it will sprout again, and that "the tender branch thereof will not cease. "Though the root thereof wax old in the "earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground, yet through the scent of water it "will bud and bring forth boughs like a plant, but man dieth and wasteth away, yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where " is he *?" 66 66 The Heathen poet seems to have considered death as an interminable sleep, though the very circumstance of the renewal of life to plants, might from analogy have excited a better hope. If Job in the passage produced speaks somewhat ambiguously, he afterwards professes his belief in a resurrection. There are some fragments of Moschus published by Stephens and Ursinus. * Job xiv. 7. 10. + Ibid. xix. 25. 27. CHAP. XXI. Lycophron. LYCOPHRON was the son of Soclis *, and adopted by Lycus an historian, from whom probably he derived his name. This writer, who was contemporary with Callimachus, is said to have been born at Chalcis (now Nigropontus) in Euboea. He appears to have repaired to the court of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and to have been one of the seven poets who flourished under his patronage. * Tzetzes, Chil. viii. Hist. 204. He seems to have flattered the monarch by contriving Anagrams on his name and that of his queen, in which Пropa (Ptolemy) is represented as a transposition, an μέλλος (from honey), and Αρσινόη, a change upon low ἤρας, the violet of Juno; devices customary in every age, and which might be adduced to shew that the poet could descend to the playful relaxations of life, but which scarcely authorize the conclusion which some writers have drawn from them, that Lycophron was acquainted with the Hebrew, and learnt from the Jews the method of composing them. Vid. Fabric. in Lycophron, lib. iii. c. 16. 417. Crenii fascicul. Dissert. His. Crit. c. 1. VOL. II. The poem which is extant, entitled Cassandra, is a very remarkable work. It is a collection of pretended prophecies, and there is something in the form and general character of these predictions which might be thought to indicate an acquaintance with the Hebrew writings. Cassandra is related to have been the daughter of Priam and Hecuba, who obtained by artifice from Apollo the gift of prophecy as the condition of her affection; having broken her engagement to the god, he was provoked to appoint that all her predictions should be disbelieved. After the destruction of Troy she was married to Agamemnon, and went with him on his return to Greece. This work is a kind of Monologue, composed in Iambic verse of many detached prophecies, slightly connected in subject and supposed to have been uttered by Cassandra, and reported by a messenger to Priam. The prophetess beholding Paris about to sail on his fatal voyage to Greece, predicts the miseries which the inconsiderate prince would bring upon himself, his family, and his country; she foretells his fall, and that of his royal house; she foreshews the fu |