New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-11-16
iR. GLADSTONE'S HORACE
MR..
A REMARKABLE RENDERING OF THE
ODES

E.
ner's Sons.
Though published 50 late in the life OF the
author. the translations in this volume are mani
testify not the result Of recent impulse ohly
one ode in the collection is dated, the hfth OF
Horace's first book, addressed TO the unknown
girl Pyrrha This is said in a footnote to nave
heen published in 1859. More than thirty years
ago then. Mr.. Gladstone was occasionally tuih-
ing TO Horace as relief. perhaps, from the
varied labors with which his life has Deen hlleo'
One ,s free 10 imagine that his intimacy with the
Roman poet was close long before 1893 II Is
remarkable fact In connection with the fame OF
Horace that he has often proved laNorlte
with men of action and particularly with states
mon Horace himself far from being such
q man. He ran away from the only pat
tie in which he was ever engaged ana HIS
writings show that public life IN Rome was op-
pressive to him. 1t stirred Satire bitterness J."
him to find that he was credited with influence
over the great politicians OF MS tline' Augustus
or Maceras He valued himself only as poet
Rut later generations found in him not merel!
the poet but the man. wise In SUGGESTIONS loi
the practical conduct of life From his place
APART he saw the springs of action more clea'iS
than many a buster man. Thus men of action
found in him clearer Interpretation oil 'he'
own moods than they could have given from eN-
nerience He observed things which they ala
not see until taught by him. and ne gave the
hest expression that has ever been given To that
light -hearted philosophy which 1orDids TOO sui
Gus attention to the affairs OF NE thd' must
end some time 1t Is not difficult 10 discern Pi"OV'
in Mr. Gladstone's version of the poems WHITE
he has echoed Horace's thought with more INA"
usual feeling For this reason one resle'9 ''
times that Mr.. Gladstone has not da'eu Hloie
.hon ono Of his translations. That is the main
cent;ons II is only possible to fix approximately
nv means Of illusions the time when Inc III
torant odes were composed Yet the best OF
tbeun those which display the most mature
tbouqht and the most acute perception oil lie
in the Roman world Were as plainly que -
events as any modern essay OF occasion Cou'
he If we did but know it. NJ Gladstone ma!
also have found one Horatian ode or announcer
fiji ~ EXPRESS his own thoughts at some moment
on the condition of affairs in the empire ""i'i
he controlled so long One would Ike 10 h"o",
FOR example the time when the nl'e'h o"' VI
the second book was translated In the closing
stanza the translator found phrase WIFI" no"
usually been taken an allusion TO ma'eilai
fr houses But he deemed the passage protest
,aairst encroa chment. and his verses read IKE
= robure IN those who have incurred odum IN
England and Scotland by incloslng lahu VI
barring pathways to which the public CLAIMED
traditional, right The poem closes mus
Romans were poor: but yet they mace
Rome greatly rich No measuring 'he"'
With ten-foot rod the collonade
Tow I'd the cool North. for private men,
The common turf. that grew at laree
Those ancient laws bade all respect
Rut freely at the public charge 5000
With stone our towns ana temples ueON'
Arothcr instance where one wishes for da'e
;mn,v for the sake Of history is that OF the four-
teenth ode Of the first book. The orleihdi oe-
,onged to the troubled years between the ned'n
Of Julius Caesar and the capture oil AleNdi"iid'
and like certain other confessedlY early Poe'"'
of Horace proves that he 'felt prol'uh'iE "''
grief and the alarm which weighed on 'le Ho
man world in a serious crisis oi the hd'lo'di ''i
,nes" At this moment of gloom Horace 'u'"er
=. ,,c.eus who had also known the miselies OF
civil war for poetical suggestion Inc H'd'e l.
addressed under the figure Of a ship which the
,,,ves hear aUav from the land. The poet wonders
what can be done whether the laboring Tessei
can mako the port for which she sailed. out de-
snairs when he sees that the oars are swept
away and hears the mast and the yards groah-
ing under the weight Of the African pias'' VII"
all the rigging gone. the keel can hardy wear
out the rage Of the sea. Not a san remains
whole nor are the gods sound upon wnom inc
shin NAV call in her distress; the Pontc pine
noble daughter of the forest. sWays where race
and name are vain; it is not in painter s'eris
tina, tho mariner trusts Unless she owns her
self sport to the winds. the ship should be-
ware She has been the Of anxiety. she
Is now the object IL soicitcus love; let her shun
the seas that rush among the Cyclades. Ihls
ode is sometimes said to have been directed
against Sextus Pompeius on the renewal Of civil
war and sometimes 10 be an appeal Tor the en-
largement Of Augustuss power lest the state
should be again rent by faction. But there have
been times since Mr.. Gladstone became promi-
nent in public affairs when 1t could be applied
without exaggeration to the condition OF England
If the translation COMMUNICATED such Crisis IL
would be hardly less memorable than the orig
inal itself. The poem Is a good example at any
rate Of that compression which is MT 1iao-
stones ideal of interpreting Horace to English
readers
O Ship. New pillows sweep thee out
Seward What wilt thou? hold the port, be
stout.
Seest not? Thy mast
How rent by stiff. southwestern blast,
Thy side of rowers how fororn?
Thine hull. with grooming yards. with rigging
torn.
Can i'll sustain
The fierce, and ever fercer main;
Thy gods no more than sails entire.
From whom yet once thy need might aid require,
o Pontic pine.
The first OF woodland stocks is thine.
We, race and name are hut as dust
Not painted sterns give storm-iost seamen trust,
Unless thou dare
To be the sport ~ storms. beware
or old al pest "A weary weight
A yearning care and constant strain OF late,
o shun the seas
That grid those gittering Cyclades.
Almost every word Of Horace's poem has It's
proper counterpart in the translation. But Hor-
aces "celer Africus" had political meaning
which is obscured by the literal rendering, stiff,
southwestern blast" /; was not from that direc-
ton that Rome was threatened with war, but
from the East. and especially from Egypt. Be
sides a southwest wind does not agree with the