Sic te inopem reddis, debitor ut teneat.
Though rich, yet poor. How thus? Your all you lend,
And rob yourself of what your debtors spend.
Here follows another, and, once for all, if any proud critic, in his
wisdom, or pretty girl, in her ignorance, object to my translating, now
and then, into bald Latin as well as plain English, let them know that
I am a bit of a pedant. Some of it needs a Latin guise, to cover its
roughness. The critic may deride, _si placet_, and the lady _skip_, if
she like.
EPIGRAM.--_By Julianus Egyptius, whose poverty secured him against
robbers._
Aedibus ex aliis, fures, vos quaerite lucrum.
His foribus custos pauperies mea erit.
Expect not here, ye thieves, your lust to sate,
For need, strong portress, watcheth at the gate.
Here is an epitaph. Upon whom? Euripides. By whom. Thucydides. Read it.
It is instructive. The subject and the author are dead; but each sleeps
under a stately tomb. Their works are their mausolea. But the idea--is
it not affecting? Twenty-three centuries agone, a great historian
weeping over the grave of a splendid poet!
Greece is thy tomb; but Sparta holds thy clay,
For there thy life beheld its latest day.
Athens--the Greece of Greece--first gave thee breath,
Dear to the muses, and renowned in death.
AN EPITAPH, _which Hippo ordered to be placed on his monument_.
Lo! Hippo’s tomb, whom Fate, by death, has made
Peer to the gods in their immortal shade.
_By Rufinus, to Melite_--Anglicè, _Fanny--a very pretty girl_.
Lumina habes Junonia pulchra, manusque Minervae,
Pectora (proh!) Veneris, atque pedes Thetidos.
Felix, qui viderit, qui te audieritque, beatus:
_Semi_deus tui amans, _omni_deus tui vir.
The word _omni_deus I claim as my own. I made it myself. _Noli
tangere._
Thy face is brightened by fair Juno’s eyes,
And Pallas lends thee her immortal hand;
Thy breasts, like those of Paphian Venus, rise;
Thy feet, like Thetis’, trip across the sand.
Ah! happy he, that gazes on thy face,
And he twice-bless’d, that listens to thy voice;
Thy lover, sure, is of angelic race,
And--a bright god--thy husband may rejoice.
_An address to Mammon, by Timocrates, the Rhodian._
Vellem, vellem, caece Plute,
Nec in terra, nec in alto,
Tua forma cerneretur.
Tartarum autem inhabitare,
Acheronta teque oportet.
Ex te namque prava nobis
Enasci omnia videntur.
Sightless Mammon, may’st thou be
Neither on the earth nor sea;
But be thou condemned to dwell
In the deepest depth of hell.
For, thou eyeless god, from thee
Springeth all our misery.
Here we have Plato--the philosopher--tilting it in verse.
_To Aristophanes, the comedian._
The Graces, seeking long to find
Some temple, free from all decay,
Chose, Aristophanes, thy mind,
As that, which cannot pass away.
_To Sappho._
Falsely they say the Muses are but nine--
A tenth is Lesbian Sappho--the divine.
In the following little _morceau_, the frog is considered as a priest
to the Nymphs, whose particular jurisdiction was over streams and
fountains.
_To a brazen frog, set up by a traveler, as an offering to the Nymphs._
Thee--the Nymphs’ servant--lover of the shower--
Moist songster, dwelling in the shallow springs--
The traveler, forming with mimetic power,
A brazen offering, to the temple brings.
For to the wanderer thine amphibious note
Forth from thy dewy lodge, all timely, rung,
And led his fainting footsteps to the spot,
Where from the earth the gushing fountain sprung.
_To a statue of Pan--the shepherd-god--carved with a pipe in his mouth._
Seat thee, O Pan, beneath this vocal tree,
Whose high leaves whisper, as the west-winds rise.
And by my gurgling springs thy pipe shall be
A lull of magic to my closing eyes.
_To a statue of Venus, at Cnidus, by Praxiteles._
To view her image at her Cnidian shrine.
The Paphian goddess through the billows came,
Looked long upon the lineaments divine,
And gazed, in rapture, at the faultless frame.
“Where did the sculptor view my naked form
With gaze unlawful?” Cythereia cried;
“’Tis the cold chisel makes the marble warm,
Like me, when Ares for my beauty sighed.”
Reader! should we meet again, be it kindly.
HERMENEUTES.
“OUR MAGAZINE.”
What was contrived by the intellectual skill of many, has been
accomplished by the physical energies of a few, and the first number of
the “Yale Literary Magazine,” is now before the public. But, dropping
this Johnsonian magnificence, indulgent reader, so little consonant
with the tremulous anxiety with which we pen these closing lines--how
are you pleased? As you have glanced from one article to another, till
your eye meets this last page, has your brow been gathering a frown,
or has a pleasant smile lit up your features? In either case, but
especially the former, we pray you to remember, that in preparing this
number, we have, in some respects, labored at a disadvantage. Our utter
inexperience in the mechanical portion of the work--the distracting
influence of the intervening vacation--with some other petty troubles,
will, with your indulgence, account for some of the errors, which your
sagacity has, doubtless, ere this discovered.
A word or two, now, of self-gratulation.--Our _prospects_
are encouraging. Our subscription list fully equals our
expectations--communications are abundant--(alas! too much so, one
might say, looking at the melancholy number of rejections,) and we have
hardly heard one croaking voice, foreboding failure. We are confident
in the assertion, that the future numbers will be superior in external
appearance, and not a whit inferior in literary merit.
To those who have furnished communications for the present number,
we render our sincere thanks, and request a continuance of their
favors. To _all_ we would extend a general invitation, ‘to send us
pieces’--asking of each ‘according to his ability,’--from the gay
trifling of wit, to the sober morality of wisdom--in prose, or in
verse--in long, or in short.
We were prevented, by divers mischances, from issuing this number on
the day it was due; and the same reason will account for the absence of
an intended engraving from the cover.
TO CORRESPONDENTS.
The communication, signed A, contains many thoughts of peculiar
poetical beauty, yet we regret to see, here and there, blemishes,
which materially affect its merits as a whole, and which none but the
author can properly remedy. A careful correction would do away those
redundancies, with which it is now encumbered, and render it of more
finished excellence. For the present, therefore, it is deferred.
Tuum Carmen, Grai, _‘limae labore’ deficiens_, “in cineres citissime
redegimus” ☞ ‘cinis ad cinerem.’
Z’s manuscript is too _extensive_ for our limited space, and also too
obscure for our mental and bodily vision.
The “Musings of Adonis” are also among the “great rejected.” To use his
own language, “Their beauty and fragrance,(?)
“Long since in sad silence have flown,
Like thistle-down, far on the gale!”
“Omega” shall receive a place corresponding with his signature, by the
by, one most appropriate, and withal, a fine typical emblem of the
merits of his performance.
The perusal of the first couplet of the “Apostrophe to the Moon”
sufficed us.--“Look!--lo! behold!”
“O! thou shiny orb, that careerest above--
Thy spirit how soothing,--thy light full of love!”
All articles intended for No. 2, we would wish to receive at an early
date, through the Post Office.
PROSPECTUS
OF THE
YALE LITERARY MAGAZINE.
TO BE CONDUCTED BY THE STUDENTS OF YALE COLLEGE.
An _apology_ for establishing a Literary Magazine, in an institution
like Yale College, can hardly be deemed requisite by an enlightened
public; yet a statement of the objects which are proposed in this
Periodical, may not be out of place.
To foster a literary spirit, and to furnish a medium for its exercise;
to rescue from utter waste the many thoughts and musings of a student’s
leisure hours; and to afford some opportunity to train ourselves
for the strife and collision of mind which we must expect in after
life;--such, and similar motives have urged us to this undertaking.
So long as we confine ourselves to these simple objects, and do not
forget the modesty becoming our years and station, we confidently
hope for the approbation and support of all who wish well to this
institution.
* * * * *
The work will be printed on fine paper and good type. Three numbers to
be issued every term, each containing about 40 pages, 8vo.
_Conditions_--$2,00 per annum, if paid in advance, or 75 cents at the
commencement of each term.
Communications may be addressed through the Post Office, “To the
Editors of the Yale Literary Magazine.”
* * * * *
This No. contains 2½ sheets. Postage, under 100 miles, 3¾ cents; over
100 miles, 6¼ cents.
Transcriber’s Notes
Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they
were not changed.
Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation
marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left
unbalanced.
Unexplained right-side asterisks at the ends of three articles or poems
on pages 13, 23, and 25, were in the original issue and have been
retained here.