Iberia Won 36

Iberia Won 36

μηκέθ’ ἁλίου σκόπει

ἄλλο θαλπνότερον

ἐν ἁμέρᾳ φαεινὸν ἄστρον

μήδ’ Ὀλυμπίας ἀγῶνα

φέρτερον αὐδάσομεν:

Pind. _Olymp._ i.

 

“Deem no shining star greater than the Sun, nor contest more

excellent than the Olympian games.”

 

“Of statues for the Altis sculptors hewing.”

 

Διὸς ἄλκιμος

υἱὸς, σταθμᾶτο ζάθεον ἄλσος

πατρὶ μεγίστω· περὶ δὲ πάξας,

Ἄλτιν μὲν ὅγ’ ἐν καθαρῷ

διέκρινε.

Pind. _Olymp._ x.

 

“The stalwart son of Jove measured out a grove divine to the

mightiest Father, and hedged it round, and the Altis he set apart

in that sacred place.” Pindar thus attributes the foundation of

the Olympic games to Hercules, who was more popular than Jupiter

himself amongst his Heraclidan audience; and a few lines before

he alludes to his conquest of Elis, on whose plain these games

were subsequently celebrated, “μυχοῖς ἅμμενον Ἄλιδος;” Hercules

having led thither an army from Tiryns, the first walled city upon

record. The sacred grove to which Pindar above refers contained the

temple of Olympian Jove, and the statues erected to the conquerors

in the games. The τρισολυμπιονῖκαι, or those who had been thrice

victorious, had their εἰκόνες in marble thus set, and copied

exactly from their members, which were thus in some degree deified.

(Plin. lib. 34, cap. 3.) And Aristotle, in his _Ethics_, lib. 7, c.

6, says that the Olympian conquerors were called “ἀνθρώπους” κατ’

ἐξοχὴν, as if they alone were worthy of the name!

 

 

X. “And sulphurous fires the bastioned bulwarks tear

Like rags asunder!”

 

--Καὶ στεφάνωμα πύργων

Πευκάενθ’ Ἥφαιστον ἑλεῖν.

Τοῖος ἀμφὶ νῶτ’ ἐτάθη

Πάταγος Ἄρεος.

Soph. _Antig._ 122.

 

“And pitchy Vulcan seized our loftiest towers; dire was the din of

Mars that rose from behind.”

 

“And rush the stormers in with lustiest British cheers.”

 

“In the Peninsula, the sudden deafening shout, rolling over a field

of battle, more full and terrible than that of any other nation,

and followed by the strong unwavering charge, often startled and

appalled a French column, before whose fierce and vehement assault

any other troops would have given way.”--Napier, _Hist. War in the

Penins._ book xxiv. c. 6.

 

 

XIV. “Oh, Rank and Dignity! I saw two flies.”

 

“They wonder how any man should be so much taken with the glaring,

doubtful lustre of a jewel or stone, that can look up to a star,

or to the sun itself; or how any should value himself because his

cloth is made of a finer thread; for, how fine soever that thread

may be, it was once no better than the fleece of a sheep, and that

sheep was a sheep still for all its wearing it. They wonder much to

hear that gold, which in itself is so useless a thing, should be

every where so much esteemed that even man, for whom it was made,

and by whom it has its value, should yet be thought of less value

than it is; so that a man of lead, who has no more sense than a

log of wood, and is as bad as he is foolish, should have many wise

and good men serving him, only because he has a great heap of that

metal; and if it should so happen that by some accident, or trick

of law, which does sometimes produce as great changes as chance

itself, all this wealth should pass from the master to the meanest

varlet of his whole family, he himself would very soon become one

of his servants, as if he were a thing that belonged to his wealth,

and so were bound to follow its fortune. But they do much more

admire and detest their folly who, when they see a rich man, though

they neither owe him anything, nor are in any sort obnoxious to

him, yet merely because he is rich, they give him little less than

divine honours; even though they know him to be so covetous and

base-minded that, notwithstanding all his wealth, he will not part

with one farthing of it to them as long as he lives.”--Sir Thomas

More, _Utopia_, book ii. Bishop Burnet’s Translation.

 

 

XVII. “Thus to Achilles’ arms the maid restored.”

 

Untouched “quoad Agamemnona.” The epithet of Homer is ἀπροτίμαστος.

Il. xix.

 

 

XVIII. “Afonso, Avíz, Nun’ Alvares, &c.”

 

The exploits of all these worthies will be found recorded in my

“Ocean Flower.”

 

 

XIX. “Not thy Fidalgos--withered boughs, I ween.”

 

Mina never would suffer an Hidalgo to join his band--himself a

peasant by birth, and thoroughly despising the “higher orders.”

From this general censure of the Fidalgo class, the Conde de

Amarante, the Marquis de Saldanha, the present Conde de Villareal

and Duke of Terceira, who served with distinction in the Peninsular

War, are exceptions. The defence of the bridge of Amarante,

from which the first-named Conde received his title, was a most

brilliant exploit.

 

 

XXI. “No, not more vain Antæus’ self to pierce.”

 

See Pindar’s first Nemeonic, and Lucan, lib. iv.

 

“Whose hissing heads struck off, still heads more grim, &c.”

 

Non Hydra secto corpore firmior

Vinci dolentem crevit in Herculem.

Horat. _Carm._ iv. 4.

 

 

XXV. “Oh, sacred source of sympathetic tears!”

 

The “δακρυων πηγαι,” the “sacri fontes lachrymarum,” which even

amongst enlightened Heathens seem to have been more regarded than

by many modern Christians.

 

 

XXVI. “The Imperial Boar.”

 

Diocletian.

 

 

XXIX. “By that _majestic_ Faith, &c.”

 

Such is the force of the Saint’s name, Σεβαστὸς.

 

 

XXXII. “Her heart transpierces, falls, and dies upon his corse.”

 

--Καλὸν μοὶ τοῦτο ποιούσῃ θανεῖν.

Φίλη μετ’ αὐτοῦ κείσομαι, φίλου μέτα.

Soph. _Antig._ 72.

 

“It will be my glory thus to die. Loving I will lie by the side of

my beloved!”

 

 

XL. “Dissolved the bands of discipline, the mould

Of duty broke, restored barbarian life.”

 

Ναυτικὸν στράτευμ’, ἄναρχον, κᾴπὶ τοῖς κακοῖς θρασὺ,

Χρήσιμον δ’ ὅταν θέλωσιν.

Eurip. _Iphig. in Aul._ 914.

 

“An army come in ships, anarchical, and ferocious for evil deeds,

but useful when it pleases.” A very close description of our San

Sebastian heroes--written more than two thousand years since! I

stood in September last upon the Chofre hills, on the very spot

whence Graham directed the fearful cannonade, and subsequently

beneath the branch where our gallant fellows entered, and in the

recollection of their bravery could readily forget the tales of

horror which I heard from Spaniards, who retain a more vivid memory

of misdeeds, than of the most magnificent services.

 

I saw with little admiration the mediocre picture of San Sebastian

over the high altar in the cathedral, and when I subsequently

beheld the glorious picture of the same saint by Guido in the

museum at Madrid, I sincerely regretted that the latter is not

substituted for the former--a measure which would be well worthy an

enlightened government.

 

 

 

 

IBERIA WON.

 

Canto VII.

 

 

I.

 

Close by the wall the grave Salustian held

’Mongst noblest citizens his fair abode;

And while its dirge the cannon hourly knelled,

And red-limbed Slaughter through the city strode,

And Havoc on the thunder-tempest rode,

One only care Salustian’s bosom knew,

One sole solicitude his mind could load--

To shield his lovely daughters from the view

Of demons shaped like men who Ismail’s scenes renew!