Orci,' turned into 'Orcus' watch-dog'? Thy braves' for 'miles,' 1. 6. 4, is comical. Rakes,' 1. 25. 2, for 'iuvenes protervi' is beneath Horace. Already' for iam, 2. 5. 10, is incorrect. Mr. Deazeley must not take on himself yet awhile to write Ustica' with the second syllable short, 17. 12. And why Falernae,' 20. 12, while we have 'Falernum,' 2. 3. 8? Why 'Tityon,' 2. 14. 9? On the other hand, we like 'phantom hall' for 'domus exilis'; we like 'Curius wild of hair,' and 'Be friends and give me back my heart again,' 1. 16. 28; and Not Daunia such a brute as that' of the wolf, 1. 22. 10; and 'harry' for 'vexant,' 2. 9. 4; and 'mearings' for 'limites,' and many other versions of words, passages, and entire odes in Mr. Deazeley's volume, which admits, however, of, and deserves, ample revision.

་

We shall be on the look-out for the completion of this

version.

A. PALMER.

TRANSLATIONS FROM HOMER AND

AESCHYLUS,

BY THE LATE JOHN ANSTER, LL.D.,

AUTHOR OF‘FAUSTUS: A DRAMATIC MYSTERY, FROM THE GERMAN OF GOETHE.'

HOMER.

Iliad, II., 455-483.

As gloomy fire, seizing some forest wide,

Burns on the mountain's head, and the broad blaze

Is seen afar-even so, on every side

To high Heaven flashed through air the glorious rays
(While o'er the moving host rich sunlight plays)

From shield and brassy spear.-As by the springs

In Lydian valley, where Cäyster strays,

Hither and thither with exulting wings

Float countless tribes of birds, and marsh and meadow rings;

Wild geese and long-neck'd swans and clamorous cranes

Buoyant in air-each after each, on ground

Light down, and echo shakes the clanging plains;

Thus nations, poured from ships and tents around,

Deluged the vale; earth echoes back the sound
Terrific-tramp of horses and men's tread—

Till, where his way through flowers Scamander wound,
Flock'd multitudes, as numberlessly spread

As leaves or flowers of spring in that sweet valley's bed.

And thick as in the springtime insect clouds
The sheepcot throng when milk the pails o'erflows,
In that Scamandrian valley swarm'd the crowds
Of the long-haired Achaians; they to close

In deadly battle with their Trojan foes

Are all athirst; and as, where thousands feed

In the same field, his own the goatherd knows,

Thus do the captains of the people speed

To range for fight the men who follow where they lead.

See Agamemnon there among the rest

King over all, majestically move!

Like Ares zoned, and with Poseidon's breast,

And eyes and head of lightning-loving Jove;
And, as the bull is eminent above

The herd, even so Atrides on that day
Conspicuous shone; upon him with such love
Jove look'd and clothed him with such sovereign sway
And dignity of mien, men cannot but obey.

AESCHYLUS.

Agamemnon, 40-254.

CHORUS.

'Tis the tenth year now since Priam's
Mighty foe King Meneläus-

And with him was Agamemnon;

Both were rulers over kingdoms,

Zeus to both gave throne and sceptre-
Yoke-mates strong, the sons of Atreus,
Led the army of the Argives,

Launched the fleet-a thousand galleys.

And their souls for vengeance thirsted
And they cried aloud for battle
And their cry was-Ares! Ares!

of

And their cry was as the cry
Vultures in lone air loud screaming,
In huge anguish for their lost ones
Whirling round unceasingly;

High o'er their beds left desolate still beating
With oary wings-impatient--the blue sky,
They know not what to do-they cannot rest-
Returning and returning to where lay
Whom they so fondly fed from day to day,
Their plundered children of the callow nest.
But the Supreme hath heard, and some Apollo
Or Pan or Zeus not deaf to the entreating
Plaints of these tenants of their heaven, ere long
Sends an Erynnis to avenge their wrong,
And retribution just is sure to follow.

And thus doth Zeus, guardian of hearth and hall, 'Gainst Alexander the Atride wake

To vengeance armed for the lost woman's sake,
Whom many a suitor sought his own to call.

Of the false Trojan, strange festivities
Ushered the spousal rite-the earnest strife
Of athletes who for very death or life
Wrestled-Deep planted in the dust were knees,
Spears shivered-Ills that on the Danäi fall
Alike and Trojans. Zeus disposes all;
And what is, is, and what will be, will be,
Still consummating the divine decree.

Nor secret sigh, nor lustral charm
Of tears, nor sobbing breast

The inflexible disarm,

Or soothe the Furies' ire
For wedlock's vows unblest
By Hymenëal fire.

When the army sailed for Troy,
We remained-unhonoured now
Faded skin and shrivelled brow.

Leaning on the staff we seek

To make the failing footsteps sure.
With the old man and the boy
Vital sap alike is weak.

Ares to the immature

Hath not come. In the young breast

With the fervid blood's unrest

Strength is budding; like the sere
Autumn leaf, the old decay.
Very children they appear;
Three-footed they feel their way,
Wending out into the light,
As the dream of the past night,
Half-remembered, haunts the day.

And thou

Daughter of Tyndareus! Queen Clytemnestra!

What's this?-what new thing?- from the seat of war
Hath cheery missive come, or messenger

Reached thee? And why these preparations for
Sacrifice? All the altars, all aglow,

Of the gods, whose provident rule the State upbuilds
And guards-heaven's gods above and earth's below,
They of the crowded mart and the free fields.

On every altar burns the incense red

While starting here, and there, and everywhere,

To the farthest height of the heavens red torches flare, With soft pure dews of soothing unguent fed,

Cake from the royal dwelling's inmost cell.

Of these things, tell me all that thou canst tell;
Say all that not unfitly may be said;

Allay the gloom of this solicitude,
That restless darkens now into despair,

And now, as though the joy-diffusing light
Of blazing altars made man's spirit bright,

Smiles, even as hope, that sees in all things good,
And wards off cruel heart-devouring care.