Leader (1850-1860), 29th December 1855, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1253, Untitled Article

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  December 29 , 1855 . ] THE LEADER . 1253
  
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  eex , Eight is meekness , and Wordsworth ' s Excursion ; Wrong is Byron , and the voluptuous Moore . Right is baby-linen for the poor , and slippers of Tyrian hue for Sybarite divines ; Wrong is too much confidence and trustingness , qualities which generally bring forth rum and shame . Right is caution , contentment , and Marthaism ; Wrong is rnarrying a poor brave man whom you love . For the sterner sex , Right is a tight umbrella and a " right-and-proper " conventional tone ; Wrong , the utterance of any chivalrous sentiment or freehearted speech . Right is demureness and subserviency ; Wrong is sincerity and candour . Right is Sir John Paul , Bates , and Company , with a godly company of Saints , and a Chapel with-patrons , who give Evangelical tea-parties , where the scandal of the neighbourhood is well discussed—all , of course , for fhe glory of religion , and the honour of virtue . Such a community necessarily grows rich , being well fed by the loaves of the devout and free-will offerings of the pious . When was it ever known that the righteous was deserted , or his seed begging their bread ? Certainly not . Chapel pews always let for high rentals , on purpose to fulfil those words of the Psalmist . ^^ a * * , j 3 T , . > 1
  
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  EARLY GREEK ROMANCE . The Greek Romances of Heliodorus , Lonquts , and Achilles Tatius . Translated from the Greek , with Notes , by the Rev , Kowland Smith , M . A ., formerly of St . John a College , Oxford . London : Bohn . Fbw books have had a greater influence on modern literature than the three works here reprinted by Mr . Bohn , in a cheap form , and worthily included in his * ' Classical Library ; " yet , until now , it was with the utmost difficulty that n copy of any of them could be procured . The lover of early romance was obliged to search the British Museum , or some other large collection , before he could make himself acquainted with these renowned elder brothers of the great family of fiction , either in their original language , or in the form of translations ; and even literary men have been obliged to content themselves with the summaries given by Dunlop , in his " History of Fiction , " and to take the reputed merits of the originals for granted . Consequently , the re-issue , for five shillings , of Heliodorus , Longus , and Achilles Tatius , will be welcomed in many humble libraries . Heliodorus—the chief of the triad , both as regards length of composition , and priority of birth—has been regarded by many as the father of Romance . Yet he can scarcely maintain the position . Not to speak of that vast world of fiction which is embodied in ancient poetry—not to include the stories spr inkled thicRly throughout the Bible , though many of these are confessedly put forth as inventions or parables—not , in short , to go so far a-field , but to confine o urselves to elaborate narrations in prose , written mainly with a design to entertain ., it must be acknowledged , even with this limitation , that Heliodorus had his predecessors . Indeed , the " Ethiopics , or the Adventures of Theagenes and Chariclea , " exhibit an elaborate and highly artificial state of fiction-writing ; and we do not find that any branch of literature has sprung at once into such ample growth . It is impossible , moreover , to conceive that Europe ( to put Asia out of the question ) would have waited until the fourth or tilth century after Christ for a species of literary composition so obvious and so delightful ; and , upon investigation , it has been found that , long before the period of Heliodorus , the Milesians—a Greek colony of Asia Minor—were celebrated for their amatory tales , the germs of which were probably derived from the nations of the East . Antonius Diogenes , who lived a little while-after Alexander the Great , wrote a romance called " punas and Dercillis ; " Petronius Arbiter may be described as a romauce-wnter of the time of Nero ; and Jamblichus , a native of Babylonia , but a Greek by descent , composed , in the course of the second century , the " History of the Amours of Rhodis and Sinonides . " In the same century , Apuleius produced his " Golden Ass "—a romance imitated from the earlier works of Lucian and Lucius , and of a nature not to be confounded with history or mythology . The " Life of Apollonius of Tyana , " by Philostratus , though pretending to be the v eritable biography of that singular union of philosophy and imposture , is so mixed with extravagant adventures and continual reference to the supernatural , that it may fairly be ranked as a work of fiction , even if " founded on fact ; " instances to the same effect might be multiplied . Thus , we see that , some centuries previous to the year 400 ( at which per iod Heliodorus appears first to have distinguished himself ) , Romance was known in Europe- It is possible , however , that Heliodorus may have given a new character to fiction-writing ; may have extended its limits—enriched it with a more wealthy and vital imagination - adorned it with greater variety and strangeness of incident—and , by separating from its texture all satu-eand all obviously didactic purpose , made it more fit for entertainment and mental recreation . Certain it is that " Theagenes and Chariclea" was for many centuries regarded as the model for compositions of the same kind ; that it has had an influence perfectly astounding upon the literature of nearly the whole of Europe ; and that , by the medium of numerous translations , paraphrases , &c , it has permeated , not only through the prose fiction of Italy , Spain , V ranee , and England , but has reached even the poetry of some of those countries , and has found its way to the stage , and to the canvass of the artist . I he interminable romances which , on the revival of learning , became popular all over Europe-the " Diana" of George of Montemayor ; the early produc tions of Cervantes , and even « Don Quixote » itself , making allowance for the satire ; the novels of Calprenede and Seuden ; the Astrea of d Urfd , the " Arcadia" of Sir Philip Sydney ; the " Argems" of Barclay , &ctogether with the shorter tales , such as the narratives of Boccaccio , UamIcMo , and Fiorentino , and the fairy fictions of Madame d'Aulnoys , —all derive their origin in some degree ( though bringing , of course , much additional wealth to the stock ) from the fertile source of the " Ethiop . es . " We nuglH : go larther , and say that , notwithstanding thi-ir greater reference to nature and dramatic truth , the works of Le Sage , Richardson , and Fielding , show some lingering relics of the style which , though not originated by the old Phoenician Bwhop , was , owing to some superior energy of imagination , so . nc higher P ^ eptioij of ideal fitness , or some " greater gust" of language , projected by 1 m , into the literary mind of Europe , like a subtle elixir , turning Gothic and Celtic lead into classic gold . Tnsso , becoming acquainted with " Ihcagcnes and Chariclea" at tlfe court of Charles IX : of France , where it was the delight of the fine ladies and gentlemen who loved and petted and sighed over a work of imagination as if it were a porcclaia vase , — lasso , being smitten with the fortuncB of the hero and heroine , and wishing to please the courtier * , ' \ " ' \ ' [
  
  BBHiMMMEVHK 9 SBflHnMMHn ^ H ^ BK ^^^^ B 1 ^^ MV ^ H ^^^ HM ^^^ SHM ^ n ^^^ B ^^ BSBU ^^^^^ HMnVM ^^ BM ^ HV ^ MH ^^ K ^ m ^ l ^ M ^ BWHSMMH 8 flMMD ^ MCSMM ^ 0 V 3 BV ^ HBM ^ BMVIHMHMVBIV promised them , according to Ghirardini , " that they should soon see the worl attired in the most splendid vestments of Italian poetry , and kept his promis < by transferring to the heroine Clorinda ( in the tenth Canto of the ' Gerusa lemme' ) the circumstances attending the birth and early life of th < Ethiopian maiden , Chariclea . " Dunlop adds , tliat " the proposed sacrific < and subsequent discovery of the birth of Chariclea have likewise been imitate * in the ' Pastor Fido , ' of Guarini , and , through it , in the ' Astrea , ' of d'UrfeV Racine projected a drama on the subject of the " Ethiopics ; " and Dorai produced in Paris , in 1762 , a tragedy , entitled " Theagenes and Chariclea / : The old English tragi-coinedy , called " The Strange Discovery , " was suggested by the same romance ; and Hardy , the French poet , wrote no less than eight dramas on this one story . In addition to these testimonies to the popularity of Heliodorus , we may mention that Haphael , assisted by Julie Romano , has painted two pictures from the old Greek fiction . Heliodorus was a native of Emesa in Phoenicia , probably coming" of n Greek stock , and was created Christian Bishop of Tricca in Thessaly . His episcopal function , according to Nicephorus , was thought to be outraged by ! the writing of such a book as '" Theagenes and Chariclea , " "inasmuch as many of the youths were drawn into peril of sin by the perusal of these amorous tales . " The Provincial Synod , therefore , ordered the romance-loving Bishop to burn his story or renounce his see ; ami , like a true , honest worshipper of God-given Ait , he chose the latter alternative . But , unfortunately , this anecdote , so worthy to rank among the heroisms and self-sacrifices of genius , is held to be apocryphal . It is not unlikely , however , that the fellow-bishops of Heliodorus may , in the ultra-Puritanism of their virtue , have regarded with pious horror this romance of love and heathenism ; for the scene is laid in ancient Greece , Egypt , and Ethiopia , and , although there is real religious feeling in the book , the objects of worship are , of course , Apollo , Diana , &c . We have a right , indeed , to assume even the probability of the Synod objecting to the Bishop ' s literary performance , because Jeremy Taylor—the ornate preacher who robed his religious discourses in the most gorgeous vestments of poetry—says , in a letter to Evelyn , that the coraposition of the " Ethiopics" was a wide departure from the duty of the Bishop . Yet , allowing for a certain openness and sincerity of expression common to the age , the romance is by no means licentious . After passing inta the literary mind of Em-ope , " Theagenes and Chariclea would seem to have fallen into a temporary obscurity ; but a manuscript copy is said to have been saved by a soldier at the sack of 13 uda , in \ o ' 2 b ( an anecdote which the Rev . Rowland Smith , M . A ., mig ht as well have told his readers in his Preface ) ; and this circumstance appears to have brought it a < 'ain into notice , for the first printed edition was issued at Basil , in 1534 . A translation was made by a Polish knight ; and Amyot , the translator of Plutarch , rendered it into French . As a set-off to the story of Heliodorus losing his bishopric in consequence of his romance , it is pleasant to note ( though our reverend editor seems to consider it below his attention ) that , for translating that romance , Amyot obtained the abbey of Bellasone . tour translations , according to Mr . Smith , have been made into English : one by-Thomas Underdowne , London , 1587 ; another by W , Lisle , 1622 ; a third by Nahum Tate and others , in 1680 ; and a fourth m 17 SM . Mr . Smith , on his title-page , speaks of having made the translation now before us himself ; but , in his preface , he says that it is " based" on that of 1 / 91 . Of the fitness of the latter translation to form this base , Mr . Smith shall lunaselt speak : — " The version upon which the present one is founded is in inany places more oi a paraphrase than a translation . Several passages are entirely omitted while of others the Bense has been mistaken ; it has been the endeavour of the translator to remedy th « 2 se defects , and to give the meaning of aw author as literally a » ik consistent with avoiding stiffness and ruggedness of stylo . We strongly suspect , though the Rev . Mr . Smith does not say so , that th j translation-or " version " -of 1791 , is not direct from the Greek , but that it comes through the Trench . The characteristics of Heliodorus will have been deduced in a great measure from the foregoing observations . " Tasso , " says the Kev . Mr Smith " praises him for the still which he displays in keeping the » ind ^»«« J ' ^ nense and in gradually clearing up what appeared confused and p # i plexecl . ^ literary vices , however , J > numerous . The narrative is ofte „ pro hx artificial , and involved ; the characters have no reference to nature , or to the spontaneous fluctuations of passion , but speak inset , rhetorical phrases such as Heliodorus ( who was a Sophist ) might have learned in the school , and there is a continual tendency to interrupt the action by untune y ex-htotion . of the mere author . Yet , the sin of prolixity is- not carried to leaily the same extent that it reached in later works ; and we must concede to the " Ethiopics " grea t variety of situation , great wealth of ^ nery a nd . accjjsories , and great ingenuity iu the elaboration of the plot , lie descuptipn of the pirate's retreat in the First Book-a reedy marsh , spreading drowsily betweui barren islands which are approached with difficulty from the landthe winding cave in which Chariclea is hidden-the sudden attack made upon the buccaneers by other buccaneers-w > d the firing of the dry reeds and the tents on th e islands , which bum in to a light grey asli . that the wind scatter * -all this has the vividness and picturesque truth of »«»^ 'P'X ^ itWn other parts again ( especially in the long digressions , and the ep « o £ » J £ thin episodes , as well as in a certain A 8 atic splendour ft "Vr . !^ t anXicm o ^ that reminded of the " Arabian Ni g hts" -that is to say of the . au « ation ot that work from the French -not o ? the pass . onate , ml-Uwta , J ^ ^™ "J of Mr . Lane ; and , perhaps , in the very next I » ' » C «« Z ^ SlT As the primitive intoiuutv . and reference to ^ P ^^ JSd riom Si ^ ifor instance , in this Rescript on of W" **^ fmp " t » r anamiable L « t ' His eyes were of a deep blue , me mug ? £ ^ ™ $ it * y from a storm animated look to Ins countenance , Itke the s *"™ f ° " * * enieru | , i , , l nmcinto a calm . ' > Qr , in the fo" ™ ' ^^ of thysts- " the former as green as . »« J- " « ' J < J ' f | 0 aCtt ., > Oft 4 , wUea pluyed fe ^^ TS . ix-a ^^ rrrro rrCcue , , ,. »„ , — ¦ « or
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- Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 29, 1855, page 1253, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2121/page/17/

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