The Iliad of Homer in English Hexameter Verse/Preface
PREFACE.
The first twelve books of this Translation of the entire Iliad were published in the spring of 1862, when they were honored with the notice, in journals and periodicals, of many able critics, including thedistinguished names of Dr. Whewell and Lord Lindsay. The generally favourable tone of the criticisms then elicited, has induced a careful revision of those twelve books, and the translation of the twelve remaining books;—the completed work exhibiting, it is hoped, many marks of its having profited by an attentive consideration of the strictures and suggestions of which the former half was thought deserving by such competent judges.
The translation was commenced, undesignedly, and as a matter of experiment, after reading Mr. Kingsley's Andromeda; and it was continued, as an amusement, and without, in the first instance, any view to publication. This may account for the fact that the first book was, originally—and, possibly, may still be—as a whole, less close as a translation, and less regular in rhythm, than the subsequent books:—a circumstance somewhat unpropitious to a favorable impression; inasmuch as that book, from its very position, as well as from its having, more frequently than any other portion of the poem, been experimented upon by part-translators, is naturally the most obvious to criticism.
The quasi-filial relation in which the translation stood to Mr. Kingsley's Andromeda, may account for that feature which was urged by some critics as a prominent ground of objection to it: viz., the retention of the Greek accentuation of the proper names. The Translator read, and he must own, admired, such lines as—
"There they set Andromedèn, most beautiful, shaped like a Goddess,"
and—
"Hebè, Harmoniè, and the golden Queen Aphrodìte,"
and he therefore thought—erroneously, as he now admits, although still admiring Mr. Kingsley's lines, above cited,—that the Greek accentuations should be always preserved. Further consideration, aided by the light of criticism, has, however, satisfied him that, as a rule, the effect of such retention is unpleasing to an English ear.[1] He has therefore, at the cost of much labor, eliminated it from the first twelve books, and has avoided it in the remaining twelve; except in some very rare cases, where the aggregation of proper names is such as to render it necessary, either to retain the accentuation of the original, or to abandon the principle, here professedly adopted, of a line-by-line translation. When it is said that the present professes to be a line-by-line translation, it is not meant that each one line of the original is always accurately represented by one line of the translation—although such is usually the case—but that, (with some very rare exceptions, mostly, if not altogether, occurring in the first and second books,) each paragraph of the original, is represented by the same number of lines in the translation. And in each of the books the identity of aggregate result is maintained. Upon this, as upon all other points, a translator has to strike a balance between advantages and disadvantages. The case is necessarily one for compromises. Few, however, who have themselves tried to translate the Iliad, or who are intimately familiar with the poem, can doubt that a close adherence to the peculiar structure, is all but essential to a due rendering of the spirit of the original. The antithetical arrangement of that original, and the continual embodiment of separate images, in separate lines, or couplets—or even portions—of lines, can never be adequately represented by a translation which admits systematically of a breaking up and fusion of the ideas of the great poet. The result is like that of a cross sea breaking up and destroying the magnificence of the long succession of those rolling waves which form Homer's favourite simile for his advancing armies, and which are so suggestive of his own lines.
Upon the vexed question of metre, the Translator can only say that now, on the completion of his task, he sees no reason to regret having selected the Hexameter. In it, and in it alone, is it possible, he believes, to combine adequate fidelity to the original, with that vigor and rapidity of movement, without which a translation may reproduce the ideas of the poet, and may be an exceedingly elaborate, elegant, and artistic production, but is not Homer; any more than the obelisk of Luxor is the Matterhorn. The want of rapidity of movement may be considered to be the one great drawback from the merits of the recent translation by Lord Derby, as also from those of the far less known, yet more vigorous, translation now in course of publication by Mr. Charles Ichabod Wright: and is, perhaps, a defect inherent in the English heroic blank verse. In writing thus, the Translator must not be supposed to be viewing with self-complacency his own efforts as compared with those of others; but merely to express his continued adherence to the metre which he originally selected; and which he believes has the sanction of a sufficient number of educated readers, to prevent the publication of an Hexameter translation of the Iliad, of even average merit, being treated as a literary intrusion. He is also satisfied that very many of those who now entertain a sense of dislike to the metre, would feel differently if their ears were but habituated to its use. The difficulty arising from the acquired habit of associating certain metres with Classical poetry, and other metres with English poetry, may—to use the words of a writer whose 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.
The Translator may perhaps be allowed, without being taxed with presumption, to express his entire adherence to the views of those critics who regard the Iliad, with some rare exceptions, as the work of a single mind.
The edition which he has generally used, has been that published by Dr. Trollope, founded on the text of Heyne.
A few foot-notes, and a list of Greek proper names with their Latin synonyms, are inserted, for the benefit of the general reader.
In conclusion, he has only to thank those friends who have favoured him with advice and assistance during the progress of the work. Among whom he has much satisfaction in being permitted to name the learned Master of Merchant Taylors, the Rev. Dr. Hessey, and—the Translator's colleague in another and very different department—Mr. Wm. Hayes. To the latter gentleman—one of the most acute and elegant of legal writers since the days of Fearne; and who, but for an unfortunate disinclination to publication, would now be as eminent in general, as he has for many years been in professional, literature—the Translator is indebted for a revision of the proofs of the entire work, and for many valuable suggestions and corrections.
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- ↑ See note subjoined to the list of proper names, infrà.