LETTER IX. ON MY DEAR P. N looking back over these papers, as they are now arranged in a connected feries, it has occurred to me that there would be a propriety in adjoining the paffage from Pope's tranflation of Homer, alluded to in the firft letter. It is therefore here given, accompanied with the remarks, as it ftands in the European Ma gazine, December 1799. The paffage is in the laft book of the Iliad, where Iris is represented as plunging from the sky into the sea. Ως εφατ'. Ωρτο δε Ιρις, αελλοπος, αγγέλευσα, You You fhall have the tranflation firft from Pope's old friend; which, though, perhaps, not ornamented with much ele gance, or dignified with any great fublimity of expreffion, is, however, agreeably to the first principle of tranflation, laid down in the ingenious Effay, to which we have often referred, "a more com"plete transcript of the ideas of the ori"ginal work." 31 a 5.2 oil) ou daar a Iris, this faid, fwift down the meffage bore, 7 And betwixt Samos and rough Imbrus fhore, OGILBY. Do you wish to see it fet off with more embellishment of language? Cowper has fucceeded very happily in his verfion; preferving, with correfpondent diction, the true fenfe and fpirit of his author: "Then Iris, tempeft-wing'd, arose, "Samos between and Imbrus rock begirt, "She plung'd unto the gloomy flood."-- I Here, as in Homer, the defcent of Iris is inftantaneous. Nothing perceptible in tervenes tervenes between her firft rifing up at the command of Jupiter, and plunging into the fea. C T Has not the great master been studious to mark this precipitation in the text by the ftructure of his verfe? I am aware that I am now treading on tender ground. The fimilitude, repeatedly afferted, between fenfe and found, the cadence of a verfe, and the fentiment or image con veyed by the words, is no doubt often fanciful. Yet, fome how or other, I feem to feel a fort of fubitaneous effect expreffed in this disjointed hemiftích: Ενθορε | μειλανι | ποντῳ Inftead of which, fuppofe it to be written Ενθορεν ατρύγετῳ ποντῳ or thus, Ενθορε μεν πολιῳ ποντῳ would the effect then be equally striking ? Whether Whether you feel with me this imputed resemblance or not, you will have no fcruple in allowing that the images conveyed by the language of Homer are of an afpect far different from the fmooth, eafy, gradual proceffion, defcribed in one of the couplets, which appears with fuch dazzling brilliancy in Pope's tranflation. "He added not, and Iris, from the skies, "Refulgent gliding o'er the fable deeps: Between where Samos wide his forefts spreads, And rocky Imbrus lifts its pointed heads, "Down plung'd the maid: the parted waves refound, So far from gliding over the furface of the ocean, the Goddefs, you fee, is reprefented as plunging in at once, with fuch violence that the waters are faid to have refounded on her immerfion, at a particular spot, marked out with fcrupulous exactness, to which the whole of the action is confined. What makes this interpolation the more extraordinary, you will obferve the fenfe of of Homer is rendered full and complete, without any fuch foreign aid: Ωρτο δε Ιρις αελλοπος, αγγελεύσα, Μεσσηγυς δε Σαμου τε και Ιμβρε παιπαλοέσσης Ενθορε μειλανι ποντῳ. ." Iris, from the skies, "Swift as a whirlwind, on the message flies. "Down plung'd the maid." Does not this plunging down with fo cafy and gliding a motion, remind you of another rather whimfical defcription? where Hector runs away with the challenge from his brother immediately, with fteps-majestically flow. Where then did Pope pick up thefe extraneous ornaments? purpureos pannos? as little afforting with his own expreffions, as with the Greek text. The truth is, he was feduced by the fascinating charms of our own immortal poet; and borrowed both the imagery and the expreffion from that fine paffage in the P. L. 3 |