FROM HERODOTUS: WITH AN INTRODUCTORY POEM, BY J. E. BODE, M.A. LATE STUDENT OF CHRISTCHURCH. LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. 1853. PREFA CE. So unpretending a volume as the present collection of Ballads perhaps scarcely needs, or claims, the pomp of a Preface. Nevertheless, the Author wishes to be allowed to state that the idea of reproducing these stories in an English metrical dress does not owe its origin either to Mr. Macaulay's "Lays of Ancient Rome," or to a little volume entitled "Stories from Herodotus," consisting chiefly of prose, but with a sprinkling of verse, published by Mr. Moberly. In fact, the idea occurred to the Author as early as the year 1841. He had been lately reading many of our old English and Scotch ballads; and was naturally, or even necessarily (as a tutor of Christ Church), familiar with Herodotus ; and the poetical character of these episodes having occurred to his mind, he was not satisfied without attempting to give them a poetical form. About half of the Ballads were written at that time; and one of them, "Cleobis and Biton," which, though one of the shortest, may be regarded as a specimen of the plan, appeared in Blackwood's Magazine in April, 1842-some six months before the publication of Mr. Macaulay's "Lays," and about a year before the appearance of Mr. Moberly's "Stories." "Stories." In the course of writing these Ballads, the Author became acquainted with Mr. Lockhart's " Spanish Ballads," the perusal of which added impulse to his scheme, as well as suggested the more frequent use of the double rhyme in the long ballad metre. In stating these facts, the Author has no wish to invite comparison between his book and either of those which he has mentioned. With Mr. Macaulay's spirited and popular "Lays" he especially declines to place his Ballads in competition. He is well aware that, to say nothing of inferiority of execution, the stories here presented to the English reader do not possess either that national interest which is derived from being connected with the struggles of a great people for freedom, or for empire, or that excitement which attends upon tales of battle, or of feud,-especially when the warriors, or the victims, have been familiar to our minds from childhood. The sentimental interest of the Spanish stories is also wanting. There is, moreover, a gentleness and repose, even in the pathos of these stories, which to some may seem Still the pathos is often so exquisite, and the simplicity so engaging, that the Author is fain to hope that, in spite of all that may be lost in a paraphrase, tame. 2 66 Polycrates" and "Syloson " appeared in "Blackwood" in the year 1843. or in a poem founded on an inimitable prose narrative, these Ballads may possess some interest for the general reader; as well as, perhaps, recall to those acquainted with the original, something of its peculiar charm. With a view of treading on less beaten ground, and being able to present to the reader some novel scenes and associations, the less-known stories were for the most part selected. Atys and Adrastus, Pactyas and Aristodicus, Syloson, Agarista —nay, even Gorgo, and Perdiccas I., are names which, even to the classical reader, are not hackneyed, even if they are familiar. The general plan of the Ballads has been to dramatise the story, where it appeared desirableto bring out the moral in some cases more vividlyand occasionally to enlarge on some incident which appeared capable of being thus rendered more interesting. The reader of Herodotus will, at the same time, observe that, where it appeared possible, the phrases of the original have been almost literally translated. The Metrical Introduction seems to require a word of further apology. It is the relic of a more ambitious plan, which aimed at no less than introducing the Ballads, each in its proper place, in a framework purporting to be "The History of Herodotus as read by himself at the Olympian games." On re |