328 LIBRARY OF OLD AUTHORS. 



Homer's simplicity is by no means mere simplicity of 

 thought, nor, as it is often foolishly called, of nature. It is 

 the simplicity of consummate art, the last achievement of 

 poets and the invariable characteristic of the greatest 

 among them. To Chapman's mind once warmed to its 

 work, the words are only a mist, suggesting, while it 

 hides, the divine form of the original image or thought ; 

 and his imagination strives to body forth that, as he 

 conceives it, in all its celestial proportions. Let us com 

 pare with Lord Derby's version, as the latest, a passage 

 where Chapman merely intensities (Book XIIL, begin 

 ning at the 86th verse in Lord Derby, the 73d of Chap 

 man, and the 76th of Homer) : 



" Whom answered thus the son of Telamon : 

 ' My hands, too, grasp with firmer hold the spear, 

 My spirit, like thine, is stirred; I feel my feet 

 Instinct with fiery life; nor should I fear 

 With Hector, son of Priam, in his might 

 Alone to meet, and grapple to the death.' " 



Thus Lord Derby. Chapman renders : 



" This Telamonius thus received: ' So, to my thoughts, my hands 

 Burn with desire to toss my lance; each foot beneath me stands 

 Bare on blight fire to use his speed ; my heart is raised so high, 

 That to encounter Hector's self I long insatiately.' " 



There is no question which version is the more ener 

 getic. Is Lord Derby's nearer the original in being 

 tamer 1 He has taken the " instinct with fiery life " 

 from Chapman's hint. The original has simply " rest 

 less," or more familiarly "in a fidget." There is noth 

 ing about " grappling to the death," and " nor should I 

 fear " is feeble where Chapman with his " long insatiate 

 ly " is literal. We will give an example where Chap 

 man has amplified his original (Book XVI. v. 426 ; 

 Derby, 494 ; Chapman, 405) : - 



" Down jumped he from his chariot; down leapt his foe as light; 

 And as, on some far-looking rock, a cast of vultures fight, 



