ÆSOP'S FABLESのPreface★★★

自信もないですが自分の解釈を記録しようと思います

まずは本文

'Twas the Golden age, when every brute Had voice articulate, in speech was skilled, And the mid-forests with its synods filled. The tongues of rock and pine-leaf then were free; To ship and sailor then would speak the sea; Sparrows with farmers would shrewd talk maintain; Earth gave all fruits, nor asked for toil again. Mortals and gods were wont to mix as friends. To which conclusion all the teaching tends of sage old ÆSOP.

意味に関してはめんどくさそうなので、時間があるときに追記します。今回は構文解析をメインで。

・'Twas the Golden age, when every brute Had voice articulate, in speech was skilled, And the mid-forests with its synods filled.

まず'TwasはIt wasのこと。whenはageを修飾する関係副詞(かな)。every brute Had voice articulateは少し悩みましたが使役のhave O Vと判断しました(どうしてhadは大文字なのでしょう)voiceはits voiceなどにしたいと感じますがこれは別に不要なのか、それとも詩だから無いだけなのでしょうか。, in speech was skilledはまずコンマがそれだけでandの役割を果たしており、主語は前と同じevery brute です。in speechは前置(？)されてます。その次の部分でもこれと同じ構造のためbeが省略されており、また、同じくwith its synodsが前置(？)しています。

まとめるとIt was the Golden age, when every brute had its voice articulate, and was skilled in speech. And the mid-forests were filled with it's synods.という解釈です。

・The tongues of rock and pine-leaf then were free; To ship and sailor then would speak the sea; Sparrows with farmers would shrewd talk maintain; Earth gave all fruits, nor asked for toil again.

thenは先のgolden ageのことです。

二つ目の箇所は最後に主語が来ています。

3つ目がこの文章の肝です。(ここはカバン屋先生にヒント貰った)with farmers はtalkに係り、shrewd talkはmaintainの目的語です。(いわゆるV2語順)最後のnorの用法は辞書であまり見つかりませんが意味は特に問題ないでしょう。ここのagainは否定と結びついて「二度としない」ではなく対比を表す「ところが一方」の意味でしょう。

まとめるとThe tongues of rock jnd pine-leaf then were free.The sea would speak to ships and sailors. Sparrows would maintain shrewd talk with farmers. Earth gave fruits, but didn't ask for toil again.です。

・Mortals and gods were wont to mix as friends. To which conclusion all the teaching tends of sage old ÆSOP.

1文目はbe wont to という見慣れない表現以外は問題ないと思います。２文目は文頭にくるwhichということで珍しいと思います。しかも前置詞がつきの関係形容詞です。先行詞はこれまでの内容全てと考えて良いと思います。気になる方は現代英文法講義や読むための英文法でしっかりと解説されているので読んでみてください。of sage old ÆSOPは主語のall the teachingからの外置(extraposition from NP)です。

まとめるとMortals and gods were wont to mix as friends. All the teaching of sage old ÆSOP tends to this conclusion.です。

なにかミスや見落としがあれば教えてください