LIBRARY OF OLD AUTHORS. 331 



feet dim the day with a fog of dust ; '' and so in a hun- 

 dred other instances. 



For an example of his more restrained vigor, take the 

 speech of Sarpedon in the Twelfth Book of the Iliad, 

 and for poetic beauty, the whole story of Ulysses and 

 Nausikaa in the Odyssey. It was here that Keats made 

 himself Grecian and learned to versify. 



Mr. Hooper has done his work of editing well. But 

 he has sometimes misapprehended his author, and dis- 

 torted his meaning by faulty punctuation. In one of 

 the passages already cited, Mr. Hooper's text stands 

 thus : " Lest I be prejudiced with opinion, to dissent, 

 of ignorance, or singularity." All the commas which 

 darken the sense should be removed. Chapman meant 

 to say, " Lest I be condemned beforehand by people 

 thinking I dissent out of ignorance or singularity." (Iliad 

 Vol. I. p. 23.) So on the next page the want of a hyphen 

 makes nonsense : "And saw the round coming [round- 

 coming] of this silver bow of our Phoebus," that is, the 

 crescent coming to the full circle. In the translations, 

 too, the pointing needs reformation now and then, but 

 shows, on the whole, a praiseworthy fidelity. We will 

 give a few examples of what we believe to be errors on 

 the part of Mr. Hooper, who, by the way, is weakest on 

 points which concern the language of Chapman's day. 

 We follow the order of the text as most convenient. 



" Bid " (II. i.) is explained to mean " threaten, chal- 

 lenge," where " offer " would be the right word. 



'■ And cast 

 The offal of all to the deep." (II. i. 809.) 



Surely a slip of Chapman's pen. He must have intended 

 to write " Of all the offal," a transversion common with 

 him and needed here to avoid a punning jingle. 



* So much I must affirm our power exceeds th' inhabitant." (II. ii. 110.,' 



