Custom Search
Homer’s
Iliad
translated into English Hexameters
by James Inglis Cochrane
Edinburgh:
Printed for Private Circulation
1867
[Sample
from the Opening of the Poem]
HOMER’S
ILIAD.
BOOK
FIRST.
SING,
O heavenly goddess, the wrath of Peleides Achilles,
Ruinous
wrath, whence numberless woes came down on Achaia,
Many
a valiant soul of her sons untimely dismissing,
Sending
to Hades; their mangl’d bodies a prey to the vultures
5 Left,
and the dogs:—but the counsels of Zeus meanwhile were evolving—
E’en
from the time, when contention arising ’tween King Agamemnon,
Ruler
of heroes, and godlike Achilles, they stood disunited.
Who
of the great gods caus’d these heroes to wrangle and combat?
Offspring
of Leto and Zeus: he, wroth with the king, had excited
10 All
through the army a baleful disease, and the people by thousands
Perish’d,
because of Atreides’ dishonour to Chryses the aged,
Priest
of the gods; who had come to the swift-wing’d ships of Achaia,
Carrying
rich gifts many, his daughter beloved to ransom,
Bearing
the wreath in his hands, of the high, far-darting Apollo,
15 Hung
on a sceptre of gold; where thus he entreated the Argives,
Chiefly
the brothers Atreidae, the two great heads of the people:
“Hear
me, Atreidae, and all well-greav’d, brave-hearted Achaians!
O
may the gods, who inhabit the mansions of lofty Olympus
Grant
that the city of Priam ye sack, home safely returning!
20 Further,
my daughter beloved release, these ransoms accepting;
Thus
shall ye reverence show Zeus-born, far-darting Apollo.”
Shouting
applause, the immense host cheer’d, and consented to honour
Chryses
the priest, and accept the magnificent ransoms he proffcr’d:
Only
the soul of incens’d Agamemnon, the monarch, it pleas’d not;
25 Him
he dismiss’d with disgrace, this harsh speech scornfully adding:
“Thee,
old man, take heed by the deep-hull’d ships that I find not,
Either
at this time waiting, or yet hereafter returning;
Sceptre
and wreath of Apollo would then prove futile to aid thee.
Her
I shall never release until safe in our mansion at Argos
30 Age
comes on her apace, far, far from the land of her fathers,
While
she is plying the loom, and at couch-time waiting my coming.
Hence!
and enrage not my soul, if to reach home safe thou desirest.”
Ended:
The old man fearing obey’d; thence taking his lone way
On
by the shore which the huge wave, hollow-voic’d, boisterous, lashes.
35 Whereupon,
far from the others apart having wander’d, the prophet
Pray’d
to Apollo, whom Leto the fair-hair’d bore to Kronion:
“Hear
my request, thou god of the silvery bow, who protectest
Chrysa
and Killa divine, and with power over Tenedos reignest
Smintheus!
if ever to thee I have rear’d an appropriate temple,
40 Ever
to thee fat thighs on the sacred altar have off’er’d,
Either
of bulls or of goats, O grant that my pray’r may be answer’d;
Grant
that my tears be aveng’d on the Argives, aveng’d by thine arrows!”
Ended
the old man praying; and him heard Phoebus Apollo.
Instant
in wrath forth darted the god from the top of Olympus,
45 Bearing
his bow and the lid-clos’d quiver of shafts on his shoulders.
Rattl’d
the arrows the quiver within, as, enrag’d in his bosom,
Onward
he mov’d; and, advancing, he spread dark night all round him.
Then
he apart from the ships sat down, and directed an arrow :
Loud
twang’d, ringing, the string of the silvery bow in rebounding.
50 Sleek
mules foremost he smote, then swift dogs, fiercely attacking ;
Afterwards,
full at the host he his keen barb’d arrows directed,
Smiting
in rage, until frequent the pyres of the corses were burning.
Review
Comment
Cochrane
joins the long list of those who wish to argue that the six-beat hexameter line
is a form well suited to English verse and particularly to Homer. He
offers a few observations on the issue in a short preface which he published
with Book I of the Iliad (in
1862). His
complete translation was published after his death with the same preface. The
only satisfactory resolution to this apparently endless argument is surely a
pragmatic one: Has anyone produced a hexameter version of the poem which we
recognize as a masterful rendition of Homer into English? Endless
debates about the rules of Greek metre or the suitability of the hexameter for
German poetry, interesting as they may be, are beside the point. Cochrane’s
translation is clearly insufficiently imaginative and moving to provide the only
justification for the hexameter which matters, especially since it leads him
into such curious English constructions as “Ended the old man praying,”
“rich gifts many,” and so on.
Readers who like to access the full text of Cochrane’s translation should use the following link:Cochrane Iliad.
Page loads on johnstonia web files
View Stats