Sunk now is Troy, the curse of Grecian dames!
(Her king, her all, a worthless prize!) in flames.
Oh, had by storms (his fleet to Sparta bound)

Th' adult'rer perish'd in the mad profound! 2

Here seems some obscurity in the translation: we are at a loss to know what is meant by the mad profound. It can certainly mean neither Bedlam nor Fleet-Ditch; for though the epithet mad might agree with one, or profound with the other, yet when united they seem incompatible with either. The profound has frequently been used to signify bad verses; and poets are sometimes said to be mad: who knows but Penelope wishes that Paris might have died in the very act of rhyming and as he was a shepherd, it is not improbable to suppose but that he was a poet also.

Cold in a widow'd bed I ne'er had lay,
Nor chid with weary eyes the ling'ring day. 3

Lay for lain, by the figure ginglimus. makes frequent use of this figure.

Our translator

Nor the protracted nuptials to avoid,
By night unravell'd what the day employ'd.
When have not fancied dangers broke my rest?
Love, tim'rous passion, rends the anxious breast.
In thought I saw you each fierce Trojan's aim;
Pale at the mention of bold Hector's name ! 4

Ovid makes Penelope shudder at the name of Hector. Our translator, with geat propriety, transfers the fright from Penelope to Ulysses himself: it is he who grows pale at the name of Hector; and well indeed he might; for Hector is represented by Ovid, somewhere else, as a terrible fellow, and Ulysses as little better than a poltron.

2 Troja jacet certe, Danais invisa puellis :

Vix Priamus tanti, totaque Troja, fuit.

O utinam tunc, cum Lacedæmona classe petebat,
Obrutus insanis esset adulter aquis!

3 Non ego deserto jacuissem frigida lecto,
Nec quererer tardos ire relicta dies:

4 Nec mihi, quærenti spatiosam fallere noctem,
Lassaret viduas pendula tela manus.

Quando ego non timui graviora pericula veris ?
Res est solliciti plena timoris amor.

In te fingebam violentos Troas ituros:
Nomine in Hectoreo pallida semper eram,

Whose spear when orave Antilochus embrued,
By the dire news awoke, my fear renew'd.
Clad in dissembled arms Patroclus died :
And, "Oh the fate of stratagem!" I cried.
Tlepolemus, beneath the Lycian dart,

His breath resign'd, and roused afresh my smart.
Thus, when each Grecian press'd the bloody field,
Cold icy horrors my fond bosom chill'd. 5

Here we may observe how epithets tend to strengthen the force of expression. First her horrors are cold, and so far Ovid seems to think also; but the translator adds, from himself, the epithet icy, to shew that they are still colder,— a fine climax of frigidity!

But Heaven, indulgent to my chaste desire,

Has wrapp'd (my husband safe) proud Troy in fire.6

The reader may have already observed one or two instances of our translator's skill, in parenthetically clapping one sentence within another. This contributes not a little to obscurity; and obscurity, we all know, is nearly allied to admiration. Thus, when the reader begins a sentence which he finds pregnant with another, which still teems with a third, and so on, he feels the same surprise which a countryman does at Bartholomew Fair. Hocus shews a bag in appearance empty; slap, and out come a dozen new laid eggs; slap again, and the number is doubled: but what is his amazement, when it swells with the hen that laid them!

The Grecian chiefs return, each altar shines,
And spoils of Asia grace our native shrines.
Gifts, for their lords restored, the matrons bring;
The Trojan fates o'ercome, triumphant sing;

Old men and trembling maids admire the songs,

And wives hang, list'ning, on their husbands' tongues.7

5 Sive quis Antilochum narrabat ab Hectore victum,
Antilochus nostri causa timoris erat:

Sive Mencetiaden falsis cecidisse sub armis,
Flebam successu posse carere dolos :

Sanguine Tlepolemus Lyciam tepefecerat hastam,
Tlepolemi leto eura novata mea est.

Denique, quisquis erat castris jugulatus Achivis,
Frigidius glacie pectus amantis erat.

6 Sed bene consuluit casto Deus æquus amori:
Versa est in cinerem sospite Troja viro.

7 Argolici rediere duces; altaria fumant;
Ponitur ad patrios barbara præda Deos.
Grata ferunt nymphæ pro salvis dona maritis;
Illi victa suis Troia fata canunt.

¡Mirantur justique senes, trepidæque puellæ ;
Narrantis conjux pendet ab ore viri,

Critics have expatiated, in raptures, on the delicate use the ancients have made of the verb pendere. Virgil's goats are described as hanging on the mountain side; the eyes of a lady hang on the looks of her lover. Ovid has increased the force of the metaphor, and describes the wife as hanging on the lips of her husband. Our translator has gone still farther and described the lady as pendent from his tongue,a fine picture!

Now, drawn in wine, fierce battles meet their eyes,
And Ilion's towers in miniature arise:

There stretch'd Sigean plains, here Simoïs flow'd;
And there old Priam's lofty palace stood.
Here Peleus' son encamp'd, Ulysses there;
Here Hector's corpse disdain'd the rapid car;
Of this the Pylian sage, in quest of thee
Embark'd, your son inform'd, his mother he.8

If we were permitted to offer a correction upon the two last lines, we would translate them into plain English thus, still preserving the rhyme entire.

The Pylian sage inform'd your son, embark'd in quest of thee,

Of this, and he his mother, that is me.

He told how Rhesus and how Dolon fell,
By your wise conduct and Tydides' steel;
That doom'd, by heavy sleep oppress'd, to die,
And this prevented, a nocturnal spy!

Rash man! unmindful what your friends you owe,
Night's gloom to tempt, and brave a Thracian foe,
By one assisted in the doubtful strife;

To me how kind! how provident of life!

Still throbb'd my breast, till, victor, from the plain,
You join'd, on Thracian steeds, th' allies again.9

8 Atque aliquis posita monstrat fera prælia mensa
Pingit et exiguo Pergama tota mero.
Hac ibat Simois; hic est Sigeia tellus ;
Hic steterat Priami regia celsa senis.

Illic Eacides, illic tendebat Ulysses;

Hic lacer admissos terruit Hector equos.
Omnia namque tuo senior, te quærere misso,
Retulerat nato Nestor; at ille mihi,

9 Retulit et ferro Rhesumque Dolonaque cesos;
Utque sit hic somno proditus, ille dolo.
Ausus es, o nimium nimiumque oblite tuorum,
Thracia nocturno tangere castra dolo;
Totque simul mactare viros, adjutus ab uno!
At bene cautus eras, et memor ante mei.
Usque metu micuere sinus; dum victor amicum
Dictus es Ismariis isse per agmen equis.

But what to me avails high Ilium's fall,
Or soil continued o'er its ruin'd wall;
If still, as when it stood, my wants remain ;
If still I wish you in these arms in vain ? 10

Troy, sack'd to others, yet to me remains,
Though Greeks, with captive oxen, till her plains,
Ripe harvests bend, where once her turrets stood;
Rank is her soil, manured with Phrygian blood;
Harsh on the ploughs, men's bones, half buried, sound,
And grass each ruin'd mansion hides around.
Yet, hid in distant climes, my conq'ror stays;
Unknown the cause of these severe delays !11

No foreign merchant to our isle resorts,
But question'd much of you, he leaves our ports;
Hence each departing sail a letter bears

To speak (if you are found) my anxious cares. 12

Our son to Pylos cut the briny wave;
But Nestor's self a dubious answer gave:
To Sparta next-nor even could Sparta tell
What seas you plough, or in what region dwell! 13

Better had stood Apollo's sacred wall;

Oh, could I now my former wish recall!

War my
sole dread, the scene I then should know;
And thousands then would share the common wo:
But all things now, not knowing what to fear,
I dread; and give too large a field to care.
Whole lists of dangers, both by land and sea,
Are muster'd, to have caused so long delay, 14

10 Sed mihi quid prodest vestris disjecta lacertis
Ilios; et, murus quod fuit ante, solum ;
Si maneo, qualis Troja durante manebam;
Virque mihi, dempto fine carendus, abes?
11 Diruta sunt aliis, mihi Pergama restant;
Incola captivo quæ bove victor arat.
Jam seges est, ubi Troja fuit; resecandaque falce
Luxuriat, Phrygio sanguine pinguis, humus.
Semisepulta virum curvis feriuntur aratris
Ossa: ruinosas occulit herba domos.

Victor abes; nec scire mihi, quæ causa morandi,
Aut in quo lateas ferreus orbe licet.

12 Quisquis ad hæc vertit peregrinam littora puppim,
Ille mihi de te multa rogatus abit.

Quamque tibi reddat, si te modo viderit usquam,
Traditur huic digitis charta notata meis.

13 Nos Pylon, antiqui Neleia Nestoris arva,

Misimus: incerta est fama remissa Pylo.
Misimus et Sparten: Sparte quoque nescia veri, '
Quas habitas terras, aut ubi lentus abes.

14 Utilius starent etiam nunc monia Phobi,
Irascor votis heu levis ipsa meis !

Scirem, ubi pugnares; et tantum bella timerem ;
Et mea cum multis juncta querela foret.
Quid timeam ignoro; timeo tamen omnia demens;
Et patet in curas area lata meas.

Quæcunque æquor habet, quæcunque pericula tellus
Tam longæ causas suspicor esse morse.

But while your conduct thus I fondly clear,
Perhaps (true man!) you court some foreign fair;
Perhaps you rally your domestic loves,

Whose art the snowy fleece alone improves.

No!

may I

err,

and start at false alarms;

May nought but force detain you from my arms. 15

Urged by a father's right again to wed,
Firm I refuse, still faithful to your bed!
Still let him urge the fruitless, vain design;
I am I must be and I will be thine.
Though melted by my chaste desires, of late
His rig'rous importunities abate.16

Of teasing suitors a luxurious train,

From neighbouring isles, have cross'd the liquid plain.
Here uncontroll'd th' audacious crews resort,

Rifle your wealth, and revel in your court.

Pisander, Polybus, and Medon, lead,

Antinous and Eurymachus succeed,

With others, whose rapacious throats devour

The wealth you purchased once, distain'd with gore.
Melanthius add, and Irus, hated name!

A beggar rival to complete our shame. 17

Three, helpless three! are here: a wife not strong,
A sire too aged, and a son too young.
He late, by fraud, embark'd for Pylos' shore,
Nigh from my arms for ever had been tore. 18

These two lines are replete with beauty nigh, which implies approximation, and from, which implies distance,

15 Hæc ego dum stulte meditor (quæ vestra libido est,)
Esse peregrino captus amore potes.

Forsitan et narres, quam sit tibi rustica conjux;

Quæ tantum lanus non sinat esse rudes.

Fallar; et hoc crimen tenues vanescat in auras :
Neve, revertendi liber, abesse velis,

16 Me pater Icarius viduo discedere lecto

Cogit, et immensas increpat usque moras.

Increpet usque licet: tua sum; tua dicar oportet:
Penelope conjux semper Ulyssis ero.

Ille tamen pietate mea precibusque pudicis
Frangitur, et vires temperat ipse suas.

17 Dulichii, Samiique, et quos tulit alta Zacynthos,
Turba ruunt in me luxuriosa, proci ;

Inque tua regnant, nullis prohibentibus, aula:
Viscera nostra, tuæ dilaniantur opes.

Quid tibi Pisandrum, Polybumque, Medontaque dirum,
Eurymachique avidas Antinoique manus,

Atque alios referam, quos omnes turpiter absens
Ipse tuo partis sanguine rebus alis?

Irus egens, pecorisque Melanthius actor edendi,
Ultimus accedunt in tua damna pudor.

18 Tres sumus imbelles numero; sine viribus uxor,
Laertesque senex, Telemachusque puer.
Ille per insidias pene est mihi nuper ademptus,
Dum parat, invitis omnibus, ire Pylon.