Iberia Won 23

Iberia Won 23

“It rolleth bounding with gigantic ease.”

 

Καὶ μὴν Σίσυφον εἰσεῖδον, κρατέρ’ ἄλγε’ ἔχοντα,

Λᾶαν βαστάζοντα πελώριον ἀμφοτέρῃσιν·

Ἦτοι ὁ μὲν, σκηριπτόμενος χερσὶν τε ποσὶν τε. κ. τ. λ.

Hom. _Od._ xi. 592.

 

The fine dactylic verse which follows, and which Dionysius of

Halicarnassus so highly commends, is wonderfully descriptive of the

bounding of a huge stone down a mountain:--

 

Αὖτις ἔπειτα πέδονδε κυλίνδετο λᾶας ἀναιδὴς.

Hom. _Od._ xi. 598.

 

Notwithstanding the numerous and highly celebrated attempts of Pope

and Dryden at onomatopœiac effects in English iambic lines, I think

Thomson has surpassed them both in the following line from what

Byron justly pronounces one of the very finest poems in the English

language:--

 

“Down thunders back the stone with mighty sweep!”

_Castle of Indolence_, cant. i.

 

 

III. “Full many a rock’s Aiantine volume rolled.”

 

Δεῦτερος αὖτ’ Αἴας πολύ μείζονα λᾶαν ἀείρας.

Hom. _Il._ vii. 268.

 

“Their powerful hands this rude artillery hold.”

 

Others with vast Typhœan rage more fell

Rend up both rocks and hills.

--Milt. _Par. Lost._ ii. 539.

 

Typhœus was one of the Titans who warred against Heaven.

 

 

VII. “And charging through the valley shakes the field

With thunderous gallop.”

 

Debaixo dos pés duros dos ardentes

Cavallos treme a terra, as valles soam.

Camóens, _Lus._ iv. 31.

 

 

VIII. “Our fiery squadrons. * *

They bathe their swords in blood at every bound.”

 

Wolauf, ihr kecken streiter!

Wolauf, ihr deutschen reiter!

Wird euch das herz nicht warm?

Nehmt’s liebchen in den arm--

Hurrah!

Körner, _Schwertlied_.

 

Well up, ye fearless fighters!

Well-up, ye Saxon riders!

Oh, grows not each heart warm,

The loved one on his arm?

Hurrah!

 

 

IX. “Oh, generous, strong, and fleet are England’s steeds.”

 

ὕμνον ὀρθώσας, ἀκαμαντοπόδων

ἵππων ἄωτον.

Pind. _Olymp._ iii.

 

“I will hymn the praise of the flower of foot-weariless horses.”

 

 

XX. --“On each towering height

Seemed demons sprung with torches from their den.”

 

--Auf den mondschein folgen trüber,

Dämm’rung schatten; wüstenthiere jagen aufgeschreckt vorüber.

Schnaubend bäumen sich die pferde; unser führer greift zur fahne;

Sie entsinkt ihm, und er murmelt: “Herr, die Geisterkaravane!”

_Freiligrath._

 

“After the moonshine follow the dark twilight-shades; the wild

animals fly past affrighted, the horses rear up snorting; our

leader clutches at the standard--it sinks from him, and he murmurs:

‘Lord, the ghostly-caravan!’”

 

 

XXI. “Refreshment needful cheered their bivouac.”

 

Poichè de’ cibi il natural amore

Fú in lor ripresso e l’importuna sete.

Tasso, _Gerus. Lib._ xi. 17.

 

 

XXII. “But thickest mist doth fall, and leave our men at fault.”

 

(Combat of Dona Maria.) “A thick fog prevented further pursuit, and

the loss of the French in the action is unknown.”

Napier, _Hist._ book xxi. c. 5.

 

 

XXIII. “Thus Menelaüs, while his brazen spear, &c.”

 

Αὐτὰρ ὁ ἂψ ἐπόρουσε κατακτάμεναι μενεαίνων

Ἔγχεϊ χαλκείῳ· τὸν δ’ ἐξήρπαξ’ Ἀφροδίτη

Ῥεῖα μὰλ’, ὥστε θεός· ἐκάλυψε δ’ ἄρ’ ἠέρι πολλῇ·

Hom. _Il._ iii. 379.

 

I trust it will not be deemed irreverent to observe, by way of

anticipative answer to any critic who in his wisdom may condemn

this Homeric allusion, that, as the _Deus ex machinâ_ is not

mine, I do not stand sponsor for Venus, and that the notion of a

Frenchman in a fog quite naturally suggested _Paris_.

 

 

XXVI. “Clambering Santa Cruz’s torrid steep.”

 

--Gravis exustos æstus hiulcat agros.

Catul. lxvi.