délivrance,
Que sur terre envoyé le Messie accomplit dans son humanité:
Dis comment il rendit les fils du premier homme à leur Auteur
céleste;
Souffrant et mis à mort, enfin glorifié. Ainsi s’exécuta
Le décret éternel. En vain Satan rebelle opposa son audace
A ce Fils du Très-Haut; et Judas vainement s’éleva contre lui:
Réconciliateur et Rédempteur suprême, il consomma son œuvre.
Mais quoi, noble action! que Dieu seul en son cœur miséricordieux,
Connaît, la Poésie, en son exil terrestre, pourra-t-elle te suivre?
Non, Esprit créateur, c’est à toi, devant qui je m’incline en
tremblant,
A rapprocher de moi cette action divine, à toi-même semblable.
Viens donc, conduis-la-moi dans l’état immortel de toute sa beauté;
Remplis-la de ton feu, toi que, sondant l’abîme du Très-Haut, peux
de l’homme
Issu de la poussière, et fragile et mortel, te faire un temple saint.
My Soul, degenerate man’s redemption sing,
Which the Messiah in his human state
On earth accomplished, by which, suffering slain
And glorify’d, unto the Love of God
The progeny of Adam he restored.
Such was the everlasting Will divine,
Th’ infernal Fiend opposed him, Judah stood
In opposition proud; but vain their rage:
He did the deed, he wrought out man’s salvation.
Yet, wondrous Deed, which th’ all-compassionate
Jehovah alone completely comprehends,
May Poesy presume from her remote
Obscurity to venture on thy theme?
Creative Spirit, in whose presence here
I humbly’ adore, her efforts consecrate,
Conduct her steps and lead her, me to meet,
Of transport full, with glorious charms endow’d
And power immortal, imitating Thee.
(EGESTORFF.)
Sing, unserterbliche Seele, der sündigen Menschen Erlösung,
Die der Messias auf Erden, in seiner Menscheit vollendet;
Und durch die er Adams Geschlecht zu der Liebe der Gottheit,
Leidend, getödtet und verherlichet, weider erhöhet hat.
Also geschah des Ewigen Wille. Vergebens erhub sich
Satan gegen der göttlichen Sohn; umsonst stand Juda
Gegen ihn auf; er that’s, und wollbrachte die grosse Versöhnung.
Aber, o That, die allein der Albarmherzige kennet,
Darf aus dunckler Ferne sich auch dir nahen die Dichtkunst?
Weihe sie, Geist, Schöpfer, vor dem ich hier still anbete,
Führe sie mir, als deine Nachahmerin, voiler Entzückung,
Voll unsterblicher Kraft, in verklärter Schönheit, entgegen.
Rüste mit deinem Feuer sie, du, der die Tiefen des Gottheit
Schaut und den Menschen, aus Staube gemacht, zum Tempel sich heiligt!
It is evident that in this exposition the movement of Homer has been
united by Klopstock to the ideas of Tasso. The German poet claims
nevertheless the originality, and believes that he himself was called
to enjoy the first inspiration. In order that this high aspiration
might have been realized, a mass of learning very difficult to find
would have been necessary. I will explain briefly this idea. I believe
that the one who, disdaining to follow in the footsteps of Homer or of
Vergil, would wish to open another road to epopœia, should be well
acquainted with the ground over which he ventures to trace it, and the
goal toward which he aspires to conduct it; I think he should make
himself master of his subject so that nothing might remain obscure or
unknown to him; so that if he should choose either the downfall of
Man, as Milton, or his rehabilitation, after the example of Klopstock,
he would be able to acquaint himself with the inner meaning of these
mysteries, to explain all the conditions, to comprehend the beginning
and the end, and, raising himself to the intellectual nature where
they had birth, to spread light upon physical nature. This is the
first attainment that I deem indispensable to the epic poet; I say
that he should understand what he would sing. Homer knew what Ilium
was, what Ithaca was; he could explain to himself the nature of
Achilles and Helen, of Penelope and Ulysses; consequently he could
depict them. I do not wish to investigate here whether Milton has
understood in the same manner the beginning of the World and the
nature of Satan; nor whether Klopstock has well understood the mystery
of the incarnation of the Messiah. I only say that if they have not
understood these things, they cannot sing them in a manner really
epic.
A defect which is common to these two poets, and which is even
noticeable in the _Jerusalem Delivered_ of Tasso, is, that everything
which does not pertain to the part of the celebrated hero, is by its
impure, unfaithful, impious nature, governed by the Principle of evil,
and as such consigned to eternal damnation. An insurmountable barrier
separates the personages and makes them not alone enemies, but
opposed, as much as good and evil, light and darkness. However, the
passions act unknown even to the poet; the reader is hurried along, he
forgets the fatal line of demarcation, and is deceived into becoming
interested in Satan, into finding great, beautiful, and terrible, this
enemy of mankind; he trusts in Armida, he is moved by her troubles,
and seconds with his vows those of a notorious magician, instrument of
the Infernal Spirit. Matters go not thus with Homer. The Greeks see in
the Trojans, enemies, and not reprobates. Paris is culpable but not
impious. Hector is a hero in whom one can be interested without shame,
and the interest that one devotes to him reflects upon Achilles and
can even be increased. The gods are divided; but Venus and Juno,
Minerva and Mars, Vulcan and Neptune are of a like nature; and
although divided in the epic action, they are none the less venerated
by both parties, equal among each other and all equally subject to
Jupiter, who excites or checks their resentment. I know not whether
any one has already made this observation; but be that as it may, it
is very important. One can attain to the sublimity of epopœia only if
like Homer one knows how to oppose the Powers which serve the hero
with the Powers which persecute him. For if everything which serves
the hero is good, holy, and sacred, and everything which is harmful to
him wicked, impious, and reprobate, I do not see the glory of his
triumph.
The principal defect in Milton’s poem is that his hero succumbs,
although he has to combat only the evil things within himself, whilst
everything which is good protects him: the poem of Klopstock does not
hold the reader’s interest, because the perils of his hero are
illusory and as soon as he is represented as God, and when he himself
knows his divinity, his downfall is absolutely impossible.
But it is too much to dwell upon points of criticism which do not
belong to my subject. I have touched upon them only slightly so that
you may feel, _Messieurs_, notwithstanding the pretensions of three
rival peoples, that the epic career remains none the less wholly open
to the French nation. Some out-of-the-way paths have been traced here
and there; but no poet since Vergil, has left the imprint of his steps
upon the true path. The moment is perhaps at hand for gathering the
palms that time has ripened. Must this century, great in prodigies,
remain without an impassioned and enchanting voice to sing of them?
Assuredly not. Whoever may be the poet whose genius raises itself to
this noble task, I have wished from afar to lend him my feeble
support; for I have often enough repeated, that talent alone will
aspire to this in vain. Epopœia will only be the portion of the one
who thoroughly understands the essence of poetry and who is able to
apply to it a proper form. I have penetrated this essence as far as
has been possible for me, and I have revealed my ideas, _Messieurs_,
as clearly as the insufficiency of my means has permitted. I trust
that their development may have appeared satisfactory and useful to
you; I trust equally that the new form which I offer you merits your
attention. I have applied it before you, to ideas, to intentions and
to very different harmonies: it adapts itself here, for of itself it
is nothing. Subject wholly to poetic essence, it receives therefrom
all its lustre. If the ideas that it would render have grandeur and
sublimity, it will easily become grand and sublime; but nothing would
be poorer and more void, than that it should serve trivial thoughts or
that it should conceal an absolute want of ideas. Do not imagine,
_Messieurs_, that the absence of rhyme makes easy the French verse; it
is precisely this absence which makes the great difficulty: for there
is not then the means of writing without thinking. One can, with the
aid of talent and practice, compose pleasing rhymed verse, without a
great expenditure of ideas; the enormous quantity that is made today
proves that it is not very difficult. The elegance of form supplies
the sterility of substance. But this form becomes at last worn out;
the rhymes are not inexhaustible; one word attracts another, forces it
to unite with it, making understood the sounds that one has heard a
thousand times, repeating the pictures which are everywhere; one
repeats unceasingly the same things: the enjambment which gives so
much grace to the Greek and Latin verse and without which real epic
impulse cannot exist, is opposed to the rhyme and destroys it. You can
see, _Messieurs_, that it constitutes one of the principal qualities
of eumolpique verse; nothing here constrains the enthusiasm of the
poet.
After some impassioned verses that I have believed necessary for you
to hear, I shall now pass on to verses, philosophical and devoid of
passion, which form the subject of this writing and to which I desire
above all to call your attention.
THE GOLDEN VERSES OF PYTHAGORAS
ΤᾺ Τ῀Ω͂Ν ΠΥΘΑΓΟΤΡΕΊΩΝ ἜΠΗ ΤᾺ ΧΡΥΣΆ
ΠΑΡΑΣΚΕΥΗ.[229]
ΑΘΑΝΑΤΟΥΣ μὲν πρῶτα Δεοὺς, νόμῳ ὡς διάκεινται,
Τίμα· καὶ σέβου ὅρκον. ἔπειθ’ Ἥρωας ἀγαυούς.
Τοὺς τε καταχθονίους σέβε Δαίμονας, ἔννομα ῥέζων.
ΚΆΘΑΡΣΙΣ.[230]
Τούς τε γονεῖς τίμα, τούς τ’ ἄγχιστ’ ἐκγεγαῶτας.
Τῶν δ’ ἄλλων ἀρετῃ ποιεῦ φίλον ὅστις ἄριστος.
Πρᾳέσι δ’ εἶκε λόγοις, ἔργοισί τ’ ἐπωφελίμοισι.
Μὴδ’ ἔχθαιρε φίλον σὸν ἁμαρτάδος εἵνεκα μικρῆς,
Ὄφρα δύνῃ δύναμις γὰρ ἀνάγκης ἐγγύθι ναίει.
Ταῦτα μὲν οὕτως ἴσθι. κρατεῖν δ’ εἰθίζεο τῶνδε·
Γαστρὸς μὲν πρώπιστα, καὶ ὕπνου, λαγνείης τε,
Καὶ θυμοῦ. Πρήξεις δ’ αἰσχρόν ποτε μήτε μετ’ ἄλλου,
Μὴτ’ ἰδίῃ. Πάντων δὲ μάλιστα αἰσχύνεο σαυτόν.
Εἶτα δικαιοσύνην ἀσκεῖν ἔργῳ τε, λόγῳ τε.
Μὴδ’ ἀλογίστως σαυτὸν ἔχειν περὶ μηδὲν ἔθιζε·
Ἀλλὰ γνῶθι μὲν ὡς θανέειν πέπρωται ἅπασι.
Χρήματα δ’ ἄλλοτε μὲν κτᾶσθαι φιλεῖ, ἄλλοτ’ ὀλέσθαι.
Ὅσσα τε δαιμονίῃσι τύχαις βροτοὶ ἄλγε ἔχουσιν,
Ὧν ἄν μοῖραν ἔχῃς πρᾴως φέρε, μήδ’ ἀγανάκτει.
Ἰᾶσθαι δὲ πρέπει καθόσον δυνῄ· Ὥδε δὲ φράζευ.
Οὐ πάνυ τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς τουτῶν πολὺ μοῖρα δίδωσι.
Πολλοὶ δ’ ἀνθρώποισι λόγοι δειλοί τε, καὶ ἐσθλοὶ
Προσπίπτουσ’, ὧν μήτ’ ἐκπλήσσεο, μήτ’ ἄρ’ ἐάσῃς
Εἴργεσθαι σαυτόν. Ψεῦδος δ’ ἤν πέρ τι λέγηται,
Πρᾴως εἶχ’· Ὃ δέ τοι ἐρέω, ἐπὶ παντὶ τελείσθω.
Μηδεὶς μήτε λόγῳ σε παρείπῃ, μήτε τι ἔργῳ
Πρῆξαι, μὴδ’ εἰπεῖν, ὅ, τι τοὶ μὴ βέλτερόν ἐστι.
Βουλεύου δὲ πρὸ ἔργου, ὅπως μὴ μωρὰ πέληται.
Δειλοῦ τοι πρήσσειν τε λέγειν τ’ ἀνόητα πρὸς ἀνδρὸς.
Ἀλλὰ τάδ’ ἐκτελέειν, ἅ σε μὴ μετέπειτ’ ἀνιήσῃ.
Πρῆσσε δὲ μηδὲν τῶν μὴ πίστασαι· ἀλλὰ διδάσκευ
Ὅσσα χρεὼν, καὶ τερπνότατον βίον ὧδε διάξεις.
Ὀυδ’ ὑγιείης τῆς περὶ σῶμ’ ἀμέλειαν ἔχειν χρή.
Ἀλλὰ ποτοῦ τε μέτρον, καὶ σίτου, γυμνασίων τε
Ποιεῖσθαι. μέτρον δὲ λέγω τό δ’, ὃ μή σ’ ἀνιήσει.
Εἰθίζου δὲ δίαιταν ἔχειν καθάρειον, ἄθρυπτον.
Καὶ πεφύλαξό γε ταῦτα ποιεῖν, ὁπόσα φθόνον ἴσχει
Μὴ δαπανᾷν παρὰ καιρὸν, ὁποῖα καλῶν ἀδαήμων.
Μὴ δ’ ἀνελεύθερος ἴσθι· μέτρον δ’ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ἄριστον.
Πρῆσσε δὲ ταῦθ’, ἅ σε μὴ βλάψῃ· λόγισαι δὲ πρὸ ἔργου.
ΤΕΛΕΑΌΤΗΣ.[231]
Μὴδ’ ὕπνον μαλακοῖσιν ἐπ’ ὄμμασι προσδέξασθαι,
Πρὶν τῶν ἡμερινῶν ἔργων τρὶς ἕκαστον ἐπελθεῖν·
Πῇ παρέβην; τὶ δ’ ἔρεξα; τὶ μοι δέον οὐκ ἐτελέσθη;
Ἀρξάμενος δ’ ἀπὸ πρώτου ἐπέξιθι· καὶ μετέπειτα
Δεινὰ μὲν ἐκπρήξας ἐπιπλήσσεο· χρηστὰ δὲ, τέρπου.
Ταῦτα πόνει· ταῦτ’ ἐκμελέτα· τούτων χρὴ ἐρᾷν σε.
Ταῦτά σε τῆς θείης ἀρετῆς εἰς ἴχνια θήσει.
Ναὶ μὰ τὸν ἡμετέρᾳ ψυχᾷ παραδόντα τετρακτὺν,
Παγὰν ἀενάου φύσεως. Ἀλλ’ ἔρχευ ἐπ’ ἔργον
Θεοῖσιν ἐπευξάμενος τελέσαι. Τούτων δὲ κρατήσας,
Γνώση ἀθανάτων τε θεῶν, θνητῶν τ’ ἀνθρώπων
Σύστασιν, ᾗ τε ἕκαστα διέρχεται, ᾗ τε κρατεῖται.
Γνώσῃ δ’, ἣ θέμις ἐστὶ, φύσιν περὶ παντὸς ὁμοίην
Ὥστε σε μήτ’ ἄελπτ’ ἐλπίζειν, μήτε τι λήθειν.
Γνώσῃ δ’ ἀνθρώπους αὐθαίρετα πήματ’ ἔχοντας
Τλήμονας, οἵ τ’ ἀγαθῶν πέλας ὄντων οὔτ’ ἐσορῶσιν.
Οὔτε κλύουσι· λύσιν δὲ κακῶν παῦροι συνίσασι.
Τοίη μοίρα βροτῶν βλάπτει φρένας· οἱ δὲ κυλίνδροις
Ἄλλοτ’ ἐπ’ ἄλλα φέρονται ἀπείρονα πήματ’ ἔχοντες.
Λυγρὴ γὰρ συνοπαδὸς ἔρις βλάπτουσα λέληθε
Σύμφυτος· ἣν οὐ δεῖ προσάγειν, εἴκοντα δὲ φεύγειν.
Ζεῦ πάτερ, ἤ πολλῶν τε κακῶν λύσειας ἅπαντας.
Ἤ πᾶσιν δείξαις ὁίῳ τῷ δαίμονι χρῶνται.
Ἀλλὰ σὺ θάρσει· ἐπεὶ θεῖον γένος ἐστὶ βροτοῖσιν
Οἷς ἱερὰ προφέρουσα φύσις δείκνυσιν ἕκαστα.
ᾯν εἴ σοί τι μέτεστι, κρατήσεις ὧν σε κελεύω,
Ἐξακέσας, ψυχὴν δὲ πόνων ἀπὸ τῶν δὲ σαώσεις.
Ἀλλ’ εἴργου βρωτῶν, ὧν εἴπομεν, ἔν τε καθαρμοῖς,
Ἔν τε λύσει ψυχῆς κρίνων· καὶ ψράζευ ἕκαστα,
Ἡνίοχον γνώμην στήσας καθύπερθεν ἀρίστην.
Ἢν δ’ ἀπολείψας σῶμα ἐς αἰθέρ’ ἐλεύθερον ἔλθῃς,
Ἔσσεαι ἀθάνατος θεὸς, ἄμβροτος, οὐκ ἔτι θνητός.
Vers Dorés des Pythagoriciens
PRÉPARATION
Rends aux Dieux immortels le cult consacré;
Garde ensuite ta foi: Révère la mémoire
Des Héros bienfaiteurs, des Esprits demi-Dieux.
PURIFICATION
Sois bon fils, frère juste, époux tendre et bon père.
Choisis pour ton ami, l’ami de la vertu;
Cède à ses doux conseils, instruis-toi par sa vie,
Et pour un tort léger ne le quitter jamais;
Si tu le peux du moins: car une loi sévère
Attache la Puissance à la Nécessité.
Il t’est donné pourtant de combattre et se vaincre
Tes folles passions: apprends à les dompter.
Sois sobre, actif et chaste; évite la colère.
En public, en secret ne te permets jamais
Rien de mal; surtout respecte-toi toi-même.
Ne parle et n’agis point sans avoir réfléchi.
Sois juste. Souviens-toi qu’un pouvoir invincible
Ordonne de mourir; que les biens, les honneurs
Facilement acquis, sont faciles à perdre.
Et quant aux maux qu’entraîne avec soi le Destin,
Juge-les ce qu’ils sont: supporte-les; et tâche,
Autant que tu pourras, d’en adoucir les traits:
Les Dieux, aux plus cruels, n’ont pas livré les sages.
Comme la Vérité, l’Erreur a ses amants:
Le philosophe approuve, ou blâme avec prudence;
Et si Erreur triomphe, il s’éloigne; il attend.
Ecoute, et grave bien en ton cœur mes paroles:
Ferme l’œil et l’oreille à la prévention;
Crains l’exemple d’autrui; pense d’après toi-même;
Consulte, délibère, et choisis librement.
Laisse les fous agir et sans but et sans cause.
Tu dois dans le présent, contempler l’avenir.
Ce que tu ne sais pas, ne prétends point le faire.
Instruis-toi: tout s’accorde à la constance, au temps.
Veille sur ta santé: dispense avec mesure,
Au corps les aliments, à l’esprit le repos.
Trop ou trop peu de soins sont à fuir; car l’envie,
A l’un et l’autre excès, s’attache également.
Le luxe et l’avarice ont des suites semblables.
Il faut choisir en tout, un milieu juste et bon.
PERFECTION
Que jamais le sommeil ne ferme ta paupière,
Sans t’être demandé: Qu’ai-je omis? qu’ai-je fait?
Si c’est mal, abstiens-toi; si c’est bien, persévère.
Médite mes conseils; aime-les; suis-les tous:
Aux divines vertus ils sauront te conduire.
J’en jure par celui qui grava dans nos cœurs,
La Tétrade sacrée, immense et pur symbole,
Source de la Nature, et modèle des Dieux.
Mais qu’avant, ton âme, à son devoir fidèle,
Invoque avec ferveur ces Dieux, dont les secours
Peuvent seuls achever tes œuvres commencées.
Instruit par eux, alors rien ne t’abusera:
Des êtres différents tu sonderas l’essence;
Tu connaîtras de Tout le principe et la fin.
Tu sauras, si le Ciel le veut, que la Nature,
Semblable en toute chose, est la même en tout lieu:
En sorte qu’éclairé sur tes droits véritables,
Ton cœur de vains désirs ne se repaîtra plus.
Tu verras que les maux qui dévorent les hommes,
Sont le fruit de leur choix; et que ces malheureux
Cherchent loin d’eux biens dont ils portent la source.
Peu savent être heureux: jouets des passions,
Tour à tour ballotés par des vagues contraires,
Sur une mer sans rive, ils roulent, aveuglés,
Sans pouvoir résister ni céder à l’orage.
Dieu! vous les sauveriez en désillant leurs yeux.…
Mais non: c’est aux humains, dont la race est divine,
A discerner l’Erreur, à voir la Vérité.
La Nature les sert. Toi qui l’as pénétrée,
Homme sage, homme heureux, respire dans le port.
Mais observe mes lois, en t’abstenant des choses
Que ton âme doit craindre, en les distinguant bien;
En laissant sur le corps régner l’intelligence:
Afin que, t’élevant dans l’Ether radieux,
Au sein des Immortels, tu sois un Dieu toi-même!
EXAMINATIONS OF THE GOLDEN VERSES:
EXPLANATIONS AND DEVELOPMENTS
EXAMINATIONS OF THE GOLDEN VERSES:
EXPLANATIONS AND DEVELOPMENTS
1. THE GOLDEN VERSES OF THE PYTHAGOREANS
The ancients had the habit of comparing with gold all that they deemed
without defects and pre-eminently beautiful: thus, by the _Golden Age_
they understood, the age of virtues and of happiness; and by the
_Golden Verses_, the verses wherein was concealed the most pure
doctrine.[232] They constantly attributed these Verses to Pythagoras,
not that they believed that this philosopher had himself composed
them, but because they knew that his disciple, whose work they were,
had revealed the exact doctrine of his master and had based them all
upon maxims issued from his mouth.[233] This disciple, commendable
through his learning, and especially through his devotion to the
precepts of Pythagoras, was called Lysis.[234] After the death of this
philosopher and while his enemies, momentarily triumphant, had raised
at Crotona and at Metaponte that terrible persecution which cost the
lives of so great a number of Pythagoreans, crushed beneath the
_débris_ of their burned school, or constrained to die of hunger in
the temple of the Muses,[235] Lysis, happily escaped from these
disasters, retired into Greece, where, wishing to spread the sect of
Pythagoras, to whose principles calumnies had been attached, he felt
it necessary to set up a sort of formulary which would contain the
basis of morals and the principal rules of conduct given by this
celebrated man. It is to this generous movement that we owe the
philosophical verses that I have essayed to translate into French.
These verses, called _golden_ for the reason I have given, contain the
sentiments of Pythagoras and are all that remain to us, really
authentic, concerning one of the greatest men of antiquity. Hierocles,
who has transmitted them to us with a long and masterly Commentary,
assures us that they do not contain, as one might believe, the
sentiment of one in particular, but the doctrine of all the sacred
corps of Pythagoreans and the voice of all the assemblies.[236] He
adds that there existed a law which prescribed that each one, every
morning upon rising and every evening upon retiring, should read these
verses as the oracles of the Pythagorean school. One sees, in reality,
by many passages from Cicero, Horace, Seneca, and other writers worthy
of belief, that this law was still vigorously executed in their
time.[237] We know by the testimony of Galen in his treatise on _The
Understanding and the Cure of the Maladies of the Soul_, that he
himself read every day, morning and evening, the Verses of Pythagoras;
and that, after having read them, he recited them by heart. However, I
must not neglect to say that Lysis, who is the author of them,
obtained so much celebrity in Greece that he was honoured as the
master and friend of Epaminondas.[238] If his name has not been
attached to this work, it is because at the epoch when he wrote it,
the ancient custom still existed of considering things and not
individuals: it was with the doctrine of Pythagoras that one was
concerned, and not with the talent of Lysis which had made it known.
The disciples of a great man had no other name than his. All their
works were attributed to him. This is an observation sufficiently
important to make and which explains how Vyasa in India, Hermes in
Egypt, Orpheus in Greece, have been the supposed authors of such a
multitude of books that the lives of many men would not even suffice
to read them.
In my translation, I have followed the Greek text, such as is cited at
the head of the Commentary of Hierocles, commentated on by the son of
Casaubon, and interpreted into Latin by J. Curterius; London edition,
1673. This work, like all those which remain to us of the ancients,
has been the subject of a great many critical and grammatical
discussions: in the first place one must before everything else be
assured of the material part. This part is today as authentic and as
correct as it is possible to be, and although there exists still,
several different readings, they are of too little importance for me
to dwell upon. It is not my affair and besides, _chacun doit faire son
métier_. That of the grammarian has ended where it ought to end. For
how can man ever expect to advance if he never is willing to try some
new thing which is offered. I shall not therefore make any criticizing
remarks concerning the text, for I consider this text sufficiently
examined; neither will I make any notes concerning the Commentaries,
properly so-called, on these seventy-one lines, for I think it is
sufficient having those of Hierocles, of Vitus Amerbachius, Theodore
Marcilius, Henri Brem, Michel Neander, Jean Straselius, Guilhaume
Diezius, Magnus-Daniel Omeis, André Dacier, etc. As I stated, I shall
make examinations rather than commentaries, and I will give, regarding
the inner meaning of the Verses, all the explanations that I believe
useful for their complete development.
PREPARATION
2. _Render to the Immortal Gods the consecrated cult;
Guard then thy faith_: