Iliad
Translated by Denison Bingham Hull
Scottsdale, Arizona, 1982.

[Selection from Book XII]

Glaucus, why have we two been honored so
with meat at table and with brimming cups?
All those in Lydia look on us as gods,
and we’ve been given lands beside the Xanthus
good for a vineyard or a field of grain.
So we must be the first among the Lycians
to stand up to the blazing fire of battle
until some heavily armored Lycian says:
“These are not common folk who rule in Lycia:
these kings of ours, they feed upon fat sheep
and drink wine sweet as honey, for they’re noble
and fight among the foremost men of Lycia.”
Friends, if we two could just escape this war
And live forever ageless and immortal,
I’d never be a leader in a battle,
Nor send you in to fight for honor’s sake.
But now ten thousand shapes of death surround us
Which no man can escape from, or avoid.
Come, let us give someone glory—or attain it.

REVIEW COMMENT

Since I have been so far unable to obtain a copy of Hull’s translation, I have taken the above selection from the book Perfection in Death by Patrick M. Clark., who uses that translation for quotations from the Iliad.

My first response to reading a few short selections of Hull’s translation is an eagerness to read much more—the basic style (especially in the speeches) seems so clear, direct, and moving.

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