Ancient, Classical & Medieval Books

PREFACE This volume concludes the series, begun in 1903, which was intended to comprise all the best traditional ballads of England and Scotland. The scheme of classification by subject-matter, arbitrary and haphazard as it may seem to be at one point or another, has, I think, proved more satisfactory than could have been anticipated; and in the end I have omitted no ballad without due justification.... more...

VENUS AND ADONIS EVEN as the sun with purple-colour'd faceHad ta'en his last leave of the weeping morn,Rose-cheek'd Adonis tried him to the chase;Hunting he lov'd, but love he laugh'd to scorn; 4Sick-thoughted Venus makes amain unto him,And like a bold-fac'd suitor 'gins to woo him. 'Thrice fairer than myself,' thus she began,'The field's chief... more...

THE NIBELUNGENLIED (1) ADVENTURE I (2) Full many a wonder is told us in stories old, of heroes worthy of praise, of hardships dire, of joy and feasting, of the fighting of bold warriors, of weeping and of wailing; now ye may hear wonders told. In Burgundy there grew so noble a maid that in all the lands none fairer might there be. Kriemhild (3) was she called; a comely woman she became, for whose sake... more...

  THE ARGUMENT.  God sends his angel to Tortosa down,  Godfrey unites the Christian Peers and Knights;  And all the Lords and Princes of renown  Choose him their Duke, to rule the wares and fights.  He mustereth all his host, whose number known,  He sends them to the fort that Sion hights;  The aged tyrant Juda's land that guides,  In fear and trouble, to resist provides.... more...

+ANTINOUS+ It rained outside right into Hadrian's soul. The boy lay deadOn the low couch, on whose denuded whole,To Hadrian's eyes, that at their seeing bled,The shadowy light of Death's eclipse was shed. The boy lay dead and the day seemed a nightOutside. The rain fell like a sick affrightOf Nature at her work in killing him.Through the mind's galleries of their past... more...

INTRODUCTION Scepticism is as much the result of knowledge, as knowledge is of scepticism. To be content with what we at present know, is, for the most part, to shut our ears against conviction; since, from the very gradual character of our education, we must continually forget, and emancipate ourselves from, knowledge previously acquired; we must set aside old notions and embrace fresh ones; and, as... more...

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HOMER'S ODYSSEY.   BOOK FIRST—INTRODUCTION. The Odyssey starts by organizing itself; it maps out its own structure in what may be called a General Introduction. Herein lies a significant difference between it and the Iliad, which has simply an Invocation to the Muse, and then leaps into the thick of the action. The Iliad, accordingly, does not formulate its own organization, which fact has been... more...

P. DUJARDINHere foloweth the Interpretacoin of the namesof goddes and goddesses as is rehercedin this tretyse folowynge as Poetes wryte¶ Phebus is as moche to saye as the Sonne.¶ Apollo is the same or elles God of syght.¶ MorpleusShewer of dremis¶ PlutoGod of hell.¶ MynosIuge of hell.¶ CerberusPorter of hell.¶ Colus the wynde or God of the Eyre.¶ Dyana Goddesse of wode and chase.¶ Phebe the... more...

INTRODUCTION Every now and then in our reading we come suddenly face to face with first things,—the very elemental sources beyond which no man may go. There is a distinct satisfaction in dealing with such beginnings, and, when they are those of literature, the sense of freshness is nothing short of inspiring. To share the same lofty outlook, to breathe the same high air with those who first sensed a... more...