Epic Poetry

"Of harmes two, the lesse is for to chese."

"Trewe as steel."

"For which he wex a litel reed for shame, Whan he the peple up-on him herde cryen, That to biholde it was a noble game, How sobreliche he caste doun his yën. Cryseyda gan al his chere aspyen, And leet so softe it in hir herte sinke, That to hir-self she seyde, 'who yaf me drinke?'"

"Lord, this is an huge rayn! This were a weder for to slepen inne."

"A wonder last but nyne night never in toune."

"Go, litel book, go litel myn tregedie, Ther god thy maker yet, er that he dye, So sende might to make in som comedie! But litel book, no making thou nenvye, But subgit be to alle poesye; And kis the steppes, wher-as thou seest pace Virgile, Ovyde, Omer, Lucan, and Stace. And for ther is so greet diversitee In English and in wryting of our tonge, So preye I god that noon miswryte thee, Ne thee mismetre for defaute of tonge. And red wher-so thou be, or elles songe, That thou be understonde I god beseche!"

"Eek som-tyme it is craft to seme flee Fro thing which in effect men hunte faste."

"For it is seyd, 'man maketh ofte a yerde With which the maker is him-self y-beten In sondry maner.'"

"Thou mayst allone here wepe and crye and knele; But, love a woman that she woot it nought, And she wol quyte that thou shalt not fele; Unknowe, unkist, and lost that is un-sought."

"If no love is, O god, what fele I so? And if love is, what thing and whiche is he! If love be good, from whennes comth my wo?"

"For ever it was, and ever it shal bifalle, That Love is he that alle thing may binde; For may no man for-do the lawe of kinde."

"A fool may eek a wys man ofte gyde."

"O wind, O wind, the weder ginneth clere."

"The double sorwe of Troilus to tellen, That was the king Priamus sone of Troye, In lovinge, how his aventures fellen Fro wo to wele, and after out of joye, My purpos is, er that I parte fro ye. Thesiphone, thou help me for tendyte Thise woful vers, that wepen as I wryte!"

"But the Troyane gestes, as they felle, In Omer, or in Dares, or in Dyte, Who-so that can, may rede hem as they wryte."

"O blinde world, O blinde entencioun! How ofte falleth al theffect contraire Of surquidrye and foul presumpcioun; For caught is proud, and caught is debonaire. This Troilus is clomben on the staire, And litel weneth that he moot descenden. But al-day falleth thing that foles ne wenden."

"Ye knowe eek, that in forme of speche is chaunge With-inne a thousand yeer, and wordes tho That hadden prys, now wonder nyce and straunge Us thinketh hem; and yet they spake hem so, And spedde as wel in love as men now do; Eek for to winne love in sondry ages, In sondry londes, sondry ben usages."

"And whan that he was slayn in this manere, His lighte goost ful blisfully is went Up to the holownesse of the seventh spere, In convers letinge every element; And ther he saugh, with ful avysement, The erratik sterres, herkeninge armonye With sownes fulle of hevenish melodye. And doun from thennes faste he gan avyse This litel spot of erthe, that with the see Enbraced is, and fully gan despyse This wrecched world, and held al vanitee To respect of the pleyn felicitee That is in hevene above."

"So longe mote ye live, and alle proude, Til crowes feet be growe under your yë."

"O yonge fresshe folkes, he or she, In which that love up groweth with your age, Repeyreth hoom from worldly vanitee, And of your herte up-casteth the visage To thilke god that after his image Yow made, and thinketh al nis but a fayre This world, that passeth sone as floures fayre. And loveth him, the which that right for love Upon a cros, our soules for to beye, First starf, and roos, and sit in hevene a-bove; For he nil falsen no wight, dar I seye, That wol his herte al hoolly on him leye. And sin he best to love is, and most meke, What nedeth feyned loves for to seke?"

"O moral Gower, this book I directe To thee."

"Lo here, of Payens corsed olde rytes, Lo here, what alle hir goddes may availle; Lo here, these wrecched worldes appetytes; Lo here, the fyn and guerdon for travaille Of Jove, Appollo, of Mars, of swich rascaille!"

"When Kovalan and Kannagi are married, they “walk around the holy fire,” a typically Vedic rite still at the centre of the Hindu wedding. Welcomed by a tribe of fierce hunters on their way to Madurai, they witness a striking apparition of Durga, who is addressed equally as Lakshmi and Sarasvati—the three Shaktis of the Hindu trinity. There are numerous references to legends from the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, and the Puranas. After worshipping at two temples, one of Vishnu and the other of Shiva, the Chera king Shenguttuvan goes to the Himalayas in search of a stone for Kannagi’s idol, and bathes it in the Ganges—in fact, the waters of Ganga and those of Cauvery were said to be equally sacred."

"Let us briefly turn to the famous Tamil epic Shilappadikaram (second to sixth century AD), which relates the beautiful and tragic story of Kannagi and Kovalan ; it opens with invocations to Chandra, Surya, and Indra, all of them Vedic Gods, and frequently praises Agni, Varuna, Shiva, Subrahmanya, Vishnu-Krishna, Uma, Kàli, Yama and so forth. There are mentions of the four Vedas and of “Vedic sacrifices being faultlessly performed.” “In more than one place,” writes V. Ramachandra Dikshitar, the first translator of the epic into English, “there are references to Vedic Brahmans, their fire rites, and their chanting of the Vedic hymns. The Brahman received much respect from the king and was often given gifts of wealth and cattle.”"

"These few points, plus some details on Prithviraj’s ancestors, are the main political facts to be gleaned from Prthvīrāja Vijaya, but the text is more interesting and informative when it comes to cultural attitudes towards the Muslim enemies of the Chahamanas. We have already seen that it describes Shihab al-Din as a wicked eater of cows, portrays his ambassador as alien in appearance to the point of extreme ugliness, and castigates the “Goris” for their destructive nature. At the outset of the poem, Brahma makes a plea to Vishnu to be born on earth in order to rectify the Muslim desecration of Pushkar, the holy site dedicated to Brahma that is near Ajmer – the answer to his prayer is our hero Prithviraj, frequently identified in the text as a form of Vishnu. Subsequently, we are told that King Arnoraja had a lake created in order to cleanse the earth of impurity from the many Muslim deaths that occurred during the course of an assault on the Chahamana capital. The Chahamana kings are hence firmly placed on the side of the gods, fighting against the forces of evil, in these flattering scenarios."

"In the last few pages I have repeatedly referred to Prthvīrāja Vijaya, the only surviving literary text from the king’s reign. Much of what we know about Prithviraj’s predecessors comes from Prthvīrāja Vijaya, whose more detailed genealogy agrees quite closely with the genealogies contained in Chahamana inscriptions. Among the deeds narrated are the founding of Ajmer and the construction of various temples and tanks there. The text repeatedly situates the royal family in Ajmer and praises the city’s beauty, as well as nearby Pushkar’s holiness."

"Visnu - my dwelling place Puskara has been overcome with terror of the matangas [Turks]. The place where I myself performed the final ablutions after the great sacrifice of world creation, the mleccha army now uses to refresh themselves after their violent destruction of temples and brahman settlements."

"祇園精舎の鐘の聲、諸行無常の響き有り。沙羅雙樹の花の色、盛者必衰の理を顯す。 驕れる者も久しからず、唯春の夜の夢の如し。 猛き者も遂には滅びぬ、偏に風の前の塵に同じ。"

"A junior fisherman, a fisherman of Inana, turned the double-axe against him and struck Gudam down. Gudam began to weep, and turned pale: "Inana, spare my life! I will give you bulls of the mountains, I will make your cow-pen full! I will give you sheep of the mountains, I will make your sheepfold full!""

"He lopped off the crossbeams of E-ana as if they were branches. Gudam went out into the street. Gudam crushed many on the streets of Unug, and killed many with his mace. He hacked down the door of the city gate."

"Inana, I will speak of your heroism. It is pleasant to praise you!"

"The Car-ur, my heroic weapon."

"They filled the bronze vessels to the brim. He made the tilimda vessels shine like the holy barge. [...] Many followed Gudam on the streets of Unug. They sat armed before him."

"What you have eaten, what you have eaten -- it was not bread that you have eaten, it was your flesh that you have eaten! What you have drunk, what you have drunk -- it was not beer that you drank, it was your blood that you drank! Gudam, many followed you on the streets of Unug; they sat armed before you."

"Suns may rise and set in Suomi, / Rise and set for generations, / When the North will learn my teachings, / Will recall my wisdom-sayings, / Hungry for the true religion. / Then will Suomi need my coming, / Watch for me at dawn of morning, / That I may bring back the Sampo, / Bring anew the harp of joyance, / Bring again the golden moonlight, / Bring again the silver sunshine, / Peace and plenty to the Northland."

"Metamorphoses, trans. A. D. Melville (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986)"

"The Metamorphoses, trans. Horace Gregory (New York: The Viking Press, 1958)"

"Metamorphoses, trans. Charles Martin (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2004)"

"The. xv. Booke of P. Ouidius Naso, entytuled Metamorphosis, trans. Arthur Golding (London: Willyam Seres, 1567)"

"Metamorphoses, trans. Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1955)"

"Nascique vocatur incipere esse aliud, quam quod fuit ante, morique desinere illud idem."

"Tempus edax rerum, tuque, invidiosa vetustas, omnia destruitis vitiataque dentibus aevi paulatim lenta consumitis omnia morte!"

"Sic tempora verti cernimus atque illas adsumere robora gentes, concidere has."

"Quae natura negabat visibus humanis, oculis ea pectoris hausit."

"Dum peiora timentur, est in vota locus: sors autem ubi pessima rerum, sub pedibus timor est securaque summa malorum."

"Nihil est toto, quod perstet, in orbe. Cuncta fluunt, omnisque vagans formatur imago."

"Iamque opus exegi, quod nec Iovis ira nec ignis nec poterit ferrum nec edax abolere vetustas."

"Candida de nigris et de candentibus atra."

"Audentes deus ipse iuvat!"

"Somne, quies rerum, placidissime, Somne, deorum, pax animi, quem cura fugit, qui corpora duris fessa ministeriis mulces reparasque labori."