The Golden Verses of Pythagoras — with commentary (1917)

As these two kinds of finals are dissimilar without being opposed, they may be brought together without the need of rhyming; their meeting, far from being disagreeable is, on the contrary, only pleasing; two finals of the same kind, whether masculine or feminine, can never clash without causing the same sound — chat is, without rhyming; but it is not thus with the finals of different kinds, since the rhyme is impossible in this case. So that, to make what I call eumolpique verses, it suffices to avoid the meeting of finals of the same kind, whose impact necessitates the rhyme, by making one kind succeed another continually, and opposing alternately the masculine and feminine, the mingling of which is irrelevant to eumolpoeia. Here is all the mechanism of my verses : they are fluent as to form ; as to the essence which is expedient for them — that is another thing : for it is rarely encountered.

The Essence and Form of Poetry 87

Those who have made blank verse in French have spoken justly of it with the greatest contempt; these verses, miserable as to substance, without poetic fire, written as the flattest prose, lacking movement and grace, had, furthermore, the insupportable fault of not recognizing the genius of the French tongue, by making finals of the same kind clash constantly, and by not distinguishing that which is called rhyme from that which repels it.

Now that I have made as clear as possible my motives and my means, there remains only, Messieurs, for me to submit to your judgment the translation that I have made, in eumolpique verse, of the piece of Greek poetry which comprises the doctrine of Pythagoras in seventy-one lines called, par excellence, Golden Verses. This piece, venerable by its antiquity and by the celebrated philosopher whose name it bears, belonging to eumolpceia, without any mixture of passion, is sufficiently known to savants so that I need not speak about what concerns its particular merit. This would mean, moreover, a matter of some explanations. At any rate, I believe it advisable before passing to this final subject, to give you certain examples of the use of my verses as applied to epopoeia, so that you may judge, since they are in hands as incapable as mine, what they might become when used by men of superior genius and talent. I will choose, for this purpose, the exposition and invocation of the principal epic poems of Europe, in order to have a fixed subject for comparison. I will translate line by line, and will imitate, as well as is possible for me, the movement and harmony of the poet that I may have before me. This labour, which I hope will not be without some interest for the illustrious academicians whom I am addressing, will furnish me the occasion of showing by certain characteristic traits the genius of the language and poetry of the different modem peoples of Europe; and I will terminate thus the outline that I have sketched touching the poetic conditions of the principal nations of the earth.

88 The Golden Verses of Pythagoras

§VII

I am beginning with the creator of epopceia, with Homer. It is easy to see by the manner in which this divine man blends, from the opening lines of the Iliad, the exposition and invocation, that, full of a celestial inspiration that he was the first to receive, he seeks to pour forth the superabundant fire which consumes him, and to throw into the soul of his hearer the impassioned enthusiasm which masters and controls his own. The following lines will suffice to make known the subject of a work which fills twentyfour cantos.

D^esse ! viens chanter la colore d' Achilla, Fatale, et pour les Grecs si fertile en malheurs, Qui, d'avance, aux enfers, precipitant en foule Les dmes des h6ros, livra leurs corps sanglants Aux dogues aff am6s : ainsi Jupiter mime Le voulut, quand la haine eut divis6 les coeurs Du roi des rois Atride et du divin Achilla.

Lequel das Immortals provoqua ce courroux? ApoUon irrit^, qui, pour punir Atride, Ravagea son armee : et las peuplas mourraiant !

O Goddess ! sing the wrath of Pelaus' son, Achilles; sing the deadly wrath that brought Woes numberless upon the Greeks, and swept To Hades many a valiant soul, and gave Their limbs a prey to dogs and birds of air, — For so had Jove appointed, — from the time Whan the two chiefs, Atrides, King of men. And great Achillas, parted first as foes.

Which of the gods put strife between the chiefs. That they should thus contend? Latona's son And Jove's. Incensed against the king, he bade A deadly pestilence appear among The army, and the men ware perishing.

Bryant.

The Essence and Form of Poetry 89