Nova Anthologia Oxoniensts. Edited by Robinson Ellis, M.A., and A.
D. Godley, M.A. (Clarendon Press. 6s. net.)—This, we need hardly say, is a volume which every scholar, at least of the old-fashioned kind, will greatly enjoy. It is something that there is still a demand for Greek and Latin verse, and a supply to meet it ; a supply, too, which is of as good quality as ever- Perhaps the Greek is a little more attractive than the Latin. But then it always is, if it is handled as Mr. J. Y. Sargent, Mr. F. St. J. Thackeray, Professor Murray, • Mr. Godley, and Mr. Arthur Sidgwick (whom Oxford has had the good sense to adopt) know how to handle it. It must not be supposed but that the Latin, too, is of the best quality, such as that which the Messrs. Godley and Sargent again, Professor Hardie, and others contri- bute. One of the masterpieces of the volume is Mr. A. Sidgivick's version in Greek hexameters of Browning's "0 Lyric Love, half angel, and half bird." We would gladly quote the whole, but must be content with the four lines expressing the hope—
That still, despite the distance and the dark, What was, again may be : some interchange Of grace, some splendour once thy very thought, Some benediction anciently thy smile."
s4a:unv Si vnT.ai irfp rsoixpciv it7aci pot Um vpirspov Ti vopeh, xdprrifs il-yxabv .171 vorua, citkv oevbs yraor 4itior, oT Aai i)critCso Here, again, is a version of some lines from "The Deserted Village," quite Ovidian in their lucidity and ease. It begins :— "'or ram no wretches, born to wOrk and weep."
- IE nulls manna miserando addict& labor!
ettodit ant saevum per mare quaerit opes : Janitor baud nnquam mb3eros et frusta rogantis
umtatbus magas durna ablre lubet.
Mors vogue non terret superos alb! pmestat amicos quisquis virtnti semper amicus erat : lad eerie proplus paulatim allabitur horse, itque minus dnram, quod Ilbet ire viam : ism magis atque naagis caelestia gandia gustat, virus in aetherlas evehlturque demos."
In the translation of Pope's attack on Addison we find the line, "Ready to wound, and yet afraid to strike," rendered by " Trux animo, dextra segnis," words which can hardly be taken except literally. In any case, trux is too strong a word to harmonise with the rest of the passage.
Previous page
