The Preface.
liver'd in another. Neither wou'd I so expatiate, as to alter my Author's Sentiments, or add others of my own. These Errors are to be avoided on either Hand, by adhering not only to the Word, but the Spirit and Genius of an Author; by considering what he means, with what beautiful Manner he has express'd his Meaning in his own Tongue, and how he would have express'd himself, had it been in ours. Thus we ought to seek for Homer in a Version of Homer: Other Attempts are but Transformations of him; such as Ovid tells us, where the Name is retain'd, and the Thing alter'd: This will be really what you mention'd in the Compliment you began with, a Transmigration of the Poet from one Country into another.
Here ended the serious Part of our Conference. All I remember further was, that having ask'd him, what he design'd with all those Editions and Comments I observ'd in his Room? he made Answer, That if any one, who had a Mind to find Fault with his Performance, wou'd but stay 'till it was entirely finish'd, he shou'd have a very cheap Bargain of them.
Since this Discourse, I have often resolv'd to try what it was to translate in the Spirit of a Writer, and at last, chose the Battle of the Frogs and Mice, which is ascrib'd to Homer; and bears a nearer Resemblance to his Iliad, than the Culex does to the Æneid of Virgil. Statius and othersthink