[185] Sometimes spelt Ismenias and Ismene. I believe it was first published in an Italian translation of the late Renaissance, and it has appeared in other languages since. But it is only worth reading in its own.
[186] Πόλις Εὐρύκωμις καὶ τἆλλα μὲν ἀγαθὴ, ὅτι καὶ θαλάττῃ στεφανοῦται καὶ ποίλμοῖς καταρρεῖται καὶ λειμῶσι κομᾷ καὶ τρυφαῖς εὐθηνεῖται παντοδαπαῖς, τὰ δ’ εἰς θεοῦς εὐσεβής, καὶ ὑπὲρ τὰς χρυσᾶς Ἀθήνας ὅλη βωμός, ὅλη θῦμα, θεοῖς ἀνάθημα.
Transliteration of above: Polis Eurykômis kai talla men agathê, hoti kai thalattê stephanoutai kai poilmois katarreitai kai leimôsi koma kai tryphais euthêneitai pantodapais, ta d' eis theous eusebês, kai hyper tas chrysas Athênas holê bômos, holê thyma, theois anathêma.
[187] I have not thought it proper, considering the system of excluding mere hypothesis which I have adopted, to give much place here to that interesting theory of modern "Romanists" which will have it that Latin classical literature was never much more than a literary artifice, and that the modern Romance tongues and literatures connect directly, through that famous lingua romana rustica and earlier forms of it, vigorous though inarticulate, in classical times themselves, with primitive poetry—"Saturnian," "Fescennine," and what not. All this is interesting, and it cannot be said, in the face of inscriptions, of the scraps of popular speech in the classics, &c., to be entirely guesswork. But a great deal of it is.
[188] See Studj sulla Letteratura Italiana dei Primi Secoli. 2d ed. Milan: Fratelli Treves, 1891. Pp. 241-458.
[189] Obtainable in many forms, separately and with Dante's works. The Latin is easy enough, but there is a good English translation by A.G. Ferrers Howell (London, 1890). Those who like facsimiles may find one of the Grenoble MS., with a learned introduction, edited by MM. Maignien and Prompt (Venice, 1892).
[190] Authorities differ oddly on Jacopone da Todi (v. [p. 8]) in his Italian work. Professor d'Andrea's book, cited above, opens with an excellent essay on him.
[191] The text with comment, stanza by stanza, is to be found in the book cited above.
[192] "Sacro erotismo," "baccanale cristiano," are phrases of Professor d'Andrea's.
[193] Spanish can scarcely be said to have shared, to an extent commensurate with its interest, in the benefit of recent study of the older forms of modern languages. There is, at any rate in English, and I think elsewhere, still nothing better than Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature (3 vols., London, 1849, and reprinted since), in the early part of which he had the invaluable assistance of the late Don Pascual de Gayangos. Some scattered papers may be found in Romania. Fortunately, almost all the known literary materials for our period are to be found in Sanchez' Poesias Castellanas Anteriores al Siglo XV., the Paris (1842) reprint of which by Ochoa, with a few valuable additions, I have used. The Poema del Cid is, except in this old edition, rather discreditably inaccessible—Vollmöller's German edition (Halle, 1879), the only modern or critical one, being, I understand, out of print. It would be a good deed if the Clarendon Press would furnish students with this, the only rival of Beowulf and the Chanson de Roland in the combination of antiquity and interest.