Specimens of Translation from “Medea”
Σκαιους δε λεγων κουδέν τι σοφουςΤους προσθε βροτους ουκ αν αμαρτοις.
Tell me, ye bards, whose skill sublimeFirst charmed the ear of youthful Time,With numbers wrapt in heavenly fire,Who bade delighted echo swellThe trembling transports of the lyre,The murmur of the shell—Why to the burst of Joy aloneAccords sweet Music’s soothing tone?Why can no bard, with magic strain,In slumbers steep the heart of pain?While varied tones obey your sweep,The mild, the plaintive, and the deep.Bends not despairing Grief to hearYour golden lute, with ravished ear?Oh! has your sweetest shell no power to bindThe fiercer pangs that shake the mind,And lull the wrath at whose commandMurder bares her gory hand?When flushed with joy, the rosy throngWeave the light dance, ye swell the song!Cease, ye vain warblers! cease to charmThe breast with other raptures warm!Cease! till your hand with magic strainIn slumbers steep the heart of pain!
O haggard queen! to Athens dost thou guideThy glowing chariot, steeped in kindred gore;Or seek to hide thy damnèd parricideWhere Peace and Mercy dwell for evermore?
The land where Truth, pure, precious, and sublime,Woos the deep silence of sequestered bowers,And warriors, matchless since the first of time,Rear their bright banners o’er unconquered towers!
Where joyous youth, to Music’s mellow strain,Twines in the dance with nymphs for ever fair,While Spring eternal on the lilied plain,Waves amber radiance through the fields of air.
The tuneful Nine (so sacred legends tell)First waked their heavenly lyre these scenes among;Still in your greenwood bowers they love to dwell,Still in your vales they swell the choral song!
But there the tuneful, chaste, Pierian fair,The guardian nymphs of green Parnassus, nowSprung from Harmonia, while her graceful hairWaved in bright auburn o’er her polished brow!
Where silent vales, and glades of green array,The murmuring wreaths of cool Cephisus lave,There, as the muse hath sung, at noon of day,The Queen of Beauty bowed to taste the wave;
And blest the stream, and breathed across the landThe soft sweet gale that fans yon summer bowers;And there the sister Loves, a smiling band,Crowned with the fragrant wreaths of rosy flowers!
“And go,” she cries, “in yonder valleys rove,With Beauty’s torch the solemn scenes illume;Wake in each eye the radiant light of Love,Breathe on each cheek young Passion’s tender bloom!
“Entwine, with myrtle chains, your soft control,To sway the hearts of Freedom’s darling kind!With glowing charms enrapture Wisdom’s soul,And mould to grace ethereal Virtue’s mind.”
The land where Heaven’s own hallowed waters play,Where friendship binds the generous and the good,Say, shall it hail thee from thy frantic way,Unholy woman! with thy hands embrued
In thine own children’s gore? Oh! ere they bleed,Let Nature’s voice thy ruthless heart appal!Pause at the bold, irrevocable deed—The mother strikes—the guiltless babes shall fall!
Think what remorse thy maddening thoughts shall sting,When dying pangs their gentle bosoms tear!Where shalt thou sink, when lingering echoes ringThe screams of horror in thy tortured ear?
No! let thy bosom melt to Pity’s cry,—In dust we kneel—by sacred Heaven implore—O! stop thy lifted arm, ere yet they die,Nor dip thy horrid hands in infant gore!
Say, how shalt thou that barbarous soul assume,Undamped by horror at the daring plan?Hast thou a heart to work thy children’s doom?Or hands to finish what thy wrath began?
When o’er each babe you look a last adieu,And gaze on Innocence that smiles asleep,Shall no fond feeling beat to Nature true,Charm thee to pensive thought—and bid thee weep?
When the young suppliants clasp their parent dear,Heave the deep sob, and pour the artless prayer,—Ay! thou shall melt;—and many a heart-shed tearGush o’er the hardened features of despair!
Nature shall throb in every tender string,—Thy trembling heart the ruffian’s task deny;—Thy horror-smitten hands afar shall flingThe blade, undrenched in blood’s eternal dye.
Hallowed Earth! with indignationMark, oh mark, the murderous deed!Radiant eye of wide creation,Watch the damnèd parricide!
Yet, ere Colchia’s rugged daughterPerpetrate the dire design,And consign to kindred slaughterChildren of thy golden line!
Shall thy hand, with murder gory,Cause immortal blood to flow!Sun of Heaven!—arrayed in gloryRise, forbid, avert the blow!
In the vales of placid gladnessLet no rueful maniac range;Chase afar the fiend of Madness,Wrest the dagger from Revenge!
Say, hast thou, with kind protection,Reared thy smiling race in vain,Fostering Nature’s fond affection,Tender cares, and pleasing pain?
Hast thou, on the troubled ocean,Braved the tempest loud and strong,Where the waves, in wild commotion,Roar Cyanean rocks among?
Didst thou roam the paths of danger,Hymenean joys to prove?Spare, O sanguinary stranger,Pledges of thy sacred love!
Shall not Heaven, with indignation,Watch thee o’er the barbarous deed?Shalt thou cleanse, with expiation,Monstrous, murderous parricide?
Words in this poem 43
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- delighted a.
- Endowed with delight.
- despairing a.
- Feeling or expressing despair; hopeless.
- lull v. t.
- To cause to rest by soothing influences; to compose; to calm; to soothe; to quiet. [Akin to OD. lullen to sing to sleep, G. lullen, Dan. lulle, Sw. lulla; all of imitative origin. Cf. Loll, Lollard.]
- gory a.
- Covered with gore or clotted blood. [From Gore.]
- haggard a.
- Wild or intractable; disposed to break away from duty; untamed; as, a haggard or refractory hawk. Shak [F. hagard; of German origin, and prop. meaning, of the hegde or woods, wild, untamed. See Hedge, 1st Haw, and -ard.]
- parricide n.
- Properly, one who murders one's own father; in a wider sense, one who murders one's father or mother or any ancestor. [F., fr. L. parricida; pater father + caedere to kill. See Father, Homicide, and cf. Patricide.]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
- lilied a.
- Covered with, or having many, lilies.
- tuneful a.
- Harmonious; melodious; musical; as, tuneful notes.
- greenwood n.
- A forest as it appears is spring and summer.
- choral a.
- Of or pertaining to a choir or chorus; singing, sung, or adapted to be sung, in chorus or harmony. Choral service, a service of song. [LL. choralis, fr. L. chorus. See Chorus.]
- pierian a.
- Of or pertaining to Pierides or Muses. [L. Pierius, from Mount Pierus, in Thessaly, sacred to the Muses.]
- parnassus n.
- A mountain in Greece, sacred to Apollo and the Muses, and famous for a temple of Apollo and for the Castalian spring. Grass of Parnassus. (Bot.) See under Grass, and Parnassia.
- auburn a.
- Flaxen-colored. Florio. [OE. auburne blonde, OF. alborne, auborne, fr. LL. alburnus whitish, fr. L. albus white. Cf. Alburn.]
- lave v. t.
- To lade, dip, or pour out. [OE. laven. See Lavish.]
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- illume v. t.
- To throw or spread light upon; to make light or bright; to illuminate; to illumine. [Cf. F. illuminer. See Illuminate.]
- entwine v. t.
- To twine, twist, or wreathe together or round. [Pref. en- + twine. Cf. Intwine.]
- enrapture v. t.
- To transport with pleasure; to delight beyond measure; to enravish. Shenstone.
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
- generous a.
- Of honorable birth or origin; highborn. [F. généreux, fr. L. generous of noble birth, noble, excellent, magnanimous, fr. genus birth, race: cf. It. generoso. See 2d Gender.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- unholy a.
- Not holy; unhallowed; not consecrated; hence, profane; wicked; impious.
- ruthless a.
- Having no ruth; cruel; pitiless.
- guiltless a.
- Free from guilt; innocent.
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- kneel v. i.
- To bend the knee; to fall or rest on the knees; -- sometimes with down. [OE. knelen, cneolien; akin to D. knielen, Dan. knæle. See Knee.]
- horrid a.
- Rough; rugged; bristling. [L. horridus. See Horror, and cf. Ordure.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- babe n.
- An infant; a young child of either sex; a baby. [Cf. Ir. bab, baban, W. baban, maban.]
- throb v. i.
- To beat, or pulsate, with more than usual force or rapidity; to beat in consequence of agitation; to palpitate; -- said of the heart, pulse, etc. [OE. ; of uncertain origin; cf. Russ. trepete a trembling, and E. trepidation.]
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- perpetrate v. t.
- To do or perform; to carry through; to execute, commonly in a bad sense; to commit (as a crime, an offense); to be guilty of; as, to perpetrate a foul deed. [L. perpetratus, p.p. of perpetrare to effect, perpetrare; per + patrare to perform.]
- dire a.
- Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens. [L. dirus; of uncertain origin.]
- consign v. i.
- To submit; to surrender or yield one's self.
- placid a.
- Pleased; contented; unruffied; undisturbed; serene; peaceful; tranquil; quiet; gentle. [L. placidus, originally, pleasing, mild, from placere to please: cf. F. placide. See Please.]
- rueful a.
- Causing one to rue or lament; woeful; mournful; sorrowful.
- maniac a.
- Raving with madness; raging with disordered intellect; affected with mania; mad. [F. maniaque. See Mania.]
- cyanean a.
- Having an azure color. Pennant. [Gr. kya`neos dark blue.]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- hymenean a.
- Of or pertaining to marriage; as, hymeneal rites. [L. hymeneius, a., also Hymenaeus, n., Hymen, Gr. hyménéal, hyménéen.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Specimens of Translation from “Medea” is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell, Project Gutenberg ebook #59788; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Campbell, Specimens of Translation from “Medea”, in The Pleasures of Hope, and Other Poems (1824), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59788, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/campbell-poems/specimens-of-translation-from-medea.html, id L24470.
Form and metre
Specimens of Translation from “Medea” is 126 lines in 27 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 18 of its 27 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AA — · —
- 2 AABCBCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ--EE sublimeA · timeA · fireB · swellC · lyreB · shellC · aloneD · toneD · strainE · painE · sweepF · deepF · hearG · earG · bindH · mindH · commandI · handI · throngJ · songJ · charm · warm · strainE · painE
- 3 ABAB guideA · goreB · parricideA · evermoreB
- 4 ABAB sublimeA · bowersB · timeA · towersB
- 5 ABAB strainA · fairB · plainA · airB
- 6 A-A- tellA · among · dwellA · song
- 7 ABAB fairA · nowB · hairA · browB
- 8 ABAB arrayA · laveB · dayA · waveB
- 9 ABAB landA · bowersB · bandA · flowersB
- 10 -A-A rove · illumeA · love · bloomA
- 11 ABAB controlA · kindB · soulA · mindB
- 12 A-A- playA · good · wayA · embrued
- 13 ABAB bleedA · appalB · deedA · fallB
- 14 ABAB stingA · tearB · ringA · earB
- 15 ABAB cryA · imploreB · dieA · goreB
- 16 ABAB assumeA · planB · doomA · beganB
- 17 ABAB adieuA · asleepB · trueA · weepB
- 18 ABAB dearA · prayerB · tearA · despairB
- 19 ABAB stringA · denyB · flingA · dyeB
- 20 A-A- indignationA · deed · creationA · parricide
- 21 ABAB daughterA · designB · slaughterA · lineB
- 22 ABAB goryA · flowB · gloryA · blowB
- 23 A-A- gladnessA · range · madnessA · revenge
- 24 ABAB protectionA · vainB · affectionA · painB
- 25 A-A- oceanA · strong · commotionA · among
- 26 ABAB dangerA · proveB · strangerA · loveB
- 27 A-A- indignationA · deed · expiationA · parricide
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Σκαιους δε λεγων κουδέν τι σοφους | 0 | |
| Τους προσθε βροτους ουκ αν αμαρτοις. | 0 | |
| Tell me, ye bards, whose skill sublime | 8 | ······˘/ |
| First charmed the ear of youthful Time, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With numbers wrapt in heavenly fire, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| Who bade delighted echo swell | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| The trembling transports of the lyre, | 9 | ·/˘˘˘/··· |
| The murmur of the shell— | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Why to the burst of Joy alone | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Accords sweet Music’s soothing tone? | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘· |
| Why can no bard, with magic strain, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In slumbers steep the heart of pain? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| While varied tones obey your sweep, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| The mild, the plaintive, and the deep. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Bends not despairing Grief to hear | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Your golden lute, with ravished ear? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Oh! has your sweetest shell no power to bind | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| The fiercer pangs that shake the mind, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And lull the wrath at whose command | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Murder bares her gory hand? | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| When flushed with joy, the rosy throng | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Weave the light dance, ye swell the song! | 8 | ········ |
| Cease, ye vain warblers! cease to charm | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The breast with other raptures warm! | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Cease! till your hand with magic strain | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In slumbers steep the heart of pain! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| O haggard queen! to Athens dost thou guide | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Thy glowing chariot, steeped in kindred gore; | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Or seek to hide thy damnèd parricide | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| Where Peace and Mercy dwell for evermore? | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The land where Truth, pure, precious, and sublime, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Woos the deep silence of sequestered bowers, | 11 | ···/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| And warriors, matchless since the first of time, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Rear their bright banners o’er unconquered towers! | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Where joyous youth, to Music’s mellow strain, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Twines in the dance with nymphs for ever fair, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| While Spring eternal on the lilied plain, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Waves amber radiance through the fields of air. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| The tuneful Nine (so sacred legends tell) | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| First waked their heavenly lyre these scenes among; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Still in your greenwood bowers they love to dwell, | 10 | ···/·/···· |
| Still in your vales they swell the choral song! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But there the tuneful, chaste, Pierian fair, | 11 | ···/˘·˘/˘˘· |
| The guardian nymphs of green Parnassus, now | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Sprung from Harmonia, while her graceful hair | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Waved in bright auburn o’er her polished brow! | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Where silent vales, and glades of green array, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| The murmuring wreaths of cool Cephisus lave, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| There, as the muse hath sung, at noon of day, | 10 | ·········· |
| The Queen of Beauty bowed to taste the wave; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And blest the stream, and breathed across the land | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| The soft sweet gale that fans yon summer bowers; | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| And there the sister Loves, a smiling band, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Crowned with the fragrant wreaths of rosy flowers! | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| “And go,” she cries, “in yonder valleys rove, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| With Beauty’s torch the solemn scenes illume; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Wake in each eye the radiant light of Love, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Breathe on each cheek young Passion’s tender bloom! | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| “Entwine, with myrtle chains, your soft control, | 10 | ˘/·/˘···˘/ |
| To sway the hearts of Freedom’s darling kind! | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| With glowing charms enrapture Wisdom’s soul, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘· |
| And mould to grace ethereal Virtue’s mind.” | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| The land where Heaven’s own hallowed waters play, | 11 | ···/˘·/˘/˘· |
| Where friendship binds the generous and the good, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Say, shall it hail thee from thy frantic way, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Unholy woman! with thy hands embrued | 9 | ˘/˘/˘···· |
| In thine own children’s gore? Oh! ere they bleed, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Let Nature’s voice thy ruthless heart appal! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Pause at the bold, irrevocable deed— | 10 | ····˘/˘˘˘· |
| The mother strikes—the guiltless babes shall fall! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Think what remorse thy maddening thoughts shall sting, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| When dying pangs their gentle bosoms tear! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Where shalt thou sink, when lingering echoes ring | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| The screams of horror in thy tortured ear? | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| No! let thy bosom melt to Pity’s cry,— | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| In dust we kneel—by sacred Heaven implore— | 10 | ·····/˘/˘/ |
| O! stop thy lifted arm, ere yet they die, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Nor dip thy horrid hands in infant gore! | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Say, how shalt thou that barbarous soul assume, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Undamped by horror at the daring plan? | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Hast thou a heart to work thy children’s doom? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Or hands to finish what thy wrath began? | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| When o’er each babe you look a last adieu, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And gaze on Innocence that smiles asleep, | 10 | ···/˘˘··˘/ |
| Shall no fond feeling beat to Nature true, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Charm thee to pensive thought—and bid thee weep? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| When the young suppliants clasp their parent dear, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Heave the deep sob, and pour the artless prayer,— | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Ay! thou shall melt;—and many a heart-shed tear | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Gush o’er the hardened features of despair! | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Nature shall throb in every tender string,— | 10 | /˘···/˘/˘· |
| Thy trembling heart the ruffian’s task deny;— | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Thy horror-smitten hands afar shall fling | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/·· |
| The blade, undrenched in blood’s eternal dye. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Hallowed Earth! with indignation | 8 | /˘···˘/˘ |
| Mark, oh mark, the murderous deed! | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Radiant eye of wide creation, | 9 | /˘˘···˘/˘ |
| Watch the damnèd parricide! | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Yet, ere Colchia’s rugged daughter | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Perpetrate the dire design, | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| And consign to kindred slaughter | 8 | ·˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Children of thy golden line! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Shall thy hand, with murder gory, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Cause immortal blood to flow! | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Sun of Heaven!—arrayed in glory | 9 | ··/˘˘/·/˘ |
| Rise, forbid, avert the blow! | 7 | ·˘/˘/·· |
| In the vales of placid gladness | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Let no rueful maniac range; | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| Chase afar the fiend of Madness, | 8 | ·˘/···/˘ |
| Wrest the dagger from Revenge! | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Say, hast thou, with kind protection, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Reared thy smiling race in vain, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Fostering Nature’s fond affection, | 9 | /˘˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Tender cares, and pleasing pain? | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Hast thou, on the troubled ocean, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Braved the tempest loud and strong, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Where the waves, in wild commotion, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Roar Cyanean rocks among? | 8 | ·˘/˘˘··· |
| Didst thou roam the paths of danger, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Hymenean joys to prove? | 6 | ······ |
| Spare, O sanguinary stranger, | 8 | ··/˘˘˘/˘ |
| Pledges of thy sacred love! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Shall not Heaven, with indignation, | 9 | ··/˘··˘/˘ |
| Watch thee o’er the barbarous deed? | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Shalt thou cleanse, with expiation, | 7 | ······· |
| Monstrous, murderous parricide? | 8 | /˘/˘˘/˘˘ |
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