The Agamemnon Of Aechylus.*

THE AGAMEMNON OF AECHYLUS . *

THOSE of ns who remember Agamemnon , probably in Dindorf ' s text , will not bo sorry , perhaps , to recall an ancient acquaintance with the text of one of the most sterling , and affecting perhaps , of Greek plays . Unless , indeed , we join in that childish ancl senseless outcry against Greek , which our own times have witnessed , and which is , in our opinion , a disgrace to those •statesmen and prelates who have so pandered to the vulgar ignorance of a

money-making epoch , we shall rejoice to be reminded of an old friend in the effective paper of Lord Carnarvon ' s translation . Our Pro Grand Master is alike a distinguished Statesman , an effective orator , a judicious ruler , and now he claims , and not in vain , something of the " afflatus " of the poet . And though it be true , " vivere fortes ante Agamemnon ;" if it be undeniable that other orators have tried to render effectively the

startling periods of Strophe and Anti-Strophe , if we can recall gratefully Milman and Plumptree , and others , there is no reason why we should not welcome this graceful attempt of Lord Carnarvon to bring the Grecian words - of a Grecian dramatist before our English thought ancl culture . Not that we fancy the effort ever will be very successful . The English mind is not the Greek mind , ancl , unless we are wrong , the increase in our own time of "

passionate meanings " which tells us how " burning Sappho loved ancl sung , " which attempt to revivify the mythology and manner of old Greece , the aspirations ancl dreams of a "Hellas , " dead and gone for ever , are not likely , after the gloss of novelty or the craze of fashion , to be fruitful or permanent . But still we can all feel interest in that " weird " play of Agamemnon , which , . with its mystery and its awful gloom , the meaning and the menace of the

chorus combined , is always affecting , and , to say the truth , orjpressive to the mind . We feel the coming horrors , we realize the approaching blow , and yet we can neither mitigate the one nor ward off the other . Cl ytemnestra is to our minds a hateful picture , a bold , guilty , unscrupulous woman , and Lord Carnarvon has well caught the concealed irony of the Greek , which represents this "faithless spouse" professing , as other , faithless spouses have clone , great " anxiety" for her lord ' s return . She , forsooth , who has betrayed him in everything !

" What brighter radiance of created things ~ ^ Can bless tho vision of a loving wife , /^ £ § Q ^ S \ . Who in the open gateway stands to greet /^// ^ ^^ P \ Her lord returning from war ' s dread alarms ? JKy GRAND Yp \ Go then , and bid him , whom his people love | u- | 1 O D G E Iri Hasten to come ; ancl coming , ho shall find II jvJ By his hearth-side his wife , like watch-dog true , V \ LIBRARY /' y All love to himall terror to his foes V / C )/

, ; (^ ^ Such as he left her , and in all things like , N ^ O o H , * ^ r Guarding th' unbroken signet of her trust . " Let us compare with Lord Carnarvon ' s skilful rendering the literal French of " J . G . De La Porte du Theil , " printed at Paris ,. " typis reipublica ., anno iii . " the only good work which that name can cover . " Quel jour lus fortune une femme celui oil elle voit res portes s ' ouvrir h

p pous , que un epoux , vainqucur dans la guerre , & sauve par- les Dieux ? Herault , retoumez : dites-lni , qu'il reparoisse promptement , assure cle l ' amour de son peuple ; qu'il vienne retrouver dans son palais sa fidelle epouse , telle qu'il l ' a laissee , gardienne de sa maison , k lui seul attachee , ennemie cle ses enuemis , & qui , toujours la memo , n ' a pas viole , pendant sa longue absence , le dep 6 t de 1 'hymen : aussi pure que l'or , elle n ' a ni connu de plaisir , ni ecoute de discours , dont elle ait a rougir . "