Iliad
of Homer
Translated into English Verse
by W. G. Caldcleugh
Philadelphia 1870
[Sample from the Opening of the Poem]
THE ILIAD OF HOMER
BOOK I
THE QUARREL OF THE CHIEFS
ARGUMENT
The
Greeks are encamped on the shore in front of Troy.—A pestilence breaks
out in the army.—Achilles calls a council, at which Chalcas, the prophet,
declares the cause of it to be the refusal of Agamemnon to ransom
the captive maid whom he had taken in battle, and whose release
had been begged by her father Chryses, priest of Apollo.—The king
finally restores her, and indemnifies himself by seizing Briseis, another
captive female who belonged to Achilles.—Achilles, in great wrath
for this insult, withdraws from the war, and prays his mother, the sea-goddess
Thetis, to go to Olympus and beg Jupiter to take part with the
Trojans, and bring defeat on the Greeks.
SING
of Achilles’ wrath, oh heavenly muse,
Which brought upon the Greeks unnumbered woes,
And sent so many heroes to their doom;
Whose bodies, strewed unburied o’er the plain,
Became the prey of vultures and of dogs:
So Jove decreed, when first a quarrel rose
Betwixt the godlike warrior Achilles
And Agamemnon, sovereign of men.
Who
of the gods the quarrel set afoot?
Apollo ’twas; he, angry with the king,
Sent through the camp a plague; the people
died,—
For
Agamemnon insulted Chryses,
Apollo’s priest; he to the Greeks had come
With costly gifts, his daughter to redeem,
And bearing in his hand the golden wand
And flowery garlands of his patron god,
He supplicated all the Greeks, but most
The two commanders, sons of Atreus.
Hear
me, ye sons of Atreus, and ye Greeks:
May the gods dwelling on the Olympian mount
Grant all you wish; may Priam’s city fall,
And ye in safety to your homes return;
But, oh, restore to me my darling child,
Receive my gifts, and reverence my god.
Then shouted all the Greeks their full consent
The priest to honor, and accept his gifts.
But Agamemnon was much displeased,
Roughly dismissed him, and thus harshly spake:
Let me not find thee in the camp, old man,
Long loitering; nor hither come again,
Lest e’en thy garlands and thy rod divine
Protect thee not; as for thy daughter, I
Will not restore her till her charms decay.
But to my home in Argos shall she go,
Far from her native land, sharing my bed,
And laboring at the loom. Begone, I say,
Whilst safely thou canst go. Thus spake the king.
The old man, trembling, heard him and obeyed.
Silent he went, retiring from the camp,
Along the margin of the roaring sea;
Then to Apollo, all alone he prayed:
Hear me, Apollo, god of the silver bow,
Ruling o’er Chrysa, Teuedos, and Cilia,
If e’er with garlands I have crowned thy
shrine,
Or offered up the fat of bulls and goats,
Grant this my prayer: may thy avenging darts
Upon the Greeks be sent for these my tears.
Thus
Chryses prayed, nor was his prayer unheard,
For full of wrath, down from the Olympian mount,
Apollo came; upon his shoulders hung
His splendid quiver and his costly bow;
The angry arrows rattled as he trod;
Like night he came, so terrible his frown.
Outside the camp he took his seat, and shot:
His silver bow twanged horribly; first fell
The mules, the dogs died next, then on the men
The deadly arrow of the god descended.
Editorial
Comment
Caldcleugh’s
preface is nothing if not modest: “The
following translation, the desultory occupation of a few
years, is submitted to the public with much diffidence. Written
principally for the amusement of the translator and
his friends, he makes no claim to the qualifications necessary
for the success of such an undertaking ; yet, perhaps,
some of the admirers of Homer may honor the work
with a perusal, if only to see in what light any new version
may place their favorite author.” The
result is an entertaining and energetic blank verse rendition, far superior to
many of the efforts of the Victorian English tradition of translating the Iliad. Caldcleugh’s
verse is a reminder that in many things directness and clarity trump odd
scholarly experiments (of which we may say, with Dr. Johnson, that no precedents
justify absurdity).
Readers
who would like to access the complete text of Caldcleugh’s translation should
use the following link: Caldcleugh
Iliad.
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