a nd ay ema 8 
cw 
Pie a) a ee 
og Eats 
TEE A a 
i eS 
233 
could know nothing of bim but through 
the medium of the Latin version, and 
therefore were the most violent against 
him, madame Dacier opposed her Frenclr 
translation of that great poet. But it 
may be doubted whether this formed a 
shield as impenetrable as that of Achil- 
tes: and whether this learned lady has 
faily succeeded.in uniting nodleness with 
simplicity, elegance with artlessness, and 
strength and conciseness with subli- 
mity; whether she has given even a 
faint idea of the pomp and magnificence 
of Homer's poetry; and has conquered 
all the difficulties of every kind which 
the text presented, and which it was her 
duty not to avoid. In granting that she 
has surmounted matiy of these, and thus 
facilitated the task of future translators, _ 
it may still be asserted that slie had not 
precluded them from all hope of surpass- 
meg her.- 
‘Ie was in doing ample justice to the 
Jabours of this illustrious woman, that 
BI. Bitaubé undertook to bear away the 
palm from her. He thought the quali- 
tres necessary in a French translation of 
Homer, though in some degree incompa- 
tible with each other, might still be 
more happily blended together; and 
hoped that, without acting as a servile 
copyist, er making use of paraphrases 
er unfaithful ss obstitutions, he should be 
able to reconcile his adopted language 
to the details winch seemed often un- 
suitable to it; and mould the stately 
march and bold forms of the language 
and poetry of Greece, on the reserve 
and circumspection of the French 
tongue. 
‘The principles and objects which the 
new translator of Homer imposed on 
himsell, were these: that the thoughts 
and images ef the poet should preserve 
their truth, and some tint of their colour, 
#) tlre translation, without doing violence 
tothe proprieties of their modern dress ; 
that the heroic personages should not 
Yese the character of their own times, 
but yet be presented in such a manner 
as not to offend the delicacy of ours; 
that the picturesque details which owe a 
part of their charm to that of the rhythm, 
shouid sti! possess this feature by means 
dian harmontous and skilfully varied prose; 
and that. the first and fundamental law 
of the epopee, thevunion of the-marvel- 
lous with historic action, should not lose 
its power of ilusion and_ its poetic 
nature, i losing the aid of that magic 
Janouage which alone can blend them in 
peifection, and give to this high class of. 
Afemoirs of the Life and Writings of M. Bitaubé.- 
FApril f, 
composition all the lustre which it ought 
to display. These objects the success 
of his work left him no doubt of having, 
at least in a great measure, attained. 
Long before the appearance of his 
translation of the liad in the state 
in which we now have it, M. Bitaubé 
had pubiished in Prussia a French 
abridgment of that poem, whieh was 
very favourably received. By means of 
that publication, and the kindness of 
d’Alembert, whose friendship he had 
acquired in a journey to France, and 
who recommended him strongly to Fre- 
deric, he obtained admission as a mem~ 
ber of the academy of Berlin; and soon 
afterward had leave to ‘make a second 
tour to France, and remain there long 
enough to complete and’ perfect his 
translation in the centre of enhghtened 
taste. After residing at Paris some 
years, which he spent in assiduous 
labour, he published in 1780 his whole’ 
Jliad ; and then undertook the translation 
of the Odyssey, which experienced a suc- 
cess equally flattering on its publication 
in 4785. 
These two works, vee he accompa- 
nied with notes and reflections equally 
judicious and learned, gave sach honours 
able-testimony of his rank in literature, 
that on the death of the reigning Jand- 
grave of Hesse Cassel in 1786; he was 
chosen te succeed that prince as a 
foreign’ associate of the academy of 
belles-lettres. This new title, which 
gave him the privilege of assisting at 
the meetings of the academy, having 
sull further increased his attachment to 
France, he resolved to settle’ perma- 
nently in that country of his ancestors, 
and which he had himself enriched by 
his labours. 
About the time of the appearance of 
M. Bitaubé’s Homer, a dispute had 
arisen among men of letters in France, 
concerning the manner in which the 
poets ought to be translated. One party 
inaintained that this could not be done 
properly except in verse. The new 
translator of ilomer was too much in- 
terested in this discussion, to remain 
silent on it: he declared his sentiments, 
as might be expected, in favour of prose 
translations. Being thus of opinion 
_that the marvellous and the fictions. 
which characterise epic composition, 
may be supported without the illusion of 
that poetic style which exerts its least pre= 
rogative in removing them from the tri- 
buna! of cool reason, M. Bitaubé natu. 
rally became an advocate for originat 
poems 
