MESSIAH.
Advertiſement.
[]IN reading ſeveral paſſages of the prophet Iſaiah, which foretell the coming of Chriſt and the felicities attending it, I could not but obſerve a remarkable parity between many of the thoughts, and thoſe in the Pollio of Virgil. This will not ſeem ſurpriſing, when we reflect, that the Eclogue was taken from a Sibylline prophecy on the ſame ſubject. One may judge that Virgil did not copy it line by line, but ſe⯑lected ſuch ideas as beſt agreed with the nature of paſtoral poetry, and diſpoſed them in that manner which ſerved moſt to beautify his piece. I have endeavoured the ſame in this imitation of him, though without admitting any thing of my own; ſince it was written with this particular view, that the reader, by comparing the ſeveral thoughts, might ſee how for the images and deſcriptions of the Prophet are ſuperior to thoſe of the Poet. But as I fear I have prejudiced them by my management, I ſhall ſubjoin the paſſages of Iſaiah, and thoſe of Virgil, under the ſame diſadvantage of a literal tranſlation.
MESSIAH, A SACRED ECLOGUE, In Imitation of VIRGIL's POLLIO.
By ALEXANDER POPE, Eſq
Printed for the PROPRIETORS, and ſold by all the BOOKSELLERS. M,DCC,LXVI.
MESSIAH, A SACRED ECLOGUE.
[]IMITATIONS.
[]VER. 8. A Virgin ſhall conceive—All crimes ſhall ceaſe, &c.
‘Now the Virgin returns, now the kingdom of Saturn returns, now a new progeny is ſent down from high hea⯑ven. By means of thee, whatever reliques of our crimes [7] remain, ſhall be wiped away, and free the world from per⯑petual fears. He ſhall govern the earth in peace, with the virtues of his Father.’
‘ISAIAH, Chap. vii. ver. 14. Behold a Virgin ſhall conceive and born a Son.—Chap. ix. ver. 6, 7. Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; the Prince of Peace: of the increaſe of his government, and of his peace, there ſhall be no end: Upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order and eſtabliſh it, with judgment, and with juſtice for ever and ever.’ P.
VER. 23. See Nature haſtes, &c.] VIRG. Ecl. iv. ver. 18.
‘For thee, O Child, ſhall the earth, without being til⯑led, produce her early offerings; winding ivy, mixed with Baccar, and Colocaſia with ſmiling Achanthus. Thy cradle ſhall pour forth pleaſing flowers about thee.’
‘ISAIAH, Ch. xxxv. ver. 1. The wilderneſs and the ſolitary place ſhall be glad, and the deſart ſhall rejoice and bloſſom as the roſe. Ch. lx. ver. 13. The glory of Lebanon ſhall come unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of thy ſanctu⯑ary.’ P.
[8]VER. 29. Hark, a glad voice, &c.] VIRG. Ecl. iv. 46.
Ecl. v. ver. 62.
‘Oh come and receive the mighty honours: the time draws nigh, O beloved offspring of the Gods, O great in⯑creaſe of Jove! The uncultivated mountains ſend ſhouts of joy to the ſtars, the very rocks ſing in verſe, the very ſhrubs cry out, A God, a God!’
‘ISAIAH, Ch. xl. ver. 3, 4. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderneſs, Prepare ye the way of the Lord! make ſtrait in the deſart a high-way for our God! Every valley ſhall be exalted, and every mountain and hill ſhall be made low, and the crooked ſhall be made ſtrait, and the rough places plain. Ch. iv. ver. 23. Break forth into ſinging, ye mountains! O foreſt, and every tree therein! for the Lord hath redeemed Iſrael.’ P.
[10]VER. 67. The ſwain in barren deſarts, &c.] VIRG. Ecl. iv. ver. 28.
‘The fields ſhall grow yellow with ripened ears, and the red grape ſhall hang upon the wild brambles, and the hard oaks ſhall diſtil honey like dew.’
‘ISAIAH, Ch. xxxv. ver 7. The parched ground ſhall become a pool, and the thirſty land ſprings of water: In the habitations where dragons lay, ſhall be graſs, and reeds and ruſhes. Ch. lv. ver. 13. Inſtead of the thorn ſhall come up the fir-tree, and inſtead of the briar ſhall come up the myrtle-tree.’ P.
[11]VER. 77. The lambs with wolves, &c.] VIRG. Ecl. iv. ver. 21.
‘The goats ſhall bear to the fold their udders diſtended with milk: nor ſhall the herds be afraid of the greateſt lions. The ſerpent ſhall die, and the herb that conceals poiſon ſhall die.’
‘ISAIAH, Ch. xi. ver. 16, &c. The wolf ſhall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard ſhall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling to⯑gether: and a little child ſhall lead them.—And the lion ſhall eat ſtraw like the ox. And the ſucking child ſhall play on the hole of the aſp, and the weaned child ſhall put his hand on the den of the cockatrice.’ P.
VER. 85. Riſe, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, riſe!] The thoughts of Iſaiah, which compoſe the latter part of [12] the poem, are wonderfully elevated, and much above thoſ [...] general exclamations of Virgil, which make the loftieſt part of his Pollio.
The reader needs only to turn to the paſſages of Iſaiab, here cited. P.
REMARKS.
[6]His Original ſays, ‘Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the ſkies pour down righteouſneſs; let the earth open, and let them bring forth ſalvation, and let righte⯑ouſneſs ſpring up together.’—This is a very noble de⯑ſcription of divine grace ſhed abroad in the hearts of the faithful under the Goſpel diſpenſation. And the poet under⯑ſtood all its force as appears from the two lines preceding theſe,—Th' Aethereal Spirit, &c. The prophet deſcribes this under the image of rain, which chiefly fits the firſt age of the Goſpel: The poet, under the idea of dew, which ex⯑tends it to every age. And as it was his purpoſe it ſhould be [...]o underſtood, as appears from this expreſſion of ſoft ſilence, which agrees with the common, not the extraordinary effuſions of the Holy Spirit. The figurative term is wonderfully hap⯑py. He who would moralize the ancient Mythology in the manner of Bac [...]n, muſt ſay, that by the poetical nectar, is meant theological grace.
VER. 17. ancient fraud] i. e. the fraud of the Serpent.
[9]VER. 39. He from thick films ſhall purge the viſual ray.] The ſenſe and language ſhew, that by viſual ray, the poet meant the ſight, or, as Milton calls it, indeed, ſomething leſs boldly, viſual nerve. And no critic would quarrel with the figure which calls the inſtrument of viſion by the name of the cauſe. But though the term be juſt, nay noble, and even ſublime, yet the expreſſion of thick films is faulty, and he fell into it by a common neglect of the following rule of good writing, ‘That when a figurative word is uſed, whatſoe⯑ver is predicated of it ought not only to agree in terms to the thing to which the figure is applied, but likewiſe to that from which the figure is taken.’ Thick films agree only with the thing to which it is applied, namely, to the ſight or eve; and not to that from which it is taken, namely, a ray of light coming to the eye. He ſhould have ſaid thick clouds, which would have agreed with both. But theſe inac⯑curacies are not to be found in his later poems.
- Zitationsvorschlag für dieses Objekt
- TextGrid Repository (2020). TEI. 3686 Messiah a sacred eclogue in imitation of Virgil s Pollio By Alexander Pope Esq. University of Oxford Text Archive. . https://hdl.handle.net/21.T11991/0000-001A-581F-0