Litchfield enquirer., 1845-06-12
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF SOME OF
THE ANCIENT GREEK LITERATI.
CHAPTER x.-oF TYRTEUs.

CHAPTER X.-0F TYRTEUS.
TxnrEUs was and elegiac poet Of great reputa-
ton.
2. HeiS supposed to have lgourished at Athens,
about the beginning of the 24th Olympiad.
8. Now this, according to the best calculation,
would have been about $50 years before the birth
of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
4. The poetry Of Tyrtaus was Of a strongly
marked and patriotic character.
s. 1Rthe second Messenian war, it is well known
fromthe History Of Greece, that the Lacedemoni.
ans suffered at first, great defeat and disaster.
o. In all their difficulties, and amid all their ma
'tionai caamities they were accustomed to consult
theOracle Of Delphos, which they held in the
Highest veneration.
Il Tins oracle was managed by the cunning OF
Pagan priesthood, and always spoke in ambiguous
fterms, very much like fortune tellers in modern
days.
.. This oracle the Lacedemonians consulted in
their extremity; and were told by it, that they
must seek for General from among the Atheni-
ans to lead them against their Messenian enemies
D. Accordingly, they sent an embassy to Ath.
TO- The Athenians were not much disposed to-
favor the war; and therefore, by way of ridicule,
sent them Tyrt@us, the poet, to take command of
their army. a'
II. Iyrt@ns was very much deformed in one
foot and, in addition to his hating, presented in
ms person, most unmilitary appearance.
IL. But with all these defects, the poet so great
ly infaamed the martial ardor of the Lacedemoni-
an soldiers under his command, that they made
spirited attack upon the Messenians, and obtained
oyer them complete victory.
10. Tyrteus, as reward for his services, re-
ceiyed from the Lacedemonians the right of citi.
zenshp; which, at that time, was held in great es
TEEN, inasmuch as it was bestowed only upon the
most praise-worthy
ID. few only Of his Elegies. which have Oh.
tanned for him great name as poet, have been
preserved and handed down to the present age.
Is. Christian Adolphius Klotzius. Of Altenburg.
in 1867, published one of the best editions Of Tyr
taus' POEMS q
16. work was likewise published at Glasgow,
in Scotland, in 1859. of the following title:
H." Spartan Lessons; or the Praise Of Tal-
or; q" the Verses Of Tyrteas," &c. in quarto
form. a6
Is. The above copious edition includes all the
roetical writings Of the patriotic Athenian bard
who well knew the effect which spirited songs
were calculated to produce upon the minds Of
rude, and too frequently barbarous and uncultiva-
ted soldiery. .aS aisi.aat'e tfs'f7e' sT1
ho said -. r.
warrior bard that Greece ever produced, as far, at
least, aswe have any account in history.
90. The style of his poetry is elevated. and the
sentiment strong, stern, and spirited. which ought
always to characterize heroic poetry.
81. The Greeks were undoubtedly the first in
ventors Of that kind of Elegiac poetry, in which
'Tyteus and others wrote.
%. The Romans in this, as in many other re-
spects their miators, in style at least if not
in sentiment.
%. pentameter, joined with hexameter
verse, constituted the best Elegiac poetry of the
ancient Greeks and Romans.
a. Take, for instance. the following example
from Ovid, a celebrated Roman poet, of the Au-
GUSTAV age:
IS. Febiiis. indignos, Elegeia, solve eapillos.
IN! minis ec Zero nunc tibi nOnsen crit
&c. will here subjoin an English Translation Of
the above half stanza:
81 Thou weeping Muse Of Elegy, unbind
Thy rauen hair, disAevell'd in thy grief
Alas! that name, too late, thou now shalt
find,
.e Has too much truth, to g,ve thy soul relief.
%. In this kind Of poetry, Tyrtaus may be said
to have had few, if any rivals.
20. Take the following verse, for example, from
his Ode On Brave Warrior:
80. Kai s,aaabos, kai paides hem hanthroopois
..r.s ID hGTIseesn0i,
Rai PGidO0n pGides, kai genes herOpisoo
HouIe pote kleOs hesthlon hapollutai, hour
hOss0Hs' hGtstou,
Hall. hstpO gees pereOon, gignetai hG-
M0nGtos
81. No English translation can do adequate ius-
tice to the merits of the above stanza. will.
however. attempt to render it into language,
as to preserve the sense, if not the melody and
spirit Of the original
%. The hero's tomb records his honor'd name;
His sons are brave amid the ranks of steel
His children's children emulate his fame,
And all posterity his spirit feel.
SO. Nor shall his glory ever once decay,
Nor his bright name be lost upon the earth.
But thlsegi the world shall wing its rapid way.
And Fane enrol II Of immortal birth.
a. This kind q. poetry Il NOT easy Of execution.
IS. In fact, there have bean very few poets in
any Or among any people, who have been capable
W ~i ". 6 S-1