(1850.)
[The author passed a part of the summer and autumn of 1850 at Ventnor, in the Isle of Wight.He usually, when walking alone, had with him a book.On one occasion, as he was loitering in the landslip near Bonchurch, reading the Rudens of Plautus, it struck him that it might be an interesting experiment to attempt to produce something which might be supposed to resemble passages in the lost Greek drama of Diphilus, from which the Rudens appears to have been taken.He selected one passage in the Rudens, of which he then made the following version, which he afterwards copied out at the request of a friend to whom he had repeated it.]
Act IV.Sc.vii.
DAEMONES:
O Gripe, Gripe, in aetate hominum plurimae Fiunt transennae, ubi decipiuntur dolis;Atque edepol in eas plerumque esca imponitur.
Quam si quis avidus pascit escam avariter, Decipitur in transenna avaritia sua.
Ille, qui consulte, docte, atque astute cavet, Diutine uti bene licet partum bene.
Mi istaec videtur praeda praedatum irier:
Ut cum majore dote abeat, quam advenerit.
Egone ut, quod ad me adlatum esse alienum sciam, Celem? Minime istuc faciet noster Daemones.
Semper cavere hoc sapientes aequissimum est, Ne conscii sint ipsi maleficiis suis.
Ego, mihi quum lusi, nil moror ullum lucrum.
GRIPUS:
Spectavi ego pridem Comicos ad istum modum Sapienter dicta dicere, atque iis plaudier, Quum illos sapientis mores monstrabant poplo;Sed quum inde suam quisque ibant diversi domum, Nullus erat illo pacto, ut illi jusserant.
DAIM:
O Gripe, Gripe, pleista pagidon schemata idoi tis an pepegmen en thneton bio, kai pleist ep autois deleath, on epithumia oregomenos tis en kakois alisketai ostis d apistei kai sophos phulattetai kalos apolauei ton kalos peporismenon.
arpagma d ouch arpagm o larvax outosi, all autos, oimai, mallon arpaxei tina.
tond andra kleptein tallotri--euphemei, talan tauten ye me mainoito manian Daimones.
tode gar aei sophoisin eulabeteon, me ti poth eauto tis adikema sunnoe kerde d emoige panth osois euphrainomai, kerdos d akerdes o toumon algunei kear.
GRIP:
kago men ede komikon akekoa semnos legonton toiade, tous de theomenous krotein, mataiois edomenous sophismasin eith, os apelth ekastos oikad, oudeni ouden paremeine ton kalos eiremenon....
PARAPHRASE OF A PASSAGE IN THE CHRONICLE OF THE MONK OF ST GALL.
[In the summer of 1856, the author travelled with a friend through Lombardy.As they were on the road between Novara and Milan, they were conversing on the subject of the legends relating to that country.The author remarked to his companion that Mr Panizzi, in the Essay on the Romantic Narrative Poetry of the Italians, prefixed to his edition of Bojardo, had pointed out an instance of the conversion of ballad poetry into prose narrative which strongly confirmed the theory of Perizonius and Niebuhr, upon which "The Lays of Ancient Rome" are founded; and, after repeating an extract which Mr Panizzi has given from the chronicle of "The Monk of St Gall," he proceeded to frame a metrical paraphrase.The note in Mr Panizzi's work (volume i.
page 123, note b) is here copied verbatim.]
"The monk says that Oger was with Desiderius, King of Lombardy, watching the advance of Charlemagne's army.The king often asked Oger where was Charlemagne.Quando videris, inquit, segetem campis inhorrescere, ferreum Padum et Ticinum marinis fluctibus ferro nigrantibus muros civitatis inundantes, tunc est spes Caroli venientis.His nedum expletis primum ad occasum Circino vel Borea coepit apparere, quasi nubes tenebrosa, quae diem clarissimam horrentes convertit in umbras.Sed propiante Imperatore, ex armorum splendore, dies omni nocte tenebrosior oborta est inclusis.Tunc visus est ipse ferreus Carolus ferrea galea cristatus, ferreis manicis armillatus, etc., etc.His igitur, quae ego balbus et edentulus, non ut debui circuitu tardiore diutius explicare tentavi, veridicus speculator Oggerus celerrimo visu contuitus dixit ad Desiderium: Ecce, habes quem tantopere perquisisti.Et haec dicens, pene exanimis cecidit.--"Monach.Sangal." de Reb.Bel.Caroli Magni.lib.ii.para xxvi.
Is this not evidently taken from poetical effusions?"PARAPHRASE.
To Oggier spake King Didier:
"When cometh Charlemagne?
We looked for him in harvest:
We looked for him in rain.
Crops are reaped; and floods are past;
And still he is not here.
Some token show, that we may know That Charlemagne is near."Then to the King made answer Oggier, the christened Dane:
"When stands the iron harvest, Ripe on the Lombard plain, That stiff harvest which is reaped With sword of knight and peer, Then by that sign ye may divine That Charlemagne is near.
"When round the Lombard cities The iron flood shall flow, A swifter flood than Ticin, A broader flood than Po, Frothing white with many a plume, Dark blue with many a spear, Then by that sign ye may divine That Charlemagne is near."...
