defend himself with his shield from the random shots of the impetuous spear; or whirl with such dexterity the whizzing sling?— When the battle burns, who displays such knowledge in presenting the best countenance to the enemy; or such presence of mind in seizing the critical moment of victory?—But lest posterity might interpret this praise into mere poetic declamation, I celebrate," says Tibullus, "what my own experience justifies; the brave soldier of Japidia, and the rebellious Pannonians scattered amidst the cold Alps, can witness it. The old soldier of Arupinum, and the peasant nursed up in arms, can testify it," &c. The poet is here supposed to allude to his expedition with Messala, in the year 718, against the Salassi, who were the only people of the Alps that history tells us were subdued by Messala that year, and for which, we have observed, he refused a triumph. Our author, after paying Messala's military talents every compliment, and viewing his exploits in the most flattering light, exclaims, that Nature and Jove himself bowed to him in his consulate; and then closes his panegyric with the warmest feelings of the friend as well as of the poet. "For you, Messala, I should brave the rapid ocean, though disturbed by every wind: For you I should rush into the thickest ranks of the enemy, or fling myself into the hottest flames of Ætna.' "Sum quodcunque tuum est." When Tibullus laments his own inability to describe Messala's actions according to their merit, he introduces to our acquaintance a poet whose genius and virtues entitled him to the friendship and esteem of Messala and Horace. This was Valgius Rufus, whom Tibullus considered little inferior to Homer; but whose works are now unfortunately lost. "But Valgius he can swell a warrior's name, We learn from Horace that Valgius excel 'Dart's translation "Est tibi qui possit magnis se accingere rebus Angelo Poliziano has alluded to this character of Valgius in one of his latin poems: "Et qui Smyrnæis poterat contendere plectris -HOR. B. ii. ode 9. "Tu semper urges flebilibus modis led in elegiac composition; and that he made the death of an amiable son the subject of some of his plaintive strains. Horace addressed to him a beautiful ode on the occasion. The grief the father suffered for the loss of such a son must have been considerably alleviated by the correspondent feelings of such a friend as Horace; for where two minds meet of congenial sentiments, they seldom fail in soothing, dilating, and lessening each other's sorrow. After the expiration of Messala's consulship, we are at a loss both as to the time of his next expedition, and the particular circumstances under which he was employed in it. The commentators are of opinion, that Augustus soon appointed him to an extraordinary command in Syria, which we find he accepted of; and that Tibullus consented to go with him, notwithstanding the sighs and tears of Delia, with whom he was then violently in love. He embarked with Messala for Syria; but before they had been long at sea, he was taken so ill that Messala was obliged to leave him at Phæacia, 2 2 All could not dry my tender Delia's tears, Suppress her sighs, or calm her anxious fears." GRAINGER. and proceed without him on his voyage.3 Fortunately for our poet he was now on fairy ground; and Homer and Ulysses, and the palace and gardens of king Alcinous, must have for ever been before his eyes. In this celebrated isle, where the divine Demodocus strung his golden lyre, Tibullus composed the third elegy of his first book, which is remarkable for its simplicity and beauty. How 3 Ibitis Ægeas sine me, Messala, per undas, O utinam memores ipse, cohorsque * mei. Me tenet ignotis agrum Phæacia terris. TIB. lib. i. ode S. 4 Such visions, one might have supposed to have been ever present to his imagination; and yet, from the beginning of the elegy to the end of it, there is not a reference to its history as given by Homer. His description of the Golden age, beginning with Quam bene Saturno vivebant rege, priusquam has not been surpassed by any poet either ancient or modern. The cohors mentioned in the text was Messala's retinue, says Dr Grainger, which, if made up of such men as Tibullus, must, he adds, have been very different from that of modern generals. But in those days a man was thought the better soldier for cultivating an acquaintance with the muses.-Tempora mutantur. "Si tibi sancta cohors comitum," says Juvenal, long his illness confined him here we are not told; but as soon as his health permitted, it is known he renewed his voyage, and joined Messala in the East. No satisfactory account remains of this eastern expedition, either as declarative of its causes or consequences. Tibullus, in the eighth elegy of his first book, (a poem which Dr Grainger thinks is entitled to a nobler appellation than that of elegy), expressly alludes to his patron's conduct on it in the following poetic raptures: "Shall I," says he, "record his transactions near the silent waters of the Cydnus, the lofty summits of Taurus, the high towers of Tyre, or the fertilizing streams of the Nile?" From this language, however poctical, it is clear Messala was engaged in some service of consequence whilst he commanded in the East. He could not have remained long there; for we find him, in the following year, 726, appointed proconsul by Augustus, to quell a rebellion which had broken out in the province of Aquitania. The account given by Tibullus of this expedition is also in the suspicious language of poetry and panegyric. But, as our author served under Messala, and published his relation of the conquest a short |