Page images
PDF
EPUB

ERRATUM.

P.23. 1. 9. after stanza insert is.

CORRECTIONS.

P. 9, 1. 13, after singular insert number raises the idea.

14, 1. 21, dele to raise.

26, 1. 5 from bottom, for and even after death men wish that their memory, read, and men wish that their memory

even after death.

31, 1. 9, for with read in.

43, 1.9, dele small.

50, last line but two, for soul in lengthened, read, soul

whose lengthened.

51, 1.6, dele to him.

54, 1. 12, for discernable read discernible..

63, I. 2, dele seems.

1. 3, for appears read seems.

1. 4, dele to sing.

67, 1.3, dele which is less complete.

69, 1. 16, dele which.

72, 1. 3, after virtuous is, insert, in this sense.

THE YOUTH AND THE PHILOSOPHER.

"A GRECIAN youth, of talents rare,

Whom Plato's philosophic care

· Philosophic care-means the care of a philosopher.

[ocr errors]

"Had formed for virtue's nobler view,

By, precept and example too,

Would often boast his matchless skill

To curb the steed and guide the wheel.

Nobler view.More noble than what? than curbing the steed or guiding the wheel-What wheel? the wheel of the youth's chariot or carriage-it does not particularly allude to the wheel; it means the whole carriage.

"And as he passed the gazing throng

With graceful ease, and smack'd the thong,

Throng means a crowd, or collection of

people.

B

Graceful ease, like philosophic care, does not mean that ease was graceful, but that the ease with which he moved made him appear graceful.

"The idiot wonder they express'd

Was praise and transport to his breast.

Idiot wonder.-The word idiot is here converted into an adjective, for idiotic wonder.

"At length quite vain he needs would show
His master what his art could do,

His master-was Plato; and as the youth saw that the skill he showed in driving at chariot had excited the wonder and admiration of others, he thought that it would equally delight his master.

"And bade his slaves the chariot lead
To Academus' sacred shade.

The Grecians had slaves; that is, people who were sometimes bought and sold, and who sometimes were captives taken in war: they were under the absolute dominion of their masters for life, and were governed by the fear of blows, like our cattle.

Sacred shade is the shade. of the sacred grove which surrounded Academus..

Academus was the name of the place where Plato taught philosophy; from which name Academy is derived.

"The trembling grove confess'd it's fright,
The wood-nymphs started at the sight,

Here the trees are personified, and represented as feeling the human passion of fear; and the wood-nymphs are also supposed to be terrified at the unaccustomed appearance of the chariot and horses.

"The muses drop the learned lyre,
And to their inmost shades retire.

The muses are supposed by the poet to frequent unseen this sacred grove, to listen to the divine philosophy of Plato; and are represented as retiring with disgust from the intrusion of the youthful charioteer.

"Howe'er, the youth with forward air
Bows to the sage, and mounts the car,
The lash resounds, the coursers spring,
The chariot marks the rolling ring,

Howe'er-means, notwithstanding that the youth must have seen, that the philosophers. who assembled to hear Plato were shocked at this intrusion.

The lash-means the whip. When a boy cracks his whip, it is the lash that resounds.

[ocr errors]

The rolling chariot-not the rolling ring. This is a metonymy.

"And gath'ring crowds with eager eyes,
And shouts, pursue him as he flies.

Crowds, that were collecting at this sight, pursued him with their looks, and with shouts of applause.

He flies-does not mean that he literally flew, but that he went almost as fast as if he flew.

"Triumphant to the goal return'd,

With nobler thirst his bosom burn'd,

The goal-sometimes means, as it does here, the place from which the racer sets out.

Nobler thirst His bosom burned with am bition to execute the nobler or more difficult task of passing exactly over the same track again.

Burned. To burn with thirst is a well chosen metaphor, as both thirst, and fire, are quenched with water-this is a double metaphor.

"And now along th' indented plain,,

The self-same track he marks again;.

Indented-literally means the impression of

« PreviousContinue »