Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1910-10-11
Mr.. cummIngs' Version Of the lllad.

J the columns of the Democrat to tran,
lation of the Had of Homer In Englis
hex ameter, by Hon. Prentiss Cumming
of Boston, who Is native Of Oxfor,
County, and now has summer home a
Paris Hill. The book IL published b.
Little, Brown & Co. of Boston, and Is Il
the most approved style Of the printer
art.
| As stated In his Introduction to th
book, it is hardly correct to say tha
Mr.. Cummings has spent bis leisure tim
for twenty years upon this work; still ]
IL true that he has been at work upon |
as opportunity offered for twenty years
and that he did It largely from love o
the work. The date of issue Of the bool
was the SEVENTEEN anniversary Of Mr.
Cummings birth.
Mr.. Cummings should be entitled BY
heredity to good degree of litersr!
ability, as there are unusual literary gift
in the Prentiss and Mellen families
(which are of his ancestry. His mother
Mary II. (Prentiss) Cummings, was vel
known to a former generation by bel
pen name of Oithona, under which sht
was a lifelong contributor to the OXFORD
Democrat, the Portland Transcript, ant
lions Advocate, both In acceptable
prose aud verse.
Mr.. Cummings was born in Sumner II
1910, graduated at Harvard, and foi
several years was tutor In Latin In
charge of the sophomore class at Har'
ward. He has since been a successful
lawyer and man of affairs in Boston.
In his translation be has at least &C.
complished two things of considerable
difficulty-he has made it in the meter
of the original. and he has made it read
able. Many of the previous translations
have failed in these respects. The Iliad
ia full of human interest, and owing to
the full introduction in this publication,
it can be read understandingly and with
pleasure by people who have had no
classical learning whatever.
For generations it has been desired to
render the Iliad in Homer's own meter,
but this has often been declared i'm
possible in English. Nevertheless it has
been accomplished by Maine man, in a
form that is not only readable, but in
the poetical parts poetical, and equally
good whether the passages are pathetic,
or descriptive of nature or Of battles, or
in the speeches of which Homer Is full
About half the Iliad is rendered in
the translation, and all the main story
and nearly all the celebrated passages
are included. The abridgment was not
merely to save work. The omitted parts
are of inferior literary merit, have little
relation to the movement of the story,
and delay the action. Mr.. Cummings 10
one of those who hold the opinion that
the Iliad is the work of number of
authors, and many of the parts which he
omits he regards as interpretations or
later additions.
Already a number of highly compli-
mentary reviews of the book, by high
literary authorities, have testified to it's
merits.
A few selections from the work will
illustrate it's very readable style.
That the innate character Of wasps
and boys has not changed since the days
of Homer is apparent in this:
mischievous children
Always are stirring them up. and rogulsh boys
are tormenting,
TIL. In the end, they make them common null.
sance to all men,
So, when q wayfaring man passtth by with no
thought TO modest them,
Every infuriate wasp swarmeth out, full Of fight
for its children;
Such were the Myrmidons then, and with similar
Came pouring out Of the Danaan camp with I'M
quenchable shoutings."
Nor has the mood of the heifer with
her first-born been materially modified,
as is illustrated when Menelaus
"strode to the front. and the corse bestrode, as
calf by heifer,
Lowing over her flrst-born and new to the cares
So, in his auburn hair, Menelaus stood over
Patroklos;
Spear in hand he stood, and his shield held over
Ready to Stay on the spot whatsoever should sally
against It."
The fly, also, through the years has
maintained its habit of persistence, from
the days when Athena strengthened
Menelaus,
"-and put in his heart fy's invincible
Which, though driven again and again from the
flesh Of It's victim,
Still returneth and biteth and blood of man is
Its dainty"
Who would suppose this was written a
thousand years before Christ?
"why these tears. Patroklos. as sObbeth little
girl baby
Running her mother beside as she beggeth up to
be taken,
Fa.tens herself on the gown of the mother, and
hinders her going.
Weeping. wiid.eyed and wistful till, 10. her
mother uplifts her.
Like to that baby, Patroklos, thou pourest thy
piteous tears"
Here is a passage which gives little
glimpse of such Christianity as there
was in the Greek paganism:
"Up. then. Achilles. and chasten thy turbulent
Not, thy pitiless heart; the very gods are pre-
vailed on
They whose msjesty, glory and might are great.
er than ours
Even they, by passion of prayer and sacrifice
After transgression and sin, are moved-the di.
vine by the human.
Pray ers Of contrition are daughters, remember,
Lame, and With agonized faces. and eyes dis.
tOrted and downcast,
Ewes they go In pursuit Of Temptation, and halt
In their going;
and therefore
Far outrunneth them all, and getteth start that
Is worldwide,
Leading mankind astray, which the Prayers try
to remedy later.
Whose respecteth these daughters Of Zeus when
they come to entreat him,
Him they benefit much, and TO his entreaties
they hearken;
Whose showeth them despite when they come,
and denieth them roughly.
Straight to their Father Kronion they 20, and
urge that Temptation
Follow that man, and beguile him to Sin and Its
sure retribution."
And here is the doctrine of noblesse
obige, in the words of Sarpedon:
" 'Glaukos, why in our land hold we the chiefest
of honOrs,
Seats OF honor, and meats. and wines In gener'
GUS wine-cups?
Wherefore to US granted noble demesnes on the
banks Of the Xanthos,
Beautiful orchards and vineyards, and many
wheat bearing acre?
Now in return it behooves US to stand in the
forefront Of danger,
Even the Lykian van, and the fight face where 1t
Is hottest.
So that our followers bold, beholding, may say.
and with meaning
True. they are kings, and eat fat sheep. and
their wines are the choicest
Yes, but they fight In the front, and their valor
Is great as their station"
Death I'd not face us still. and age and dccrepi.
tude face US,
Neither would | myself go forth to fight with
the foremost,
No, nor urge thee on to man .ennobling battle.
But. as 1t is. (for the minions OF death are lurk
Mvris5 sncb that no mortal can shup much less