attempted, and by several of our most eminent and accomplished writers. A conviction of this difficulty has given rise to the numerous attempts at paraphrase and imitation, which have at different times appeared as substitutes, and perhaps it may be added with better success than close rendering. That the version of our Kentish Knight is occasionally laboured and prosaic and deficient in spirit and vivacity, must be allowed, and may be accounted for partly by the rule he had imposed upon himself of giving a genuine transcript of the poet's meaning, and partly by the odes he selected, which are those only of a moral and serious kind. One merit we may boldly claim for Sir Thomas Hawkins; he has uniformly given with fidelity the literal meaning of the original, and has with much care avoided the too common practice of subsequent translators of adopting superfluous embellishments and epithets not warranted by the text, for the purpose of ornament, and to exhibit not the author, but themselves to advantage. Impressed with the truth of this assertion, we have annexed to the specimens selected for the present compilation the original latin, in order that our readers may judge of their correctness. Liber I.-Carmen XXXI.-Ad Apollinem. Quid dedicatum poscit Apollinem Non estuosæ grata Calabriæ Armenta ; non aurum, aut ebur Indicum ; Mordet aqua taciturnus amnis. Premant Calena falce, quibus dedit Vina Syra reparata merce, Me cichorea, levesque malvæ. Frui paratis et valido mihi, Book 1,-Ode 31.-To Apollo. What doth thy poet ask, Phoebus divine, What craves he when he pours thee bowls of wine? Not the rich corn of fat Sardinia, Nor fruitful flocks of burnt Calabria, * Nor gold, nor Indian ivory; nor the grounds, *This will afford us an instance of the correctness of our translator, and the diffusiveness of another. ebur Indicum,—is rendered by Francis "Nor ivory of spotless shine, Non aurum aut Nor gold forth flaming from the mine." Liber II.-Carmen III.-Ad Quintum Delium. Equam memento rebus in arduis Lætitia, moriture Deli; Seu mæstus omni tempore vixeris, Interiore nota Falerni: Qua pinus ingens albaque populus Lympha fugax trepidar e rivo ; Huc vina, et unguenta, et nimium breves Dum res, et ætas, et sororum Fila trium patiuntur atra. Cedes coemtis saltibus, et domo, Cedés; et exstructis in altum Divitiis potietur heres. Divesne prisco natus ab Inacho, Victima nil miserantis Orci. Sors exitura, et nos in æternum Exilium impositura cymbæ, Book 2,-Ode 3.-To Delius. In adverse chance an equal mind retain, Thou with choice Falern wine art happy made: 'Bout crooked banks their trembling streams to chase. Bring hither wine and od❜rous unguents!-Bring The dainty rose, a fair but fading thing! While fortune, age, and wealth, yield season fit, And hence exil'd, embarks in Charon's boat. |