those of the English poet, and his rendering, if only too typically pre-Romantic, sometimes betrays the poetical imagination. It is worth noting that this view seems to be confirmed by the fact that Escoíquiz' version was re-issued in an édition de luxe, while Hermida's appears never to have been re-issued at all. 31 A comparison of the passage below with Hermida's opening lines will possibly be of interest: Del primer hombre la desobediencia Canto, y la fatal fruta del vedado Arbol, cuyo bocado, Desterrando del mundo la inocencia, Dió entrada a los dolores y a la muerte, Hasta que el Hijo del Eterno quiso, Tú sobre todo, Espíritu fecundo, Tus benéficas alas extendiendo Sobre él, y a producir le preparaste; Descúbreme benigno, el ignorado Fin de hacer ver la sabia providencia De Dios, y los decretos soberanos, Justos, con que gobierna a los humanos. IV During the very brief period in which Romanticism may be said with propriety to have reigned in Spain, we hear very little of 31 Milton | El | Paraíso Perdido | Traducido en verso | por D. J. de Escoíquiz | precedida | de una sucinta biografía de Milton por Lamartine | y de un estudio histórico y literario acerca del mismo por Chateaubriand | traducidos aquella y este | por D. Juan Cortada | Barcelona, París y Madrid, 1862. | Milton. Only now and then do we find his name dragged into arguments as a synonym for classicism.32 But in the year 1849, by which time the anti-Romantic reaction was beginning, a significant article appears in the Pensamiento of Madrid (II, 65-6, 73), entitled "Milton: su época: sus obras." This article, which is anonymous, gives an account of Milton's life, and a short description and estimate of Paradise Lost. The interesting points about it are that no other of Milton's works is discussed (Paradise Regained only is mentioned, under the awkward title of Paraíso vuelto a hallar) and that there is no suggestion that the poet has influenced any other Spanish writer of that or of any preceding epoch; he is written of quite as a "stranger." This entirely bears out the conclusions which we have already drawn. Though there is no ground for more than the suspicion, we may suspect that this article was inspired by the appearance in the same year (1849) of a new translation of Paradise Lost, this time into prose, by one Saura Mascaró.33 The aim of this translation, which includes an account of Milton's life and works, is to provide, not a free rendering in verse, but a literal translation by the aid of which the reader may, if he so desires, follow the original text.34 This, he says, was not the aim of either Hermida or Escoíquizand here he adds an estimate of their work which it is of interest to compare with those already quoted-nor can he himself always realise it, since the genius of the English language is so much unlike that of Spanish. He does his best, however, to give a really adequate rendering of the poem by adding explanatory notes wherever he finds it impossible to translate literally: Hasta ahora no teníamos en España, al menos que yo sepa, ninguna traducción literal en prosa del Paraíso perdido. Las dos que he citado, únicas que conozco, están en verso. . . . Uno de los citados traductores, por razones particulares, se permitió cercenar algunas veces y ampliar 22 Notably at a stormy period, in the Liceo artístico y literario español, 1838, II, 5. 33 El Paraíso Perdido, | Poema | escrito en inglés | por | J. Milton, | traducido al castellano | por | D. Santiago Angel Saura Mascaró. | Tomo I | Barcelona: | Librería de E. Pujal, Calle Ancha no. 77. | 1849. | 2 vol., pp. 266 and 304. 66 * Op. cit., p. 27: una versión tan fiel del original, que cualquiera pudiera seguir el texto línea por línea, palabra por palabra.” muchas, algunos de los pasajes más o menos interesantes del Poema; más fiel el otro, ha suprimido también sin embargo, algunos trozos cuya versión consideró inoportuna en su tiempo, y uno y otro han saltado por muchas de las dificultades que ofrece la traducción de este libro; de modo que, hasta el presente, se puede decir no teníamos una traducción fiel y exacta de este tan celebrado poema. 35 After the date of this edition there is very little of interest to record and nothing of any importance. In 1865, the Abeja of Barcelona published, without commentary, a prose translation of the Nativity Ode: El Mesías apareció sobre la tierra. . . . Dichoso invierno, tú le viste nacer... ¡Cruel, debilita tus rigores! . . . El Niño-Dios sólo ha tenido un pesebre por cuna. ... La naturaleza despojada de los oropeles de su regocijo semeja a la desnudez de su Señor. El sol apenas le dirige sus hermosas miradas.36 Apart from this, the only signs of Milton's influence in Spain are in translations, and these certainly prove that he has been read during the last seventy years, though he seems to have had no effect upon modern Spanish literature. Since Saura Mascaró's translation of Paradise Lost was published, many others have appeared, most of them between 1870 and 1890. Setting aside the re-edition of Escoíquiz' translation, already mentioned, a translation by Cayetano Rosell in one volume appeared in 1873 (Barcelona, Montaner y Simón) with illustrations by Doré. Five years previously a prose translation by Dionisio Sanjuan, with notes and a brief biography, had appeared in Barcelona; a second edition of this was published, also in Barcelona, in 1883.37 In 1873 what is substantially the same translation, preceded by the same biography and accompanied by the same notes, had appeared from the house of Jané, Barcelona, as the translation of "D. Demetrio San Martín," and in 1882 Calleja reprinted this in Madrid. In 1882 also a new two-volume edition of Escoíquiz' translation (Madrid, Luis Navarro) appeared, and in 1886 came out a re-edition by Montaner y Simón. Meanwhile a 35 Op. cit., p. 26. 36 Vol. v, p. 360: "La Fiesta de Navidad. Traducción del inglés por J. Fernández Matheu." 37 In the series Los Grandes Poemas: Joyas de la literatura universal (Barcelona: La Ilustración). prose version based on Escoíquiz had been published at Barcelona (Biblioteca Salvatella), with illustrations inspired by Doré's, and in the course of a few years this went into three editions. A new prose translation appeared as recently as 1914.38 This summary enumeration shows how amply Milton's genius has been recognised in Spain during the last half century, though it is as unlikely as ever to influence, in the least profoundly, a country which has so little sympathy with the England of the Commonwealth. University of Liverpool. 38 El Paraíso Perdido. Traducción literal con biografía, prólogo y notas de Juan Mateos, Pbro. Barcelona, Editorial Ibérica, 1914. TWO PHILOSOPHIC OBSERVATIONS UPON DENIS SAURAT'S MILTON: MAN AND THINKER1 2 BY T. V. SMITH There are two main theses in Professor Saurat's treatment of Milton's thought-system that excite my philosophic interest. The first is his conversion of Milton's theology into nineteenth-century idealism. To this thesis I react favorably. The second is his discovery in Milton of a conception of the universe that is (thinks he) "in full harmony with the views of science." react unfavorably. I To this I A percentage of error is involved in any attempt to equate an earlier and simpler thought-system with a later and more fully developed one; but in this case the percentage is small, particularly in view of the three packed and pregnant centuries separating Milton and Hegel. My reasons for approving this conversion can be stated in the large with brevity. There is, first of all, historical continuity between Milton and Hegel. Nineteenth-century idealism was distinctly religious in its import. This philosophy that swept the whole Anglo-Saxon world in the last century arose as such with Immanuel Kant in the eighteenth century. Kant very frankly set out from a religious base to attain a religious objective. The three great values of Milton's time-of the whole Christian era— are God, freedom, and immortality. These Kant called upon reason to produce; and when reason fell under the terrible strain, Kant put up over the grave which his own hands had dug the epitaph: Reason died that faith might live. The king is dead; long live Mussolini! Philosophical idealism has remained the best Christian apologetic. Like Milton, it has worked with some freedom, even with audacity; but the abiding similarity is manifest in the difficulty of distinguishing Idealism's Absolute from Milton's Deity. But in addition to this historical continuity between Milton and 1 The Dial Press, New York, 1925. Summarized, p. 200. Formulated most concisely, pp. 198-9. |