The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-06-12
SOME NEW BOOKS.
Paussnias, the spartan-i,ord Buiwer Lyt-
toms Incomplete Work.


atteen, II not twenty, years since my father
commenced tho composition of his
tor,ca romance on the subject OF Pau
sanias. the Spartan Regent. circumstances,
which need not hero he recorded, compelled
him 10 Law aside the work thus begun. but the
subject continued to haunt his imagination and
occupy his thoughts" It was indeed subject
well calculated to fasoinatc Lord Lytton and
furnish him with opportunities for the exercise
Of his best powers. The hero was unquestiona-
bly,, whatever Athenian or other writer's may
say to the contrary, a man OF great force OF
character, "a man who was at one time the
glory, and at another the terror, OF all Greece"
lie was engaged In vast schemes, working out
great political intrigues, putting In practice
criminal designs which held the fate Of nations.
Tbis magnificent groundwork for a historical
and dramatij romance was not unassociated
with all that IA necessary to arouse the warmer
emotions, To enlist the tenderer sympathes, and
to awe the Imagination. The story of Cleonice,
as narrated by Plutarch In his life Of Cimon,
supplied the materials for love tale and the ex-
cuse for coniuring the supernatural. II Ia re-
lated that Pausanias, when at ByZantium,
sought, with criminal purpose, the love OF a
young lady OF good family, named Cleonice
The parents, yielding to fear or necessity,
suffered him to carry away their daughter, whom
| he afterward struck down with hs sword as she
was approaching him In the darkness, mistake
ing her for some enemy who was about to as
sassinate him. "She died of her wound and
from that moment repose was banlshed from
the life OF Pausanias. A spectre appeared to
him every night In his sleep, and repeated to
him, in reproachful tones, this hexamster verse:
whittier wait thee, march, and receive the doom
Sooner or later, but ever, crime bringeth dis.
| aster.'
1.-THE allies, scandallzed by this misdeed, con-
certed with Cimon. and besieged Pausanias In
| Byzantium but he succeeded In escaping. Con-
tinually troubled by the phantom, no took
refuge, II Is said, at Heraclea, in that temple
where the souls OF the dead are evoked. He ap-
pealed to Cleonice, and coniured her to mitigate
his torment She appeared to him, and told
| him that on his return to Sparta he would attain
the end OF his suGerings; indicating, as II would
seem, by these enlgmatic words, the death
which there awaited him. This is a story told
by most OF the historians"
Thus Lord Lytton's classical knowledge; his
skill In depicting a heroic character, whether
good or bad his practical acquaintance with
politics, political intrlsues, and what may be
called politico-human nature; his power to in
dictate the workings and effects Of love pas
sion; and hts ability to handle personaaes and
things that are uncontrolled by the laws Of
ture, and by a suggestive OF them TO greatly
| impress his readers IMAGINATION, might all and
| 10 this historical subject full scope and matter
for their most vigorous exercise.
What the work might have been ha Its author
fully wrought out his design, II Is impossible to
aifirm. 1t may be assumed that he would not
have been contented with any catastrophe
other than the death OF his hero; and that he
would not have wrested historical data so vio-
lently as To have caused the death Of Clsonice
nd hat ~ har Iova IN ar aho tha n
time. That he destined Cleonice to a tragic end
Is plainly enough indicated. From the outset
she appears before us under the shadow of a
tragic fatality. or that fatality she 10 herself
intutivey conscious, and with II her whole
being Is In harmony" Even II the death OF
Cleonice be referred to the latest date that can
be m lde consistent with ancient chronicles, her
phantom could yet pursue Pausanas nine years
before the anal termination of his career. Aside
from the supernatural element which Lord Lyt-
ton would almost surely have introduced, these
nine years were the most eventful period In the
life OF the hero. Itmay he that he reserved his
enthusiasm for this portion OF the story when
all bis powers cou be called into fullest and
highest action At any rate what we have OF
the work Is deficient In warmth and elasticity.
The action is at a great distance. We feel that
mere than twenty-three centuries roll between
the shore whore the actors are and that on
which we stand. They do not appear to be real
actors, but unsubstautial semblances. They
are shades, evoked and led about upon a pic
tured scene. Their lips seem to be In motion
their vocal organs to play, their arms, heads
and bodies to gestoulate. But we know that
the prompter's voice 10 the only one we hear
that he utters alone the big words and rolls on
the stilted defamation.
The author was evidently constrained by a
desire to paint correctly. He wished to make
pictures that should be Historically true. Hts
labor was like that of the architect who restores
not Ike that Of the one who conceives and
creates. From certain given points he calcu-
lated distances, angles, curves, elevations.
Memory aud reason hold Imagination with bit
and curb. He yerihes positions. colors, cos
tunes, phrases, style, and by foot notes and
citations proves to you that they arc correct.
So FAR as this work Is concerned. he is the his
torian the antiquary, the classical scholar, the
commentator, the illustrator, II you please, but
he is not the artist. In his intcntness upon the
matthew atics Of his task, the exchanging prln-
cpes OF humanity, which cause men In ono
axe, within certain not very wide limits, to be
Ike men In any other age, escape him. Shake
speare reversed this process. lie concentrated
his powers upon man, whom centuries change
not, whom circumstances only modify as to
modes OF action and forms of expression. Thus
he made characters OF tho classical age as real
and as near "a those OF any subsequent period
This incomplete story begins at Byzantum,
just after the allied Greeks, under the leadership
OF Pausanias, had wrested the Golden Horn
from Persia. Already tho Spartan hero and
commander-n-chief Is engaged In reasonable
correspondence with the Persians, already pas
sionately enamored OF Cleonice, already sus-
pected OF treachery by other Greek leaders,
especially Arstdes and Cimon:
Eyes Cimon." said the elder OF the Athcnians (Ar..
tides yonder galley itself affords sufficient Testimony
Of the change that come the haughy Spa
II Is dfhcut indeed, to recognize this luxurious
satrap VINO Affects the dress IN. manners 10.
science Of the barbarian nat Pausanas who after
curious day Of Paea ordered the slaves prepare IN
the tent Of Mariuulus such a banquet a. would have
been served 10 the Persian bile hls spartan broth
aud Dread were se beside H. IN order that he might
ter 10 the chiefs Of Greece that NOBLE Pleasantly,
Behold the tony Of the Persians who fOrsoOk such
spltndor 10 plumber such poverty"
Not only the amorous and the treasonable,
but the political intrigue as WELL was already
In action:
"sotty, clmon," said Aristdes. with sober smile.
Whatever surprise We may feel At the corrupt ln Of
PausaniHn he IN not who Will allow heel
hal ~ win "A