The productions of Anacreon are said to have been numerous ; but many of his poems appear to have sha red the same fate w hid, the tr orks of Alexus, Sappho, and others experienced in the early ages ; and for the collection which we now possess of his scattered re mains, the arc principally indebted to the zeal and indus try of Henry Stephen. Besides the odes and the few epigrams, which are still extant, we arc inlormed that he composed several elegies and hymns, and a number of larger and smaller pieces ; but these have all perish ed in the general wreck of ancient literature. The odes which have been preserved, even in their imper fect and mutilated state, are calculated to convey a very high idea of Anacreon's genius and talent for lyric poe try. Their principal characteristic beauties appear to us to consist of a singular simplicity of diction, a careless felicity and uncommon delicacy of expression ; and al though almost exclusively devoted to amatory and bac chanalian subjects, they exhibit a wonderful fertility of invention, and variety of illustration. This inventive power is eminently displayed in the numerous little al legories in which our author has introduced and personi fied the passion of love ; and in the different modes in which he has pursued and illustrated subjects, which, under the management of more ordinary poets, would probably have been productive of the most insipid mo notony. He is ever sportive and nail; and always con veys his meaning in few words, yet with the utmost per spicuity. He seldom dwells long, at one time, on the same idea, and never attempts extensive flights ; but, as if conscious that a great deal of the merit of such trifles depends upon their brevity, he hastens to the con clusion which is generally wound up in an epigrammatic form.
The works of Anacreon have been censured, on ac count of their supposed immoral tendency ; and if to sing in praise of love and wine involves immorality, Anacreon certainly stands convicted. But it is surely too much to exact from a song writer, the severity of a didactic poet, or of a teacher of morality. With re
gard to his manner of writing, it is admitted on all hands, that Anacreon has very seldom indulged in voluptuous images ; that his language is generally free from indeli cacy, and that, consequently, his songs have little tenden cy to inflame the passions. Indeed, it may be asserted, without great fear of contradiction, that his productions arc, in these respects, much more chaste and unexcep tionable, than many of those we are accustomed to look upon as the purest models of classical composition. In the effusions of Anacreon, light and playful as they arc, it is absurd to search for moral precepts. His odes arc well adapted for our amusement and relaxation in leisure moments ; but not for study or instruction in more serious hours. In them we do not expect to find substantial food ; but rather look for those delicacies, which, although they may not give nourishment or strength to the body, yet afford a harmless, perhaps a beneficial gratification. We unfold the page of the Teian. in the same spirit of expectation with which we enter a flower-garden, not with the view of regaling upon solid fruits, hut to inhale the balmy fragrance of a thousand odoriferous flowers.
Let us not, therefore, rashly, or too severely, censure the sportive sallies of that poet, who stands alone and unrivalled in his peculiar department of composition ; whose productions were the delight of his contempora ries, and the admiration of former, perhaps in matters of taste, more discerning ages ; and whom one of the most 511111111C philosophers of heathen antiquity, did not scru ple to distinguish by the epithet of the " wise."—Plato P/ixdro.
The reader will find a list of the principal editions of Anacreon prefixed to Mr Moo•e's Translation. We add the following : The edition by Fischer ; Leipsic, 1778.
The elegant edition by Bodonius, in Greek capitals Folio. Parma, 1785.
The same in 12mo. Parma, 1791. (a)