Note GM — 1820
Reading edition
And feel that I am happier than I know.—Milton.[466]
The allusion to the Greek poet will be obvious to the classical reader.—W. W. 1820.
I was indebted to Professor Jebb, in 1883, for the following note:—
"While we, the brave, the mighty, and the wise, . . . . . . . . . . . . must vanish, . . .
has been suggested by the well-known lines in the Ἐπιτάφιον Βίωνος, by the pastoral poet Moschus of Syracuse (circ. 200 B.C.):—
αἴ, αἴ, ταὶ μαλάχαι μὲν ἐπὰν κατὰ κᾶπον ὄλωνται, ἢ τὰ χλωρὰ σέλινα, τό τ' εὐθαλὲς οὖλον ἄνηθον, ὕστερον αὖ ζώοντι καὶ εἰς ἔτος ἄλλο φύοντι· ἄμμες δ', οἱ μεγάλοι καὶ καρτεροὶ ἢ σοφοὶ ἄνδρες, ὁππότε πρᾶτα θάνωμες, ἀνάκοοι ἐν χθονὶ κοίλᾳ εὕδομες εὖ μάλα μακρὸν ἀτέρμονα νήγρετον ὕπνον. (Vv. 103-108.)
You will see that Wordsworth has translated the Greek verse which I underline ('brave' representing μεγάλοι). The 'mallows,' 'parsley,' 'anise' of the Greek poet's garden—which are to live again—are represented by Wordsworth's stream which 'shall for ever glide.'
One might contrast the lines in the Christian Year about the autumn leaves:—
How like decaying life they seem to glide! And yet no second spring have they in store, But where they fall, forgotten to abide Is all their portion, and they ask no more."
With this Afterthought compare Virgil, Georgics II. 458, 459—
O fortunatos nimium sua si bona norint Ed. Agricolas, etc.