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PREFATORY NOTE The execution of this version of the ILIAD has been entrusted to the three Translators in the following three parts:
Books I. - IX. . . . . W. Leaf.
" X. - XVI. . . . . A. Lang.
" XVII. - XXIV. . . . . E. Myers.
Each Translator is therefore responsible for his own portion; but the whole has been revised by all three Translators, and the rendering of passages or phrases recurring in more than one portion has been determined after deliberation in common. Even in these, however, a certain elasticity has been deemed desirable. On a few doubtful points, though very rarely, the opinion of two of the translators has had to be adopted to the suppression of that held by the third. Thus, for instance, the Translator of Books X. - XVI. Would have preferred "c" and "us" to "k" and "os" in the spelling of all proper names. The text followed has been that of La Roche (Leipzig, 1873), except where the adoption of a different reading has been specified in a footnote. Where the balance of evidence, external and internal, has seemed to the Translator to be against the genuineness of the passage, such passage has been enclosed in brackets []. The Translator of Books X. - XVI. Has to thank Mr. R.W. Raper, Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, for his valuable aid in revising the proof-sheets of these Books. NOTE TO REVISED EDITION In the present Edition the translation has been carefully revised throughout, and numerous minor corrections have been made. The Notes at the end of the volume have been, with a few exceptions, omitted; one of the Translators hopes to publish very shortly a Companion to the Iliad for English readers, which will deal fully with most of the points therein referred to. The use of square brackets has in this edition been restricted to passages where there is external evidence, such as absence from the best MSS., for believing in interpolation. One or two departures from this Rule are noticed in footnotes. November 1891 The reader will perhaps also be helped by the following list of the Greek and Latin names of the gods and goddesses who play important parts in the narrative. When the Greek names are new to him, the corresponding Latin names may be more familiar.
Greek Latin
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Zeus. Jupiter.
Hera. Juno.
(Pallas) Athene. Minerva.
Aphrodite. Venus.
Poseidon. Neptune.
Ares. Mars.
Hephaestus. Vulcan.
The sacred soil of Ilios is rent
With shaft and pit; foiled waters wander slow Through plains where Simois and Scamander went
To war with gods and heroes long ago. Not yet to dark Cassandra lying low
In rich Mycenae do the Fates relent; The bones of Agamemnon are a show,
And ruined is his royal monument. The dust and awful treasures of the dead
Hath learning scattered wide; but vainly thee, Homer, she meteth with her Lesbian lead,
And strives to rend thy songs, too blind is she To know the crown on thine immortal head
Of indivisible supremacy.
A.I.
Athwart the sunrise of our western day
The form of great Achilles, high and clear,
Stands forth in arms, wielding the Pelian spear. The sanguine tides of that immortal fray, Swept on by gods, around him surge and sway,
Wherethrough the helms of many a warrior peer,
Strong men and swift, their tossing plumes uprear. But stronger, swifter, goodlier he than they, More awful, more divine. Yet mark anigh;
Some fiery pang hath rent his soul within,
Some hovering shade his brows encompasseth. What gifts hath Fate for all his chivalry?
Even such as hearts heroic oftenest win;
Honour, a friend, anguish, untimely death.
E.M.
BOOK I. - How Agamemnon and Achilles fell out at the siege of Troy; and Achilles withdrew himself from battle, and won from Zeus a pledge that his wrong should be avenged on Agamemnon and the Achaians. BOOK II. - How Zeus beguiled Agamemnon by a dream; and of the assembly of the Achaians and their marching forth to battle. And of the names and numbers of the hosts of the Achaians and the Trojans. BOOK III. - How Menelaos and Paris fought in single combat; and Aphrodite rescued Paris. And how Helen and Priam beheld the Achaian host from the walls of Troy. BOOK IV. - How Pandaros wounded Menelaos by treachery; and Agamemnon exhorted his chief captains to battle. BOOK V - How Diomedes by his great valour made havoc of the Trojans, and wounded even Aphrodite and Ares by the help of Athene. BOOK VI - How Diomedes and Glaukos, being about to fight, were known to each other, and parted in friendliness. And how Hector returning to the city bade farewell to Andromache his wife. BOOK VII - Of the single combat between Alas and hector, and of the burying of the dead, and the building of a wall about the Achaian ships. BOOK VIII - How Zeus bethought him of his promise to avenge Achilles` wrong on Agamemnon; and therefore bade the gods refrain from war, and gave victory to the Trojans. BOOK IX - How Agamemnon sent an embassage to Achilles, beseeching him to be appeased; and how Achilles denied him. BOOK X - How Diomedes and Odysseus slew Dolon, a spy of the Trojans, and themselves spied on the Trojan camp, and took the horses of Rhesos, the Thracian king. BOOK XI - Despite the glorious deeds of Agamemnon, the Trojans press hard on the Achaians, and the beginning of evil comes on Patroklos. BOOK XII - How the Trojans and allies broke within the wall of the Achaians. BOOK XIII - Poseidon stirreth up the Achaians to defend the ships. The valour of Idomeneus. BOOK XIV - How Sleep and Hera beguiled Zeus to slumber on the heights of Ida, and Poseidon spurred on the Achaians to resist Hector, and how Hector was wounded. BOOK XV - Zeus awakening, biddeth Apollo revive Hector, and restore the fortunes of the Trojans. Fire is thrown on the ship of Protesilaos. BOOK XVI - How Patroklos fought in the armour of Achilles, and drove the Trojans from the ships, but was slain at last by Hector. BOOK XVII - Of the battle around the body of Patroklos. BOOK XVIII - How Achilles grieved for Patroklos, and how Thetis asked for him new armour of Hephaistos; and of the making of the armour. BOOK XIX - How Achilles and Agamemnon were reconciled before the assembly of the Achaians, and Achilles went forth with them to battle. BOOK XX - How Achilles made havoc among the men of Troy. BOOK XXI. - How Achilles fought with the River, and chased the men of Troy within their gates. BOOK XXII - How Achilles fought with Hector, and slew him, and brought his body to the ships. BOOK XXIII - Of the funeral of Patroklos, and the funeral games. BOOK XXIV - How the body of Hector was ransomed, and of his funeral. |
