THE ANACREONTEA.
The Anacreontea have probably been more translated than any other classical lyrics. A new version of them has been made by Mr. Judson France Davidson (J. H. Dent and Sons, 2a. 6d. net). The work aims, we learn, at being one of literature rather than of erudition. Judged as such it is not entirely successful. The verse runs easily, and some of the versions are to be praised for their conciseness and the absence of much of the padding which translators find it so difficult to avoid. An annoying trick of inversion is the most noticeable defect in Mr. Davidson's style. It is exemplified in the following lines from one of the best known of the poems, of which the rendering, it is only fair to add, is below the average of the rest of the book:—.
'A little winged serpent me With its sharp lance has wounded, 'Twas what the peasants calls bee— I really .hall be soon dead.'
Queen Venus fondly soothed his pain, And bade him cease his crying:
• Thou soon, dear, wilt be well again; She said, with smiles him eyeing."
The volume contains, in addition to the Anacreontea, trans. lotions of some of the fragments of Anacreon, and of some poems by other writers, as well as one or two original lyrics.
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