" is so intense, that one cannot see farther "than he can throw a stone: So rose the "dust under the feet of the Greeks marching silently to battle."

66

WITH What superior taste has the translator heightened this simile, and exchanged the offending circumstance for a beauty. The fault is in the third line; τόσσον τίς σ'

Úσ, &c. which is a mean idea, compared with that which Mr Pope has substituted in its stead :

"Thus from his shaggy wings when Eurus sheds
"A night of vapours round the mountain-heads,
"Swift gliding mists the dusky fields invade,

"To thieves more grateful than the midnight shade;
"While scarce the swains their feeding flocks survey,
"Lost and confus'd amidst the thicken'd day:
"So wrapt in gath'ring dust the Grecian train,
"A moving cloud, swept on and hid the plain."

IN the 9th book of the Iliad, v. 484. where Phoenix reminds Achilles of the care he had taken of him while an infant, one circumstance extremely mean, and even disgusting, is found in the original.

ὅτε δη σ' επ' ἐμοῖσιν έγω γενασσι καθισσας,

Οψε τ' ἄσαιμι προταμών, και οἶνον ἐπισχών.
Πολλάκι κατέδευσας ἐπὶ στήθεσσι χιτῶνα,
Οἴνε ἀποβλύζων ἐν νηπιέῃ ἀλεγεινῇ·

"When I placed you on my knees, I filled you full with meat minced down, and

gave you wine, which you often vomited

upon my bosom, and stained my clothes, "in your troublesome infancy." The English reader certainly feels an obligation to the translator for sinking altogether this nauseous image, which, instead of heightening the picture, greatly debases it:

Thy infant breast a like affection show'd,
Still in my arms, an ever pleasing load;
Or at my knee, by Phoenix would'st thou stand,
No food was grateful but from Phoenix hand:
I pass my watchings o'er thy helpless years,
The tender labours, the compliant cares

POPE.

* A similar instance of good taste occurs in the following translation of an epigram of Martial, where the indelicacy of

BUT even the highest beauties of the original receive additional lustre from this admirable translator.

the original is admirably corrected, and the sense at the same time is perfectly preserved:

Vis fieri liber? mentiris, Maxime, non vis:
Sed fieri si vis, hac ratione potes.

Liber eris, cænare foris, si, Maxime, nolis :
Veientana tuam si domat uva sitim:
Si ridere potes miseri Chrysendeta Cinna:
Contentus nostrâ si potes esse togâ.
Si plebeia Venus gemino tibi vincitur asse:
Si tua non rectus tecta subire potes :

Hæc tibi si vis est, si mentis tanta potestas,

Liberior Partho vivere rege potes.

MART. lib. 2. ep. 53.

Non, d'etre libre, cher Paulin,

Vous n'avez jamais eu l'envie;

Entre nous, votre train de vie
N'en est point du tout le chemin.

Il vous faut grand'chere, bón vin,
Grand jeu, nombreuse campagnie,
Maitresse fringante et jolie,

Et robe du drap le plus fin.

A striking example of this kind has been remarked by Mr Melmoth *. It is the translation of that picture in the end of the 8th book of the Iliad, which Eustathius esteemed the finest night-piece that could be found in poetry :

Ως δ' ὅτ ἐν ἐρανῷ ἄστρα φαεινὴν ἀμφὶ σελήνην,
Φαίνετ' ἀριπρεπέα, ὅτε τ ̓ ἔπλετο νήνεμος αἰθὴρ,
Ἔκ τ' ἔφανον πᾶσαι σκοπιαὶ και πρώονες ἄκροι,
Καὶ νάπαι· ἐρανόθεν δ ̓ ἄρ ̓ ὑπερράγη ἄσπετος αἰθὴρ,
Πάντα δέ τ' ἔδεται ἄςρα· γέγηθε δέ τε φρένα ποιμήν

"As when in the heavens the stars appear gracefully around the moon, when every breath of air is hush'd; when the high "watch-towers, the hills, and woods, are "distinctly seen; when the sky appears

Il faudroit aimer, au contraire,
Vin commun, petit ordinaire,

Habit simple, un ou deux amis;
Jamais de jeu, point d'Amarante :
Voyez si le parti vous tente,
La liberté n'est qu'à ce prix.

• Fitzosborne's Letters, l. 19.

"to open to the sight, and every con"stellation is visible, and when the shep"herd's heart is delighted within him.' This is beautiful, even in the most literal prose; but how nobly is the picture raised and improved by Mr Pope!

8

"As when the moon, refulgent lamp of night,
"O'er heav'n's clear azure spreads her sacred light:
"When not a breath disturbs the deep serene,
"And not a cloud o'ercasts the solemn scene;
Around her throne the vivid planets roll,
"And stars unnumber'd gild the glowing pole:
"O'er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed,
"And tip with silver every mountain's head:
"Then shine the vales, the rocks in prospect rise,
A flood of glory bursts from all the skies:

"The conscious swains rejoicing in the sight,

66

Eye the blue vault, and bless the useful light *.

Thus likewise translated with great beauty of poetry, and sufficient fidelity to the original.

Ut lunam circa fulgent cum lucida pulchro

Astra choro, nusquam cœlo dum nubila, nusquam

Aërios turbant ventorum flamina campos ;

Apparent speculæ, nemoroso et vertice montes