The Argonautics of Apollonius Rhodius Volume 1

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1822 edition. Excerpt: ... THS TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE Co tjic Meatier. If the persons who endeavour to rescue from oblivion neglected merit confessedly attempt a meritorious task, the translators of those ancient writers, who have hitherto failed of obtaining the circulation and celebrity justly due to their learning and genius, are fairly entitled, at all events, to the praise of good intention. Should these adventurers prove so fortunate as to acquit themselves, in their respective undertakings, to the satisfaction of the public, they are further entitled to the regard and encouragement which ought to recompense, but do not uniformly attend, patient and judicious labour, directed to the advancement of taste and science. The poem of Apollonius Rhodius, now offered to the public in an entirely new version, appeared to the present translator a fair object for such a chivalrous enterprise. At least, the partial admiration and gratitude of one, who had frequently perused, and always with increasingpleasure, this delightful poet, considered his present reputation and rank among the illustrious writers of antiquity as totally inadequate to his intrinsic merits. Apollonius Rhodius, it is true, can by no means be considered as a writer unknown or obscure;.vol. I. B yet has he failed of obtaining his just station on the heights of Parnassus. He is chiefly known to professed scholars, and is little in the hands of the modem reader, whose commerce with the ancients is carried on through the medium of translation. Indeed, even when he is remembered among the learned, he is usually introduced in the degrading attitude of a captive, bound to the chariot and following the triumphal pomp of Virgil, who has literally fulfilled, in the person of this poet, his own prediction in the...