568 



Monthly Review of Literature, 



[MAY, 



could induce the projectors to lay violent 

 hands upon Paley , is quite inconceivable. 

 So far from his being forgotten, his work 

 is a text-book at the Universities, and so 

 admirable, and still so modern, in man- 

 ner, that no change could be made but 

 for the worse. To have cut down the 

 Moral Philosophy into one handy little 

 volume, the operator seems to consider 

 a grand feat. We do not doubt Paley's 

 facts and even arguments are nume- 

 rically and honestly retained, but the 

 book "is no longer Paley's, and we have 

 too much respect for intellectual distinc- 

 tions, to contribute by any approbation 

 of ours, to its extinction. 



A New Version of Homers Iliad. By 

 W. Sotheby, Esq. 2 vols. 8vo. Waving 

 for the present our doubts as to the 

 practicability, and the utility, if they 

 were practicable, of adequate translations 

 from the ancient poets, whether in prose 

 or verse, we shall take a hasty glance at 

 the first book of Mr. Sotheby's version 

 professing first our wonderment that 

 any man capable of doing what Mr. 

 Sotheby has done, should have thought 

 it worth his while to consume such im- 

 mense labour all, we must believe, en 

 pure per te. Pope's version may not be 

 correct, but it is spirited, and tells the 

 tale ; while Cowper's is thoroughly cor- 

 rect, but dry as a chip, and perhaps never 

 was read by any body. The utmost Mr. 

 Sotheby could expect to accomplish, was 

 to couple the accuracy of the one with 

 the fire of the other all but a hopeless 

 task. We are not sure that even in 

 point of faithfulness he has done better 

 than Pope. Pope we have not at hand, 

 and cannot compare passages ; but we 

 have Homer's self, and can notice, at 

 all events, the liberties Mr. Sotheby has 

 taken. In a metrical, and especially a 

 rhymed version, amplification must be 

 allowed modern habits of expression, 

 moreover, demand it. But this ampli- 

 fication cannot warrantably extend to 

 the introduction of new ideas to turns 

 of thought that are wholly modern not 

 only to what was unknown, or to senti- 

 ments, that were not only unknown to 

 the poet, but wholly alien. It is here 

 that Mr. Sotheby offends. 



Of Calchas strictly, according to 

 Homer Mr. Sotheby has 



" He all the present, past, and future knew ;" 

 and with this we should have been con- 

 tent ; but not so Mr. Sotheby, who 

 chooses to add to complete the couplet 

 and round the sentence 



" All at his pleasure rose before his view." 

 which is just the kind of licence for 

 which Pope's version has been so libe- 

 rally abused. 



Agamemnon's rage at the declaration 

 of Calchas is thus introduced by the 

 translator : 



" With lip that quivered in its ire, 

 Heart darkly boiling o'er with vengeful fire, 

 And eye that rolled in flame, proud Atreus' son, 1 ' 

 &c. 



Homer has not the slightest hint of the 

 first line. The quivering of the lip we 

 do not recollect to have been noticed by 

 any ancient poet ; and Mr. Sotheby is 

 obviously wholly indebted to his recol- 

 lections of Byron. Just so, when Achil- 

 les is said to have 



" Hurled on the monarch words of living fire." 

 For which Homer furnishes nothing but 

 arafnifoi$ . nritcrcriv, which, whatever they 

 may mean, have nothing to do with liv- 

 ing fire. 



" Be persuaded," says Nestor ; " you 

 (Achilles and Agamemnon) are both 

 younger than I ;" which Mr. Sotheby 

 turns in a style as foreign from Homer's 

 as Pope's can possibly be 

 " When Nestor speaks, calm, younger-born, your 



rage 



Time ripens wisdom on the lip of age." 

 This Mr. Sotheby might think was sen- 

 tentious and decisive, but nothing like 

 it ever dropped from the mouth of the 

 garrulous Nestor. 



When the heralds reached Achilles' 

 tent to remove Briseis 

 ' They trembling stood, nor spake, nor question 



made 



which is strictly Homer ; but 



" Fear on the tongue its cold obstruction laid" 



is a sad piece of frippery for 



" If ever again there be need of me 

 to repel a disgraceful pest from other s," 

 says Achilles, according to Homer but 

 in the words of Mr. Sotheby 

 " If Greece again her waste deplore, 

 And, bowed in hopeless misery, require 

 My arm of strength " 



Not only is here a new idea introduced, 

 but the whole is a misconception, pro- 

 ceeding, apparently, from an oversight 

 of the words from others. In the intem- 

 perance of his rage, Achilles was pro- 

 testing he would never again help any 

 body not the army merely. 



When Achilles tells his mother he had 

 recommended Agamemnon to appease 

 the offended deity, he adds u Rage 

 seized Atrides, and, starting up, he 

 gave utterance to a threat, which he 

 carried into execution." Mr. S. has 



" But instant ire 



Poured in Atrides' heart consuming fire. 

 Rage on his lip, the opprobrious menace flung, 

 And his deeds match the malice of his tongue." 



Which is more intolerable, for the li- 

 cence, and the pitiful attempt at point, 

 than any offence Pope ever committed. 

 But these are comparative trifles, 

 though characteristic of the version. 

 We have more serious grounds of com- 



