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FRANCIS BACON'S CRYPTIC RHYMES 63
HOLOFERNES.
Great Hercules is presented by this imp
Whose club killed Cerberus, that three-headed canus ;
And when he was a babe, a child, a shrimp,
Thus did he strangle serpents with his manus.
We find " canus " printed in the original editions !
Hertzberg considered it his duty to correct the error,
and wrote "canw." That is the way a German trans
lator, who lacks the sense of humour to translate
a comedy, corrects the author of the (!) Shakespeare
Plays :
HOLOFERNES.
Den grossen Herkules agiert der Knirps,
Der Cerb'rus totschlug, den dreikopfgen Cam's, (!)
Und noch als Saugling, Kind und kleiner Stirps
Die Schlangen so erwiirgt mit seiner Manus. (!)
And, on the same festive occasion, the braggart
Don Armado forces the droll rhyme " mighty " and
"fight ye," which is even excelled in drollery by the
more comic three-syllabled rhyme,
"
I lion-Pavilion " :
ARMADO.
The armipotent Mars, of lances the almighty,
Gave Hector a gift, the heir of Ilion ;
A man so breath'd, that certain he would fight ye.
From morn to night, out of his pavilion.
Here the translation is better, though,
instead of
"
lungenstark," the wrong word, " lanzenstark," is used :
ARMADO.
Der waffenmacht'ge Mars mit Speeren allgewaltig
Gab Hektorn ein Geschenk, Junkherrn von Ilion ;
So lanzenstark war er : er jagte ohne Haltdich
Vom Morgen bis zur Nacht vor seinem Pavilion.