SPECIMENS OF TRANSLATION FROM MEDEA. Σκαιος δε λέγων, κυδέν τι σοφες Medea, v. 194. p. 33. Glasg. edit. TELL me, ye bards, whose skill sublime First charm'd the ear of youthful Time With numbers wrapt in heav'nly fire; Who bade delighted Echo swell The trembling transports of the lyre, Why to the burst of Joy alone Accords sweet Music's soothing tone? Why can no bard, with magic strain, In slumbers steep the heart of pain? Bends not despairing Grief to hear Your golden lute with ravish'd ear! Oh! has your sweetest shell no power to bind Weave the light dance, ye swell the song! Cease, ye vain warblers! cease to charm The breast with other raptures warm! Cease! till your hand with magic strain SPEECH OF THE CHORUS IN THE SAME TRAGEDY. TO DISSUADE MEDEA FROM HER PURPOSE OF PUTTING HER CHILDREN TO DEATH, AND FLYING FOR HAGGARD queen! to Athens dost thou guide Thy glowing chariot, steep'd in kindred gore? Or seek to hide thy damned parricide Where Peace and Mercy dwell for evermore? The land where Truth, pure, precious, and sublime, Woos the deep silence of sequester'd bowers, And warriors, matchless since the first of Time, Rear their bright banners o'er unconquer'd towers! |