CONTENTS. 75 99 THE FRENCH EPIC: THE SONG OF ROLAND THE PERSIAN EPIC: THE SHAH-NAMEH THE SPANISH EPIC: THE POEM OF THE CID THE ITALIAN EPIC: THE DIVINE COMEDY THE ITALIAN EPIC: THE JERusalem Delivered THE ENGLISH EPIC: PARADISE REGAINED FROM THE SHAH-NAMEH: The Rajah of India sends a Chess board to Nushirvan Zal and Rudabeh FROM THE POEM OF THE CID: Count Raymond and My Cid FROM THE DIVINE COMEDY: Count Ugolino Buonconte di Montefeltro Beatrice descending from Heaven . FROM THE ORLANDO FURIOSO: The Death of Zerbino FROM THE LUSIAD: Inez de Castro The Spirit of the Cape FROM THE Jerusalem DELIVERED: Sophronia and Olindo . FROM PARADISE LOST: Satan Apostrophe to Light FROM PARADISE REGAINED: The Temptation of the Vision of the 383 395 NATIONAL EPICS. THE RAMAYANA. "He who sings and hears this poem continually has attained to the highest state of enjoyment, and will finally be equal to the gods." `HE Râmâyana, the Hindu Iliad, is variously ascribed THE to the fifth, third, and first centuries B. C., its many interpolations making it almost impossible to determine its age by internal evidence. Its authorship is unknown, but according to legend it was sung by Kuça and Lava, the sons of Rama, to whom it was taught by Valmiki. Of the three versions now extant, one is attributed to Valmiki, another to Tuli Das, and a third to Vyasa. Its historical basis, almost lost in the innumerable episodes and grotesque imaginings of the Hindu, is probably the conquest of southern India and Ceylon by the Aryans. The Râmâyana is written in the Sanskrit language, is divided into seven books, or sections, and contains fifty thousand lines, the English translation of which, by Griffith, occupies five volumes. The hero, Rama, is still an object of worship in India, the route of his wanderings being, each year, trodden by devout pilgrims. The poem is not a mere literary monument, —it is a part of the actual religion of the Hindu, and is held in such reverence that the mere reading or hearing of it, or certain passages of it, is believed to free from sin and grant his every desire to the reader or hearer. |