New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-04-13
Literary Nes0S and Criticism

when thou art far away, remember the foun-
tain that Sinus sets by the side of Gillus, his
dead boy" And this. a child's grave: Re
morseless Death snatched me. Callimachus'
away; was a hve-year-old child, whose spirit
knew not grief. DO not weep for me. then;
for little my share in life, and little IN
iifes Ills" There is nothing else in the wide
worlds literature which compare. in ten
derness. simplicity. brave cheer and reserve
with Greek epigrams on the dead. Would that
some modern poet might render the best Of them
into perfect English verse, that they could
be better appreciated
Under the title OF 1.-The Human Comedy" the
editor brings together epigrams that touch upon
social customs and private foibles. In TINS col
lection Of merry quips and sharpened Jipes one
finds a spirit of humor marvellously akin 10 the
Anglo-SaxOn, and yet possessed OF graceIul-
ness foreign to every modern European type
The reader will encounter only one dih1culty IN
enjoying these epigrams; occasionally their
point turns upon a practice or idea long since
forgotten by everybody save the historian But
this is not the rule. Note. for instance. Keno
phon, the wine bibber. dedicates an empty jar
TO thee. o Bacchus. Receive it graciously, for 1t
is all he has" or. better yet, 'Eutychus, the
portrait painter. got twenty sons, and never got
one likeness even among his children the ath-
letic Greeks naturally made merry over no
toriously bad runners and here they show that
distinctly American love Of sheer eXagGeratlon.
Luciliuss epigram on Marcus the runner is gem
Of its kind: Marcus once saw midnight out in
the armed mems race. so that the racecourse
was locked up as the policemen thought he was
one of the stone men in armor who stand there
in honor of victors. The course was opened
next day. and then Marcus turned up, still
short of the goal by the whole course.
Through little quips like these we probably get
far truer insight into Greek life and character
than through such mighty productions as the
tragedies OF Euripides, three of which PROFESSOR
Gilbert Murray has just translated into rhym-
ing English verse. Greek tragedy was at once
too religious. too didactic and too philosophical
to serve as a picture Of the Greek world. One
could almost say that Euripides tells us even
less about his own world than Hamlet" does
OF Shakespeares. 1t happens, too, that the
dramas versifed by Professor Murray reveal
their own day less clearly than DO the other
extant writings of Eurpides.
The translator has proved his deep love OF
Hellas by taking the pains to poetize these three
hopelessly unpleasant and rather imperfect
tragedies. "Medea" is not wholly unreliable,
in spite of its lack Of true dramatic climax and
it's inky gloom. but Trojan Women and "Elec-
ira" are as far removed from the normal type
OF drama as Peer Gynt' is. Add to this the
! difficulties of keeping both the spirit and the
poetic form of the original Greek. and the reader
win wonder at the EDITORS loving hardihood
Three great obstacles 10 the poetic translator Of
Greek drama are the abundance OF epithets
without English equivalents. unmodern fig
ures and illusions and certain peculiar de-
tails in description and narrative due TO
the character Of Greek stage setting. Why
should anybody make translating still greater
task by trying TO reproduce the rapidly varying
and often impossible metre? Yet Professor
Murray does this, and, at least in his renditions
of the choruses, has failed to produce pleasant
or forceful effect. in spite of his evident skill
in manipulating English verse. His volume IS
suited TO the reader In search of knowledge
rather than to the lover of poetry.