72 PROSERPINA. 



which, as I have relieved your memory of three unnecessary 

 names of poppy families, you have memory to spare for learn- 

 ing. 



" yurj/cwj/ 8' &s erepuffe Kapr] jSaA-ev, V eVl /crjTry 

 Kapirf &pido/J.ei/T), va-riiiffi re fidpivgnu' 

 &s trfpaxr' ij/jLva-e Ka.pi) 7r^A.T7Ki fiapvvQiv." 



" And as a poppy lets its head fall aside, which in a garden 

 is loaded with its fruit, and with the soft rains of spring, so 

 the youth drooped his head on one side ; burdened with the 

 helmet." 



And now you shall compare the translations of this passage, 

 with its context, by Chapman and Pope (or the school of 

 Pope), the one being by a man of pure English temper, and 

 able therefore to understand pure Greek temper ; the other in- 

 fected with all the faults of the falsely classical school of the 

 Renaissance. 



First I take Chapman : 



" His shaft smit fair Gorgythion, of Fraim's princely race 

 Who in u33pina was brought forth, a famous town in Thrace, 

 By Castianeira, that for form was like celestial breed, 

 And as a crimson poppy-flower, surcharged with his seed, 

 And vernal humours falling thick, declines his heavy brow, 

 So, a-oneside, his helmet's weight his fainting head did bow/ 



Next, Pope : 



" He missed the mark ; but pierced Gorgythio's heart, 

 And drenched in royal blood the thirsty dart : 

 (Fair Castianeira, nymph of form divine, 

 This offspring added to King Priam's line). 

 As full-blown poppies, overcharged with rain, 

 Decline the head, and drooping kiss the plain, 

 So sinks the youth : his beauteous head, depressed 

 Beneath his helmet, drops upon his breast." 



13. I give you the two passages in full, trusting that you 

 may so feel the becomingness of the one, and the graceless- 

 ness of the other. But note farther, in the Homeric passage, 

 one subtlety which cannot enough be marked even in Chap- 

 man's English, that his second word, j?pv<re, is employed by 



