See there the olive grove of Academe, 245 Plato's retirement, where the Attic bird the life of Plato. The Academy is always defcribed as a woody fhady place, as here in Laertius, and in Horace, Ep. II. II. 45. To Improba Cecropias offendit pica querelas. Ludovicus de la Cerda in his notes upon Virgil obferves, how often Atque inter fylvas Academi quæ- the ancient poets have made ufe of rere verum: but Milton diftinguishes it by the particular name of the olive grove of Academe, for the olive was particularly culivated about Athens being facred to Minerva the Goddefs of the city, and he has befides the exprefs authority of Ariftophanes Νεφέλαι Α 3. Scen. 3. Αλλ' εις Ακαδημίαν κατιων, υπο ταις μοριας αποθρέξεις. Sed in Academiam defcendens, fub facris olivis fpatiaberis. Where the Attic bird, the nightingale, for Philomela, who according to the fables was changed into a nightingale, was the daughter of Pandion king of Athens, and for the fame reafon the nightingale is called Athis in Latin, quafi Attica avis. Martial Lib. 1. Ep. 46.Edit. the comparison of the nightingale; Sophocles has it no less than feven times, Homer twice, and Euripides and feveral others and we obferved upon the Paradife Loft, how much Milton was delighted with the nightingale; no poet has introduc'd it fo often, or fpoken of it with fuch rapture as he; and perhaps there never was a verse more expreffive of the harmony of this sweet bird than the following, Trills her thick-warbled notes the fummer long. So that upon the whole I believe it may be afferted, that Plato's Academy was never more beautifully defcribed than here in a few lines by Milton. Cicero, who has laid the fcene of one of his dialogues there, De Fin. Lib. V. and had been himself upon the spot, has not painted it in more livelycolors.. 247. There flow'ry hill Hymettus Sic, ubi multifona fervet facer &c] And fo Valerius Flaccus calls it Florea juga Hymetti, Argonaut, Weftm. Atthide lucus, To ftudious mufing; there Iliffus rolls His whifp'ring stream: within the walls then view V. 344. and the honey was fo much efteem'd and celebrated by the Ancients, that it was reckon'd the beft of the Attic honey, as the Attic honey was faid to be the beft in the world. The poets often fpeak of the murmur of the bees as inviting to fleep, Virg. Ecl. I. 56. Sæpi levi fomnum fuadebit inire fufurro: but Milton gives a more elegant turn to it, and fays that it invites to studious mufing, which was more proper indeed for his purpose, as he is here defcribing the Attic learning. There ting on a green bank fhaded with De 253. Lyceum there, and painted Stoa next] Lyceum was another gymnafium of the Athenians, and was the school of Aristotle, who had been tutor to Alexander the great, and was the founder of the fect of the Peripatetics, fo call'd απο το περιπαίειν from his walking and teaching philosophy, Stoa was the fchool of Zeno, whofe difciples from the place had the name of Stoics; and this Stoa or portico, being adorn'd with variety of paintings, was called in Greek Пon or various, and here by Milton very properly the painted Stoa. See Diogenes Laertius in the lives of Ariftotle and Zeno. But there is fome reafon to question, whether the Lyceum was within the walls, as Milton afferts. For Suidas fays exprefsly, that it was a place in the fuburbs, built by Pe There thou shalt hear and learn the fecret power By voice or hand, and various-measur❜d verse, 255 And his who gave them breath, but higher fung, ricles for the exercifing of foldiers: and I find the scholiaft upon Aritophanes in the Irene fpeaks of going into the Lyceum, and going out of it again, and returning back into the city: • ο εις το Λυκειον είν στονίες - και παλιν εξιονίες εκ τα Λυκείων και απιονες εις την που Aiv. 257. Æolian charms and Dorian lyric odes,] Eolian charms, Eolia carmina, verfes fuch as those of Alcæus and Sappho, who were both of Mitylene in Lefbos, an iland belonging to the Æolians. Hor. Od. III. XXX. 13. Princeps Eolium carmen adItalos Deduxiffe modos. Od. IV. III. 12. Fingent Folio carmine nobilem. Dorian lyric odes, fuch as thofe of Pindar, who calls his Awprav Oopya the Dorian harp, Olymp. 1. 26. Awpiw mediay Dorian bufkin, Olymp. III. 9. Awgies nopeus Dorian hymn, Pyth. VIII. 29. 258. And his who gave them breath, &c] Our author agrees with those writers, who fpeak of Homer as the father of all kinds Blind of poetry. Such wife men as Dionyfius the Halicarnaffean, and Plutarch, have attempted to fhow, that poetry in all its forms, tragedy, comedy, ode, and epitaph, are included in his works. See the ingenious author of the Inquiry into the life and writings of Homer inlarging upon this fubject. Sect. 12. Blind Melefigenes thence Homer call'd; our author here follows Herodotus in his account of the life of Homer, that he was born he had the name of Melefigenes, near the river Meles from whence τίθεται ονομα της παιδι Μελεσιγενέα, απο το ποταμε την επωνυμίαν λαβέσα, and because he was blind, thence he was called Homer: μη όρων, ενλευθεν δε και τένομα Όμηρο επεκράτησε το Μελησιγένει απο της συμφορης" οἱ дар Κυμαίοι τις τυφλές όμηρους λέγασιν. Whofe poem Phoebus challeng'd for his own, alluding to a Greek epigram in the first book of the Anthologia, Ηειδον μεν εγών, εχάρασσε δε θεια Όμηρος. which Mr. Fenton has inlarged and applied to Mr. Pope's English Iliad. 262. In Blind Melefigenes thence Homer call'd, Whofe poem Phoebus challeng'd for his own. 260 Of moral prudence, with delight receiv'd In brief fententious precepts, while they treat 264 Of fate, and chance, and change in human life; High actions, and high paffions best describing : 262. In Chorus or Iambic,] Thefe may be said to be the two conftituent parts of the ancient tragedy, which was written either in Iambic verse, or in verfes of various measures, whereof the Chorus ufually confifted. And the character here given of the ancient Greek tragedy is very juft and noble; and the English reader cannot form a better idea ofit in its higheft beauty and perfection than by reading our author's Samfon Agonistes. 267. Thence to the famous orators repair, &c.] How happily does Milton's verfification in this and the following lines concerning the Socratic philofophy exprefs what he is defcribing! In the firft we feel as it were the nervous ra pid eloquence of Demofthenes, and the latter have all the gentlenefs and foftnefs of the humble modeft character of Socrates. Thyer. 268. Those ancient,] For Milton was of the fame opinion as Cicero, Thence who preferred Pericles, Hyperides, fchines, Demofthenes, and the orators of their times to Demetrius Phalereus and thofe of the fubfequent ages. See Cicero de claris Oratoribus. And in the judgment of Quintilian Demetrius Phalercus was the first who weaken'd eloquence, and the laft almost of the Athenians who can be called an orator: is primus inclinaffe eloquentiam dicitur-ultimus eft fere ex Atticis qui dici poffit orator. De Inftit. Orat. X. 1. 270.-and fulmin'd over Greece,] Alluding (as Mr. Jortin has likephanes has faid of Pericles in his wife obferved) to what Ariftophanes has faid of Pericles in his Acharnenfes. Act 2. Scene 5. Η ράπλιν, εβρονία, ξυνεκυκα την Ελ λάδα. Since I have mention'd this paffage, I will add that Cicero has alluded to it in his Orator 9, fpeaking of Pericles. Qui fi terui ge nere Thence to the famous orators repair, Those ancient, whofe refiftlefs eloquence Shook th' arsenal and fulmin'd over Greece, 279 To fage philosophy next lend thine ear, From Heav'n defcended to the low-rooft house nere uteretur, nunquam ab Aristophane poeta fulgere, tonare, permifcere Græciam di&tus effet. Diodorus Siculus has quoted it likewife Lib. 12. and ascribed it to Eupolis the poet, the fame who is mention'd by Horace, Eupolis, atque Cratinus, Ariftophanefque poetæ. και παλιν εν αλλοις Ευπολις ὁ ποιητής -Περικλέης ολυμπιος Η ραπ, εβρονα, συνεκυκα την Ελλαδα. Cicero had at first fallen into the fame miftake as Diodorus, which is often the cafe of writers who quote by memory; and therefore defires Atticus to correct the copies, and for Eupolis to put in Ariftophanes. Cic. ad Att. XII. 6. mihi erit gratum, fi non modo in libris tuis, fed etiam in aliorum per librarios tuos Ariftophanem repofueris pro Eupoli. The miftake was corrected according to his defire; at least it is fo in all the remaining copies and editions. |