The Unseen World and Other Essays [108]
And thou shalt see how safe [?] is Santafiore.
Come and behold thy Rome that is lamenting, Widowed, alone, and day and night exclaims 'My Caesar, why hast thou forsaken me?'
Come and behold how loving are the people; And if for us no pity moveth thee, Come and be made ashamed of thy renown."[50]
[50] "O Alberto Tedesco, che abbandoni Costei ch' e fatta indomita e selvaggia, E dovresti inforcar li suoi arcioni,
Giusto gindizio dalle stelle caggia Sopra il tuo sangue, e sia nuovo ed aperto, Tal che il tuo successor temenza n' aggia: Cheavete tu e il tuo padre sofferto, Per cupidigia di costa distretti, Che il giardin dell' imperio sia diserto.
Vieni a veder Montecchi e Cappelletti, Monaldi e Filippeschi, uom senza cura: Color gia tristi, e questi con sospetti. Vien, crudel, vieni, e vedi la pressura De' tuoi gentili, e cure lor magagne, E vedrai Santafior com' e oscura [secura?]. Vieni a veder la tua Roma che piagne, Vedova e sola, e di e notte chiama: Cesare mio, perche non m' accompagne? Vieni a veder la gente quanto s' ama; E se nulla di noi pieta ti move, A vergognar ti vien della tua fama."
So, too, Canto III., lines 79-84:--
"As sheep come issuing forth from out the fold By ones, and twos, and threes, and the others stand Timidly holding down their eyes and nostrils,
And what the foremost does the others do Huddling themselves against her if she stop, Simple and quiet, and the wherefore know not."[51]
[51] "Come le pecorelle escon del chiuso Ad una, a due, a tre, e l' altre stanno Timidette atterrando l' occhio e il muso;
E cio che fa la prima, e l' altre sanno, Addossandosi a lei s' ella s' arresta, Semplici e quete, e lo 'mperche non sanno."
Francesca's exclamation to Dante is thus rendered by Mr. Longfellow:--
"And she to me: There is no greater sorrow Than to be mindful of the happy time In misery."[52]
[52] "Ed ella a me: Nessun maggior dolore Che ricordarsi del tempo felice Nella miseria." Inferno, V. 121-123.
This is admirable,--full of the true poetic glow, which would have been utterly quenched if some Romanic equivalent of dolore had been used instead of our good Saxon sorrow.[53] So, too, the "Paradiso," Canto I., line 100:--
"Whereupon she, after a pitying sigh, Her eyes directed toward me with that look A mother casts on a delirious child."[54]
[53] Yet admirable as it is, I am not quite sure that Dr. Parsons, by taking further liberty with the original, has not surpassed it:-- "And she to me: The mightiest of all woes Is in the midst of misery to be cursed With bliss remembered."
[54] "Ond' ella, appresso d'un pio sospiro , Gli occhi drizzo ver me con quel sembiante, Che madre fa sopra figlinol deliro."
And, finally, the beginning of the eighth canto of the "Purgatorio":--
"'T was now the hour that turneth back desire In those who sail the sea, and melts the heart, The day they've said to their sweet friends farewell; And the new pilgrim penetrates with love, If he doth hear from far away a bell That seemeth to deplore the dying day."[55]
[55] "Era gia l' ora che volge il disio Ai naviganti, e intenerisce il core Lo di ch' hen detto ai dolci amici addio; E che lo nuovo peregrin d' amore Punge, se ode squilla di lontano, Che paia il giorno pianger che si more."
This passage affords an excellent example of what the method of literal translation can do at its best. Except in the second line, where "those who sail the sea" is wisely preferred to any Romanic equivalent of naviganti the version is utterly literal; as literal as the one the school-boy makes, when he opens his Virgil at the Fourth Eclogue, and lumberingly reads, "Sicilian Muses, let us sing things a little greater." But there is nothing clumsy, nothing which smacks of the recitation-room,
Come and behold thy Rome that is lamenting, Widowed, alone, and day and night exclaims 'My Caesar, why hast thou forsaken me?'
Come and behold how loving are the people; And if for us no pity moveth thee, Come and be made ashamed of thy renown."[50]
[50] "O Alberto Tedesco, che abbandoni Costei ch' e fatta indomita e selvaggia, E dovresti inforcar li suoi arcioni,
Giusto gindizio dalle stelle caggia Sopra il tuo sangue, e sia nuovo ed aperto, Tal che il tuo successor temenza n' aggia: Cheavete tu e il tuo padre sofferto, Per cupidigia di costa distretti, Che il giardin dell' imperio sia diserto.
Vieni a veder Montecchi e Cappelletti, Monaldi e Filippeschi, uom senza cura: Color gia tristi, e questi con sospetti. Vien, crudel, vieni, e vedi la pressura De' tuoi gentili, e cure lor magagne, E vedrai Santafior com' e oscura [secura?]. Vieni a veder la tua Roma che piagne, Vedova e sola, e di e notte chiama: Cesare mio, perche non m' accompagne? Vieni a veder la gente quanto s' ama; E se nulla di noi pieta ti move, A vergognar ti vien della tua fama."
So, too, Canto III., lines 79-84:--
"As sheep come issuing forth from out the fold By ones, and twos, and threes, and the others stand Timidly holding down their eyes and nostrils,
And what the foremost does the others do Huddling themselves against her if she stop, Simple and quiet, and the wherefore know not."[51]
[51] "Come le pecorelle escon del chiuso Ad una, a due, a tre, e l' altre stanno Timidette atterrando l' occhio e il muso;
E cio che fa la prima, e l' altre sanno, Addossandosi a lei s' ella s' arresta, Semplici e quete, e lo 'mperche non sanno."
Francesca's exclamation to Dante is thus rendered by Mr. Longfellow:--
"And she to me: There is no greater sorrow Than to be mindful of the happy time In misery."[52]
[52] "Ed ella a me: Nessun maggior dolore Che ricordarsi del tempo felice Nella miseria." Inferno, V. 121-123.
This is admirable,--full of the true poetic glow, which would have been utterly quenched if some Romanic equivalent of dolore had been used instead of our good Saxon sorrow.[53] So, too, the "Paradiso," Canto I., line 100:--
"Whereupon she, after a pitying sigh, Her eyes directed toward me with that look A mother casts on a delirious child."[54]
[53] Yet admirable as it is, I am not quite sure that Dr. Parsons, by taking further liberty with the original, has not surpassed it:-- "And she to me: The mightiest of all woes Is in the midst of misery to be cursed With bliss remembered."
[54] "Ond' ella, appresso d'un pio sospiro , Gli occhi drizzo ver me con quel sembiante, Che madre fa sopra figlinol deliro."
And, finally, the beginning of the eighth canto of the "Purgatorio":--
"'T was now the hour that turneth back desire In those who sail the sea, and melts the heart, The day they've said to their sweet friends farewell; And the new pilgrim penetrates with love, If he doth hear from far away a bell That seemeth to deplore the dying day."[55]
[55] "Era gia l' ora che volge il disio Ai naviganti, e intenerisce il core Lo di ch' hen detto ai dolci amici addio; E che lo nuovo peregrin d' amore Punge, se ode squilla di lontano, Che paia il giorno pianger che si more."
This passage affords an excellent example of what the method of literal translation can do at its best. Except in the second line, where "those who sail the sea" is wisely preferred to any Romanic equivalent of naviganti the version is utterly literal; as literal as the one the school-boy makes, when he opens his Virgil at the Fourth Eclogue, and lumberingly reads, "Sicilian Muses, let us sing things a little greater." But there is nothing clumsy, nothing which smacks of the recitation-room,