Homer’s Iliad
In English Rhymed Verse
By Charles Merivale
London 1869

[Sample from the Opening of Book XIII]

BOOK XIII

JOVE, to the Grecian galleys when Hector he had brought, 
And all the hosts of conquering Troy, with them no more he fought,— 
But left them there to suffer sore toil and ceaseless pain; 
Himself his glittering eyes withdrew 
From these away, to mark and view the Thracian hunters’ plain; 
And the Mysians closely f1ghting; and them that milk the mare, 
That feed on curds, that peaceful dwell, most just of men and fair. 
From Troy-town altogether his glittering eyes he bent; 
No God, he surely deem’d, would come 
To stand for Greece or Ilium, with aid immortal lent. 
 
Nor kept the great Earth-shaker incurious watch afar; 
On the crest of Samos high he stood, 
Of Thracian Samos, crown’d with wood, and gazed on all the war. 
For thence was seen all Ida, and Priam’s towers were seen; 
And thence the galleys of the Greeks, bright in the airy sheen. 
There from the main ascending the Power had fix’d his stand; 
And much he rued the Achaians, routed ’neath the Trojans’ hand;
And ’gainst great Jove with utter rage indignantly he bann’d. 
From the misty mountain straightway down with quick steps he strode; 
And mountain crest, and sylvan seat, 
Quiver’d beneath the immortal feet of the monarch of the flood. 
Thrice with great strides he bounded; and with the fourth he gain’d 
Ægæ, where stands his palace bright, of golden sheen unstain’d, 
Deep in the gulfs of mighty seas eternally maintain’d. 
And there arriving yoked he his steeds of brazen hoof, 
The swift of flight, with manes of light; 
Himself about his shoulders dight with golden mail of proof. 
And then the scourge he flourished, the well-wrought gilded scourge; 
Sprang to his car, and featly drove high o’er the sounding surge. 
Beneath him frisk’d the monsters from all their depths and caves; 
And none might fail to know and hail the sovereign of the waves. 
The seas with gladness parted before the slippery car; 
Swift flew the steeds, nor dipp’d in wave the brazen axle-bar; 
And so the God his generous team bore bounding to the war. 
A cave there lies deep-seated in the bosom of the flood, 
Midway ’twixt rock-bound Tenedos, and Imbrus dark with wood : 
There Neptune, great Earth-shaker, his steeds unyoked, and cast 
Before them meat divine to eat, and made their fetlocks fast, 
With a golden chain to keep them,—that so they sure might bide 
Their lord returning,—and himself to the Grecian leaguer hied. 
 
Meanwhile at the heels of Hector with furious ardour came 
The Trojans, thronging to the fight, like tempest and like flame. 
Hurra’d they, and halloo’d they; and thought like fire to fall 
On the ships of Greece, and at their sides to slay their champions all.
But Neptune, Earth-embracer, Earth-shaker, from the surge 
With Calchas’ shape and speech appear’d, the Achaian hosts to urge. 
And first, to fire their courage, the Ajaces he address’d; 
The Ajaces twain,—no recreants they,— but bravest aye and best:— 
“Now ye, I say, brave heroes, shall save us,—if ye dare,— 
Regardful of your strength of arms, regardless of despair. 
Elsewhere indeed I reck not this turbulent attack ; 
Though many they that scale the wall, the Greeks shall thrust them back. 
But here I fear me shrewdly, some dire mishap shall be: 
For here leads Hector, wild as fire;— 
The Thunderer vaunts he for his sire, as though a God were he! 
Now may some Power impel ye stedfast yourselves to stand, 
And stay the rest, and guard the ships even from this madman’s hand, 
Even though the Olympian urge him!”—disguised thus Shakeland spoke; 
And with his rod the girdling God dealt each a potent stroke, 
And fill’d them full with vigour, and gave them courage large ; 
And made them light,—their hands to fight,—their feet to tramp and charge. 

REVIEW COMMENT

What can one say?  This translation surely represents something about certain features of Victorian taste in poetry or in translations of Homer whereof it is perhaps best not to speak.

For a contemporary review of Merivale's translation, use the following link: Merivale Review.

Readers who would like to access Volume II of Merivale’s Iliad should use the following link: Merivale Iliad.
 
 
[List of Published English Translations of Homer]