Lucretius on Life and Death. By W. H. Mallocic. (A.
and C. Black. 10s.)—Mr. Mello& tells us that he was struck by the resemblance between the thought of Lucretius and that of Omar Khayyim as Mr. FitzGerald has presented him to the English reader. He goes on to say that this resemblance suggested also the dissimilitudes between the two thinkers. To this and to a general exposition of the Lucretian philosophy he devotes his preface. This is followed by a number of verse paraphrases of passages in the "De Rerum Nature"; after these we have the Latin of these passages with a close translation in prose. Mr. Mallock's verse is always good, sometimes admirable, and gives faithfully, though, of course, with considerable freedom of expression, the meaning of the original. Here are examples,—the courage of Epicurus in his speculations :— Quern nee fama detim nee fulmina nee misitauti murmurs compresnt caelum."
"Rim not the splintered lightnings, nor the roll Of thunders daunted. Undismayed, his soul
Rose, and outsoared the thunder, plumbed the abyss.
And scanned the wheeling worlds from pole to pole."
The careless Gods :—
" Apparent Divum numen sedesque quietae Quas neque concutiunt ventl," acc.
"Vision divine Far off in crystal air. What forms are these' The immortal Gods are there. Ay—but what Gods ? Not those that trembling men Would bribe with offerings and appease with prayer.
Far off they lie, where storm-winds never blow, or ever storm-cloud moves across the glow,
Nor frost of winter nips them, nor their limbs Feel the white fluttering of one plume of snow."
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