Theocritus, 300 BC-260 BC / 2008-07-02 00:00:00

EBOOK THEOCRITUS ***


Produced by Ted Garvin, Garrett Alley and PG Distributed Proofreaders




THEOCRITUS
_TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE_.
BY
C.S. CALVERLEY,
_LATE FELLOW OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE_.
AUTHOR OF "FLY LEAVES," ETC.
THIRD EDITION.


PREFACE.
I had intended translating all or nearly all these Idylls into blank
verse, as the natural equivalent of Greek or of Latin hexameters; only
deviating into rhyme where occasion seemed to demand it. But I found
that other metres had their special advantages: the fourteen-syllable
line in particular has that, among others, of containing about the same
number of syllables as an ordinary line of Theocritus. And there is also
no doubt something gained by variety.
Several recent writers on the subject have laid down that every
translation of Greek poetry, especially bucolic poetry, must be in rhyme
of some sort. But they have seldom stated, and it is hard to see, why.
There is no rhyme in the original, and _prima facie_ should be none in
the translation. Professor Blackie has, it is true, pointed out the
"assonances, alliterations, and rhymes," which are found in more or less
abundance in Ionic Greek.[A] These may of course be purely accidental,
like the hexameters in Livy or the blank-verse lines in Mr. Dickens's
prose: but accidental or not (it may be said) they are there, and ought
to be recognised. May we not then recognise them by introducing similar
assonances, etc.
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