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
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
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,
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!
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;
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.
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 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.

[List of Published English Translations of Homer]