The ..Eneid of Virgil. Translated into English, by John D.
Long. (Lockwood, Brooks, and Co., Boston, U.S. Trebner and Co., London.) —When a translator says in his preface that his work is a pas- . time of a year, and that it is not printed "because there is want of it, or merit in it," he loaves very little for a critic to say. The idea of any man translating the Lucid in a year, and for a pastime, is absurd. It is a feat like the "versus dneentos stuns pule in one.'' The versi. fication is what might be expected under such circumstances. Mr. Long is evidently a man of too much culture—so much we may see from a too brief preface, which is the really good thing in the volume —to allow it to be incorrect, but it is feeble and unimpressive. Here is " Excadont :sill et :"— " I doubt not other lauds shall finer militia The bronze until it breathe, or marble cut
To lineaments that live, or bettor plead
A Muse, or with the rod the astronomy
Of heaven describe and name the rising stars; But, Son of SA/7110, remember it is thine To stretch 1;114, empire ,,'or the human race.
This be 07 111111,—to dictate ternis of peace, The vanquished spare, but bring the haughty low."
It is needless to criticise this in detail. It would be considered creditable for a sixth-form exorcise. But "this be thy aim" would not be allowed to pass for " hae tibi ernnt artes," as it loses the anti- thesis between the work of Rome and the artes described before. On the whole, however, Mr. Long's version has the merit of accuracy.
Previous page
