National Epics | Page 2

help of this volume any reader be
enabled to find a portion of the wisdom that is hidden in these mines,
its purpose will have been accomplished.
My thanks are due to Mr. John A. Wilstach for the use of selections
from his translation of the "Divine Comedy;" to Prof. J. M. Crawford,
for the use of selections from his translation of the "Kalevala;" to

Henry Holt & Co., for the use of selections from Rabillon's translation
of "La Chanson de Roland;" to Roberts Brothers, for the use of
selections from Edwin Arnold's "Indian Idylls;" to Prof. J. C. Hall, for
the use of selections from his translation of "Beowulf;" and to A. C.
Armstrong & Son, for the use of selections from Conington's
Translation of the "Aeneid." The selections from the "Iliad" and the
"Odyssey" are used with the permission of and by special arrangement
with Houghton, Mifflin & Co., publishers of Bryant's translations of the
"Iliad" and the "Odyssey." Special thanks are due to Miss Eliza G.
Browning of the Public Library of Indianapolis, to Miss Florence
Hughes of the Library of Indiana University, and to Miss Charity Dye,
of Indianapolis.
K. M. R.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., September, 1896.

CONTENTS.
THE HINDU EPIC: THE RAMÂYÂNA
THE HINDU EPIC: THE MAHÂ-BHÂRATA
THE GREEK EPIC: THE ILIAD
THE GREEK EPIC: THE ODYSSEY
THE FINNISH EPIC: THE KALEVALA
THE ROMAN EPIC: THE AENEID
THE SAXON EPIC: BEOWULF
THE GERMAN EPIC: THE NIBELUNGEN LIED
THE FRENCH EPIC: THE SONG OF ROLAND
THE PERSIAN EPIC: THE SHAH-NAMEH
THE SPANISH EPIC: THE POEM OF THE CID
THE ITALIAN EPIC: THE DIVINE COMEDY
THE ITALIAN EPIC: THE ORLANDO FURIOSO
THE PORTUGUESE EPIC: THE LUSIAD
THE ITALIAN EPIC: THE JERUSALEM DELIVERED
THE ENGLISH EPIC: PARADISE LOST
THE ENGLISH EPIC: PARADISE REGAINED

SELECTIONS.
FROM THE RÂMÂYANA: TRANSLATOR The Descent of the

Ganges ... Milman The Death of Yajnadatta ... "
FROM THE MAHÂ-BHÂRATA: Sâvitrî; or, Love and Death ...
Arnold The Great Journey ... "
FROM THE ILIAD: Helen at the Scaean Gates ... Bryant The Parting
of Hector and Andromache ... "
FROM THE ODYSSEY: The Palace of Alcinoüs ... Bryant The
Bending of the Bow ... "
FROM THE KALEVALA: Ilmarinen's Wedding Feast ... Crawford
The Birth of the Harp ... "
FROM THE AENEID: Nisus and Euryalus ... Conington FROM
BEOWULF: Grendel's Mother ... Hall FROM THE NIBELUNGEN
LIED: How Brunhild was received at Worms ... Lettsom How
Margrave Rüdeger was slain ... "
FROM THE SONG OF ROLAND: The Horn ... Rabillon Roland's
Death ... "
FROM THE SHAH-NAMEH: The Rajah of India sends a Chessboard
to Nushirvan Robinson Zal and Rudabeh "
FROM THE POEM OF THE CID: Count Raymond and My Cid
Ormsby My Cid's Triumph "
FROM THE DIVINE COMEDY: Count Ugolino Wilstach Buonconte
di Montefeltro " Beatrice descending from Heaven " The Exquisite
Beauty of Beatrice "
FROM THE ORLANDO FURIOSO: The Death of Zerbino Rose
FROM THE LUSIAD: Inez de Castro Mickle The Spirit of the Cape "
FROM THE JERUSALEM DELIVERED: Sophronia and Olindo
Wiffen FROM PARADISE LOST: Satan Apostrophe to Light
FROM PARADISE REGAINED: The Temptation of the Vision of the
Kingdoms of the Earth

NATIONAL EPICS.

THE RÂMÂYANA.
"He who sings and hears this poem continually has attained to the
highest state of enjoyment, and will finally be equal to the gods."
The Râmâyana, the Hindu Iliad, is variously ascribed to the fifth, third,
and first centuries B.C., its many interpolations making it almost
impossible to determine its age by internal evidence. Its authorship is

unknown, but according to legend it was sung by Kuça and Lava, the
sons of Rama, to whom it was taught by Valmiki. Of the three versions
now extant, one is attributed to Valmiki, another to Tuli Das, and a
third to Vyasa.
Its historical basis, almost lost in the innumerable episodes and
grotesque imaginings of the Hindu, is probably the conquest of
southern India and Ceylon by the Aryans.
The Râmâyana is written in the Sanskrit language, is divided into seven
books, or sections, and contains fifty thousand lines, the English
translation of which, by Griffith, occupies five volumes.
The hero, Rama, is still an object of worship in India, the route of his
wanderings being, each year, trodden by devout pilgrims. The poem is
not a mere literary monument,--it is a part of the actual religion of the
Hindu, and is held in such reverence that the mere reading or hearing of
it, or certain passages of it, is believed to free from sin and grant his
every desire to the reader or hearer.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND CRITICISM, THE RÂMÂYANA.
G. W. Cox's Mythology and Folklore, 1881, p. 313;
John Dowson's Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, Religion,
Geography, History, and Literature, 1879;
Sir William Jones on the Literature