The Iliad of Homer by Homer (some good books to read txt) 📕
Few persons of any consideration are introduced either in the Iliad orOdyssey by their own name only, but their patronymic is given also. Tothis ceremonial I have generally attended, because it is a
circumstance of my author's manner.
HOMER never allots less than a whole line to the introduction of aspeaker. No, not even when the speech itself is no longer than theline that leads it. A practice to which, since he never departs fromit, he must have been determined by some cogent reason. He probablydeemed it a
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For I deem
Him wont to pray; since all of every land
Need succor from the Gods;
are so many proofs of the truth of this remark; to which a curious reader might easily add a multitude.]—Tr.
[There is no word in our language expressive of loud sound at all comparable in effect to the Greek Bo-o-osin. I have therefore endeavored by the juxta-position of two words similar in sound, to palliate in some degree defect which it was not in my power to cure.]—Tr.
[Or collar-bone.]
[The proper meaning of επιοσαομενω—is not simply looking on, but providing against. And thus their ignorance of the death of Patroclus is accounted for. They were ordered by Nestor to a post in which they should have little to do themselves, except to superintend others, and were consequently too remote from Patroclus to see him fall, or even to hear that he had fallen.—See Villoisson.]—Tr.
This is one of the similes of Homer which illustrates the manners and customs of his age. The mode of preparing hides for use is particularly described. They were first softened with oil, and then were stretched every direction by the hands of men, so that the moisture might be removed and the oil might penetrate them. Considered in the single point of comparison intended, it gives a lively picture of the struggle on all sides to get possession of the body.—Felton.
This is the proper imperfect of the verb chide, though modern usage has substituted chid, a word of mean and awkward sound, in the place of it.
This alludes to the custom of placing columns upon tombs, on which were frequently represented chariots with two or four horses. The horses standing still to mourn for their master, could not be more finely represented than by the dumb sorrow of images standing over a tomb. Perhaps the very posture in which these horses are described, their heads bowed down, and their manes falling in the dust, has an allusion to the attitude in which those statues on monuments were usually represented; there are bas-reliefs that favor this conjecture.
[The Latin plural of Ajax is sometimes necessary, because the English plural—Ajaxes—would be insupportable.]—Tr.
[Leïtus was another chief of the Bœotians.]—Tr.
[Διφρω εφεσταοτος—Yet we learn soon after that he fought on foot. But the Scholiast explains the expression thus—νεωστι τω διφωω επιβαντος. The fact was that Idomeneus had left the camp on foot, and was on foot when Hector prepared to throw at him. But Cœranus, charioteer of Meriones, observing his danger, drove instantly to his aid. Idomeneus had just time to mount, and the spear designed for him, struck Cœranus.—For a right understanding of this very intricate and difficult passage, I am altogether indebted to the Scholiast as quoted by Villoisson.]—Tr.
[The translator here follows the interpretation preferred by the Scholiast. The original expression is ambiguous, and may signify, either, that we shall perish in the fleet ourselves, or that Hector will soon be in the midst of it. Vide Villoisson in loco.]—Tr.
[A noble instance of the heroism of Ajax, who asks not deliverance from the Trojans, or that he may escape alive, but light only, without which be could not possibly distinguish himself. The tears of such a warrior, and shed for such a reason, are singularly affecting.]—Tr.
Footnotes for Book XVIII:
This speech of Antilochus may serve as a model for its brevity.
This form of manifesting grief is frequently alluded to in the classical writers, and sometimes in the Bible. The lamentation of Achilles is in the spirit of the heroic times, and the poet describes it with much simplicity. The captives join in the lamentation, perhaps in the recollection of his gentleness, which has before been alluded to.—Felton.
[Here it is that the drift of the whole poem is fulfilled. The evils consequent on the quarrel between him and Agamemnon, at last teach Achilles himself this wisdom—that wrath and strife are criminal and pernicious; and the confession is extorted from his own lips, that the lesson may be the more powerfully inculcated. To point the instruction to leaders of armies only, is to narrow its operation unnecessarily. The moral is of universal application, and the poet's beneficent intentions are wronged by one so partial.]—Tr.
The promise of Thetis to present her son with a suit of armor, was the most artful method of hindering him from putting immediately in practice his resolution of fighting, which, with his characteristic violence, he would otherwise have done.
[The sun is said to set with reluctance, because his setting-time was not yet come. Jupiter had promised Hector that he should prevail till the sun should go down, and sacred darkness cover all. Juno therefore, impatient to arrest the victor's progress, and having no other means of doing it, shortens the time allotted him.]—Tr.
[καταδημοβορησαι.]
This custom of washing the dead is continued among the Greeks to this day, and is performed by the dearest friend or relative. The body is then anointed with a perfume, and covered with linen, exactly in the manner here related.
Among the Greeks, visitors of rank are still honored in the same manner, by being set apart from the rest of the company, on a high seat, with a footstool.
['Ανεδραμε.]
The description of the shield of Achilles is one of the noblest passages in the Iliad. It is elaborated to the highest finish of poetry. The verse is beautifully harmonious, and the language as nicely chosen and as descriptive as can be conceived. But a still stronger interest belongs to this episode when considered as an exact representation of life at a very early period of the world, as it undoubtedly was designed by the poet.
It is certainly a most remarkable passage for the amount of information it conveys relative to the state of arts, and the general condition of life at that period. From many intimations in the ancient authors, it may be gathered, that shields were often adorned by deities of figures in bas-relief, similar to those here described. In particular, see Æschylus in the Seven against Thebes. A close examination of the whole passage will lead to many curious inductions and inferences relative to the ancient world, and throw much light upon points which are elsewhere left in great obscurity.—Felton.
Murder was not always punished with death or even banishment. But on the payment of a fine, the criminal was allowed to remain in the city.
Linus was the most ancient name in poetry, the first upon record as inventor of verse and measure among the Grecians. There was a solemn custom among the Greeks, of bewailing annually their first poet. Pausanias informs us, that before the yearly sacrifice to the Muses on Mount Helicon, the obsequies of Linus were performed, who had a statue and altar erected to him in that place. In this passage Homer is supposed to allude to that custom.
See article Theseus, Gr. and Rom. Mythology.
There were two kinds of dance—the Pyrrhic, and the common dance; both are here introduced. The Pyrrhic, or military, is performed by Youths wearing swords, the other by the virgins crowned with garlands. The Grecian dance is still performed in this manner in the oriental nations. The youths and maidens dance in a ring, beginning slowly; by degrees the music plays in quicker time, till at last they dance with the utmost swiftness; and towards the conclusion, they sing in a general chorus.
The point of comparison is this. When the potter first tries the wheel to see "if it will run," he moves it much faster than when at work. Thus it illustrates the rapidity of the dance.—Felton.
Footnotes for Book XIX:
[Brave men are great weepers—was a proverbial saying in Greece. Accordingly there are few of Homer's heroes who do not weep plenteously on occasion. True courage is doubtless compatible with the utmost sensibility. See Villoisson.]—Tr.
The fear with which the divine armor filled the Myrmidons, and the exaltation of Achilles, the terrible gleam of his eye, and his increased desire for revenge, are highly poetical.—Felton.
The ancients had a great horror of putrefaction previous to interment.
[Achilles in the first book also summons a council himself, and not as was customary, by a herald. It seems a stroke of character, and intended by the poet to express the impetuosity of his spirit, too ardent for the observance of common forms, and that could trust no one for the dispatch he wanted.]—Tr.
['Ασπασιως γονυ καμψειν.—Shall be glad to bend their knee, i.e. to sit and repose themselves.]—Tr.
[Τουτον μυθον.—He seems to intend the reproaches sounded in his ear from all quarters, and which he had repeatedly heard before.]—Tr.
[By some call'd Antibia, by others, Nicippe.]—Tr.
It was unlawful to eat the flesh of victims that were sacrificed in confirmation of oaths. Such were victims of malediction.
Nothing can be more natural than the representation of these unhappy young women; who, weary of captivity, take occasion from every mournful occurrence to weep afresh, though in reality little interested in the objects that call forth these expressions of sorrow.—Dacier.
Son of Deidameia, daughter of Lycomedes, in whose house Achilles was concealed at the time when he was led forth to the war.
[We are not warranted in accounting any practice unnatural or absurd, merely because it does not obtain among ourselves. I know not that any historian has recorded this custom of the Grecians, but that it was a custom among them occasionally to harangue their horses, we may assure ourselves on the authority of Homer, who would not have introduced such speeches, if they could have appeared as strange to his countrymen as they do to us.]—Tr.
Hence it seems, that too great an insight into futurity, or the revelation of more than was expedient, was prevented by the Furies.—Trollope.
Footnotes for Book XX:
[This rising ground was five stadia in circumference, and was between the river Simois and a village named Ilicon, in which Paris is said to have decided between the goddesses. It was called Callicolone, being the most conspicuous ground in the neighborhood of the city.—Villoisson.]—Tr.
[Iris is the messenger of the gods on ordinary occasions, Mercury on those of importance. But Themis is now employed, because the affair in question is a council, and to assemble and dissolve councils is her peculiar Province. The return of Achilles is made as magnificent as possible. A council in heaven precedes it, and a battle of the gods is the consequence.—Villoisson.]—Tr.
[The readiness of Neptune to obey the summons is particularly noticed, on account of the resentment he so lately expressed, when commanded by Jupiter to quit the battle.—Villoisson.]—Tr.
The description of the battle of the gods is strikingly grand. Jupiter thunders in the heavens, Neptune shakes the boundless earth and the high mountain-tops; Ida rocks on its base, and the city of the Trojans and the ships of the Greeks tremble; and Pluto leaps from his throne in terror, lest his loathsome dominions should be laid open to mortals and immortals.—Felton.
[The Leleges were a colony of Thessalians, and the first inhabitants of the shores of the Hellespont.]—Tr.
Hector was the son of Priam, who descended from Ilus, and Æneas the
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