Palatinus, a hill in
Rome.

But he saw on Palatinus *

The white porch of his home;
And he spake to the noble river

That rolls by the towers of Rome.

15

Tiber, the river upon which Rome, the capital of Italy, is built.

20

*

Harness, armour.

25

“O Tiber ! * father Tiber !

To whom the Romans pray,
A Roman's life, a Roman's arms,

Take thou in charge this day!”
So he spake, and speaking sheathed

The good sword by his side,
And with his harness * on his back,

Plunged headlong in the tide.
No sound of joy or sorrow

Was heard from either bank;
But friends and foes in dumb surprise
With parted lips and straining eyes

Stood gazing where he sank;
And when above the surges

They saw his crest * appear,
All Rome sent forth a rapturous * cry,
And even the ranks of Tuscany

Could scarce forbear to cheer.

30

*

Crest, the ornament worn on the helmet. Rapturous, joyous. Tuscany, a district in the north of Italy, formerly called Etruria.

Fathers, the senaton of Rome.

Gory, bloody.

Molten image, a metal statue erected in his honour.

Comitium, a place in Rome where public meetings were held.

“Heaven help him !” quoth Lars Porsena, 55

“And bring him safe to shore;
For such a gallant feat of arms

Was never seen before.”
And now he feels the bottom;
Now on dry earth be stands;

бо
Now round him throng the Fathers
To

press his gory * hands ;
And now with shouts and clapping,

And noise of weeping loud,
He enters through the river-gate,

65
Borne by the joyous crowd.
They gave him of the corn-land,

That was of public right,
As much as two strong oxen

Could plough from morn till night: 70
And they made a molten image, *

And set it up on high,
And there it stands unto this day,

To witness if I lie.
It stands in the Comitium, *

75
Plain for all folk to see ;
Horatius in his harness,

Halting upon one knée :
And underneath is written,
In letters all of gold,

80 How valiantly * he kept the bridge

In the brave days of old.
And still his name sounds stirring,

Unto the men of Rome,
As the trumpet-blast that cries to them 85

To charge the Volscian home :
And wives still pray to Juno *

For boys with hearts as bold
As his who kept the bridge so well

In the brave days of old.
And in the nights of winter,

When the cold north-winds blow,
And the long howling of the wolves

Is heard arnidst the snow;
When round the lonely cottage

95
Roars loud the tempest's din,
And the good logs of Algidus *

Roar louder yet within ;

Valiantly, bravely, courageously.

Juno, the goddess of marriages and births.

Aigidus, a forest near
Rome.

*

105

Firebrands, burning logs or faggots, used as fuel,

When the oldest cask is open'd,

And the largest lamp is lit,
When the chestnuts glow in the embers,

And the kid turns on the spit;
When young and old in circle

Around the firebrands * close ;
When the girls are weaving baskets,

And the lads are shaping bows;
When the goodman mends his armour,

And trims his helmet’s plume;
When the goodwife's * shuttle merrily

Goes flashing through the loom ;
With weeping and with laughter

Still is the story told,
How well Horatius kept the bridge

In the brave days of old.

110

Goodwife's, &c. For. merly, the linen re. quired for the use of the household was generally woven by the women.

*

THE DIVER.-Schiller. JOHANN CHRISTOPH FRIEDRICH SCHILLER (1759-1805), the great German poet, was a native of Marbach, a small town of Würtemberg, situated on the banks of the Neckar. Among his works may be mentioned: The Robber's, Kabale and Leibe, Don Carlos, and The Song of the Bell. This translation is by LORD LYTTON (1805–1873).

“Oh, where is the knight or the squire* so bold Squire, a knight's

As to dive to the howling Charybdis * below ? attendant.
I cast in the whirlpool a goblet of gold,

Charybdis, a whirl.

pool caused by the And o'er it already the dark waters flow; rush of strong tidal 5. Whoever to me may the goblet bring,

currents, occasionally

dangerous to shipShall have for his guerdon * that gift of his ping. There is a king."

famous one called the

Maëlstrom,“grinding He spoke, and the cup from the terrible steep, stream,” between two

That, rugged and hoary, hung over the verge Isles off the coast of Of the endless and measureless world of the Norway. IntheStraits

of Messina there is deep,

also remarkable Swirled into the maëlstrom that maddened eddy, much dreaded

by ancient mariners, “And where is the diver so stout to go

but passed without

difficulty by modern I ask ye again-to the deep below ?”

Guerdon, a reward cr
And the knights and the squires that gathered recompense.

around,
Stood silent and fixed on the ocean their

eyes ;
15 They looked on the dismal and

savage Profound, And the peril chilled back every thought of

the prize.

&

the surge

seamen.

And thrice spoke the monarch—“The cup to win, Wight, crea- Is there never a wight * who will venture in ?”

ture.

*

20

A spect, appearance. Doffing, taking off.

And all as before heard in silence the king,

Till a youth with an aspect * unfearing but gentle,
'Mid the tremulous squires_stepped out from the ring,

Unbuckling his girdle, and doffing * his mantle ;
And the murmuring crowd, as they parted asunder,
On the stately boy cast their looks of wonder.

25

Marge, edge. As he strode to the marge * of the summit, and gave

One glance on the gulf of that merciless main,
Lo! the wave that for ever devours the wave,

Casts roaringly up the Charybdis again;
And as with the swell of the far thunder-boom,
Rushes foamingly forth from the heart of the gloom.

30

*

And it bubbles and seethes, and it hisses and roars,

As when fire is with water commixed and contending, Welkin, the And the spray of its wrath to the welkin* up-soars, sky, or the

And flood upon flood hurries on, never ending ; Travail, ex- And it never will rest, nor from travail * be free, cessive lab

Like a sea that is labouring the birth of a sea.

clouds.

35

our.

movement.

Commotion, Yet, at length comes a lull o'er the mighty commotion, *

And dark through the whiteness, and still through

the swell,

The whirlpool cleaves downward and downward in ocean Abyss, bot.

A yawning abyss,* like the pathway to hell ; tomless gulf.

The stiller and darker the farther it goes,
Breakers, Sucked into that smoothness the breakers * repose.

40

*

waves broken on the rocks.

The youth gave his trust to his Maker! Before

That path through the riven abyss closed again,
Hark! a shriek from the gazers that circle the shore,– 45

And behold ! he is whirled in the grasp of the main !
And o'er him the breakers mysteriously rolled,
And the giant mouth closed on the swimmer so bold.

All was still on the height, save the murmur that went,

From the grave of the deep, sounding hollow and fell, 50 Or save when the tremulous sighing lament

Thrilled from lip unto lip, "Gallant youth, fare thee Suspense,

well!” being in

& More hollow and more wails the deep on the earstate of uncertainty.

More dread and more dread grows suspense * in its fear.

know.

make known

that of which

cannot be found. A fathom is a nautical measure of six feet.

arger.

young swaus,

55 If thou shouldst in those waters thy diadem * fling, Diadem, a

And
cry,
“Who may find it shall win it and wear;

royal crown. God wot,* though the prize were the crown of a king- Wot, to

A crown at such hazard were valued too dear,
For never shall lips of the living reveal *

Reveal, to 60 What the deeps that howl yonder in terror conceal.

Oh, many a bark, to that breast grappled fast,

Has gone down to the fearful and fathomless * grave; Fathomless, Again, crashed together the keel * and the mast,

the depth To be seen tossed aloft in the glee of the wave ! 65 Like the growth of a storm ever louder and clearer,

Grows the roar of the gulf rising nearer and nearer.
And it bubbles and seethes, and it hisses and roars,
As when fire is with water commixed and contending; tom of a ship.

bot And the spray of its wrath * to the welkin up-soars, Wrath, 70 And flood upon flood hurries on, never ending,

And as with the swell of the far thunder-boom,
Rushes roaringly forth from the heart of the gloom.
And lo! from the heart of that far-floating gloom,

Like the wing of the cygnet*—what gleams on the sea ? Cygnet, a 75 Lo ! an arm and a neck glancing up from the tomb !

Stalwart, Steering stalwart * and shoreward. O joy, it is he ! &c., swimThe left hand is lifted in triumph; behold,

ming bravely

and strongly It waves as a trophy * the goblet of gold !

Trophy, any. And he breathèd deep, and he breathed long,

thing taken

from an 80 And he greeted the heavenly delight of the day.

enemy and They gaze on each other—they shout as they throng kept as a

“He lives-lo, the ocean has rendered its prey ! * And safe from the whirlpool and free from the grave,

tory.

Prey, plunComes back to the daylight the soul of the brave !”

der, that

which is 85 And he comes, with the crowd in their clamour and glee; * seized to be And the goblet his daring has won from the water,

Glee, joy, He lifts to the king as he sinks on his knee

gladness. And the king from her maidens has beckoned his

daughter.
She pours to the boy the bright wine which they bring,
90 And thus spoke the Diver—"Long life to the King !

“Happy they whom the rose-hues of daylight rejoice,
The air and the sky that to mortals are given !

&c. May May the horror below nevermore find a voice

tempt God Nor man stretch too far the wide mercy of heaven ! * by rushing 95 Nevermore, nevermore may be lift from the sight

The veil which is woven with terror and night!

*

*

to shore.

*

mark of vic

devoured,

Nor man,

man never

into unne

cessary danger.