The Iliads and Odysses of Homer
Translated by Thomas Hobbes
London 1675
[Sample from the
Opening of the Iliad]
O GODDESS sing what woe the discontent
Of Thetis’ son brought to the Greeks; what souls
Of heroes down to Erebus it sent,
Leaving their bodies unto dogs and fowls;
Whilst the two princes of the army strove,
King Agamemnon and Achilles stout.
That so it should be was the will of Jove,
But who was he that made them first fall out?
Apollo; who incensed by the wrong
To his priest Chryses by Atrides done,
Sent a great pestilence the Greeks among;
Apace they died, and remedy was none.
For Chryses came unto the Argive fleet,
With treasure great his daughter to redeem;
And having in his hands the ensigns meet,
That did the priestly dignity beseem,
A golden sceptre and a crown of bays,
Unto the princes all made his request;
But to the two Atrides chiefly prays,
Who of the Argive army were the best.
O sons of Atreus, may the Gods grant you
A safe return from Troy with victory;
And you on me compassion may shew,
Receive these gifts and set my daughter free;
And have respect to Jove’s and Leto’s son.
To this the princes all gave their consent,
Except King Agamemnon. He alone,
And with sharp language from the fleet him sent;
Old man, said he, let me not see you here
Now staying, or returning back again,
For fear the golden sceptre which you bear,
And chaplet hanging on it, prove but vain.
Your daughter shall to Argos go far hence,
And make my bed, and labour at the loom,
And take heed you no farther me incense,
Lest you return not safely to your home.
Frighted with this, away the old man went;
And often as he walked on the sand,
His prayers to Apollo up he sent.
Hear me, Apollo, with thy bow in hand,
That honour’d art in Tenedos and Chryse,
And unto whom Cylla great honour bears,
If thou accepted hast my sacrifice,
Pay th’ Argives with thy arrows for my tears.
His prayer was granted by the deity;
Who with his silver bow and arrows keen,
Descended from Olympus silently
In likeness of the sable night unseen.
His bow and quiver both behind him hang,
The arrows chink as often as he jogs,
And as he shot the bow was heard to twang,
And first his arrows flew at mules and dogs.
But when the plague into the army came,
Perpetual was the fire of funerals;
And so nine days continued the same.
REVIEW COMMENT
Hobbes’s translation is, as one might expect, clear, vigorous, and fast paced,
with iambic pentameter lines and a fixed rhyme scheme (ABABCDCD). But it is also
quite careless about including every detail, as Pope (not the most disinterested
critic) observes about Hobbes’s translation style in general: “but for
particulars and circumstance he continually lops them, and often omits the most
beautiful. . . . He sometimes omits whole similes and sentences. . . .” The
translation probably would not attract very much attention if it had been
produced by someone less well known. Hobbes, who translated Homer in his
eighties (a few years before his death), does not seem to have been particularly
worried about the reception of his translation: “Why then did I write it?
Because I had nothing else to do. Why publish it?Because I thought it might take
off my Adversaries from shewing their folly upon my more serious Writings and
set them upon my Verses to shew their wisdom” (quoted Young 108).
For the complete translation, please use the
following:
Hobbes Iliad (enter Hobbes Iliad in the search line at the
top of the page).
For an interesting review of Hobbes's Homer translations as presented by the Clarendon edition of Hobbes's complete works, use the following link: Hobbes Translations (Clarendon Edition).