A Russian Translation of Paradise LostAuthor(s): Clarence A. ManningSource: The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 13, No. 37 (Jul., 1934), pp. 173-176Published by: the Modern Humanities Research Association and University College London, School ofSlavonic and East European StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4202967 .

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A RUSSIAN TRANSLATION OF PARADISE LOST

MILTON'S Paradise Lost had surprisingly little influence upon Russian literature, but this was perhaps to be expected. Until the early part of the i8th century, Russia was not interested in the artistic productions of the West, and when the new literature was established after the reforms of Peter the Great, most of the translations that appeared from the English were hack work, incorrect translations of French and German translations of the English authors. Under such conditions we could expect little comment or translation that was worth while.

The first serious translation seems to have been made by Ambrosy, Archbishop of Ekaterinoslav and Prefect of the Moscow Academy. The first edition appeared in I780 and a second in I785 (V. S. Sonikov, Opyt Rossiyskoy Bibliografii, Red. priim. vopolneniya i ukazatel' V. N. Rogozhina, chast IV, S. P.B. I905, PP. I23). This is probably the same book as the translation in the collection of Mr. M. M. Zolotarev in New York, which bears on the title page the inscription: " To the member of the Most Holy Regent Synod, the Most Reverend Platon, Metropolitan of Moscow and Kaluga and Holy Archimandrite of the Holy Trinity-St. George Monastery, full Director and Protector of the Moscow Academy."

Since Platon was appointed Metropolitan of Moscow only in I787, this volume must come from a later edition, but it is also signed M.A.P.A. (Moscow Academy Prefect Ambrosy).

The chief interest of the edition lies in the introduction, where the author attempts to correct and explain Milton and his ideaS, and it may be worth while to translate this as an example of Russian criticism of English literature at the end of the i8th century.

" Before the reader comes to the poem, I consider it necessary to say something about the author.

" I do not intend to describe his life in detail; for that would take time and be of little use. It is enough to say in his praise that having com- menced this poem at that age when the imagination, enriched by long experience, acts with the greatest fervour, he used all his knowledge even to excess and all his art in its adornment. Zealous reading of the Holy Scriptures, and especially Isaiah, the Prophet, gave him the highest thoughts. For this cause, it is filled with inimitable beauties, which seem not so much poetical as stamped out of the Word of God. Besides this, he loved of the Greek writers Homer especially and of the Latin the AMetamorphoses of Ovid. All this, being united with a poetic spirit

'73

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I74 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW.

about which he spoke in the beginning of the Seventh Book, when he mentions some deity (for he actually believed in its inspiration), all this, I say, being united, poured out that splendour, power and attractiveness in all parts of his poem, which are rarely visible in other works of this kind. His judgments are deep, his thoughts keen, his similes great, his passions blazing, his descriptions living. For if he takes us to heaven, we seem to see the holy mountain, lighted with glory; we see the Throne of the Eternal and His Son sitting on His right hand; we hear their consultations, we see the gathering of all the angelic powers, their evening joy; we see the rebellious spirits, gliding away quietly at dawnL to the north; we see the war, the terrible battle, then the coming of the Messiah, His thousands of lightnings flying from all sides on his enemies; we see the opened heavens, the terrible abyss and the falling headlong of the demoniac hosts. If we go down to Hell, he describes the deeds of the outcasts, their councils, their schemes and different seats; we seem, as it were, ourselves, fearing to move among them. If he shows us the flying Satan, if he depicts the site of Paradise, the appearance and condition of our ancestors, their conversations, their prayers, conversations with the Angels, their crimes and condemnation, all this is so touching and living that, as we read, we think that we are there. Finally an Angel comes to cast them out. That is a sad spectacle, from which the reader, touched with pity, would without doubt turn away his eyes, if Milton had not known how to soften the crnelty of this evil fate. He presents the Angel talking as a friend to our Forefather and then without any sternness taking them both by the hand out of Paradise, but consoled and walking through the fields of Eden, so that it seems as if we are following them further with our gaze. In a word, everywhere we see beauty, grandeur and splendour.

"It is true he includes in some places excesses and mistakes; but they, in comparison with the perfections, would be pardonable and endurable, for they are not noticeable to all; if he had not greater and more evident blunders. To warn the reader, I shall mention them here briefly, and especially those pertaining to the law, and (I) he nowhere says that the world was made from nothing; but he always assumes some substance, which was before creation; (2) in Book Four he introduces marriage into Paradise; but this is asserted by only a few, and those Jewish rabbis; but the Church teaches the opposite on the basis of Genesis iv, i. The fact that he approves this action with such fervour and censures those who reject it as something unlawful is not surprising, for he was thrice married, yet he blames only heretics of that kind which Paul predicts in i Timothy, iv; (3) in Book Five, where Adam excuses himself to the Angel for the poorness of the cooking and the latter accepts, to show that he can eat this food too, and turn it into his own being, etc., in this book, I say, the writer places in the mouth of the Angel the language of the materialist. And these are his most important defects, to which I shall add the last-although not so evident, yet perhaps the greatest-

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PARADISE LOST IN RUSSIAN. I75

and that is, that he maintained the Arian heresy; but such expressions and some other passages have been changed. As regards other liberties, if any one wishes to condemn him, he must remember that he is a poet and not merely a story-teller.

" As regards the translations of Books Two and Ten, Sin is described in English as of the feminine gender, and Death is masculine; therefore Sin is called the daughter begotten of Satan, and Death is the son of Sin; in Russian the genders are reversed.

"In conclusion I must confess that I shall count myself happy, if the reader will find in this translation even a few of the beauties of the original."

The translation is exactly what we might expect from the preface. It is a conscientious but uninspired effort to give a prose rendering of the poem and to eliminate or modify any passage which was out of harmony with the teachings of the Orthodox Church. In genieral, most of the poetic imagery has disappeared and the work is con- siderably reduced in volume.

Thus, for an illustration, our author renders the greeting of the Angel Raphael to Eve as follows (Book V, 377ff):

They entered the village solitude which now charmed the eye, as the shadow of Pomona, adorned with flowers and sweet fragrances. Eve, more attractive in her beauty alone than Diana and more beautiful than any one of the three goddesses, in the tradition of the mythologer, who once revealed their charms on Mount Ida; Eve, to honour the heavenly guest, stood before him. She had no need of clothing, but she was suffi- ciently clad in her virtue. No licentious smile changed the colour of her cheeks. The Angel greeted her with the sacred kiss, which in later times prepared the Daughter of Jesse to receive within her womb the Eternal Son (p. I78 f).

Or we can take again the appearance of the artillery of Satan (Book VI, 5I7ff):-

So he ordered them to be in readiness; but they are already prepared; their ranks are drawn up. They come holding their weapons high in martial order. Our foes approached, heavily dragging many weapons, surrounded by serried regiments, hiding their cleverness from our eyes. We were looking at them, when Satan appeared before his regiments and gave a command.

Suddenly the first ranks of the army parted; the regiments were doubled on both wings. We saw a strange, new sight; a triple order of columns one above the other, lying on wheels; since these things were like columns, or hollow oaks or pines felled in the forests or on the mountains with their branches lopped off. Seraphim, holding in their hands a reed burning with fire, stood behind every weapon.

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176 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW.

We made various guesses about these things; but soon the misunder- standing was decided; they stretched out their reeds and lightly touched them on a very small opening; suddenly the whole heaven appeared in fire, and at the same moment it was darkened by smoke, which came from the terrible throats of these death-dealing weapons; with a terrible roar they spouted out lightning and thunder (p. 2261).

These passages will give a good picture of the methods of the translator. The poem, as it appears in this version, has lost all of its poetic clothing, and there is left merely a solid and substantial and fairly accurate representation of the skeleton, in so far as it was not repugnant to the ideas and customs of the Orthodox Church. Such a translation could not become popular, and perhaps its chief claim to consideration is the fact that it was probably the version through which the Montenegrin poet Njegos came to know Milton's Paradise Lost, which serves as the basis for his poem, The Rays of the Microcosm. If this is so, it is clear what differences and difficulties there were in the way of securing a proper understanding of Milton among the Slavs.

It is impossible to speak of the literary value of this translation; but the introduction and a notice of the methods may serve to illus- trate the contact between Russia and England, and this may be of value to those who are studying the spread of the Milton tradition.

Coltmbia University, CLARENCE A. MANSNING.

New York.

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