The passion of Byblis made English, from Ovid, Meami [sic] Lib. 9 / by Mr. Dennis.

Annotations

P. 5. WOuld I had been (deriv'd from some poor Swain,) &c.

The Latin is, Tu me vellem generosior esses.

Mr. Oldham renders, it thus.

Would thou wert noble, I more meanly born

He makes her give this reason for her Wish, vid.

Then guiltless I'd despair'd, and suffer'd Scorn.

Whereas the reason that I make her give is just opposite to it, vid. Then I might guiltless have enjoyed my Caunus. Ovid expresses no reason, but implies one; for there is something Pindarical in the sense of the passage, and the Connexion is left to be made by the Rea∣der, as we shall find anon. In the mean while let us see, whither Mr. Oldham's reason or mine is that of Ovid. To discover which let us consider, which is most agreeable to good sense, and the nature of her Passion, and most suitable to the Design of the Poet. It does not seem to me to be consistent with good sense, to make Byblis, who so vehemently desir'd to enjoy her Brother, and who at the same time saw the impossibility of it, and felt the Plague of Despair, wish that she had been of a more obscure Descent, rather than of her Brother's illustrious Stock; only that with the same vehement desire she might have the same Despair. Nor does this seem to be consistent with the Nature of Love. For they who are throughly seiz'd with that Passion, place all their Felicity in the beloved Object, and even in Despair most ardently desire Possession. And such can no more wish to be in a Condition of Life, that might render them incapable of enjoying what they love, than any man or woman can truly wish to be miserable. It

had been therefore more consonant to good sense, and the Nature of her Passion, to make her speak thus. Had my Birth been more lowly, and I had been tormented with the same desire, tho there had been then an improbability of satisfying it, yet considering what a Leveller Love is, there had not been then, as there is now, an absolute impossibility of innocently enjoying my Caunus. To discover if this be not Ovid's sense, I think fit with this passage to cite what immediately precedes and follows.

O ego, si liceat mutato nomine jungi, Quam bene, Caune, tuo poteram nurus esse Parenti! Quam bene, Caune, meo poteras gener esse Parenti! Omnia Dii facerent essent communia nobis Praeter avos, tu me vellem generosior esses. Nescio quam facies igitur pulcherrime matrem

That is to say, Could we but dissolve the bonds of Nature, how well we might be joyn'd in stricter! I wish that having every thing else in common, we had at least a different Lineage; would I had been inferior to Caunus, rather than thus have been equal to him. But alas! this is but a vain wish, and therefore another must be the happy she who must possess all that I languish for. I believe this will be allow'd to be a just explication of Ovid 's sense. For the last verse by the word igitur must necessarily be an inference, from something expressed or implied in the last but one. Now that which is implied can be nothing but this. If you had been of a dif∣ferent Parentage, tho you had been more nobly descended, yet there had then been a possibility (such is the force of Love) of my being blest in innocently possessing you; which possibility now is destroyed by Relation. Therefore another, &c. Besides, if we do but consider, that every thing that precedes and follows Byb∣lis's wish, that her Brother had been more nobly descended, appears plainly to be spoke out of a furious desire of enjoying him; we. need make no doubt but that very wish too proceeds from the same desire.

P. 7. To his sweet Lips as to its Heaven, &c.

This is not the thought of Ovid. Mr. Sands has touch'd upon it, but very faintly. Mr. Oldham has kept wide of it. But because no thought that can ever be substituted, can make amends for that of the original, I think my self obliged to do Ovid that Justice as to insert it here. The Latin is thus then.

Aut nostro vetitus de corde fugabitur ardor, Aut hoc si nequeo, peream precor ipsa, toro{que} Mortua componar; positae{que} det oscula frater.

That is to say, Either I will expel this incestuous Love from my Breast, or dye in the attempt, and be laid out on the mournful Herse. One would have thought that there had been an end of her and her Passion, when by an admirable and surprizing return of it, she immediately adds, positae{que} det oscula Frater. Let my Bro∣ther embrace me as Flie sensless there. So that here she seems to make provision for her Passion, against a time when it can be no more, to anticipate the satisfaction of her Brother's embracing her in the moment in which she cannot be sensible of it, and, by imagination in the same sentence, to extend her love beyond that death by which she propounds to end it. This is indeed livelily to paint the extream disorder of a violent and irregular Passion. But what Hand must give us a copy of so divine an original? Who must not despair of imita∣ting successfully the wonderful celerity of this incomparable turn?

P. 12 All Lets t'enjoyment, &c. The Latin is, Nec nos aut durus Pater aut reverentia famae Aut Timor impediet.

Mr. Oldham has render'd it thus.

Let neither Awe of Fathers Frowns, nor Shame For ought that can be told by blabbing Fame, Nor any Ghastlier fantom Fear can frame Frighten or stop us, in the way to Bliss.

So that he makes Byblis start several difficulties enough to frighten her Brother, if he were inclin'd to complyance, and then exhorts him to go on in spight of them. Whereas the design of Ovid, is to make her answer such Objections as may probably be made by Caunus. The things that can chiefly be objected in such a case are two, viz. The Rigor of Parents, and Apprehension of Infamy. Now neither of these have reason to frighten us. For says she, Dulcia fraterno sub nomine furta tegemus. That is, we shall conceal our incestuous Love under the disguise of fraternal Affection, and tho we appear ne∣ver so fond to our Parents, and the rest of the World, they will be ra∣ther apt to extol our Piety, than to arraign our Incest. But this Verse, Dulcia, &c. which Byblis speaks as a reason for what pre∣ceded it, looks in Mr. Oldham like the Introduction of a new Propo∣sition.

P. 19 Come he must yet be mine, &c.

The Latin is.

Vincetur: repetendus erit, nec taedia coepti Ulla mei capiam, dum spiritus iste manebit.

Mr. Oldham has rendered it thus.

Alive I'll pray, till Breath in Prayers be lost, And after come a kind beseeching Ghost.

Where he pushes Ovid's thought a little too far, and indeed be∣yond the bounds of good sense. 'Tis true, I have met with some Gen∣tlemen, who admire this passage very much, as something forsooth

very soft, But like will to like, says the Proverb. For indeed those Gentlemen may be said to be soft with a vengeance, I would fain ask them one question. For what should this poor Ghost come a begging? For the Charity of the Flesh? That would be very pleasant. And yet the Charity of the Flesh is certainly the business in question.

P. 20. He'll think if thus, &c.

The Latin is.

Vel quia desierim, leviter voluisse videbor.

Which Mr. Oldham renders thus.

Should I desist, 'twill be believ'd that I, By slightly asking, taught him to deny.

I wonder that a man of Mr. Oldham's Sense and Learning should mistake leviter voluisse for slightly asking. By which mistake he has run himself upon two absurdities. For first he puts a sentiment into the mouth of Byblis, that is altogether base, and unworthy of a Wo∣man of Honor, as if she were afraid of not being thought impudent enough, or of not being thought in good earnest. Secondly, he makes her bring that as an argument for persisting in her design, which is directly conclusive of the contrary. For what she says, in Prose, and in plain English, is this. If I should now conquer this Passion, and grow once more the vertuous Byblis, I am afraid the World, who may come to know what a civil Request I made to my Bro∣ther, and afterwards took the very first Denial, I am afraid this ill-natur'd World will believe that I was but in jest. Truly a very pleasant and very reasonable Fear. But what does she call slightly asking? The sending such a Letter as hers? For my part I know but one way she had to put the business more home to him. This cannot be the sense of Ovid. For tho. Ovid is not the justest man in the World in his thinking, (for justness is not his Talent) yet he seldom thinks so preposterously, nor could Mr. Oldham have done it, if he had not writ this in a hurry. By leviter voluisse then is meant not

slightly to have asked, but lightly to have inclin'd my Will; and then the meaning has not only something very sensible in it, but very extra∣ordinary and very noble. For thus Byblis is made to assert her Honor, by her very persisting in a most execrable crime, for now the sense runs thus. If I should now upon this first Repulse give over, then men will reasonably conclude, that since it was in my power so soon to desist, it was in my power not to have given way to this Passion at first; and that she who could so easily stop its progress, might much more easily have prevented its very beginning; and con∣sequently the advances which I have made to my Brother, will be imputed rather to my natural inclination to such horrible Wick∣edness, or some strange and base infirmity in me, than the force of a Passion inflicted by an offended God. But if after having shown so much Remorse, and so much Reluctancy, I still persist, notwithstanding that Remorse, notwithstanding that Reluctancy, nay notwithstanding Despair; why then my Brother and all the World must acknowledge that Byblis is not to blame; but that since she does what doing she disapproves, and sollicits a Vice, the very thought of which strikes her with Horror, it is demon∣strably evident that her Passion is supernatural; and is not actu∣ated by her own Will, but some more sublime, some eternal prin∣ciple which Mortals in vain resist.

FINIS.