The Sun.
London, England, 1818-07-24 00:00:00

L! I'ERA RV REVIEW.

The .ENEIS of VIRGIL. Translated by'CliantEs SYMMoNS,
Mt). of Jesus College, Oxford, 4to.

Velle videmnr, et in nirdiis conatibbs Ergre
Sticcidiintis ; 'NON LINGUA VALET.

R. FruNTER, St. Paul's Churels-yard ; and J. PORTER, Pall-

As we approach the conclusion of our remarks
on ho interesting a work as a new translation of
an immortal Poem, we feel as if we were going
to take leave of a long-valued and departing
friend, front whom we have derived much plea-
sore and improvement. We have, however, the

consolation of reflecting, that we are not on the
. eve of being divided by the awful separation of
..,death, but that we can always recur to him in an
„Amur of leisure, assured of receiving ample gra-
tification, and of enlarging our knowledge, and
refining Our taste, by the productions of his ge-
nius anti Ibis learning. We have reason to be-
lieve, that the-great Seminaries of Learning, our
Universities, have been satisfied with the notice
which we have taken of the Translation. of '1 HE
Ift.Nets now before u%, and it has not been a little
flattering to ns to find that our favourable opinion
of the work bas been confirmed by the judgment
of men of acknowledged erudition, taste, and
talents, whose own works have done honour to
the Literature of this Country, and who have
ahundantll ratified out commendations. We re-
peat our hopes that the Author will persevere in
his intention to give the work to the Public in a
more conunodions and accessible shape than in
that of a quarto, and we can venture to assure
him, that it will always hold a distinguished rank
among those versions of the remains of antiquity
which may be classed among the best treasures of
British Literature.
To resume our remarks. In our last notice of
this Poem, we made a short extract front its
Twelfth Book, in which its two chief Translators
wete exhibited in much strength. This beautiful
book would supply us with many other passages,
which we might produce for the same purpose of
entertaining our Readers with a display of the
powers of our old and our contemporary Poet.—
But, capti more, we have already, perhaps, dwelt
upon the subject too long ; and we must now
hasten to take our leave of it. In the present in-
stance, therefore, we will conclude our parallels
by submitting two short extracts for the judgment
of our Readers, the first of them beginning at
1. 697 of the original, " At pater /Eneas, audit°
nomine Turni," &c. ; and the last Ott i. Sl3, " His
actis, aliud Genitor secutn ipse volutat."
" The Trojan hero, who received from Fame
The welcome sound, and heard the champion's name,
Soon leaves the taken works, and monnted
Greedy of war, where greater glory calls.
He springs to tight, exulting in his force :
His jointed armour rattles in the course.
Like EHYX or like ATnos great he shows:
Or father APENNINE, when, white with snows,
His head divine, obscure in clouds he hides ;
And shakes the sounding forest on his sides."

DRYDEN.

" But great 2ENEAS hears, with proud delight,
The name of Tuitx us and the promised fight.
Eager, where glory stimulates, to run,
The town he quits, and walk already won:
Bursts all delays; and, in the mighty hour,
Exults, and lightens with a blaze of power.
Towering in WO supremacy of State,
He scen►s like ATHOs, or like Eovx great :
Or like east APENNINUs nobly proud,
When the king-mountain overlooks the cloud:
sods to the roaring slot to his piny brow ;
And vaunts his crown of everlasting snow."

SVMMON3.

" The peace thus made, the Thunderer next prepares
To force the watery Goddess from the wars.
Deep in the dismal regions, void of light,
Tin ee daughters :it a. birth were born to-night.
These their brown mother, brooding on her care,
bottled with windy wings to flit in air :
With serpents girt alike, and crown's) with hissing hair.
In Heaven the Ds ; and, still at hand,
Illefhre the Throne of angry Jose they stand :
His Ministers of wrath, and ready still
The minds of mortal men with fears to fill.
Whene'er the moody Sire to wreak his hate,
On realms, .or towns, deserving of their fate,
Hurls down diseases, death, and deadly care,
And terrifies the guilty world with war.
One sister-plague of these from Heaven be sent,
To fright JUIV RIV 1 with a dire portent.
The Pest comes whirling' down : by far more slow
Springs the swift arrow from the Partition bow,
Or Cydon yew, when, traversing the skies,
And drench's] in pois'nous juice, the sure destruction flies.
With such a sudden and unseen a flight,
Shot through the clouds the daughter of the night.
Soon as the field inclosed she had in view;
And from afar her destin'd quarry knew,.
Contracted, to the boding bird she turns,
Which haunts the ruin'd piles and hallow'd nrns.
And beats about the tombs with nightly wings;
Where songs obscene en sepulchres she sings.
Thus lesseted in her form, with frightful cries
The Fury round unhappy Ty sows flies,
Flaps on his shield and flutters o'er his eyes •
A laze chiluess crept along his blood :
Cboak'd was his voice, his hair with horror stood."
DRYDEN.
" And now the Sovereign, bent on other cares,
To drive JUTE., RNA from the field prepares.
Two fiends, 'tis said, black Night in tempest bore,
With fell MEGasta, on the Stygian shore.
Thais their name : at one dread birth they rose.
With equal snakes the soother eurl'd their brows;
And, for the dire completion of their farm,
Hedged them with pinions woven from the storm.
These near the Throne of Jove, before his gate
The Monarch's sterner purposes await :
Ready to hurl alarms on wretched man,
When the dread King revolves his wrathful plan;
From the dun gale disease and death to throw,
Or lay with war offending cities low.
Of these one swift-wing'd Sister, now the Sire,
:sent, as J UTU RNA'S omen to retire.
To earth the Pest precipitates her flight,
With whirlwind violence, and wrapt in night.
As when an arrow, which the Partition's skill
Imbues with. venom doubly sharp to kill,
Hurrd from a Partition or Cydonian string,
Flies through the clouds with fate upon its wing.
It sounds, and sped with fury, cuts the wind,
Yet mocks the sight., nor leaves a trace behind.
So down to earth the night-born Portent flew;
But when the hostile armies rose in view,
Straight she contracts her form to narrow size,
And veils her terrors in a bird's disguise:
That bird's, who on the ruin'd tower or tomb,
With strain.; of death alarms the midnight gloom.
Thus changed, the Fiend to TURNUs bends her way;
And o'er his shield and face her pinions play.
The shrieking omen, flapping here and there,
Flits, and each stygian feather drops despair,
With a strange numbness are his limbs unstrung,
Aud horror lifts his hair, and horror chains his tongue."
SYMMON3.