Iberia Won; A poem descriptive of the Peninsular War: With impressions from recent visits to the battle-grounds, and copious historical and illustrative notesHughes, T. M. (Terence McMahon)
History
Iberia Won; A poem descriptive of the Peninsular War: With impressions from recent visits to the battle-grounds, and copious historical and illustrative notes
Hughes, T. M. (Terence McMahon)
Peninsular War, 1807-1814 -- Poetry
Nec quòd laudamus formam, tàm turpe putâris;
Laudamus magnas hâc quoque parte Deas.
Ovid. _Fast._ vi. 807.
XXVI. “And Morton now, and Nial by his side,
In peril’s front the impetuous stormers lead,” &c.
Φευγόντων σὺν νηυσὶ φίλην ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν·
Νῶϊ δ’ ἐγὼ Σθένελός τε μαχησόμεθ’, εἰσόκε τέκμωρ
Ἰλίου εὕρωμεν.
Hom. _Il._ ix. 47.
“Let them fly with their ships, to their dear native country;
but we--Sthenelus and I--will fight till we find the end of
Ilion!” Cæsar addresses his soldiers in language very nearly
similar:--“Quòd si præterea nemo sequatur, tamen se cum solâ decimâ
legione iturum, de quâ non dubitaret.”--_De Bella Gallico_, lib. i.
§. 40.
XXXI. “Not death at every footstep can appal.”
Per damna, per cædes, ab ipso
Ducit opes animumque ferro.
Non ...
Monstrumve summisere Colchi
Majus, Echioniæve Thebæ.
Horat. _Carm._ iv. 4.
XXXII. “Like mariner that dashed on stormy beach,” &c.
Naufragum ut ejectum spumantibus æquoris undis.
Catul. lxvi.
“As snorts the wild bull
Whom the banderils pierce.”
E qual táuro ferito il suo dolore
Versó mugghiando e suspirando fuore.
Tasso, _Ger. Lib._ iv. 1.
XXXIV. “Thus swarm i’ the summer ray o’er parchéd ground
Unnumbered emmets toiling onward straight.”
This image will not be condemned as vulgar by those who are
familiar with Homer; and it is further justified by the use of one
of our most elegant poets, Thomson, who commences his _Castle of
Indolence_ thus:
O mortal man, who livest here by toil,
Do not complain of this thy hard estate;
That like an emmet thou must ever moil,
Is a sad sentence of an ancient date.
XXXVI. “With blood-red arms see Carnage, screaming hag.”
Todo es muerte y horror: vense hacinados
En torno suyo cuerpos espirantes,
Cadáveres y miembros destroncados.
Campo-redondo.
_Las Armas de Aragon en Oriente._
IBERIA WON.
Canto VI.
I.
Upon the Chofre stood the dauntless Graham,
And marked the slaughter with determined eye,
Sad yet unshrinking--poured then forth of flame
A torrent hissing red athwart the sky.
Close o’er the stormers’ heads the missiles fly,
The stone-ribbed curtain into fragments hurled--
Full fifty cannon streaming death on high.
Unmoved they stand--no flag of fear unfurled--
A scene unmatched before since dawning of the world!
II.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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