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64
COWLEY.
reader of less skill seem thrown together by chance, are concatenated without any abruption. Though the English ode cannot be called a translation, it may be very properly consulted as a commentary.
The spirit of Pindar is indeed not every where equally preserved. The following pretty lines are not such as his deep mouth was used to pour:
Great Rhea's son,
If in Olympus' top where thou
Sitt'st to behold thy sacred show,
If in Alpheus' silver flight,
If in my verse thou take delight,
My verse, great Rhea's son, which is,
Lofty as that, and smooth as this.
If in Olympus' top where thou
Sitt'st to behold thy sacred show,
If in Alpheus' silver flight,
If in my verse thou take delight,
My verse, great Rhea's son, which is,
Lofty as that, and smooth as this.
In the Nemæan ode the reader must, in mere justice to Pindar, observe that whatever is said of the original new moon, her tender fore-head and her horns, is superadded by his paraphrast, who has many other plays of words and fancy unsuitable to the original, as,
The table, free for every guest,
No doubt will thee admit,
And feast more upon thee, than thou on it.
No doubt will thee admit,
And feast more upon thee, than thou on it.
When
