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Modification of Translation of a Celebrated Greek Song, by William Wordsworth
The poem (CC 16.1.1.449-51) was published in MP 13 February 1798 over the signature "PUBLICOLA" ("Cultivator of the Public"). Coleridge adapted Wordsworth's translation of a drinking song, which Mays describes as a schoolboy exercise. The Greek original was quoted by Athenaeus in the Deipnosophistae and included by Richard Brunck in Analecta Veterum Poetarum Graecorum (1772-76), where it is attributed to Callistratus (second century BCE).
I will bear my vengeful blade,
With the myrtle boughs array'd,
As Harmodius before,
As Aristogeiton bore:
When the tyrants' breast they gor'd
With the myrtle-braided sword;
Gave to triumph freedom's cause,
Gave to Athens equal laws.
Where, Harmodius! art thou fled?
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We deem thee not among the dead.
Dear son of fame! 'tis thine to rest
In the islands of the blest;
Where old Maeonides reclin'd,
Still pours in song his mighty mind;
While Achilles list'ning nigh,
Nods his helmed head for joy.
I will bear my vengeful blade,
With the myrtle boughs array'd,
As Harmodius did before,
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As Aristogeiton bore!
Let thy name, Harmodius dear!
Live thro' Heav'n's eternal year:
Long as Heaven and Earth survive,
Dear Aristogeiton, live.
With the myrtle-braided sword
Ye the tyrants' bosom gor'd;
Gave to triumph freedom's cause,
Gave to Athens equal laws!
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13. Maeonides] Homer, who, reputedly, was either from Maeonia or was the son of Maeon.
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