The Iliad

Homer, Samuel Butler

Description

“The Iliad” is Homer's legendary account of the Trojan War, an epic battle that took place over three thousand years ago and had a significant impact on world history. So significant was the war that it led to the invention of the phonetic alphabet as a means to record the great conflict. Homer's chronicle of the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Mycenaean Greek states is considered to be the greatest war story ever told and numbers amongst the most important works of Western literature. This fantastic 1898 translation by Samuel Butler is a must-read for lovers of literature and history alike, and would make for a worthy addition to every bookshelf. Contents include: “Homer, an Introduction by John Henry Wright”, “To Homer, a Poem by John Keats”, “Translations, by Rev. W. Lucas Collins”, “The Iliad”, "Homer's Illiad, an Excerpt by D. J. Snider" and "The Age of Homer, an Excerpt by Goldwin Smith".

Sujets

• Poésie
• Poésie épique
• Homeric Question

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 20 octobre 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781528792769
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

THE ILIAD
Homer’s Greek Epic with Selected Writings
Translated into English Prose by
Samuel Butler

First written in 8th century BCE First published in English in 1581 Butler's translation first published in 1898



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This edition is published by Wine Dark Press, an imprint of Read & Co.
This book is copyright and may not be reproduced or copied in any way without the express permission of the publisher in writing.
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Read & Co. is part of Read Books Ltd. For more information visit www.readandcobooks.co.uk


"I entirely agree with you after due rumination. Homer and Shakespeare are the only two poets in the wide world."
— Baron Merian to Dr . S. Butler.


Contents
HOMER
An Introduction by John Henry Wright
TO HOMER
A Poem by John Keats
TRANSLATIONS
By Rev. W. L ucas Collins
THE ILIAD
BOOK I
BOOK II
BOOK III
BOOK IV
BOOK V
BOOK VI
BOOK VII
BOOK VIII
BOOK IX
BOOK X
BOOK XI
BOOK XII
BOOK XIII
BOOK XIV
BOOK XV
BOOK XVI
BOOK XVII
BOOK XVIII
BOOK XIX
BOOK XX
BOOK XXI
BOOK XXII
BOOK XXIII
BOOK XXIV
FOOTNOTES
SELECTED WRITINGS ON HOMER AND THE ILIAD
HO MER’S ILIAD
An Excerpt by D. J. Snider
THE A GE OF HOMER
An Excerpt by G oldwin Smith


Illustrations
The Apotheo sis of Homer
Map, Titled “Graecia e Antiquae”.
Map of the Pl ain of Troy.




HOMER
An Introduction by John Henry Wright
The name Homer now stands for ancient Greek epic poetry. We know nothing of the man and his life. In times past, scholars asked with regard to his birthplace, but now they ask rather where epic poetry had its rise. The earliest Greek epics seem to have been sung in Thessaly, south of Mount Olympus, where was the fabled home of the gods; and the muses were called Pierian, from Pieria in Macedonia, not far to the north. But epic poetry was brought to its perfection by Ionian Greeks, on the western coast of Asia Minor. Thirty years ago many scholars believed the whole story of the Trojan war, on which both the Iliad and the Odyssey are based, to be a mere figment of the imagination, developed perhaps from misinterpreted expressions relating to the Dawn; but the excavations of the last quarter of the nineteenth century showed that, rather more than a thousand years before the beginning of our era, powerful and wealthy cities with mighty walls stood where Homer placed Mycenae and Troy, the homes of Agamemnon, "king of men," and the old king Priam. So we need not doubt that the Trojan war was a real war, though doubtless the poems exaggerate the numbers of those who took part in it. Achilles and Agamemnon may have been real men, though "Homer" was a poet and not a historian.
How much of the poems, as we have them, is due to any one poet, no one can say. Doubtless the poet who gave them their unity used very freely older lays and poetic material of every sort, adapting this to his use, while the bards who followed our Homer added verses, brief passages, or even whole lays. Before the age when writing was used for literary purposes, the sense of literary property was not strong, and each bard or "rhapsode" felt at liberty to modify and to add. But that a true and great poetic genius put the poems into essentially their present form, fewer doubt now than a quarter of a century ago. This poet probably lived as early as the ninth century before our era. Other scholars would hold that the poems are the product of three or four poets in different ages,—the later poet extending and developing the plan of his predecessors. The earliest of these may have lived as early as the tenth century, and the latest in the eighth c entury B. C.
An introd uction from Masterpieces of Greek Lite rature , 1902


TO HOMER
A Poem by John Keats
Standing aloof in giant ignorance,
Of thee I hear and of the Cyclades,
As one who sits ashore and longs perchance
To visit dolphin-coral in deep seas.
So thou wast blind;—but then the veil was rent,
For Jove uncurtain'd Heaven to let thee live,
And Neptune made for thee a spumy tent,
And Pan made sing for thee his forest-hive;
Aye on the shores of darkness there is light,
And precipices show untrodden green,
There is a budding morrow in midnight,
There is a triple sight in blindness keen;
Such seeing hadst thou, as it once befel
To Dian, Queen of Earth, and Heaven, and Hell.
1818


TRANSLATIONS
By Rev. W. Lucas Collins
It has been thought desirable in these pages to use the Latin names of the Homeric deities, as more familiar to English ears. As, however, most modern translators have followed Homer’s Greek nomenclature, it may be convenient here t o give both.
Zeus = Jupiter (Also known as Jove.)
Herè = Juno.
Arēs = Mars.
Poseidōn = Neptune.
Pallas Athenè = Minerva.
Aphroditè = Venus.
Hephaistos = Vulcan.
Hermes = Mercury.
Artemis = Diana.




The Apotheo sis of Homer


THE ILIAD


BOOK I
The Quarrel Between Agamemnon And Achilles— Achilles Withdraws From The War, And Sends His Mother Thetis To Ask Jove To Help The Trojans— Scene Between Jove And Juno On Olympus
Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades, and many a hero did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures, for so were the counsels of Jove fulfilled from the day on which the son of Atreus, king of men, and great Achilles, first fell out with one another.
And which of the gods was it that set them on to quarrel? It was the son of Jove and Leto; for he was angry with the king and sent a pestilence upon the host to plague the people, because the son of Atreus had dishonoured Chryses his priest. Now Chryses had come to the ships of the Achaeans to free his daughter, and had brought with him a great ransom: moreover he bore in his hand the sceptre of Apollo wreathed with a suppliant’s wreath, and he besought the Achaeans, but most of all the two sons of Atreus, who were t heir chiefs.
“Sons of Atreus,” he cried, “and all other Achaeans, may the gods who dwell in Olympus grant you to sack the city of Priam, and to reach your homes in safety; but free my daughter, and accept a ransom for her, in reverence to Apollo, s on of Jove.”
On this the rest of the Achaeans with one voice were for respecting the priest and taking the ransom that he offered; but not so Agamemnon, who spoke fiercely to him and sent him roughly away. “Old man,” said he, “let me not find you tarrying about our ships, nor yet coming hereafter. Your sceptre of the god and your wreath shall profit you nothing. I will not free her. She shall grow old in my house at Argos far from her own home, busying herself with her loom and visiting my couch; so go, and do not provoke me or it shall be the wor se for you.”
The old man feared him and obeyed. Not a word he spoke, but went by the shore of the sounding sea and prayed apart to King Apollo whom lovely Leto had borne. “Hear me,” he cried, “O god of the silver bow, that protectest Chryse and holy Cilla and rulest Tenedos with thy might, hear me oh thou of Sminthe. If I have ever decked your temple with garlands, or burned your thigh-bones in fat of bulls or goats, grant my prayer, and let your arrows avenge these my tears upon t he Danaans.”
Thus did he pray, and Apollo heard his prayer. He came down furious from the summits of Olympus, with his bow and his quiver upon his shoulder, and the arrows rattled on his back with the rage that trembled within him. He sat himself down away from the ships with a face as dark as night, and his silver bow rang death as he shot his arrow in the midst of them. First he smote their mules and their hounds, but presently he aimed his shafts at the people themselves, and all day long the pyres of the dead w ere burning.
For nine whole days he shot his arrows among the people, but upon the tenth day Achilles called them in assembly—moved thereto by Juno, who saw the Achaeans in their death-throes and had compassion upon them. Then, when they were got together, he rose and spoke among them.
“Son of Atreus,” said he, “I deem that we should now turn roving home if we would escape destruction, for we are being cut down by war and pestilence at once. Let us ask some priest or prophet, or some reader of dreams (for dreams, too, are of Jove) who can tell us why Phoebus Apollo is so angry, and say whether it is for some vow that we have broken, or hecatomb that we have not offered, and whether he will accept the savour of lambs and goats without blemish, so as to take away the plag ue from us.”
With these words he sat down, and Calchas son of Thestor, wisest of augurs, who knew things past present and to come, rose to speak. He it was who had guided the Achaeans with their fleet to Ilius, through the prophesyings with which Phoebus Apollo had inspired him. With all sincerity and goodwill he addressed them thus:—
“Achilles, loved of heaven, you bid me tell you about the anger of King Apollo, I will therefore do so; but consider first and swear that you will stand by me heartily in word and deed, for I know that I shall offend one who rules the Argives with might, to whom all the Achaeans are in subjection. A plain man cannot stand against the anger of a king, who if he swallow his displeasure now, will yet nurse revenge till he has wreaked it. Consider, therefore, whether or no you will protect me.”
And Achilles answered, “Fear not, but speak