which is something more than unconstrained,—over-familiar; something more than easy,—free and easy. In this respect it is like the movement of Mr Newman's version, like his rhythm, for this, too, fails, in spite of some qualities, by not being noble enough; this, while it avoids the faults of being slow and elaborate, falls into a fault in the opposite direction, and is slip-shod. Homer presents his thought naturally; but when Mr Newman has,
A thousand fires along the plain, I say, that night were burning,
he presents his thought familiarly; in a style which may be the genuine style of ballad-poetry, but which is not the style of Homer. Homer moves freely; but when Mr Newman has,
Infatuate! O that thou wert lord to some other army<ref>From the reproachful answer of Ulysses to
Agamemnon, who had proposed an abandonment
of their expedition. This is one of the 'tonic'
passages of the Iliad, so I quote it:
<poem>
Ah, unworthy king, some other inglorious army
Should'st thou command, not rule over us, whose portion for ever
Zeus hath made it, from youth right up to age, to be winding
Skeins of grievous wars, till every soul of us perish.
Iliad, xiv. 84.
</ref>, </poem>
he gives himself too much freedom; he leaves us too much to do for his rhythm ourselves, instead of giving to us a rhythm
