To Maecenas [Book The Second, Ode The Twelfth]

________________________________________________
Title:     To Maecenas [Book The Second, Ode The Twelfth]
Author: Anna Seward [More Titles by Seward]

[1]to Maecenas

[PARAPHRASES AND IMITATIONS OF HORACE.]

Maecenas, I conjure thee cease
To wake my harp's enamour'd strings
To tones, that fright recumbent Peace,
That Pleasure flies on rapid wings!

Slow conquest on Numantia's plain,
Or Hannibal, that dauntless stood,
Tho' thrice he saw Ausonia's main
Redden with Carthaginian blood;

The Lapithae's remorseless pride,
Hylaeus' wild inebriate hours;
The Giants, who the Gods defied,
And shook old Saturn's splendid towers;

These, dear Maecenas, thou should'st paint,
Each glory of thy Caesar's reign,
In eloquence, that scorns restraint,
And sweeter than the Poet's strain;

Show captive Kings, who from the fight
Drag at his wheels their galling chain,
And the pale lip indignant bite
With mutter'd vengeance, wild and vain.

Enraptur'd by Licinia's grace,
My Muse would these high themes decline,
Charm'd that the heart, the form, the face
Of matchless Excellence is thine.

Ah, happy Friend! for whom an eye,
Of splendid, and resistless fire,
Lays all its pointed arrows by,
For the mild gleams of soft desire!

With what gay spirit does she foil
The Pedant's meditated hit!
What happy archness in her smile!
What pointed meaning in her wit!

Her cheek how pure a crimson warms,
When with the Nymphs, in circling line,
Bending she twines her snowy arms,
And dances round Diana's shrine[2]!

Maecenas, would'st not thou exchange
The treasures gorgeous Persia pours,
The wealth of Phrygia's fertile range,
Or warm Arabia's spicy shores,

For one light ringlet of the hair,
Which shades thy sweet Licinia's face,
In that dear moment when the Fair,
In flying from thy fond embrace,

Relenting turns her snowy neck,
To meet thy kisses half their way,
Or when her feign'd resentments check
The ardors thy warm lips convey?

While in her eyes the languid light
Betrays a yielding wish to prove,
Amid her coy, yet playful flight,
The pleasing force of fervent Love;

Or when, in gaily-frolic guise,
She snatches her fair self the kiss,
E'en at the instant she denies
Her Lover the requested bliss.

FOOTNOTES:
1: 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 favorably of their Enemies, or offend some Friends, whom he yet retained amongst those, who had exerted themselves against the Caesars. Horace endeavours to soften the effect of this non-compliance by a warm panegyric upon Licinia, the betrothed bride of Maecenas. 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 denomination, sufficiently understood by Augustus, and his Minister. Dacier justly observes how easy it is to discern, that by the Lapithae, 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 Hylaeus 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 Lapithae, 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 Maecenas, and the Person with whom himself was in love. One of these Critics alledges, as the reason why this Lady could not be the destined Bride of Maecenas, 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 Maecenas.

2: The Roman Ladies, according to ancient custom, danced with entwined arms, around the Altar of Diana, on the day of her Festival.

[The end]
Anna Seward's poem: To Maecenas [Book The Second, Ode The Twelfth]

________________________________________________



GO TO TOP OF SCREEN