Thrice should her captive dames to Greece return,
And their dead sons, and slaughter’d Husbands mourn. Addison.
The prosperity which she promiseth to the Roman arms is therefore granted, only upon condition that they never think of rebuilding this detested city.
From the preceding short account of this celebrated Ode, it will appear that the transitions are extremely artful, the sentiments noble, and that the whole conduct is happy and judicious. These, if I mistake not, are the distinguishing excellencies of the larger Odes of Horace, in which the Poet’s didactic genius is remarkably conspicuous. Perhaps however, your Lordship, like the French Critic, is at a loss to find in all this, the energy, the vehemence, the exuberance of Pindar. Horace himself was perfectly sensible of the superior excellence of the Greek Poet, and never rises to truer sublimity than when he is drawing his character. The following image is great, and appropriated to the subject.
Monte decurrens velut amnis, imbres
Quem super notas aluere ripas
Fervet, immensusque ruit profundo
Pindarus ore.[96]
Pindar like some fierce torrent swoln with show’rs,
Or sudden Cataracts of melting Snow,