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PREFACE.
and lastly, in the fifth century, Musæus the grammarian, the contemporary of Nonnus and Coluthus, produced his brilliant poem.
It will not, perhaps, be displeasing to the poetical reader, to be able to compare at his breakfast table, without the trouble of reference to other volumes, the different methods of handling the same story. For this purpose selections are given from Mr. Elton's[1] elegant version of Musæus, so arranged as to form a continuous narrative. Mr. Elton says truly of the Erotopœgnion, "that it is a beautiful and impassioned production, combining in its love-details the warmth and luxuriance of Ovid, with the delicate
- ↑ The amiable author of that beautiful monody "The Brothers," and the excellent translator of Hesiod, and specimens of the Classic Poets, 3 vols. 8vo. 1814. Where all is good, it is difficult to make any preference, yet with due diffidence I may venture to point out for admiration his translated extracts from Onomacritus, Pindar, Nonnus, and Apollonius. The visit of Hermes to Calypso (Odyss. 5. v. 43.) and part of the hymn to Apollo, beginning Λητω δ' εννή μάρτε και εννέα νύκλας, &c. are both rendered with equal fidelity and poetry; and Horace's ode, "Quis multâ gracilis," is sweetly touched.
