TRANSLATION FROM PLAUTUS.

(1850.)

[The author passed a part of the summer and autumn of 1850 at Ventnor, in the Isle of Wight. He usually, when walking alone, had with him a book. On one occasion, as he was loitering in the landslip near Bonchurch, reading the Rudens of Plautus, it struck him that it might be an interesting experiment to attempt to produce something which might be supposed to resemble passages in the lost Greek drama of Diphilus, from which the Rudens appears to have been taken. He selected one passage in the Rudens, of which he then made the following version, which he afterwards copied out at the request of a friend to whom he had repeated it.]

Act. IV. Sc. vii.

DEMONES. O Gripe, Gripe, in ætate hominum plurimæ Fiunt transennæ, ubi decipiuntur dolis;

Atque edepol in eas plerumque esca imponitur.

Quam si quis avidus pascit escam avariter,
Decipitur in transenna avaritia sua.

Ille, qui consulte, docte, atque astute cavet,
Diutine uti bene licet partum bene.

Mi istæc videtur præda prædatum irier:

Ut cum majore dote abeat, quam advenerit.

Egone ut, quod ad me adlatum esse alienum sciam,
Celem? Minime istuc faciet noster Dæmones.

Semper cavere hoc sapientes æquissimum est,

Ne conscii sint ipsi maleficiis suis.

Ego, mihi quum lusi, nil moror ullum lucrum.

GRIPUS. Spectavi ego pridem Comicos ad istum modum

Sapienter dicta dicere, atque iis plaudier,

Quum illos sapientis mores monstrabant poplo;

Sed quum inde suam quisque ibant diversi domun

Nullus erat illo pacto, ut illi jusserant.

ΔΑΙΜ, Ω Γρῖπε, Γρῖπε, πλεῖστα παγίδων σχήματα

ἴδοι τις ἂν πεπηγμέν ̓ ἐν θνητῶν βίφ,

καὶ πλεῖστ ̓ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς δελέαθ ̓ ὧν ἐπιθυμίᾳ
ὀρεγόμενός τις ἐν κακοῖς ἁλίσκεται

ὅστις δ ̓ ἀπιστεῖ καὶ σοφῶς φυλάττεται

καλῶς ἀπολαύει τῶν καλῶς πεπορισμένων.
ἅρπαγμα δ ̓ οὐχ ἅρπαγμ' ὁ λάρναξ ουτοσί,

ἀλλ' αὐτὸς οἶμαι, μᾶλλον ἁρπάξει τινά.
τόνδ' ἄνδρα κλέπτειν τἀλλότρι—εὐφήμει, τάλαν
ταντήν γε μὴ μαίνοιτο μανίαν Δαιμονῆς.
τόδε γὰρ ἀεὶ σοφοῖσιν εὐλαβητέον,

μή τί ποθ' ἑαυτῷ τις ἀδίκημα συννοῇ

κέρδη δ' ἔμοιγε πάνθ ̓ ὅσοις εὐφραίνομαι,

κέρδος δ ̓ ἀκερδὲς ὅ τοὐμὸν ἀλγυνει κέαρ.

ΓΡΙΙΙ. καλὼ μὲν ἤδη κωμικῶν ἀκήκοα

σεμνῶς λεγόντων τοιάδε, τοὺς δὲ θεωμένους

κροτεῖν, ματαίοις ἡδομένους σοφίσμασιν

εἶθ', ὡς ἀπῆλθ ̓ ἕκαστος οἴκαδ ̓, οὐδενὶ

οὐδὲν παρέμεινε τῶν καλῶς εἰρημένων.

PARAPHRASE.

To Oggier spake King Didier:
"When cometh Charlemange?
We looked for him in harvest:
We looked for him in rain.
Crops are reaped; and floods are past;
And still he is not here.

Some token show, that we may know
That Charlemange is near."

Then to the King made answer
Oggier, the christened Dane:
"When stands the iron harvest,
Ripe on the Lombard plain,
That stiff harvest which is reaped
With sword of knight and peer,
Then by that sign ye may divine
That Charlemange is near.

"When round the Lombard cities
The iron flood shall flow,
A swifter flood than Ticin,
A broader flood than Po,
Frothing white with many a plume,
Dark blue with many a spear,
Then by that sign ye may divine
That Charlemange is near."

INSCRIPTION ON THE STATUE OF LORD WILLIAM BENTINCK.

AT CALCUTTA. (1835.)

To.

WILLIAM CAVENDISH BENTINCK,

Who, during seven years, ruled India with eminent Prudence, Integrity, and Benevolence;

Who, placed at the head of a great empire, never laid aside
The simplicity and moderation of a private citizen:
Who infused into Oriental despotism the spirit of
British Freedom:

Who never forgot that the end of Government is
The happiness of the Governed:

Who abolished cruel rites:

Who effaced humiliating distinctions:

Who gave liberty to the expression of public opinion:
Whose constant study it was, to elevate the intellectual
And moral character of the Nations committed to his charge:
This Monument
Was erected by men,

Who, differing in Race, in Manners, in Language,
And in Religion,

Cherish, with equal veneration and gratitude,
The memory of his wise, upright,
And paternal Administration.

EPITAPH ON SIR BENJAMIN HEATH MALKIN.

AT CALCUTTA. (1837.)

This monument

Is sacred to the memory

Of

SIR BENJAMIN HEATH MALKIN, Knight,

One of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature:
A man eminently distinguished

By his literary and scientific attainments,
By his professional learning and ability,

• He was born on the 29th September, 1797. He died on the 21st October, 1837.

By the clearness and accuracy of his intellect, By diligence, by patience, by firmness, by love of truth, By public spirit, ardent and disinterested, Yet always under the guidance of discretion, By rigid uprightness, by unostentatious piety, By the serenity of his temper,

And by the benevolence of his heart.

EPITAPH ON LORD METCALFE.

(1847.)

Near this stone is laid

CHARLES LORD METCALFE,

A Statesman tried in many high offices
And difficult conjunctures,

And found equal to all.

The three greatest Dependencies of the British Crown
Were successively entrusted to his care.
In India, his fortitude, his wisdom,
His probity, and his moderation,
Are held in honorable remembrance
By men of many races, languages, and religions.
In Jamaica, still convulsed by a social revolution,
His prudence calmed the evil passions
Which long suffering had engendered in one class
And long domination in another.

In Canada, not yet recovered from the calamities of civil war,
He reconciled contending factions

To each other, and to the Mother Country.
Costly monuments in Asiatic and American cities
Attest the gratitude of the nations which he ruled.
This tablet records the sorrow and the pride
With which his memory is cherished by his family.