Letters Concerning Poetical Translations Part 1

Letters Concerning Poetical Translations.

by William Benson.

LETTER I.

_SIR,_

I am now going to obey your Commands; but you must let me do it in my own way, that is, write as much, or as little at a time as I may have an Inclination to, and just as things offer themselves. After this manner you may receive in a few Letters, all that I have said to you about poetical Translations, and the resemblance there is between _Virgil's_ and _Milton's_ Versification, and some other Matters of the same nature.

To begin with the Business of Translation.

Whoever sits down to translate a Poet, ought in the first place to consider his Author's peculiar _Stile_; for without this, tho' the Translation may be very good in all other respects, it will hardly deserve the Name of a Translation.

The two great Men amongst the Antients differ from each other as much in this particular as in the Subjects they treat of. The Stile of _Homer_, who sings the Anger or Rage of _Achilles_, is _rapid_. The Stile of _Virgil_, who celebrates the Piety of _aeneas_, is _majestick_. But it may be proper to explain in what this Difference consists.

The Stile is _rapid_, when several Relatives, each at the head of a separate Sentence, are governed by one Antecedent, or several Verbs by one Nominative Case, to the close of the Period.

Thus in _Homer_:

"G.o.ddess, sing the pernicious Anger of _Achilles_, which brought infinite Woes to the _Grecians_, and sent many valiant Souls of Heroes to h.e.l.l, and gave their Bodies to the Dogs, and to the Fowls of the Air."

Here you see it is the Anger of _Achilles_, that does all that is mentioned in three or four Lines. Now if the Translator does not nicely observe _Homer's_ Stile in this Pa.s.sage, all the Fire of _Homer_ will be lost. For Example: "O Heavenly G.o.ddess, sing the Wrath of the Son of _Peleus_, the fatal Source of all the Woes of the _Grecians_, that Wrath which sent the Souls of many Heroes to _Pluto's_ gloomy Empire, while their Bodies lay upon the Sh.o.r.e, and were torn by devouring Dogs, and hungry Vultures."

Here you see the Spirit of _Homer_ evaporates; and in what immediately follows, if the Stile of _Homer_ is not nicely attended to, if any great matter is added or left out, _Homer_ will be fought for in vain in the Translation. He always hurries on as fast as possible, as _Horace_ justly observes, _semper ad eventum festinat_; and that is the reason why he introduces his first Speech without any Connection, by a sudden Transition; and why he so often brings in his [Greek: ton d' apameibomenos]: He has not patience to stay to work his Speeches artfully into the Subject.

Here you see what is a _rapid_ Stile. I will now shew you what is quite the contrary, that is, a _majestic one_. To instance in _Virgil_: "Arms and the Man I sing; the first who from the Sh.o.r.es of _Troy_ (the Fugitive of Heav'n) came to _Italy_ and the _Lavinian_ Coast." Here you perceive the Subject-matter is r.e.t.a.r.ded by the _Inversion of the Phrase_, and by that _Parenthesis_, the _Fugitive of Heaven_ all which occasions _Delay_; and _Delay_ (as a learned Writer upon a Pa.s.sage of this nature in _Ta.s.so_ observes) is the Property of Majesty: For which Reason when _Virgil_ represents _Dido_ in her greatest Pomp, it is,

--_Reginam_ cunctantem _ad limina primi_ _Poenorum expectant_.--

For the same Reason he introduces the most solemn and most important Speech in the _aeneid_, with three Monosyllables, which causes great Delay in the Speaker, and gives great Majesty to the Speech.

--_O Qui Res_ Hominumq; Deumq;--

These three Syllables occasion three short Pauses. _O--Qui--Res_--How slow and how stately is this Pa.s.sage!

But it happens that I can set the Beginning of the _aeneid_ in a clear Light for my purpose, by two Translations of that Pa.s.sage, both by the same Hand; one of which is exactly in the manner of _Virgil_, the other in the manner of _Homer_: The two Translations are made by the Reverend Mr. _Pitt_. He published the first among some Miscellany Poems several Years since, the latter in his four Books of the _aeneid_ about two Years ago.

I.

"Arms and the Man I sing; the first who driv'n From _Trojan_ Sh.o.r.es, the Fugitive of Heav'n, Came to th' _Italian_ and _Lavinian_ Coast;--

II.

"Arms and the Man I sing, the first who bore His Course to _Latium_ from the _Trojan_ Sh.o.r.e.--

The first Translation is exact in every respect: You have in it the Suspence and Majesty of _Virgil_. The second is a good Translation, though not at all like _Virgil_, but exactly like _Homer_: There is no Hesitation, but the Verse and the Matter hurry on together as fast as possible.

I have now shown you what is a _rapid_, and what is a _majestick Stile_. But a few more Lines of the Beginning both of the _Iliad_ and of the _aeneid_ will make it still more plain.

ILIAD.

"The Anger of _Achilles_, G.o.ddess, sing; Which to the _Greeks_ did endless Sorrows bring; And sent untimely, to the Realms of Night, The Souls of many Chiefs, renown'd in Fight: And gave their Bodies for the Dogs to tear, And every hungry Fowl that wings the Air.

And thus accomplish'd was the Will of _Jove_, Since first _Atrides_ and _Achilles_ strove.

What G.o.d the fatal Enmity begun?

_Latona_'s, and great _Jove_'s immortal Son.

He through the Camp a dire Contagion spread, The Prince offended, and the People bled: With publick Scorn, _Atrides_ had disgrac'd The Reverend _Chryses_, _Phoebus'_ chosen Priest.

He to redeem his Daughter, sought the Sh.o.r.e, Where lay the _Greeks_, and mighty Presents bore: Deckt with the Ensigns of his G.o.d, he stands, The Crown, the golden Sceptre in his Hands; To all he su'd, but to the Princes most, Great _Atreus_'s Sons, the Leaders of the Host: Princes! and _Grecian_ Warriors! may the G.o.ds (The Pow'rs that dwell in Heav'ns sublime Abodes) Give you to level _Priam_'s haughty Tow'rs, And safely to regain your native Sh.o.r.es.

But my dear Daughter to her Sire restore, These Gifts accept, and dread _Apollo_'s Pow'r; The Son of _Jove_; he bears a mighty Bow, And from afar his Arrows gall the Foe.

aeNEID.

Arms and the Man I sing, the first who driv'n From _Trojan_ Sh.o.r.es, the Fugitive of Heav'n, Came to th' _Italian_ and _Lavinian_ Coast; Much o'er the Earth was He, and Ocean tost, By Heavenly Powers, and _Juno_'s lasting Rage; Much too He bore, long Wars compell'd to wage; E'er He the Town could raise, and of his G.o.ds, In _Latium_ settle the secure Abodes; Whence in a long Descent the _Latins_ come, The _Albine_ Fathers, and the Tow'rs of _Rome_.

Sept. 6. 1736.

_I am_, SIR, _&c._

_P.S._

I Should not part with the Pa.s.sage in _Homer_ above-mentioned without observing that the Speech of _Apollo_'s Priest is wonderfully Peinturesque, and in Character. We plainly see the Priest holding up his Hands, and pointing with his Crown and Sceptre to Heaven.

"Princes! and _Grecian_ Warriors! may the G.o.ds (The Pow'rs that dwell in Heav'ns sublime Abodes)

It is a Priest that speaks, and his Audience is composed of Soldiers who had liv'd ten Years in a Camp. He does not only put them in mind of the _G.o.ds_, but likewise of the _Place_ where they dwelt, and at the same time points up to it. Neither is the Conclusion of the Speech less remarkable than the Beginning of it: The Priest of _Apollo_ does not end in an humble supplicant manner like a common Suitor; but he frankly offers his Presents, and threatens the Generals and Princes he addresses himself to, with the Vengeance of his G.o.d if they refuse his Request: And he very artfully lets them know that his G.o.d is not a Deity of inferior Rank, but the Son of _Jove_; and that his Arrows reach from a great Distance. The next Line to those last mentioned I cannot omit taking notice of, because it contains, in my Opinion, one of the most beautiful Expressions in all the poetical Language. _To give to do a thing._

"Princes! and _Grecian_ Warriors! may the G.o.ds (The Pow'rs that dwell in Heav'ns sublime Abodes) _Give you to level Priam_'s haughty Tow'rs, And safely to regain your native Sh.o.r.es.

_Virgil_ was so sensible of this charming Expression, that he has used it in the three following Pa.s.sages, and I believe in one or two others in the very first _aeneid_.

"--_Tibi Divum paler atque hominum rex Et mulcere_ dedit _fluctus & tollere vento_.--

"--_Tu_ das _epulis acc.u.mbere Divum_.--

"_O regina, novam cui condere Jupiter urbem Just.i.tiaque_ dedit _gentes fraenare superbas_:--

_Salvini_ in his _Italian_ Translation in 1723, dedicated to his late Majesty, is attentive to all the Beauties of the Pa.s.sage in _Homer_ last mentioned.

"--_A voi gl' Iddii, Che l'Olimpie magioni abitan_, dieno _Espugnar ilio e a casa far ritorno_."