Ephemera Critica; Or, Plain Truths About Current LiteratureCollins, John Churton
History
Ephemera Critica; Or, Plain Truths About Current Literature
Collins, John Churton
Criticism; English literature -- History and criticism; Literature -- History and criticism
In dealing with the Roman poets Mr. Palgrave is, with one exception,
most unsatisfactory. From the poets preceding Lucretius, amply as the
fragments would serve his purpose, he gives only one illustration. We
should have expected the vivid picture given by Accius in his
_Œnomaus_ of the early morning:
“Forte ante Auroram, radiorum ardentum indicem,
Cum e somno in segetem agrestis cornutos cient,
Ut rorulentas terras ferro rufidas
Proscindant, glebasque arvo ex molli exsuscitent.”
“Perchance before the dawn that heralds the burning rays, what
time rustics bring forth the oxen from their sleep into the
cornfields, to break up the red dew-spangled soil with the
ploughshare, and turn up the clods from the soft soil”;
or the wonderfully graphic description of a sudden storm at sea, in the
fragments of the _Dulorestes_ of Pacuvius:
“Profectione læti piscium lasciviam
Intuentur, nec tuendi capere satietas potest.
Interea prope jam occidente sole inhorrescit mare,
Tenebræ conduplicantur, noctisque et nimbum occæcat nigror,
Flamma inter nubes coruscat, cælum tonitru contremit,
Grando mixta imbri largifico subita præcipitans cadit,
Undique omnes venti erumpunt, sævi existunt turbines,
Fervit æstu pelagus.”
“Glad at heart when they set out they gaze at the sporting
fish, and are never weary of looking at them. Meanwhile, hard
upon sunset, the sea ruffles, darkness gathers thick, the
blackness of the storm-clouded night hides everything, flame
flashes between the clouds, heaven shakes with thunder, hail,
mingled with streaming rain, dashes suddenly down, from every
quarter all the winds tear forth, wild whirlwinds rise, the sea
boils with the seething waters.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account