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Title: The Iliad of Homer (1873)

Author: Homer

Translator: Theodore Alois Buckley

Release Date: August 23, 2007 [EBook #22382]

Language: English


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THE ILIAD OF HOMER, Literally Translated,

WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES. BY THEODORE ALOIS BUCKLEY, B.A. OF CHRIST CHURCH.

LONDON:
BELL AND DALDY, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
1873.

LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET
AND CHARING CROSS.

PREFACE.

The present translation of the Iliad will, it is hoped, be found to convey, more accurately than any which has preceded it, the words and thoughts of the original. It is based upon a careful examination of whatever has been contributed by scholars of every age towards the elucidation of the text, including the ancient scholiasts and lexicographers, the exegetical labours of Barnes and Clarke, and the elaborate criticisms of Heyne, Wolf, and their successors.

The necessary brevity of the notes has prevented the full discussion of many passages where there is great room for difference of opinion, and hence several interpretations are adopted without question, which, had the editor's object been to write a critical commentary, would have undergone a more lengthened examination. The same reason has compelled him, in many instances, to substitute references for extracts, indicating rather than quoting those storehouses of information, from whose abundant contents he would gladly have drawn more copious supplies. Among the numerous works to which he has had recourse, the following deserve particular mention-Alberti's invaluable edition of Hesychius, the Commentary of Eustathius, and Buttmann's Lexilogus.

In the succeeding volume, the Odyssey, Hymns, and minor poems will be produced in a similar manner.

THEODORE ALOIS BUCKLEY,
Ch. Ch., Oxford.

THE ILIAD OF HOMER.

BOOK THE FIRST.

ARGUMENT.

Apollo, enraged at the insult offered to his priest, Chryses, sends a pestilence upon the Greeks. A council is called, and Agamemnon, being compelled to restore the daughter of Chryses, whom he had taken from him, in revenge deprives Achilles of Hippodameia. Achilles resigns her, but refuses to aid the Greeks in battle, and at his request, his mother, Thetis, petitions Jove to honour her offended son at the expense of the Greeks. Jupiter, despite the opposition of Juno, grants her request.

Sing, Ο goddess, the destructive wrath of Achilles, son of Peleus, which brought countless woes upon the Greeks, 1 and hurled many valiant souls of heroes down to Hades, and made themselves 2 a prey to dogs and to all birds [but the will of Jove was being accomplished], from the time when Atrides, king of men, and noble Achilles, first contending, were disunited.

Footnote 1:(return) Although, as Ernesti observes, the verb προίαψεν does not necessarily contain the idea of a premature death, yet the ancient interpreters are almost unanimous in understanding it so. Thus Eustathius, p. 13, ed. Bas.: μετὰ βλάζης είς Αιδην πρὁ το δέοντος ἔπεμφεν, ὡς τῆς προθέσεως (i.e. προ) καιρικόν τι δηλούσης, ἢ ἁπλὡς ἔπεμψεν, ώς πλεοναζούσης τἤς προθέσεως. Hesych. t. ii. p. 1029, s. ν.: προίαψεν--δηλοῖ δε διὰ τἤς λέξεως τὴν μετ' ỏδὑνης αὐτῶν ἀπώλειαν. Cf. Virg. Æn. xii. 952: "Vitaque cum gemitu fugit indignata sub umbras," where Servius well observes, "quia discedebat a juvene: nam volunt philosophi, invitam animam discedere a corpore, cum quo adhuc habitare legibus naturæ poterat." I have, however, followed Ernesti, with the later commentators. Footnote 2:(return) I.e. their bodies. Cf. Æ. i. 44, vi. 362, where there is a similar sense of the pronoun.

Which, then, of the gods, engaged these two in strife, so that they should fight? 3 The son of Latona and Jove; for he, enraged with the king, stirred up an evil pestilence through the army [and the people kept perishing] 4; because the son of Atreus had dishonoured the priest Chryses: for he came to the swift ships of the Greeks to ransom his daughter, and bringing invaluable ransoms, having in his hands the fillets of far-darting Apollo on his golden sceptre. And he supplicated all the Greeks, but chiefly the two sons of Atreus, the leaders of the people:

"Ye sons of Atreus, and ye other well-greaved Greeks, to you indeed may the gods, possessing the heavenly dwellings, grant to destroy the city of Priam, and to return home safely: but for me, liberate my beloved daughter, and accept the ransoms, reverencing the son of Jove, far-darting Apollo."

Footnote 3:(return) Rut see Anthon. Footnote 4:(return) Observe the full force of the imperfect tense.

Upon this, all the other Greeks shouted assent, that the priest should be reverenced, and the splendid ransoms accepted; yet was it not pleasing in his mind to Agamemnon, son of Atreus; but he dismissed him evilly, and added a harsh mandate:

"Let me not find thee, old man, at the hollow barks, either now loitering, or hereafter returning, lest the staff and fillet of the god avail thee not. 5 For her I will not set free; sooner shall old age come upon her, at home in Argos, far away from her native land, employed in offices of the loom, and preparing 6 my bed. But away! irritate me not, that thou mayest return the safer."

Footnote 5:(return) Of χραισμεῖν, Buttmann, Lexil. p. 546, observes that "it is never found in a positive sense, but remained in ancient usage in negative sentences only; as, 'it is of no use to thee,' or, 'it helps thee not,' and similar expressions." Footnote 6:(return) The old mistake of construing ἀντιόωσαν "sharing," which still clings to the translations, is exploded by Buttm. Lex. p. 144. Eust. and Heysch. both give εὺτρεπίζονσαν as one of the interpretations; and that such is the right one is evident from the collateral phrase πορσύνειν λέχος in Od. iii. 403. Λμφιζέζηκας is the perfect tense, but with the force of the present.

Thus he spoke; but the old man was afraid, and obeyed the command. And he went in silence along the shore of the loud-resounding sea; but then, going apart, the aged man prayed much to king Apollo, whom fair-haired Latona bore:

"Hear me, god of the silver bow, who art wont to protect Chrysa and divine Cilla, and who mightily rulest over Tenedos: O Sminthius, 7 if ever I have roofed 8 thy graceful temple, or if, moreover, at any time I have burned to thee the fat thighs of bulls or of goats, accomplish this entreaty for me. Let the Greeks pay for my tears, by thy arrows."

Footnote 7:(return) An epithet derived from σμίνθος, the Phrygian name for a mouse: either because Apollo had put an end to a plague of mice among that people, or because a mouse was thought emblematical of augury.--Grote, Hist. of Greece, vol. i. p. 68, observes that this "worship of Sminthian Apollo, in various parts of the Troad and its neighbouring territory, dates before the earliest period of Æolic colonization." On the Homeric description of Apollo, see Müller, Dorians, vol. i. p. 315. Footnote 8:(return) Not "crowned," as Heyne says; for this was a later custom.--See Anthon and Arnold.

Thus he spoke praying; but to him Phoebus Apollo hearkened. And he descended from the summits of Olympus, enraged in heart, having upon his shoulders his bow and quiver covered on all sides. But as he moved, the shafts rattled forthwith 9 upon the shoulders of him enraged; but he went along like unto the night. Then he sat down apart from the ships, and sent among them an arrow, and terrible arose the clang of the silver bow. First he attacked the mules, and the swift 10 dogs; but afterwards despatching a pointed arrow against [the Greeks] themselves, he smote them, and frequent funeral-piles of the dead were continually burning. Nine days through the army went the arrows of the god; but on the tenth, Achilles called the people to an assembly; for to his mind the white-armed goddess Juno had suggested it; for she was anxious concerning the Greeks, because she saw them perishing. But when they accordingly were assembled, and were met together, swift-footed Achilles, rising up amidst them, [thus] spoke:

"O son of Atreus! now do I think that we would consent to return, having been defeated in our purpose, if we should but escape death, since at the same time 11 war and pestilence subdue the Greeks. But come now, let us consult some prophet, or priest, or even one who is informed by dreams (for dream also is from Jove), 12 who would tell us on what account Phoebus Apollo is so much enraged with us: whether he blames us on account of a vow [unperformed], or a hecatomb [unoffered]; and whether haply he may be willing, having partaken of the savour of lambs and unblemished goats, to avert from us the pestilence."

Footnote 9:(return) The force of ἄρα is noticed by Nägelsbach. Footnote 10:(return) Or "white." Hesych. ταχεῖς, λευκούς. Footnote 11:(return) Ammonius, p. 14, foolishly supposes that ἁμοῦ here denotes place, ἰν Τροίᾳ. Valcknaer justly supports the ordinary interpretation. Footnote 12:(return) Cf. Plin. Ep. i. 18, and Duport, Gnom. Hom. p. 3, sq.

He indeed, thus having spoken, sat down; but to them there arose by far the best of augurs, Calchas, son of Thestor, who knew the present, the future, and the past, 13 and who guided the ships of the Greeks to Ilium, by his prophetic art, which Phoebus Apollo gave him, who, being well disposed, 14 addressed them, and said:

"O Achilles, dear to Jove, thou biddest me to declare the wrath of Apollo, the far-darting king. Therefore will I declare it; but do thou on thy part covenant, and swear to me, that thou wilt promptly assist me in word and hand. For methinks I shall irritate a man who widely rules over all the Argives, and whom the Greeks obey. For a king is more powerful 15 when he is enraged with an inferior man; for though he may repress his wrath 16 for that same day, yet he afterwards retains his anger in his heart, until he accomplishes it; but do thou consider whether thou wilt protect me."

But him swift-footed Achilles, answering, addressed: "Taking full confidence, declare the divine oracle, whatsoever thou knowest. For, by Apollo, dear to Jove, to whom thou, praying, O Calchas, dost disclose predictions to the Greeks, no one of all the Greeks, while I am alive and have sight upon the earth, shall lay heavy hands upon thee at the hollow ships; not even if thou wast to name Agamemnon, who now boasts himself to be much the most powerful of the Greeks." 17

Footnote 13:(return) A common formula in the ancient poets to express the eternity of things. Empedocles apud Pseud. Arist. de Mundo: άνθ' ὅσα τ' ὴν, ὅσα τ' εστὶ, καὶ ὄσσα τε ἔσται ὀπίσσω. Virg. Georg. iv. 392: "Novit namque omnia vates, Quæ sint, quæ fuerint, quæ mox ventura trahantur". Footnote 14:(return) See Abresch. on Æschyl. p. 287. Ernesti.