LE DRAGON DE RHODES

Page 96. The Dragon of Rhodes is considered the most spirited and exciting of ail Schiller's narrative subjects with the exception of The Diver. The olden Christian chivalry is depicted, and the moral of that humility which consists in self-conquest is enforced. The story is from the Knights of St. John, by Vertet d'Aubœuf. The date assigned to the conquest of the Dragon is 1342. Hélion de Villeneuve was the name of the Grand Master, and that of the knight, Dieu-Donné de Gozon. The latter in time became Grand ]\Iaster, and on his gravestone were inscribed the words, Draconis Extinctor.

" Now, as this story plain doth tell, Within that country there did rest A dreadful dragon fierce and fell, Whereby they were full sore opprest."

— Percy's Reliques. St. George and the Dragon.

2. Rhodes: an island in the Aegean Sea. For over two hundred years it was in the possession of the Knights of St. John who captured the island from the Greek and Saracen pirates.

Pindar gives this mystical history of the island's origin. When the gods were making a division of the earth, one deity alone was absent from the allotment, He was the Sun-god, HeHos. The oversight was unintended, and Zeus wished to cast the lots again. The Sun-god refused, however, to accept the offer, for he saw, he said, a land rising from the depths of océan — " Rich in sustenance for man and plenteoiis pasturage for sheep." Helios asked the Goddess of Fate who presided over the sharing of the earth to swear that when sirch a country was visible that it should be assigned to him. The promise was given, and Rhodes came forth from the waters — the portion of the Sun-god. With the island appeared also its tutelary nymph Rhodos, the Rose. Helios made Rhodos his bride and from their union seven noble sons were born.

12. les chevaliers de Saint- Jean: the Knights of St. John were a celebrated military and religious order which originated in Jérusalem in the tenth century. They had charge of a hospital dedicated to St. John the Baptist, which the caliph of Egypt permitted some merchants of Amalfi to build for the pilgrims who came to visit the holy sepulcher. The Knights were nurses, and were first known as the hospitalier brothers of St. John the Baptist of Jérusalem. They took vows of poverty, chastity and obédience. Later, the order became military as well as religious, and many persons of high rank and influence were among its numbers. Having also attained great wealth, they came to hâve immense political power. Napoléon abolished the order in 1798. Although extinct as a body, remnants of the order are found in Italy, Russia and Spain. The office of grand master has not been filled since 1801 ; but a deputy grand master has been appointed instead who has his résidence in Spain.

Page 97. 17. Qu'ont-ils fait, ces héros chantés des poètes: What hâve they done, those heroes sung by poets. Hère the poet alludes to the labors of Hercules, which this epigram by Phillippus enumerates :

" The Nemean monster, and the Hydra dire

I quelled : The Bull, the Boar, I saw expire

Under my hands; I seized the queenly Zone,

And Diomede's fierce steeds I made my own.

I plucked the golden Apples: Geryon slew:

And what I could achieve Augias knew.

The Hind I caught : the vile Birds ceased their flight:

Cerberus I upwards dragged; and gained Olympus' height."

The Minotaur was represented as having a human body and the head of a bull, which was confined in the Cretan labyrinth and fed on human flesh. He devoured the seven youths and seven maidens whom Minos compelled the Athenians to send him periodically as tribute. The hero Theseus killed the monster and escaped from the labyrinth by the aid of Ariadne, daughter of Minos. Chaucer in his Knight's Taies, mentions Theseus and " The Minotaur which that he slough in Crète."

21. jamais ils n'ont plaint leur sang: never did they complain of spilling their blood.

Page 99. 19. c'est là qu'habitait le reptile: there dwelt the monster.

" That great dragon which forever keeps The shining fruitage of the Hesperides, With fierce and vigilant eye that never sleeps Crouched 'neath the shadows of the charmed trees."