De Scaevola

________________________________________________
Title:     De Scaevola
Author: Richard Lovelace [More Titles by Lovelace]

DE SCAEVOLA.

Lictorem pro rege necans nunc mutius ultro
Sacrifico propriam concremat igne manum:
Miratur Porsenna virum, paenamque relaxans
Maxima cum obscessis faedera a victor init,
Plus flammis patriae confert quam fortibus armis,
Una domans bellum funere dextra sua.

ENGLISHED.

The hand, by which no king but serjeant<1> dies,
Mutius in fire doth freely sacrifice;
The prince admires the Hero, quits his pains,
And Victor from the seige peace entertains;
Rome's more oblig'd to flames than arms or pow'r,
When one burnt hand shall the whole war devour.<2>

Notes:

<1> A somewhat imperfect rendering of LICTOR.

<2> The reader will easily judge for himself of the valueless character of these translations; but it is only just to Lovelace to suggest that they were probably academic exercises only, and at the same time to submit that they are not much worse than Marlowe's translation of Ovid, and many other versions of the Classics then current.

[The end]
Richard Lovelace's poem: De Scaevola

________________________________________________



GO TO TOP OF SCREEN