The Golden Verses of Pythagoras — with commentary (1917)

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I dispense with making any reflection upon the charm of the original verses and upon the admirable sentiment which terminates them. It would be a very strange thing not to be impressed by the beauties of this poetry. Let us pass on to Vergil.

Even though I should not say it, it would suffice now to compare the Greek poet with the Latin poet, in order to perceive that the latter received only a second inspiration, transmitted by the inspiring power of the former. Vergil, less ardent, more tender, more correct, admits at once the luminous distinction; far from blending the exposition and invocation, he separates them, affects a tone more simple, promises little, exposes with timidity the subject of his poem, summons his Muse, and seems to persuade it, even less than the reader, to be favourable to him. He employs these lines :

Je chante les combats, et ce Hdros troyen,

Qui, fuyant Ilion, aborda I'ltalie

Le premier: sur la terre errant, et sur les mers,

En butte aux traits cruels de Junon irrit6e,

II souffrit mille maux; avant qu'il 6tablit

Ses Dieux chez les Latins, et fond^t une ville,

Berceau d'Albe, de Rome et de ses hauts remparts.

Muse ! rappelle-moi quels motifs de vengeance Excitaient la D6esse, et pourquoi son courroux S'obstinait k poursuive un H6ros magnanime? Tant de haine entre-t-elle au coeuT des Immortels !

90 The Golden Verses of Pythagoras

Arms and the man I sing, who first, By fate of lUum realm amerced. To fair Italia onward bore. And landed on Lavinium's shore : — Long tossing earth and ocean o'er. By violence of heaven, to sate Fell Juno's unf orgetting hate : Much laboured too in battle-field, Striving his city's walls to build.

And give his Gods a home : Thence come the hardy Latin brood, The ancient sires of Alba's blood,

And lofty-rampired Rome. Say, Muse, for godhead how disdained, Or wherefore worth, Heaven's queen constrained That soul of piety so long To turn the wheel, to cope with wrong. Can heavenly natures nourish hate So fierce, so blindly passionate?

CONINGTON.

Arma virumque can,o, Trojae qui primus ab oris Italiam, fato profugus, Lavinaque venit Litora, multum ille et terris jactatus et alto Vi supertoi, sagvse memorem Junonis ob iram, Multa quoque et bello passus, dum conderet urbem Inferretque deos Latio : genus unde Latinum, Albanique patres atque altae moenia Romse.

Musa, mihi causas memora, quo numine laeso, Quidve dolens, regina de<im tot volvere casus Insignem pietate virum, tot adire labores Impulerit. Tantaene animis coelestibus irse?

It can be observed that Vergil, although he places himself foremost and although he says, / sing, begins nevertheless in a manner much less animated, much less sure than the Greek poet, who, transported beyond himself, seems to impose upon his Muse the subject of his songs, interrogates her, and then inspired by her, responds. The Latin poet finishes, like his model, with a sentence; but it is easy to feel that this apostrophe,

The Essence and Form of Poetry 91

Can heavenly natures nourish hate So fierce, so blindly passionate?

although very beautiful, contains less depth, less feeling, and holds less intimately to the subject than this sublime reflection :

. . . and the men were perishing !

Someone has said that Vergil had imitated in his exposition the commencement of the Odyssey of Homer; this is a mistake. One finds always in the exposition of the Odyssey the real character of a first inspiration blended with the invocation, although more calm and less alluring than in the Iliad. Here is the translation :

Du plus sage H^ros, Muse, dis les traverses Sans nombre, apr^s qu'il eut triomphe d'llion: Rapelle les cit^s, les peuples, les usages, Qu'il connut, et les mers oi longtemps il erra: A quels soins d^vorants, k quels maux I'exposferent L'amour de la patrie et noble d^sir D'y mener ses guerriers! Vain d^sir: ils os^rent, Insens^s! du Soleil devorer les troupeaux; Et ce Dieu, du retour leur ravit la journ6e. Fais-nous part de ces faits, fille de Jupiter.

Tell me, O Muse, of that sagacious man

Who, having overthrown the sacred town

Of Ilium, wandered far and visited

The capitals of many nations, learned

The customs of their dwellers and endured

Great suffering on the deep; his life was oft

In peril, as he laboured to bring back