The
Odyssey of Homer
With the
Hymns, Epigrams, and Battle of the Frogs and Mice
Literally Translated
By Theodore Alois Buckley
London 1851
[Sample
from the Opening of the Poem]
THE
ODYSSEY OF HOMER.
BOOK
I.
ARGUMENT.
Ill
an assembly of the gods it is determined that Ulysses shall be sent to Ithaca,
from the island of Calypso. Minerva then goes to Ithaca to Telemachus, assuming
the figure of Mentes, king of the Taphians, an old friend
of Ulysses. Entering into conversation with Telemachus, she advises him
to go to Pylos, to Nestor, and to Menelaus, at Sparta, to make inquiries
about his father, whether he is still alive; after which she departs, giving
manifest proofs of her divinity. Telemachus rebukes his mother
Penelope, and desires her to go up-stairs: and then, during a banquet,
threatens the suitors that he will be revenged on them for their insolent
conduct.
O
MUSE, sing to me of the man full of resources, who wandered very
much after he had destroyed the sacred city of Troy,
and saw the cities of many men, and learned their manners. Many
griefs also in his mind did he suffer on
the sea, although
seeking to preserve his own life, and the return of his
companions; but not even thus, although anxious, did he extricate
his companions : for they perished by their own infatuation, fools!
who devoured the oxen of the Sun who journeys on high; but he deprived them of
their return. O goddess, daughter
of Jove, relate to us also some of these things.
Now
all the others, as many as had escaped from utter destruction,
were at home, having escaped both the war and the
sea. But him alone, anxious for a return [home], and for his
wife, the venerable nymph Calypso, a divine one of the goddesses,
detained in her hollow grot, desiring him to be her
husband. But when, after revolving years, the time had now
arrived, in which the gods destined him to return home to Ithaca,
not even then was he freed from labours, although amongst
his own friends. But all the gods pitied him except Neptune;
but he was unceasingly angry with godlike Ulysses, before
he arrived in his own land. But he [Neptune] had gone to
the Æthiopians who dwell afar off, (the Æthiopians who are
divided into two parts, the most distant of men, some at the
setting of the sun, others at the rising,) in order to obtain a hecatomb of
bulls and lambs. There sitting down he was delighted
with a feast ; but the other [gods] were assembled together
in the palace of Olympian Jove. And unto them the father
of men and of gods began discourse ; for he remembered in
his mind the noble Ægisthus, whom far-famed Orestes,
the son of Agamemnon, slew : and remembering him, he
spoke [these] words to the immortals.
“Alas! How,
forsooth, do mortals reproach the gods! For
they say that their evils are from us: whereas they themselves, through
their own infatuation, suffer griefs beyond what
is destined. Thus even now Ægisthus, contrary to the decrees of fate, married
the wedded wife of Atrides, and slew him
on his return, although aware that utter destruction [awaited himself]; since we
forewarned him, (having sent the
trusty Mercury, the slayer of Argus,) neither to kill him, nor
to woo his wife; for from Orestes revenge shall follow for
Atrides, when he grows to man's estate, and longs for his
country.
Thus spoke Mercury: but although he gave good advice,
he did not persuade the mind of Ægisthus ; but now has
he at once atoned for all these things."
Review
Comment
Buckley’s
translation is brisk and business like: he stays very close to Homer’s text,
but the English is clear, if at times a little antiquated, and keeps the story
moving along. Buckley
provides many footnotes; the numbers clutter the text somewhat, but the
information in the notes is varied and stimulating, especially when Buckley
explains the choices he has made. This
translation went through a number of printings, and one can understand its
popularity, even if the modern reader is likely to be somewhat irritated at the
Latin names.
The
text includes an interesting Life of Homer (Attributed to Herodotus of
Halicarnassus, translated by Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie) “It is the earliest
memory of the supposed author of the Iliad we possess, and, as such merits
translation.”
Readers
who would like to see the complete translation should use the following link: Buckley
Odyssey.
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