The Works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 12

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John Dryden. The Works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 12

APPENDIX TO THE FABLES

THE KNIGHTES TALE,

THE NONNES PREESTES TALE

THE FLOUR AND THE LEFE

THE WIF OF BATHES TALE

TRANSLATIONS FROM OVID'S EPISTLES

PREFACE TO THE TRANSLATION OF OVID'S EPISTLES.2

CANACE TO MACAREUS. EPIST. XI

HELEN TO PARIS. EPIST. XVII.13

DIDO TO ÆNEAS. EPIST. VII

TRANSLATIONS FROM OVID'S METAMORPHOSES

DEDICATION PREFIXED TO THE TRANSLATIONS FROM OVID's METAMORPHOSES

DEDICATION OF THE THIRD MISCELLANY, 1693, CONTAINING TRANSLATIONS FROM OVID'S METAMORPHOSES

THE FIRST BOOK OF OVID'S METAMORPHOSES

MELEAGER AND ATALANTA, OUT OF THE EIGHTH BOOK OF OVID'S METAMORPHOSES

BAUCIS AND PHILEMON. OUT OF THE EIGHTH BOOK OF OVID'S METAMORPHOSES

THE FABLE OF IPHIS AND IANTHE. FROM THE NINTH BOOK OF OVID'S METAMORPHOSES

PYGMALION AND THE STATUE. FROM THE TENTH BOOK OF

CINYRAS AND MYRRHA. OUT OF THE TENTH BOOK OF OVID'S METAMORPHOSES

CEYX AND ALCYONE. OUT OF THE TENTH BOOK OF

ÆSACUS TRANSFORMED INTO A CORMORANT. FROM THE ELEVENTH BOOK OF OVID'S METAMORPHOSES

THE TWELFTH BOOK OF OVID'S METAMORPHOSES, WHOLLY TRANSLATED

THE SPEECHES OF AJAX AND ULYSSES: FROM THE THIRTEENTH BOOK Of OVID'S METAMORPHOSES

THE STORY OF ACIS, POLYPHEMUS, AND GALATEA, FROM THE THIRTEENTH BOOK OF OVID'S METAMORPHOSES

OF THE PYTHAGOREAN PHILOSOPHY. FROM THE FIFTEENTH BOOK OF OVID'S METAMORPHOSES

TRANSLATIONS FROM OVID'S ART OF LOVE

THE FIRST BOOK OF OVID'S ART OF LOVE

FROM OVID'S AMOURS. BOOK I. ELEG. 1

FROM OVID'S AMOURS. BOOK I. ELEG. 4

PREFACE ON TRANSLATION, PREFIXED TO DRYDEN's SECOND MISCELLANY, PUBLISHED IN 1685

TRANSLATIONS FROM THEOCRITUS

AMARYLLIS: OR, THE THIRD IDYLLIUM OF THEOCRITUS, PARAPHRASED.59

THE EPITHALAMIUM OF HELEN AND MENELAUS. FROM THE EIGHTEENTH IDYLLIUM OF THEOCRITUS.62

THE DESPAIRING LOVER. FROM THE TWENTY-THIRD IDYLLIUM OF THEOCRITUS

DAPHNIS AND CHLORIS

TRANSLATIONS FROM LUCRETIUS

THE BEGINNING OF THE FIRST BOOK OF LUCRETIUS

THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND BOOK OF LUCRETIUS

THE LATTER PART OF THE THIRD BOOK OF LUCRETIUS. AGAINST THE FEAR OF DEATH

THE LATTER PART OF THE FOURTH BOOK OF LUCRETIUS; CONCERNING THE NATURE OF LOVE

FROM THE FIFTH BOOK OF LUCRETIUS

TRANSLATIONS FROM HORACE

THE THIRD ODE OF THE FIRST BOOK OF HORACE. INSCRIBED TO THE EARL OF ROSCOMMON, ON HIS INTENDED VOYAGE TO IRELAND.63

THE NINTH ODE OF THE FIRST BOOK OF HORACE

THE TWENTY-NINTH ODE OF THE FIRST BOOK OF HORACE. PARAPHRASED IN PINDARIC VERSE, AND INSCRIBED TO THE RIGHT HON. LAURENCE, EARL OF ROCHESTER

THE SECOND EPODE OF HORACE

TRANSLATIONS FROM HOMER

THE FIRST BOOK OF HOMER'S ILIAD

THE LAST PARTING OF HECTOR AND ANDROMACHE. FROM THE SIXTH BOOK OF THE ILIAD

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Now loketh, is not this an heigh folie?

The English reader may there be satisfied, that he flourished in the reign of Augustus Cæsar; that he was extracted from an ancient family of Roman knights; that he was born to the inheritance of a splendid fortune;4 that he was designed to the study of the law, and had made considerable progress in it, before he quitted that profession, for this of poetry, to which he was more naturally formed. The cause of his banishment is unknown; because he was himself unwilling further to provoke the emperor, by ascribing it to any other reason than what was pretended by Augustus, which was, the lasciviousness of his Elegies, and his Art of Love.5 It is true, they are not to be excused in the severity of manners, as being able to corrupt a larger empire, if there were any, than that of Rome; yet this may be said in behalf of Ovid, that no man has ever treated the passion of love with so much delicacy of thought, and of expression, or searched into the nature of it more philosophically than he. And the emperor, who condemned him, had as little reason as another man to punish that fault with so much severity, if at least he were the author of a certain epigram, which is ascribed to him, relating to the cause of the first civil war betwixt himself and Mark Antony the triumvir, which is more fulsome than any passage I have met with in our poet.6

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I remember not any of the Romans, who have treated on this subject, save only Propertius, and that but once, in his Epistle of Arethusa to Lycotas, which is written so near the style of Ovid, that it seems to be but an imitation; and therefore ought not to defraud our poet of the glory of his invention.

Concerning the Epistles, I shall content myself to observe these few particulars: first, that they are generally granted to be the most perfect pieces of Ovid, and that the style of them is tenderly passionate and courtly; two properties well agreeing with the persons, which were heroines, and lovers. Yet, where the characters were lower, as in Œnone and Hero, he has kept close to nature, in drawing his images after a country life, though perhaps he has romanized his Grecian dames too much, and made them speak, sometimes, as if they had been born in the city of Rome, and under the empire of Augustus. There seems to be no great variety in the particular subjects which he has chosen; most of the Epistles being written from ladies, who were forsaken by their lovers: which is the reason that many of the same thoughts come back upon us in divers letters: but of the general character of women, which is modesty, he has taken a most becoming care; for his amorous expressions go no further than virtue may allow, and therefore may be read, as he intended them, by matrons without a blush.

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