The Songs of Greece: from the Romaic Text

The Songs Of Greece: From The Romaic Text by Charles Brinsley Sheridan. The book is a collection of English verse translations of Romaic (Romaic Greek) ballads drawn from M. Fauriel's Romaic texts, organized into three parts. Part I presents historical ballads about Klephtai and other Greek fighters, including Armatoles, Suli, and famous episodes such as the Death of Diakos, the Siege of Tripolitsa, and the Deliverance of the Wife of Liako, emphasizing Greek heroism and resistance alongside depictions of mountain life and custom. Part II offers Romantic Ballads that explore love, loyalty, separation, and domestic scenes across Epirus, Thessaly, and the Aegean islands. Part III contains Recent Odes by Greek literati, including Dithyrambics to Liberty and a celebrated epitaph for Marco Botzaris. Sheridan notes that the translations aim to illuminate Greek manners and national character and to support education in Greece through a fund for education. He discusses metre and translation notes, the sources used, and the relationship between poetry and history, providing commentary to assist readers.