Homer, Iliad
Translated by A. T. Murray
Loeb Classical Library,
London 1924
[Sample from the Opening of the Poem]
The wrath do thou sing, O
goddess, of Peleus'son, Achilles, that baneful wrath whichbrought countless woes
upon the Achaeans, and sent forth to Hades many valiant souls of warriors, and
made themselves to be a spoil for dogs and all manner of birds; and thus the
will of Zeus was being brought to fulfilment; ósing thou thereof from the time
when at the first there parted in strife Atreus'son, king of men, and goodly
Achilles.
Who then of the gods was it that brought these two
together to contend? The son of Leto and Zeus; for he in wrath against the king
roused throughout the host an evil pestilence, and the folk were perishing, for
that upon the man Chryses, his priest, had the son of Atreus wrought dishonour.
For he had come to the swift ships of the Achaeans to free his daughter, and he
bore with him ransom past counting; and in his hands he held the fillets of
Apollo, that smiteth afar, on a staff of gold, and he made prayer to all the
Achaeans, but most of all to the two sons of Atreus, the marshallers of the
host: "Ye sons of Atreus, and ye other well-greaved Achaeans, to you may the
gods who havehomes upon Olympus grant that ye sack the city of Priam, and return
safe to your homes; but my dear child do ye set free for me, and accept the
ransom out of awe for the son of Zeus, Apollo, that smiteth afar."
Then all the rest of the Achaeans shouted assent,
bidding reverence the priest and accept the glorious ransom, yet the thing
pleased not the heart of Agamemnon, son of Atreus, but he sent him away harshly,
and laid upon him a stern command: "Let me not find thee, old man, by the hollow
ships, either tarrying now or coming back hereafter, lest thy staff and the
fillet of the god protect thee not. But her will I not set free: ere that shall
old age come upon her in our house, in Argos, far from her country, as she walks
to and fro before the loom and tends my couch. Nay, get thee gone; anger me not,
that so thou mayest go the safer."
So he spake, and the old man was seized with fear and
hearkened to his word. Forth he went in silence along the shore of the
loud-resounding sea, and earnestly thereafter, when he had gone apart, did the
old man pray to the prince, Apollo, whom fair-haired Leto bare: “Hear me, thou
of the silver bow, who dost stand over Chryse and holy Cilla, and dost rule
mightily over Tenedos, thou Sminthian, if ever I roofed over a shrine to thy
pleasing, or if ever I burned to thee fat thigh-pieces of bulls or goats, fulfil
thou for me this prayer: let the Danaans pay for my tears by thy shafts."
So he spake in prayer, and Phoebus Apollo heard him.
Down from the peaks of Olympus he strode, wroth at heart, bearing on his
shoulders his bow and covered quiver. The arrows rattled on the shoulders of the
angry god, as he moved; and his coming was like the night. Then he sate him down
apart from the ships and let fly a shaft: terrible was the twang of the silver
bow. The mules he assailed first and the swift dogs, but thereafter on the men
themselves he let fly his stinging arrows, and smote; and ever did the pyres of
the dead burn thick.
REVIEW COMMENT
This volume from the excellent Loeb Classical Library is the text of choice for those who want the English translation with the Greek on a facing page. Murray’s prose is not particularly remarkable, but it is well suited to the purposes of the series, which is aimed especially at those who wish to read the Greek with an accurate and clear (if not very inspiring) English translation close at hand (the text has recently been revised). Those who require only the English text should look elsewhere, if for no other reason than the (alas) increasing expense of these famous and useful texts.
Readers who would like to look through Murray’s
complete translation should use the following link: Murray
Iliad.