The Preface to the Aeneis of Virgil (1718) Part 4

But the most difficult, and invidious Part of my prefacing Task is yet to come. How could I have the Confidence to attempt a Translation of _Virgil_, after Mr. _Dryden_? At least to publish it; after Mr. _Pope_ has in effect given us his Opinion before-hand, that such a Work must be unsuccessful to any Undertaker (much more to so mean a one, as I am) by declaring that _He_ would never undertake it _Himself_? I do not say he makes That Inference; but if his _Modesty_ would not suffer him to do it, his _Merit_ must oblige others to do it for him. I so far agree with That most ingenious Gentleman, that Mr. _Dryden_'s is, in many Parts, a n.o.ble, and spirited Translation; and yet I cannot, upon the Whole, think it a good one; at least, for Mr. _Dryden_. Not but that I think his Performance is prodigious, and exceedingly for his Honour, considering the little time he allowed himself for so mighty a Work; having translated not the _aeneis_ only, but all _Virgil_'s Poems in the Compa.s.s of three Years. n.o.body can have a truer Respect for That great Man, than I have; or be more ready to defend him against his unreasonable Accusers; who (as Mr. _Pope_ justly observes) envy, and calumniate him.

But I hope I shall not be thought guilty of either (I am sure they are the Things of the World which I abhor) if I presume to say that his Writings have their dark, as well as their bright Side; and that what was said of somebody else may be as well applied to Him: _Ubi bene, nemo melius; Ubi male, nemo pejus_.

This may be affirmed of his Works in general; but I am now obliged to consider his Translation of the _aeneis_ in particular. As he was the great Refiner of our _English_ Poetry, and the best Marshaller of Words that our Nation had then, at least, produced; and all, who have followed him, are extremely indebted to him, as such: his Versification here, as every where else, is generally flowing, and harmonious; and a mult.i.tude of Beauties of all kinds are scattered through the Whole. But then, besides his often grosly mistaking his Author's Sense; as a Translator, he is extremely licentious. Whatever he alledges to the contrary in his Preface; he makes no Scruple of adding, or retrenching, as his Turn is best served by either. In many Places, where he shines most as a Poet, he is least a Translator; And where you most admire Mr. _Dryden_, you see least of _Virgil_. Then whereas my Lord _Roscommon_ lays down this just Rule to be observed by a Translator with regard to his Author,

_Fall, as he falls; and as he rises, rise:_

Nothing being more absurd than for those two Counter-parts to be like a Pair of Scales, one mounting as the other sinks; Mr. _Dryden_ frequently acts contrary to this Precept, at least to the latter Part of it: Where his _Author_ soars, and towers in the Air, _He_ often grovels, and flutters upon the Ground. Instances of all these Kinds are numerous. If I produce a few, it is not to detract from his Translation, in order to recommend my own: I detest That base Principle of little, and envious Spirits: And besides, I am sensible that it would be as foolish, as ungenerous: For of Mine, the World _will_, and _ought to be_ judge, whatever I say, or think; and it's Judgment in these Matters is never erroneous. It is not therefore that I am acted by the Spirit of _malevolent_ Criticism, or Criticism _commonly so called_; which is nothing but the Art of finding Fault: But I do it, partly to _justify_ my _Undertaking_ (tho' of a different Kind from His, which is what I _chiefly_ insist upon) not to _recommend_ my _Performance_; partly for the Instruction, and Improvement of my self, and others; for the sake of Truth, and _true Criticism_; that is, right, and impartial Judgment, joined with good Nature, and good Manners; p.r.o.ne to _excuse_, but not to _falsify_; and _delighting_ to dwell upon _Beauties_, tho' _daring_ to remark upon _Faults_.

Were we to make a few scattered Strictures upon the First Book only; we should observe that he leaves out a very material Word in the very _first_ Line: And That too happens to be the Word _First_: As if That stood for Nothing, in _Virgil_'s Verse; and as if _First_ would not have stood as well as _Forc'd_ in his own. Especially, since there are two Adjectives more of the same Signification [_Expell'd_, and _Exil'd_ in the next Verse but one] agreeing with the same Substantive, all three to express the single Epithet _Profugus_: Which, by the way, is Tautology, and utterly unlike _Virgil_'s Manner; who never says any thing in vain, and whose chief Beauty is Brevity. In the very next two Lines, _Italiam_, _Lavinaque Littora_ are left out; tho' necessary to the Design of the Poem: Not to mention his strange Transposing of _saevae memorem Junonis ob iram_. V. 28. _Long cited by the People of the Sky_, is entirely added. As is, V. 41. _Electra's Glories, and her injur'd Bed_; and the two following Lines. The Addition of three Verses together is too much in all Reason. V. 66. _Then as an Eagle grasps the trembling Game_, is wholly his own. And so is V. 107, 108. _The charming Daughters of the Main Around my Person wait, and bear my Train._ V. 144, 145.----_Whose dismember'd Hands yet bear The Dart aloft, and clench the pointed Spear_. As there is no Hint of This in _Virgil_; so I doubt it is not Sense in it self. For how the Hand of a Body, which has been dead seven Years, can hold a Spear aloft, I cannot imagine. V. 220. _And quenches their innate Desire of Blood_. This is not only added; but too gross, and horrid for _Virgil_'s Meaning in that Place. V. 233. After, _Two Rows of Rocks_ (which, by the way, is no Translation of _geminique minantur in coelum scopuli_) the next Words are totally omitted; _Quorum sub vertice late aequora tuta silent_. V. 459. _Then on your Name shall wretched Mortals call_, is not included in _Multa tibi ante aras nostra cadet hostia dextra_. He is speaking of _himself_, and his _Friends_ in particular; not of _wretched Mortals_ in general; of _Thanksgiving_, not of _Prayer_. V. 886.----_You shall find, If not a costly Welcome, yet a kind_, is no more in _Virgil_, than it is like his Stile. But as for the _Flatnesses_, and low _prosaick_ Expressions, which are not a few, and which even the Rhime neither covers, nor excuses; I will for several Reasons forbear to transcribe any of them.

These _Errata_ which I have mentioned in the First Book only, (and there are in it many more such, which I have not mentioned) are either in _adding to_, or _curtailing_, or _mistaking_ the Sense of the Original.

But upon the Article of adding to his Author, and altering his Sense, there is one Fault in Mr. _Dryden_ which is not to be pardoned. I mean when he does it directly contrary not only to the _Sense_, but to the _Temper_ and _Genius_ of his Author; and that too in those Instances which injure him not only as a _good Poet_, but as a _good Man_. As _Virgil_ is the most chaste, and modest of Poets, and has ever the strictest Regard to Decency; after the Prayer of _Iarbas_ to _Jupiter_ in the Fourth Book, he proceeds thus:

_Talibus orantem dictis, arasque tenentem Audiit omnipotens; oculosque ad mnia torsit Regia, &_ oblitos famae melioris amantes.

What could be more well-mannered, more delicate, and truly _Virgilian_, than the Sweetness, and Softness of that remote, insinuating Expression, _oblitos famae melioris amantes_? For this Piece of a Verse Mr. _Dryden_ gives us Three entire ones; which I will not transcribe. The two first are totally his own; and to One who is not himself _insensible of Shame_, those fulsom Expressions must be very nauseous. Part of the last Verse indeed is _Virgil_'s; and it comes in strangely, after the odious Stuff that goes before it. If _Virgil_ can be said to be remarkable for any one good Quality more than for Modesty, it is for his awful Reverence to Religion. And yet, as Mr. _Dryden_ represents him describing _Apollo_'s Presence at one of his own Festivals, he speaks Thus; Book iv. V. 210.

_Himself, on Cynthus walking, sees below The merry Madness of the sacred Show._

_Virgil_ says, He walks on the Top of _Cynthus_; That's all: The rest is Mr. _Dryden_'s. And it is exactly of a Piece with a Pa.s.sage in the Third Georgick; in which, without any sort of Provocation, or the least Hint from his Author, He calls the _Priest_ the _Holy Butcher_. If Mr.

_Dryden_ took Delight in abusing Priests, and Religion; _Virgil_ did not. It is indeed wonderful that a Man of so fine, and elevated a Genius, and at the same time of so good a Judgment, as Mr. _Dryden_ certainly was, could so much as endure those clumsey Ideas, in which he perpetually rejoices; and that to such a degree, as to thrust them into _Translations_, contrary not only to the Design, and Meaning, but even to the Spirit, and Temper, and most distinguishing Character of his Author. Thus in his Translation of the last Lines of _Homer_'s First Iliad he describes the G.o.ds, and G.o.ddesses as being drunk; and that in no fewer than three Verses, and in some of the coa.r.s.est Expressions that our Language will admit of: Whereas the Original gives not the least Intimation of any such thing; but only says that they were _sleepy_, and went _to bed_. And therefore here again I cannot be of Mr.

_Pope_'s Opinion, _that it is a great Loss to the Poetical World that Mr._ Dryden _did not live to translate the Iliad_. If we may judge of what the Whole would have been by the Specimen which he has left us; I think it was a Gain to the Poetical World that Mr. _Dryden_'s Version did not hinder us from Mr. _Pope_'s. Which may be said, without any great Compliment to the latter.

As to the Instances of Mr. _Dryden_'s sinking, where his Author most remarkably rises, and being flat where his Author is most remarkably elegant; they are many: But I am almost tired with Quotations; quite tired with such invidious ones, as these are; it being (as I said) much more agreeable to my Temper to remark upon Beauties, than upon Faults, and Imperfections; especially in the Works of great Men, who (tho' they may have written many things not capable of being defended, yet) have written many more, which I can only admire, but do not pretend to equal.

And That is the present Case. I shall therefore mention but one Example of this Kind; And it is the unutterable Elegancy of these Lines in the Fourth Book, describing the Scrietch-Owl:

_Solaque culminibus, ferali carmine bubo Saepe queri_, & longas in fletum ducere voces.

How is This translated in the following Verses? Or rather is it translated at all?

_----With a boding Note The solitary Scrietch-Owl strains her Throat; And on a Chimney's Top, or Turret's height, With Songs obscene disturbs the Silence of the Night._

To produce more Instances would be needless; because One general Remark supersedes them all. It is acknowledged by every body that the First Six Books in the Original are the best, and the most perfect; but the Last Six are so in Mr. _Dryden_'s Translation. Not that even in These _Virgil_ properly sinks, or flags in his Genius; but only he did not live to correct them, as he did the former. However, they abound with Beauties in the Original; and so indeed they do in the Translation, more, as I said, than the First Six: Which is visible to any one that reads the Whole with Application.

I observed in the last place, that where Mr. _Dryden_ shines most, we often see least of _Virgil_. To omit many other Instances, the Description of the _Cyclops_ forging Thunder for _Jupiter_, and Armour for _aeneas_, is elegant, and n.o.ble to the last degree in the _Latin_; and it is so to a very great degree in the _English_. But then is the _English_ a Translation of the _Latin_?

_Hither the Father of the Fire by Night Thro' the brown Air precipitates his Flight: On their eternal Anvils here be found The Brethren beating, and the Blows go round._

Our Language, I think, will admit of few things more truly Poetical, than those four Lines. But the two first are set to render

_Huc tunc Ignipotens clo descendit ab alto._

There is nothing of _coelo ab alto_ in the Version; nor of _by Night, brown Air_, or _precipitates his Flight_ in the Original. The two last are put in the room of

_Ferrum exercebant vasto Cyclopes in antro, Brontesque, Steropesque, & nudus membra Pyracmon._

_Vasto in antro_ in the first of these Lines, and the last Line entirely are left out in the Translation. Nor is there any thing of _eternal Anvils_ (I wish there were) or _here be found_, in the Original: And _the Brethren beating, and the Blows go round_, is but a loose Version of _Ferrum exercebant_. Much the same may be said of the whole Pa.s.sage throughout; which will appear to Those who compare the _Latin_ with the _English_. In the whole Pa.s.sage Mr. _Dryden_ has the true Spirit of _Virgil_; but he would have had never the less of it, if he had more closely adhered to his Words, and Expressions.

Sometimes he is _near enough_ to the Original; And tho' he _might have been nearer_, he is altogether admirable, not only as a _Poet_, but as a _Translator_. Thus in the Second Book;

_Pars ingentem formidine turpi Scandunt rursus equum, & nota conduntur in alvo._

_And some, oppress'd with more ign.o.ble Fear, Remount the hollow Horse_, and pant in secret there.

And in the Twelfth, after the last Speech of _Juturna_;

_Tantum effata, caput glauco contexit amictu, Multa gemens, & se fluvio Dea condidit alto._

_She drew a length of Sighs; no more she said, But with her azure Mantle wrap'd her Head; Then plung'd into her Stream with deep Despair_, And her last Sobs came bubbling up in Air.

Tho' the last Line is not expressed in the Original, yet it is in some measure imply'd; and it is in it self so exceedingly beautiful, that the whole Pa.s.sage can never be too much admired. These are Excellencies indeed; This is truly Mr. _Dryden_. _Si sic omnia dixisset_, tho' he had approached no nearer to the Original than This; my other Criticisms upon his Translation had been spared. And after all, I desire that Mine, being in a different sort of Verse, may be considered as an Undertaking of _another kind_, rather than as an Attempt to _excel His_. For tho' I think even That may very well _be done_; yet I am too sensible of my own Imperfection, to presume to say it can be done by _Me_. I have nothing to plead, besides what I have already alledged, in Excuse of my many, and great Faults, in the Execution of This bold Design; but that I was drawn into it, not by any Opinion of my Abilities to perform it, but by the inexpressible Pa.s.sion which I have always had for this incomparable Poet. With a View to whom, I will here insert a n.o.ble Stroke out of my Lord _Roscommon_'s excellent _Essay on Translated Verse_: Which, I think, is proper to stand in This Place, both as a Conclusion of my Preface, and as a Kind of Poetical Invocation to my Work:

_Hail mighty_ MARO! _May That sacred Name Kindle my Breast with Thy celestial Flame; Sublime Ideas, and apt Words infuse: The Muse instruct my Voice, and THOU inspire the Muse._

FOOTNOTES TO THE PREFACE:

[1] _Praelectiones Poeticae._

[2] _Merchant of Venice._

[3] _De tous les Ouvrages dont l'Esprit de l'Homme est capable, le Poem Epique est sans doute le plus accompli._

[4] _For so it should certainly be read; tho' both in the Folio and Octavo Editions, 'tis_ Aristotle.

[5] _Preface to his Fables._

[6] Elogia Virgilii Cap. IV Major _Homero_.

[7] _The Word was originally applied to Dramatic Poetry, and from thence transferred to Epic._ Aristotle _uses it in more Senses than one; which seem not to be rightly distinguished by his Interpreters. However we are for that Reason more at Liberty to apply it, as we think most proper._

[8] _For he mentions several Episodes, which he allows to be truly such; which yet are only convenient, not necessary. And besides, he says, p.

100, and in other Places_, Une Episode est une partie necessaire de l'Action: _And yet, p. 102_, Le premier plan de l'Action contient _seulement ce qui est propre & necessaire_ a la Fable; _& n'a aucune Episode. By which he_ seems at least _to allow that an Episode may not be necessary._

[9] ?? e? ??? ?d??? t??t?, t? d' ???a ?pe?s?d?a. Poetic. Cap XVII.

[10] _The one is ?d???, the other is ???e???. The former is of a more_ close, restrained, _and_ peculiar _Signification, than the latter: The former relating_ most properly _to a Man_'s Person; _the latter to his_ Possessions.

[11] _Preface to_ Homer.

[12] _Dedication of the aeneis._

[13] _See_ Bossu, _Chap. IX._

[14] _Upon the Article of_ Virgil's _Invention, see M._ Segrais _at large in his admirable Preface to his Translation of the_ aeneis; _and from him Mr_. Dryden _in his Dedication of the_ aeneis, _p. 226_, &c. _of the Folio Edition._

[15] _Preface_ to Juvenal.