With regard to Tasso, there is still preserved at Rome a copy of the Timæus No. V. of Plato, with manuscript notes by this poet, written, as is evident from the neatness of the characters, when he was very young. "I read, (says he on one occasion,) I read heretofore all the writings of Plato, and many seeds of his doctrine remained in my mind."* Of Tasso's fond admiration for this philosopher, some very striking evidences will be produced in the course of this work. In fact, without some acquaintance with Plato's writings, it is not possible to understand completely those of our poet. Of this, the following instance may be given, where a very important and beautiful passage of the Jerusalem, has been totally misunderstood by all its English translators. When Rinaldo, in the XVIII. canto of that poem, visits the enchanted wood, he arrives at last at a place where there is a myrtle of gigantic size, surrounded by a great number of less elevated and apparently subject trees. During all this time he hears a strange celestial harmony, and on a sudden each of the trees opens, and discloses a nymph of wonderful beauty. All of these, to the number of an hundred, form in a circle, and dancing round the myrtle and the hero, sing with the most tuneful accents the following verses: All hail! and welcome to this pleasing grove, Thus they-low thunders from the myrtle rose, And straight the bark a cleft wide-opening shows. This is the version of Mr Hoole, and, except in altering the sweet melody (which the original tells us issued from the myrtle before it rent) into thunders, * Opere, vol. X. p. 110. No. V. (much less appropriately, it is evident, when a pleasurable scene is to be described,) he has translated very well. But we now come to a stanza, which both he and Fairfax have quite misunderstood, from not adverting to a passage of Plato. To shew this, it will be necessary to quote the original Italian. Tale era il canto, e poi dal mirto uscia 30 Già nel' aprir d'un rustico Sileno, These verses are thus translated by Fairfax, if that may be called a translation which is a total misconception of the original. This was their song, and after from it went, 30 If antique times admir'd Silenus old, The reader who peruses this passage, is at a loss to know what business Silenus (to whom Fairfax has gratuitously given his ass as a companion,) has to do in the scene, or how he could be suggested to the poet by the appearance ་ of Armida. Hoole has the same conception of the passage as his predecessor, but makes things rather worse, as will appear from his version. In wonder wrapt, have ancient times survey'd A rude Silenus, issuing from the shade; And saw Armida's features with surprise. Mr Hoole certainly pays Armida a very poor compliment in saying she was fairer than a rude Silenus, and must have considered Rinaldo as not very difficult in the article of beauty. Lastly, Mr Doyne, who has published a translation of the Jerusalem Delivered in blank verse, thus interprets the passage: This their song, Then from the myrtle came the sweetest sound, And then it rent. Not now appear'd in sight The gaze of ancient ages; but a form Lovely, and rare; that from the wondrous trunk Of that enchanted myrtle came; and like It was, in angel beauty, shape, and looks, To fond Armida; her Rinaldo thinks He sees in every gesture, and fair smile. The following is a literal translation of the stanza: "The ancients hereto→ fore have, upon the opening of a rustic Silenus, seen wonders-But this great myrtle shewed, from its divided bosom, images more rare and beautiful-It shewed a lady who, in her deceitful aspect, resembled, to the full, angelic beauty-Rinaldo looks, and it appears to him that he sees the semblance of Armida, and her sweet features." Towards the end of the Symposium of Plato, Alcibiades, contrasting the rude appearance of Socrates with the divine sentiments which he uttered, tells him he resembles those hollow statues of Satyrs and Sileni, which the Athenians made use of to contain their most exquisite perfumes; or the most per No. V. No. V, fect statues of their divinities. It was their custom, as we learn from this pas- We have now attained a complete knowledge of the passage; and it appears, that the comparison has wonderful propriety. The verses of Tasso may be translated in the following manner : Such was the song-but forth the myrtle sent 30 Oft a Silenus' breast, the days of old Have seen unclose and yield some goddess fair; But never yet did sylvan image hold Such charms as issued from this myrtle rare: Rinaldo on the vision fix'd his eyes, And saw Armida's features with surprise. No. VI.-P. 117. OF THE DISCOURSES ON HEROIC POETRY. Of the Discourses on Heroic Poetry there seem to have been four, only No. VI. three of which have been printed. Though composed at the age of twenty and published without the knowledge and corrections of their author, they are exceedingly valuable; and, while they display a most refined taste, discover also much metaphysical acuteness, and geometrical precision. Indeed, I am more and more of opinion, that what Mr Stewart says of Burns, is true in general of every great poetical genius. "All the faculties of Burns's mind (says he) were, as far as I could judge, equally vigorous; and his predilection for poetry was rather the result of his own enthusiastic and impassioned temper, than of a genius exclusively adapted to that species of composition."+ Of these Discourses I intended to give some analysis; but they are written with such condensation of thought, that, to give a proper idea of them, an almost complete translation would be necessary. The first of them is occupied with the matter; the second with the form; the third with the embellishments suited to a perfect heroic poem. Tasso seems to have considered, as of the very highest moment, the materia nuda, or subject chosen; and he places, in the same degree of importance, the form or poetical disposition of this matter. Indeed, the philosophic critics of that day appear to have considered the design of a poem as of still greater importance than its colouring; and the notions of our poet himself on this subject were uncommonly strict. Perhaps the critics of those times carried their ideas of unity, connection, and verisimilitude too far; Oper. vol. V. pp. 345, 514. How much Tasso himself esteemed these Discourses, appears from the following passage of a letter to Scipio Gonzaga: "Io ho molte composizioni, che desidero di pubblicare; ma eccetuatone la Gerusalemme, non fo di alcun altra maggiore stima, che di que libri, che lo scrissi a V. S. Illustriss. dell' artificio poetico."―Vol. IX. p. 428.. + Burns's Works, vol. I. p. 140. See also, in the same volume, some excellent remarks by Dr Currie on this subject, p. 239, 3d ed. |