THE
I L I A D
OF
H O M E R,

WITH

N O T E S

BY

Madam D A C I E R
____________________________________________

Done from the French by
Mr. OLDISWORTH,

And by him compar’d with the Greek.

__________________________________

Illustrated with Twenty Six CUTS, by
the best Gravers, from the Paris plates,
design’d by COYPEL

L O N D O N :

Printed for BERNARD LINTOTT, at the
Cross-Keys, between the Two Temple-Gates.

 

[The following selection is taken from the opening to Book 16, the first book in Volume 4 of the translation. It is important to note that the right margin in the English text is justified, an effect I was unable to reproduce for this web page. The title page of the entire five volumes reads as follows: THE ILIAD OF HOMER, With Notes. To which are prefix'd, A large PREFACE, AND THE Life of HOMER, BY Madam DACIER. Done from the French by Mr. OZELL; and by him compar'd with the Greek. To which will be made some farther Notes, that shall be added at the End of the Whole; by Mr. JOHNSON, late of Eton, now of Brentford. Illustrated with 26 CUTS, copy'd by the best Gravers, from the Paris Plates design'd by COYPEL. LONDON: Printed by G. James, for Bernard Lintott, at the Cross-Keys between the Two Temple-Gates. MDCCXII.” A later edition of the work had the following title: “The Iliad of Homer, translated from the Greek into blank verse, by Mr. Ozell, Mr. Broom, and Mr. Oldisworth. To which are added, A preface, The life of Homer, and notes by Madam Dacier. Illustrated with XXVI cuts, Cop’d by the best Gravers from the Paris Plates, design’d by Coypel. London 1714-1719.”

WHILST Greeks and Trojans
fought with equal Rage, A-
round the Ship of fam’d Pro-
tesilas; Patroclus to Achilles
weeping came: His Eyes a    
Torrent pour’d of gushing
Tears Down his wet Cheeks,
as when some Fountain sheds Continual Riv'-
lets (a) from a shelving Rock. Touch’d with
the sight, Achilles, the Gods Off-spring Pre-
venting, thus bespake his Mournful Friend.
“ Dearest Patroclus! whence these Childish
“ Tears? (b) So weeps the tender Infant,
“ so pursues Her Mother, hanging on her
“ Gown, and begs Safe Refuge in her Arms
“ with soft Intreaty, And humid Eyes. Dost
“ thou some Message bring, Of fatal Issue to
“ my Troops or me? Haste thou some secret
“ News from Phthia heard? Surely Menoetius
“ lives, and my Great Sire, Peleus, tho’ aged,
“ sways his Realm in Safety. (c) A Loss
“ like this would melt me too to Tears. Or
“ dost thou weep, because the Perjur'd Greeks
“ Are justly slain, and to their Ships retire?
“ Speak freely, let thy Friend thy Sorrows
“ Share. (d) Then Generous Patroclus thus
“ reply'd. Achilles, Son of Peleus, Flow'r of
“ Greece, (e) Reproach me not: My Count-
“ try claims my Tears, For all her bravest
“ Heroes are retreated; (f) Prudent Ulysses,
“ Agamemnon, Diomed, Droop with their
“ Wounds: Euryppylus was smit Deep in the
“ Thigh, and bleeds afresh beneath The Artist’s
“ Hand: whilst you inexorable Indulge a Pas-
“ sion that ne'er reach'd my Breast. (g) Why
“ is your Rage spent in your Country's
“ Wrong? For whom, if not for Greece, do
“ you reserve Your Fury and your Strength?
“ Relentless Man! ’Twas not a Goddess, nor
“ the Hero Peleus That gave you Birth: your
“ Parent was the Ocean, Untam'd and raging,
“ and the Rocks your Nurses, From whom
“ you learn'd that Fierceness in your mind.
“ If Omens or Predictions keep you back, Or
“ if your Mother, in the Name of Jove, Has
“ warn'd you from the Combat: Let me fill
“ Your Station, and command your Troops to
“ follow, Where I shall lead them; I perhaps
“ may bring (h) A Ray of Comfort to the
“ Greeks Distress'd. Lend me your Arms; and
“ the Victorious Trojans, mistaking the Dis-
“ guise, may think Achilles Is to the Field re-
“ turn'd, and so retire, And give some Re-
“ spite to our weary'd Men, Spent with Fa-
“ tigue, and wanting time to breathe. I and
“ your Myrmidons, a fresh Reserve, With ease
“ may drive them from our Fleet and Camp.
Thus spake Patroclus, and with warm In-
treaty Insisted on the Grant. Vain headless
Youth! Who asks for Death, and pleads
his own Destruction.

REVIEW COMMENT

This five-volume work was based on a French prose translation of the Iliad by Mme. Anne Dacier, published in 1711. One curious feature of the English text is that the blank verse (advertised in the second title above) is printed as if it were prose (i.e., in justified paragraphs with no concern for the poetic lineation). An interesting comment on this feature is as follows:

The problem with blank verse, to an Augustan ear, was precisely that the endings of the lines were blank; or, as Dr. Johnson said, quoting a contemporary critic, “Blank verse is verse only to the eye.” Blank verse, that is, might very well appear indistinguishable from prose to an eighteenth-century ear. So indistinguishable from prose might it appear that, were there to occur even the slightest departures from the iambic pentameter norm, such blank verse might well be printed as prose. And so perhaps because there were some occasional metrical irregularities in it—and perhaps because it was itself a rendition of a prose version—the translation of the Iliad done in 1711 by John Ozell (Books I-VI), William Broome (Books VII-XV), and William Oldisworth (Books XVI-XXIV) was in fact printed as prose. (Steven Shankman, Pope’s “Iliad”: Homer in the Age of Passion).

Another explanation for the prose is that the printer might well have wanted to save paper.

One member of this triumvirate of translators, Mr. William Broom, played a significant role in completing the Alexander Pope’s translations of Homer, which appeared shortly afterwards (and John Ozell, after quarrelling with Pope, earned a mention in the “Dunciad”).

[List of Published English Translations of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey]