The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-24 00:00:00

LITER A 7 ÜBE

The Odyssey of Homer; in English Hendecasyllable
Verse. By Henry Alford, Dean of Canterbury.
Part 1.
The Iliad of Homer; in English Hexameter Verse.
By J. Dart, M.A., of Exeter College, Oxford,
author of " The Exile of St. Helena." Part 1.
Longman and Co.

These volumes have been printed uniform as re-
spects size and external appearance, and doubtless
many classical literati will desire to possess them
both. There is always something attractive in the
perusal of these marvels of ancient verse in what-
ever form they are presented to notice, and perhaps
nowhere in his essays did Macaulay command more
acquiescence than when he paid his admirable tri-
bute to their merits. " These two strange old
poems, the wonder of ninety generations, still retain
all their freshness. They still command the vene-
ration of minds enriched by the literature of many
nations and ages. They are still even in wretched
translations the delight of schoolboys. Having
survived ten thousand capricious fashions, having
seen successive codes of criticism become obsolete
they still remain to us immortal with the immor-
tality of truth, the same when perused in the study
of an English scholar as when they were first
chaunted at the banquets of the lonian princes."
In the preface to the Odyssey Dean Alford informs
uA that " the following version is line for line. I
have not shrunk from incurring the risk of some
roughness in the version, if I might in any mea
sure reproduce in our language the very form
and cadences of the glorious old bard.' Mr.
Dart, in introducing us to the Iliad, observes
that he labours under the disadvantage of want of
leisure, but that, not supposing he will ever have
more time, he has determined to try the venture of
publication, especially as he has been informed that
" his attempt to reproduce the most noble of all pro-
fane authors, in a shape more nearly resembling
the original than the existing versions, is sufficiently
successful to warrant its publication, even in its
present imperfect state." Considering the care and
attention inseparable from such attempts that must
have been bestowed on these translations, and the
just appreciation that the authors exhibit for the
subject of their labours, it is to be hoped that their
efforts will meet with due encouragement in the
right quarters. If they induce those who are cog-
nisant of the grand language of the poet to study
the original themselves, and thus renew their ac-
quaintance with the mighty and majestic strains;
if they impart desirable information to those who
can only dwell through interpretation on their
sublimity and beauty ; if they interest and excite
the student to compare the merits of rival transla-
tions, and the benefits of various modes and methods;

if they attain any or some of these results they nay
consider their efforts have been crowned with suc-
cess. It will also be a gain that is worthy of the
struggle, as no one can ever be otherwise than
benefited by the fuller comprehension, and more
correct appreciation of these elevating and refining
studies. It has truly said in the well-known,
aphorism, " Ingenuas didicisse ;Waiter artes emollit
mores, nec sinit esse feros." The readers may infer
that at a future period they will meet with con-
tinuations of these works, as they are styled first
volumes.