Note 146:2 — THE DESTINY OF NATIONS[131:1]
Reading edition
The Slaves in the West-India Islands consider Death as a passport to their native country. The Sentiment is thus expressed in the Introduction to a Greek Prize Ode on the Slave-Trade, of which the Ideas are better than the Language or Metre, in which they are conveyed:—
Ὠ σκότου πύλας, Θάνατε, προλείπων Ἐς γένος σπεύδοις ὑποζευχθὲν Ἄτᾳ[146:A]; Οὐ ξενισθήσῃ γενύων σπαραγμοῖς Οὐδ' ὀλολυγμῷ,
Ἀλλὰ καὶ κύκλοισι χοροιτύποισι Κἀσμάτων χαρᾷ; φοβερὸς μὲν ἐσσί, Ἀλλ' ὁμῶς Ἐλευθερίᾳ συνοικεῖς, Στυγνὲ Τύραννε!
Δασκίοις ἐπὶ πτερύγεσσι σῇσι Ἆ! θαλάσσιον καθορῶντες οἶδμα Αἰθεροπλάγκτοις ὑπὸ πόσσ' ἀνεῖσι Πατρίδ' ἐπ' αἶαν,
Ἔνθα μὰν Ἐρασταὶ Ἐρωμένῃσιν Ἀμφὶ πηγῇσιν κιτρίνων ὑπ' ἀλσῶν, Ὅσσ' ὑπὸ βροτοῖς ἔπαθον βροτοί, τὰ Δεινὰ λέγοντι.
LITERAL TRANSLATION.
Leaving the gates of Darkness, O Death! hasten thou to a Race yoked to Misery! Thou wilt not be received with lacerations of Cheeks, nor with funereal ululation, but with circling Dances and the joy of Songs. Thou art terrible indeed, yet thou dwellest with Liberty, stern Genius! Borne on thy dark pinions over the swelling of Ocean they return to their native country. There by the side of fountains beneath Citron groves, the Lovers tell to their Beloved, what horrors, being Men, they had endured from Men.
[146:A] ο before ζ ought to have been made long; δοῑς ὑπōζ is an Amphimacer not (as the metre here requires) a Dactyl. S. T. C.