A VOLUME OF LATIN VERSE.* THE Rev. F. St. John

Theokeray, to whom we already owe two delightful volumes of selections from the classical poets, has in conjunction with the Rev. E. D. Stone made a valuable and attractive addition to the series of " Bodley Anthologies now being issued by Mr. Lane. The distinctive features of the new

• florilegiton Zatinum : Translations into Latin Verse. (Pre-Victorian Poets.) Edited by Francis St. John Thackeray, MA, F.S.A_, and Edward Daniel Stone, M.A. London : John Lane. [7s. ed

collection, as the editors point out in their preface, are two-

fold. The translations are confined to Latin, and the arrangement of the English passages in four parts— translations from Greek poetry, sixteenth and seventeenth century poets, eighteenth century, and early nineteenth century—is chronological. It is further pointed out that very few of the pieces chosen have appeared in previous volumes of translations, and that a variety of lyrical metres are employed ; and they might have added that this is the first volume of the sort in which representa- tive achievements of Oxford, Cambridge. and Dublin scholars are printed side by side. The volume is made up of transla- tions with one exception, that being the felicitous opening poem by Mr. Stone, in which he so wittily defends the practice of Latin verse making :-

" Quaeris an expediat divi simulacra Maronis fingers, vel Musa.e, Flacce iocose, tnae.

expediatne, parum cure, nec, si mihi credis, contingit cuivis scire quid expediat. hoc scio, iticundue labor est ; quod restat, amici, vos open nostro velle vacare sat est.

ars angusta quidem nostra eat, ne aperne malignis

laudibus : baud parvum est optima voile sequi ; yells sequi, quamvie .onge, vestigia vatum, quos antes docuit Graecia victor suas."

As an instance of the " up-to-dateness " of the volume we may notice that in the first section—the translations from the Greek poets—there are versions in the Alcaic metre of two fragments of Bacchylides. The Greek anthology is drawn

upon in several instances and with notable success by Pro- fessor Robinson Ellis in his exquisite rendering of that strange cri de cceur beginning '1.f.e.; .a.55ivof.o,;, while Professor Butcher's version of Meleager's Kso6oca) TZy-Epara is a perfect Model of elegant fidelity to its original. It is; however, in the second part of the book—that devoted to the sixteenth

and seventeenth century poets—that the powers of Messrs.

Thackeray and Stone's band of translators find most congenial scope. The terse and weighty sententiousness of Sir Henry Wotton's "How happy is he born and taught," or of "The world's a bobble," serves as an admirable field for the exercise of the lapidary or epigraphic style : we may quote Mr. Green's

rendering of the third stanza of the former piece :-

" Who envies none that Chance cloth raise Or Vice; who never understood

Now deepest wounds are given by praise, Nor rules of State, but rules of good."

" Quern fors extnlerit non invidet ille potenti ; perplexas sceleris nescit inire vies;

neseit laudantis dare pessima vulnera lingttam ; ambitione earens scit probitate regi."

With a sound instinct Professor Robinson Ellis has chosen hendecasyllabics as the metrical medium for his version of the

Trio of the Graces from Ben Jon son's " Hue and Cry after Cupid," and has executed his iucundus labor with unfaltering felicity. Here, again, is an admirable elegiac rendering by Mr. Mason of the ringing lines of Montrose:-

" Magnus Alexander partiri noluit orbem : hoc ego, non alio, foedere regna yob°.

est hic, est animus divisi spretor among, participem regni nec sinit ease sui.

scilicet aut animi nimis est in amore pusilii ille vin. aut sentit se meruisse parum, omnia qui dubiis refugit committer° tabs, ut levie arbitrio stetque cadatque deae."

Perhaps the most striking piece of sheer virtuosity in the whole collection is Professor Tyrrell's translation of the tremendous contest of " base comparisons " between Falstaff and Prince Hal into Plantine dialogae—a wonderful piece of ornamental objurgation—while the opening stanza of his rendering of Cowley's "The Wish" has the true Horatian accent :— " Detail. minor yes invidia, neque fastidienti tenuia sordeat;

sed lama ne desit precanti fama bonis bane parts factis."

Another happy choice is that of Herrick's lines to Sir Clipsby Crew, turned into flowing aleaics by Mr. Stone, while Rochester's famous epigram on Charles IL comes out well in Professor Tyrrell's hendecasyllabics :-

" Carnis rex facet hic vorax ovinae : non fides fait ease pluris ono : aihunquam file locutts. inficetum, semper omnia fecit inficete." In the later pages we may note Mr. Green's graceful rendering of Goethe's beautiful lyric Ueber alien. Gipfeln :— " Monte quies toto est; arbustis, adspice, summis via tremula immotas ventilat aura comas ;

conticuere avium per mntam carmina silvam exspecta, mox et to manet Rita quies."

We would gladly print all of Mr. Thackeray's version of Scott's fine lines on Pitt, but must content ourselves with the concluding quatrain—which Mr. Gladstone quoted with such impressive effect in the House on the death of Sir Robert Peel :—

"Now is the stately column broke, The beacon-light is quenched in smoke, The trumpet's silver sound is still, The warder silent on the hill!"

" Heu de sede facet detrusa columns, nigranti hen fumo et tenebris fax adoperta latet ; vox custodis in arce silet praenuntia belli, et sonitus clarae conticuere tubae."

Hood is not strictly a pre-Victorian poet—the " Song of the Shirt" appeared in Punch in 1843—but we can pardon the anachronism of the editors since it opens the door to Professor Tyrrell's really wonderful tour de force,—his rendering of

"The Bridge of Sighs" (also published in the "forties "), into rhymed Latin verse almost identical in metre with the original. We give the first three stanzas in parallel columns :—

" IRREMEABILIS UNDA

a misera sortie

pondere fessa ! a ! temere mortis viam ingressa! tollite facile onus tam bellum, onus tam gracile, tamque tenellum. panni gravatum cadaver adstringunt, vestes elatum ecu funebres cingunt, undam stillantes heu! illaetabilem statis ?—amantes ferte amabilem. ne fastidientes corpus attingite, sed flebilem flentes animo fingite ; quod fecerit male donate tam bellae ; nil restat ni quale decorum puellae."

Purists may object to the cultivation of Leonine or otherwise rhymed Latin verse as a post-classical and even barbarous pastime, but there is much to recommend it when the results are as enjoyable as the above. The editors promise a second volume, to be devoted to Victorian poets, which will be awaited with pleasure by all who agree with Canon Lyttelton that the question " Ought we to go on with Latin verse ? " should be answered in the affirmative.

"THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS

One more Unfortunate, Weary of breath, Rashly importunate, Gone to her death! Take her up tenderly, Lift her with care ; Fashion'd so slenderly, Young, and so fair!

Look at her garments Clinging like cerements ; While the wave constantly Drips from her clothing ; Take her up instantly, Loving, not loathing.— Touch her not scornfully ; Think of her mournfully, Gently and humanly; Not of the stains of her; All that remains of her Now is pure womanly."