Homer
The Iliad
Translated by Rodney Merrill
University of Michigan Press
2007
[Sample taken from the opening of Book 1]
Sing now, goddess, the wrath of
Achilles the scion of Peleus,
ruinous rage which brought the Achaians uncounted
afflictions;
many the powerful souls it sent to the dwelling of
Hades,
those of the heroes, and spoil for the dogs it made of
their bodies,
plunder for all of the birds, and the purpose of Zeus
was accomplished--
sing from the time when first stood hostile, starting
the conflict,
Atreus' scion, the lord of the people, and noble
Achilles.
Which of the gods brought strife to the
two men, and set them fighting?
It was the offspring of Leto and Zeus, for enraged at
the king, he
roused in the army a baneful disease, and the people
were slaughtered,
all on account of his priest, whom Atreus' scion
dishonored,
Chryses. For he had arrived at the swift ships of the
Achaians,
seeking to free his daughter and bringing a
measureless ransom,
bearing in hand bay-garlands of great far-shooting
Apollo
wound on a gold-wrought staff, and he pled with them,
all the Achaians,
but above all the two scions of Atreus, marshals of
people:
'Atreus' scions as well as
the rest, you well-greaved Achaians,
now may the gods who dwell in Olympian palaces let you
ransack the city of Priam and safely arrive in your
homeland;
but as for my dear child, set her free and accept this
ransom,
showing respect for the scion of Zeus, far-shooting
Apollo."
Thereat all of the other
Achaians were shouting approval,
saying to honor the priest and accept the magnificant
ransom;
yet this pleased not the spirit of Atreus' son
Agamemnon;
roughly he sent him away, and he laid a strong order
upon him:
"Old man, never may I by the hollow ships come upon
you,
either now lingering on or returning again in the
future,
lest no help to protect you the god's staff prove, nor
his garland.
Her I will not give freedom; before, old age will
assail her
there in our house in Argos and far from the land of
her fathers,
where she will weave at a loom and will share my bed
and affection.
Go now, do not provoke me, that you might go the more
safely."
So he spoke, and the old man
feared, and obeyed what he said and
silently went by the shore of the deep sea rumbling
and booming.
Loudly the old man, once he had gone to a distance,
addressed his
prayer to the lordly Apollo, whom Leto of beautiful
hair bore:
"Hear me, god of the silvery bow, who stride around
Chrysè
and around Killa the sacred, and Té
Smí
or if savory fat thigh-pieces I ever have burnt you
either of bulls or of goats, then bring this boon to
fulfillment:
make those Dánaäns
pay for my tears by shooting your arrows."
REVIEW COMMENT
Merrill is concerned, above all, with the "continuous musicaL energy of the Iliad [which] tales us into battle scenes more completely than any poem since, making us experience the bloodshed, the cruel mercilessness of the victors, the despairing humiliation of the losers, the bloodlust, the excitement of battle, the delight in strength, the craving for glory, and the consummation of manhood. I have striven to capture this in my translation." Accordingly, he devotes most of his interesting preface (titled "Singing the Iliad") to explaining the ways in which reading his hexameter lines brings one in close contact with the music of Homer's Greek.
Well, a rich musical quality is obviously an essential quality in any succcessful poem, long or short (a point too many translators of Homer forget). Whether Merrill achieves that consistentiy is up to the reader to decide. In my view what Merrill gains on the musical roundabout he often loses on the syntactical swings. I frequently get a sense that the verse here is padded or the syntax wrenched to meet the demands of the hexameter lines, so that whatever the musical quality of the lines, what is missing is the energy, especially in the speeches, which too often all sound inert.
For a longer and more scholarly review of Merrill's translation, use the following link: Bryn Mawr Classical Review
List of Printed English Translations of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey