Preface.
opinions even Lord Derby would probably hesitate to describe as "pestilent heresies," or himself as a "silly one"—viz., Oliver Goldsmith—"be surmounted by an effort of attention, and a little practice; and in that case we should be as well pleased with English as with Latin hexameters" (Goldsmith's Essays, vol. ii., p. 265). One disadvantage certainly attaches to the use of the Hexameter, as compared with that of the ordinary blank-verse heroic metre; and that is that it is less easily handled, and requires a greater amount of labor on the part of the translator. Sometimes, however, the original seems to be susceptible of reproduction in the English metre, with less than the average amount of difficulty; and, as instances of this—not by way of expressing any self-satisfaction at the actual result, but merely by way of statement that the result, whatever it may be, has been attained with comparative ease to himself—the Translator may perhaps venture to refer to the marshalling of the army, Book II. v. 455 to 494; the well-known scene on the walls, Book III. v. 121 to 244; the commencement of the first battle, Book IV. v. 422 to 544; the great speech of Achilles, Book IX. v. 307 to 429; the acts of Agamemnon and Odysseus, Book XI. v. 1 to 496; the scene between Zeus and Hère, Book XIV. v. 153 to 352; the deaths of Cebriones and Patroclus, Book XVI. v. 726 to 869; the description of the shield of Achilles, Book XVIII. v. 478 to 607; the arming of Achilles, Book XIX. v. 364 to 424; and the funeral games, Book XXIII. v. 249 to 897.
ix
