FOOTNOTES 3 страница

1. [I have given this sense to the word Ζωροτερον—on the authority of the Venetian Scholium, though some contend that it should be translated— quickly. Achilles, who had reproached Agamemnon with intemperate drinking, was, himself, more addicted to music than to wine.]—Tr.
2. [It is not without authority that I have thus rendered κρειον μεγα. Homer's banquets are never stewed or boiled; it cannot therefore signify a kettle. It was probably a kitchen-table, dresser, or tray, on which the meat was prepared for the spit. Accordingly we find that this very meat was spitted afterward.—See Schaufelbergerus.]—Tr.
3. There are no speeches in the Iliad better placed, better timed, or that give a greater idea of Homer's genius than these of the ambassadors to Achilles. They are not only demanded by the occasion, but skilfully arranged, and in a manner that gives pleasure to the reader.
4. [Dacier observes, that he pluralizes the one wife of Menelaus, through the impetuosity of his spirit.]—Tr.
5. According to some ancient writers, Achilles was but twelve years of age when he went to the wars of Troy. And from what is here related of his education under Phœnix, it may be inferred, that the fable of his having been taught by Chiron is an invention of a later age and unknown to Homer.
6. The ancients gave the name of Jupiter not only to the God of heaven, but also to the God of hell, as is seen here; and to the God of the sea, as appears from Æschylus. They meant thereby to show that one sole deity governed the world. To teach this truth, statues were made of Jupiter which had three eyes. Priam had one in the court of his palace, which, in sharing the booty of the war of Troy, fell to the lot of Sthenelus, who carried it to Greece.—Dacier.
7. So called because Jove protects those who implore his aid.
8. [Wrinkled—because the countenance of a man driven to prayer by a consciousness of guilt is sorrowful and dejected. Lame—because it is a remedy to which men recur late, and with reluctance. And slant-eyed—either because, in that state of humiliation they fear to lift their eyes to heaven, or are employed in taking a retrospect of their past misconduct.

The whole allegory, considering when and where it was composed, forms a very striking passage.]—Tr.

1. [She had five brothers: Iphiclus, Polyphontes, Phanes, Eurypylus, Plexippus.]—Tr.
2. It was the custom for the murderer to go into banishment for one year. But if the relations of the murdered person were willing, the criminal, by paying a certain fine, might buy off the exile and remain at home. Ajax sums up this argument with great strength: We see, says he, a brother forgive the murder of his brother, a father that of his son; but Achilles will not forgive the injury offered him by taking away one captive woman.
3. The character of Achilles is well sustained in all his speeches. To Ulysses he returns a flat denial, and threatens to leave the Trojan shore in the morning. To Phœnix his answer is more gentle. After Ajax has spoken, he seems determined not to depart, but yet refuses to bear arms, except in defence of his own squadron.

Footnotes for Book X:

1. With slight alteration, Homer here repeats the verses that open the 2d Book, and ascribes to Agamemnon the same watchfulness over men that Jupiter had over the gods.
2. Menelaus starts a design, which is afterwards proposed by Nestor in council. The poet knew that the project would come with greater weight from the age of the one than from the youth of the other, and that the valiant would be ready to engage in the enterprise suggested by so venerable a counsellor.
3. Agamemnon is uniformly represented as an example of brotherly affection, and at all times defends Menelaus.
4. [Σαυρωτηρ—seems to have been a hollow iron with a point, fitted to the obtuse end of the spear, for the purpose of planting that end of it in the ground. It might probably be taken off at pleasure.]—Tr.
5. The dogs represent the watch, the flocks the Greeks, the fold their camp, and the wild beast that invades them, Hector. The place, position, and circumstances are represented with the utmost life and nature.
6. [ Sable, because the expedition was made by night, and each with a lamb, as typical of the fruit of their labors.]—Tr.
7. It required some address in Diomede to make a choice without offending the Grecian princes, each one of whom might consider it an indignity to be refused such a place of honor. Diomede, therefore, chose Ulysses, not for his valor, but for his wisdom. On this point, the other leaders all yielded to him.
8. The heroes are well armed for their design. Ulysses has a bow and arrows, that he may be able to wound the enemy at a distance, and Diomede a two-edged sword. They both have leathern helmets, as the glittering of the metal might betray them to the enemy.
9. [Autolycus was grandfather of Ulysses by the mother's side.]—Tr.
10. Making these military presents to brave adventurers was an ancient custom. "Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David; and his garments, even to his sword, and his bow, and his girdle." 1 Sam. xviii. v.
11. These lines show how careful the poet always was to be true to nature. The little circumstance that they could not see the heron, but only heard him, stamps the description with an air of verisimilitude which is at once recognized.—Felton.
12. This passage sufficiently justifies Diomede for his choice of Ulysses. Diomede, who was most renowned for valor, might have given a wrong interpretation to this omen, and have been discouraged from proceeding in the attempt. For though it really signified that, as the bird was not seen, but only heard, so they should not be discovered by the Trojans, but perform actions of which all Troy should hear with sorrow; yet, on the other hand, it might imply that, as they discovered the bird by the noise of its wings, so the noise they should make would betray them to the Trojans. Pallas does not send the bird sacred to herself, but the heron, because that is a bird of prey, and denoted that they should spoil the Trojans.
13. Dolon seems to have been eminent for wealth, and Hector summons him to the assembly as one of the chiefs of Troy. He was known to the Greeks, perhaps, from his having passed between the two armies as a herald. Ancient writers observe, that it was the office of Dolon that led him to offer himself in this service. The sacredness attached to it gave him hopes that they would not violate his person, should he chance to be taken; and his riches he knew were sufficient to purchase his liberty. Besides these advantages, he probably trusted to his swiftness to escape pursuit.
14. Eustathius remarks upon the different manner in which the Grecians and Trojans conduct the same enterprise. In the council of the Greeks, a wise old man proposes the adventure with an air of deference; in that of the Trojans, a brave young man with an air of authority. The one promises a small gift, but honorable and certain; the other a great one, but uncertain and less honorable, because it is given as a reward. Diomede and Ulysses are inspired with a love of glory; Dolon with the thirst of gain. They proceed with caution and bravery; he with rashness and vanity. They go in conjunction; he alone. They cross the fields out of the road, he follows the common track. In all this there is an admirable contrast, and a moral that strikes every reader at first sight.
15. [Commentators are extremely in the dark, and even Aristarchus seems to have attempted an explanation in vain. The translator does not pretend to have ascertained the distance intended, but only to have given a distance suited to the occasion.]—Tr.
16. Ulysses makes no promise of life, but artfully bids Dolon, who is overpowered by fear, not to think of death. He was so cautious as not to believe a friend just before without an oath, but he trusts an enemy without even a promise.
17. ['Οσσαι γαρ Τρωων πυρος εσχαραι—As many as are owners of hearths—that is to say, all who are householders here, or natives of the city.]—Tr
18. It seems barbarous in Diomede thus to have killed Dolon, but Eustathius observes that it was necessary to their success, as his cries might have put the Trojans on their guard.
19. An allegorical manner of saying that they were awakened by the morning light.
20. [Homer did not here forget himself, though some have altered τρις ιο τετρακαιδεκατον.—Rhesus for distinction sake is not numbered with his people—See Villoisson in loco. ]—Tr.

Footnotes for Book XI:

1. Cynyras was king of Cyprus, and this probably alludes to some historical fact. Cyprus was famous for its minerals.
2. [Τρεις εκατερθ'—three on a side, This is evidently the proper punctuation, though it differs from that of all the editions that I have seen. I find it no where but in the Venetian Scholium. ]—Tr.
3. It is finely remarked by Trollope, that, of all the points of resemblance which may be discovered between the sentiments, associations and expressions of Homer, and those of the sacred writings, this similitude is perhaps the most striking; and there can be little doubt that it exhibits a traditional vestige of the patriarchal record of God's covenant.—Felton.
4. [Quâtre-crested. So I have rendered τετραφαληρον which literally signifies having four cones. The cone was a tube into which the crest was inserted. The word quâtre-crested may need a precedent for its justification, and seems to have a sufficient one in the cinque-spotted cowslip of Shakspeare.]—Tr.
5. [This seems the proper import of εγδουπησαν. Jupiter is called εριγδουτος.]—Tr.
6. [The translator follows Clarke in this interpretation of a passage to us not very intelligible.]
7. The ancient manner of mowing and reaping was, for the laborers to divide in two parties, and to begin at each end of the field, which was equally divided, and proceed till they met in the middle of it.
8. Time was then measured by the progression of the sun, and the parts of the day were distinguished by the various employments.
9. [ολμος.]
10. [The Grecians at large are indiscriminately called Danaï, Argives, and Achaians, in the original. The Phthians in particular—Hellenes. They were the troops of Achilles.]—Tr.
11. [Ανεμοτρεφες—literally—wind-nourished.]—Tr.
12. In making Ulysses direct Diomede, Homer intends to show that valor should be under the guidance of wisdom. In the 8th Book, when Diomede could hardly be restrained by the thunder of Jupiter, his valor is checked by the wisdom of Nestor.
13. Diomede does not fear Hector, but Jupiter, who, he has previously said, will give the Trojans the day.
14. [In the original—κερα αγλαε.—All that I pretend to know of this expression is that it is ironical, and may relate either to the head-dress of Paris, or to his archership. To translate it is impossible; to paraphrase it, in a passage of so much emotion, would be absurd. I have endeavored to supply its place by an appellation in point of contempt equal.]—Tr.
15. No moral is so evident throughout the Iliad, as the dependence of man upon divine assistance and protection. Apollo saves Hector from the dart, and Minerva Ulysses.
16. Homer here pays a marked distinction. The army had seen several of their bravest heroes wounded, yet without expressing as much concern as at the danger of Machaon, their physician and surgeon.
17. [This interpretation of—μινυνθα δε χαζετο δουρος—is taken from the Scholium by Villoisson. It differs from those of Clarke, Eustathius, and another Scholiast quoted by Clarke, but seems to suit the context much better than either.]—Tr.
18. The address of Homer in bringing off Ajax is admirable. He makes Hector afraid to approach him, and brings down Jupiter to terrify him. Thus he retreats, not from a mortal, but from a God.

The whole passage is inimitably just and beautiful. We see Ajax slowly retreating between two armies, and even with a look repulse the one and protect the other. Every line resembles Ajax. The character of a stubborn and undaunted warrior is perfectly maintained. He compares him first to the lion for his undaunted spirit in fighting, and then to the ass for his stubborn slowness in retreating. In the latter comparison there are many points of resemblance that enliven the image. The havoc he makes in the field is represented by the tearing and trampling down the harvests; and we see the bulk, strength, and obstinancy of the hero, when the Trojans, in respect to him, are compared to the troops of boys that impotently endeavor to drive him away.

It must be borne in mind that among the people of the East, an ass was a beast upon which kings and princes might ride with dignity.

1. Though the resentment of Achilles would not permit him to be an actor in the field, yet his love of war inclines him to be a spectator. As the poet did not intend to draw the character of a perfect man in Achilles, he makes him delighted with the destruction of the Greeks, because it gratified his revenge. That resentment which is the subject of the poem, still presides over every other feeling, even the love of his country. He begins now to pity his countrymen, yet he seems gratified by their distress, because it will contribute to his glory.
2. This onion was very different from the root which now passes under that name. It had a sweet flavor, and was used to impart an agreeable flavor to wine. It is in high repute at the present day in Egypt.—Felton.
3. [I have interpreted the very ambiguous words ουω δ' υπο πυθμενες ησαν according to Athenæus as quoted by Clarke, and his interpretation of them is confirmed by the Scholium in the Venetian edition of the Iliad, lately published by Villoisson.]—Tr.
4. Homer here reminds the reader, that Nestor belonged to a former generation of men, who were stronger than the heroes of the war.
5. [It would have suited the dignity of Agamemnon's rank to have mentioned his wound first; but Nestor making this recital to the friend of Achilles, names him slightly, and without any addition.]—Tr.
6. [It is said that the Thebans having war with the people of Orchomenos, the Pylians assisted the latter, for which cause Hercules destroyed their city.—See Scholium per Villoisson.]—Tr.

Footnotes for Book XII:

1. [The word is of scripture use; see Gen. ch. xxx. where it describes the cattle of Jacob.]—Tr.
2. [Alluding to the message delivered to him from Jupiter by Iris.]—Tr.
3. The morality of the Iliad deserves particular attention. It is not perfect, upon Christian principles. How should it be under the circumstances of the composition of the poem? Yet, compared with that of all the rest of the classical poetry, it is of a transcendently noble and generous character. The answer of Hector to Polydamas, who would have dissuaded a further prosecution of the Trojan success, has been repeated by many of the most devoted patriots the world ever saw. We, who defy augury in these matters, can yet add nothing to the nobleness of the sentiment.—H.N. Coleridge.
4. [πλεονων δε τοι εργον αμεινον.—This is evidently proverbial, for which reason I have given it that air in the translation.]—Tr.
5. There is something touching in this simile. Our attention is fixed, not so much on the battle, as on the struggles of the laboring, true-hearted woman, who toils for a hard-earned pittance for her children. The description is not so much illustrated by the simile, as the simile by the description.—Felton.
6. The description of this exploit of Hector is wonderfully imposing. It seems to be the poet's wish to magnify his deeds during the short period that he has yet to live, both to do justice to the hero of Troy, and to give the greater glory to Achilles his conquerer.—Felton.

Footnotes for Book XIII:

1. We are hurried through this book by the warlike ardor of the poet. Battle succeeds battle with animating rapidity. The speeches are in fine keeping with the scenes, and the similes are drawn from the most imposing natural phenomena. The descriptions possess a wonderful distinctness and vigor, presenting the images to the mind by a few bold and grand lines, thus shunning the confusion of intricate and minute detail.—Felton.
2. So called from their simple diet, consisting principally of mare's milk. They were a people living on the north-east coast of the Euxine Sea. These epithets are sometimes supposed to be the gentile denominations of the different tribes; but they are all susceptible of interpretation as epithets applied to the Hippemolgi.—Felton.
3. [For this admirable line the translator is indebted to Mr. Fuseli.]—Tr.
4. The following simile is considered by critics as one of the finest in Homer.
5. [A fitter occasion to remark on this singular mode of approach in battle, will present itself hereafter.]—Tr.
6. [The bodies of Imbrius and Amphimachus.]
7. [Amphimachus.]
8. This is a noble passage. The difference between the conduct of the brave man and that of the coward is drawn with great vigor and beauty.—Felton.
9. [Hypsenor.]
10. [This seems to be he meaning ofεν μεγαρω an expression similar to that of Demosthenes in a parallel case—ετι ενδον ουσαν.—See Schaufelburgerus.]—Tr
11. [He is said to have been jealous of him on account of his great popularity, and to have discountenanced him, fearing a conspiracy in his favor to the prejudice of his own family.—See Villoisson.]—Tr.
12. [The Iäonianans were a distinct people from the Ionians, and according to the Scholium, separated from them by a pillar bearing on opposite sides the name of each.—See Barnes. See also Villoisson.]—Tr.
13. [The people of Achilles were properly called the Phthiotæ, whereas the Phthians belonged to Protesiläus and Philoctetes.—See Eustathius, as quoted by Clarke.]—Tr.
14. This simile is derived from one of the most familiar sights among a simple people. It is extremely natural, and its propriety will be peculiarly striking to those who have had occasion to see a yoke of oxen plowing in a hot day.—Felton.
15. [Achilles.]
16. [This, according to Eustathius, is the import of αμοιβοι.—See Iliad III., in which Priam relates an expedition of his into that country.]—Tr.

Footnotes for Book XIV:

1. The beauty of this simile will be lost to those who have never been at sea during a calm. The water is then not quite motionless, but swells gently in smooth waves, which fluctuate in a balancing motion, until a rising wind gives them a certain determination. Every circumstance of the comparison is just, as well as beautiful.
2. Anointing the body with perfumed oil was a remarkable part of ancient cosmetics. It was probably an eastern invention, agreeable to the luxury of the Asiatics.
3. A footstool was considered a mark of honor.
4. In accordance with the doctrine of Thales the Milesian, that all things are generated from water, and nourished by the same element.
5. [Hercules.]
6. Night was venerated, both for her antiquity and power.
7. [One of the heads of Ida.]
8. A bird about the size of a hawk, and entirely black.
9. By Juno is understood the air, and it is allegorically said that she was nourished by the vapors that rise from the ocean and the earth. Tethys being the same as Rhea.
10. [Europa.]
11. An evident allusion to the ether and the atmosphere.—E.P.P.

Footnotes for Book XV:

1. [The translator seizes the opportunity afforded to him by this remarkable passage, to assure his readers who are not readers of the original, that the discipline which Juno is here said to have suffered from the hands of Jove, is not his own invention. He found it in the original, and considering fidelity as his indispensable duty, has not attempted to soften or to refine away the matter. He begs that this observation may be adverted to as often as any passage shall occur in which ancient practices or customs, not consonant to our own, either in point of delicacy or humanity, may be either expressed or alluded to.

He makes this request the rather, because on these occasions Mr. Pope has observed a different conduct, suppressing all such images as he had reason to suppose might be offensive.]—Tr.

1. The earliest form of an oath seems to have been by the elements of nature, or rather the deities who preside over them.—Trollope.
2. In the following speech, Jupiter discloses the future events of the war.
3. The illustration in the following lines is one of the most beautiful in Homer. The rapid passage of Juno is compared to the speed of thought, by which a traveller revisits in imagination the scenes over which he has passed. No simile could more exalt the power of the Goddess.—Felton.
4. The picture is strikingly true to nature. The smile upon the lip, and frown upon the brow, express admirably the state of mind in which the Goddess must be supposed to have been at this moment.—Felton.
5. [ To tempest —κυδοιμησων—Milton uses tempest as a verb. Speaking of the fishes, he says

... part, huge of bulk
Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait,
Tempest the ocean.

]—Tr.

1. The Furies are said to wait upon men in a double sense; either for evil; as upon Orestes after he had killed his mother, or else for their good, as upon elders when they are injured, to protect them and avenge their wrongs. The ancients considered birth-right as a right divine.
2. [Τρωες δε προυτυψαν αολλεες. The translation is literal, and affords one of many instances in which the Greek and English idiom correspond exactly.]—Tr.
3. [Arcesilaüs.]
4. [This abruptness of transition from the third person to the first, follows the original.]
5. [The translator hopes that his learned readers will pardon him, if sometimes, to avoid an irksome cacophony, he turns brass into steel. In fact, arrow had not a point of steel, but a brazen one.]—Tr.
6. This sentiment is noble and patriotic. It is in strict keeping with the character of Hector, who always appears as his country's champion, and ready to die in her defence. Our sympathies go with him; we involuntarily wish him success, and deplore his misfortune, though we admire the invincible courage of his more fortunate antagonist. His actions and sentiments, springing from the simplest feelings of our nature, will always command applause, and, under all circumstances, and every form of political existence, will be imitated by the defenders of their country.

The speech of Ajax is animating and powerful. It is conceived in the true spirit of a warrior rousing his followers to make a last effort to repel the enemy.—Felton.

1. [Meges.]
2. Hector is here represented as an instrument in the hand of Jupiter, to bring about the design the God had long ago projected. As his fatal hour now approaches, Jove is willing to recompense his early death with this short-lived glory.
3. It may be asked what Pallas has to do with the Fates, or what power has she over them? Homer speaks thus, because Minerva has already resolved to deceive Hector and exalt Achilles. Pallas, as the wisdom and knowledge of Jove, may be considered as drawing all things to the termination decreed by his councils.
4. [This termination of the period, so little consonant to the beginning of it, follows the original, where it is esteemed by commentators a great beauty.]—Tr.

Footnotes for Book XVI:

1. [This translation of δνοφερον is warranted by the Scholiast, who paraphrases it thus:

μετα δονησεως φερομενον.

Iliad per Vill. ]

1. The friendship of Achilles and Patroclus was celebrated by all antiquity. It is said in the life of Alexander the Great, that when that prince visited the monuments of the heroes of Troy, and placed a crown upon the tomb of Achilles, his friend Hephæstion placed another on that of Patroclus; an intimation of his being to Alexander, what Patroclus was to Achilles. It is also said, that Alexander remarked, "Achilles was happy indeed, in having had such a friend to love him when living, and such a poet to celebrate him when dead."
2. [περιαγνυται. A word of incomparable force, and that defies translation.]
3. This charge is in keeping with the ambitious character of Achilles. He is unwilling that even his dearest friend should have the honor of conquering Hector.
4. The picture of the situation of Ajax, exhausted by his efforts, pressed by the arms of his assailants and the will of Jupiter, is drawn with much graphic power.—Felton.
5. Argus-slayer.
6. The mythi which we find in the Iliad respecting Mercury, represent him as the god who blessed the land with fertility, which was his attribute in the original worship. He is represented as loving the daughter of Phthiotian Phylas, the possessor of many herds, and by her had Eudorus (or riches) whom the aged Phylas fostered and brought up in his house—quite a significant local mythus, which is here related, like others in the usual tone of heroic mythology.—Muller.
7. This passage is an exact description and perfect ritual of the ceremonies on these occasions. Achilles, urgent as the case was, would not suffer Patroclus to enter the fight, till he had in the most solemn manner recommended him to the protection of Jupiter.
8. [Meges.]
9. [Brother of Antilochus.]
10. [αμαιμακετην—is a word which I can find nowhere satisfactorily derived. Perhaps it is expressive of great length, and I am the more inclined to that sense of it, because it is the epithet given to the mast on which Ulysses floated to Charybdis. We must in that case derive it from αμα and μηκος Doricè, μακος—longitudo.

In this uncertainty I thought myself free to translate it as I have, by the word—monster.]—Tr.

1. [Apollonius says that the οστεα λευκα here means the οπονδυλους, or vertebræ of the neck.—See Villoisson.]—Tr.
2. ['Αμιτροχιτονας is a word, according to Clarke, descriptive of their peculiar habit. Their corselet, and the mail worn under it, were of a piece, and put on together. To them therefore the cincture or belt of the Greeks was unnecessary.]—Tr.
3. According to the history or fable received in Homer's time, Sarpedon was interred in Lycia. This gave the poet the liberty of making him die at Troy, provided that after his death he was carried into Lycia, to preserve the fable. In those times, as at this day, princes and persons of rank who died abroad, were carried to their own country to be laid in the tomb of their fathers. Jacob, when dying in Egypt, desired his children to carry him to the land of Canaan, where he wished to be buried.
4. [Sarpedon certainly was not slain in the fleet, neither can the Greek expression νεων εν αγωνι be with propriety interpreted— in certamine de navibus —as Clarke and Mme. Dacier are inclined to render it. Juvenum in certamine, seems equally an improbable sense of it. Eustathius, indeed, and Terrasson, supposing Sarpedon to assert that he dies in the middle of the fleet (which was false in fact) are kind enough to vindicate Homer by pleading in his favor, that Sarpedon, being in the article of death, was delirious, and knew not, in reality, where he died. But Homer, however he may have been charged with now and then a nap (a crime of which I am persuaded he is never guilty) certainly does not slumber here, nor needs to be so defended. 'Αγων in the 23d Iliad, means the whole extensive area in which the games were exhibited, and may therefore here, without any strain of the expression, be understood to signify the whole range of shore on which the ships were stationed. In which case Sarpedon represents the matter as it was, saying that he dies—νεων εν αγωνι—that is, in the neighborhood of the ships, and in full prospect of them.

The translator assumes not to himself the honor of this judicious remark. It belongs to Mr. Fuseli.]—Tr.