Having now nearly completed my translation of the Iliad of Homer, I sit down to write the Preface, that it may be prefixed to the first volume. To this task of translation, which I began in 1865, I af...

O Goddess! Sing the wrath of Peleus’ son, Achilles; sing the deadly wrath that brought Woes numberless upon the Greeks, and swept To Hades many a valiant soul, and gave Their limbs a prey to dogs and ...

All other deities, all mortal men, Tamers of war-steeds, slept the whole night through; But no sweet slumber came to Jove; his thoughts Were ever busy with the anxious care To crown with honor Peleus’...

Now when both armies were arrayed for war, Each with its chiefs, the Trojan host moved on With shouts and clang of arms, as when the cry Of cranes is in the air, that, flying south From winter and its...

Meantime the immortal gods with Jupiter Upon his golden pavement sat and held A council. Hebe, honored of them all, Ministered nectar, and from cups of gold They pledged each other, looking down on Tr...

Then Pallas to Tydides Diomed Gave strength and courage, that he might appear Among the Achaians greatly eminent, And win a glorious name. Upon his head And shield she caused a constant flame to play,...

Now from that stubborn conflict of the Greeks And Trojans had the gods withdrawn. The fight Of men encountering men with brazen spears Still raged from place to place upon the plain Between the Xanthu...

The illustrious Hector spake, and rapidly Passed through the gate, and with him issued forth His brother Alexander⁠—eager, both, For war and combat. As when God bestows, To glad the long-expecting mar...

Now morn in saffron robes had shed her light O’er all the earth, when Jove the Thunderer Summoned the gods to council on the heights Of many-peaked Olympus. He addressed The assembly, and all listened...

The Trojans thus kept watch; while through the night The power of Flight, companion of cold Fear, Wrought on the Greeks, and all their bravest men Were bowed beneath a sorrow hard to bear. As when two...

All the night long the captains of the Greeks Slept at the ships, and pleasant was their sleep⁠— Save only Agamemnon, Atreus’ son, The shepherd of the people. Not to him⁠— Vexed with a thousand cares⁠...

Now did the Morning from her couch beside Renowned Tithonus rise, that she might bring The light to gods and men, when Jupiter To the swift galleys of the Grecian host Sent baleful Strife, who bore in...

Thus in the camp Menoetius’ valiant son Tended Eurypylus, and dressed his wounds; While yet in mingled throngs the warriors fought⁠— Trojans and Greeks. Nor longer was the trench A barrier for the Gre...

When Jove had brought the Trojans and their chief, Hector, beside the ships, he left them there To toil and struggle and endure, while he Turned his resplendent eyes upon the land Of Thracian horsemen...

The mighty uproar was not unperceived By Nestor’s ear, who, sitting at the wine, Addressed the son of Aesculapius thus:⁠— “Noble Machaon, what will happen now? Bethink thee: for the clamor grows more ...

Now when the Trojans in their flight had crossed Rampart and trench, and many had been slain By the pursuing Greeks, they made a halt Beside their chariots, in despair and pale With terror. Meanwhile ...

Such was the struggle for that gallant barque. Meanwhile Patroclus stood beside his friend The shepherd of the people, Peleus’ son, And shed hot tears, as when a fountain sheds Dark waters streaming d...

The warlike Menelaus, Atreus’ son, Beheld Patroclus fall by Trojan hands, And came in glittering armor to the van To guard the body of the slain. As walks A heifer moaning round her new-born young, So...

As thus they fought with all the rage of fire, Antilochus, the nimble-footed, came With tidings to Achilles. Him he found Before his lofty galleys, deep in thought Of what he knew had happened. With a...

In saffron-colored mantle from the tides Of Ocean rose the Morning to bring light To gods and men, when Thetis reached the fleet, Bringing the gift of Vulcan. There she found Her son, who, bending o’e...

Thus, O Pelides, did the sons of Greece, Impatient for the battle, arm themselves, By their beaked ships, around thee. Opposite, Upon a height that rose amidst the plain, The Trojans waited. Meantime ...

Now when they reached the pleasant banks The eddying Xanthus runs, the river sprung From deathless Jove, Achilles drave his foes through which Asunder. Part he chased across the plain Townward, along ...

Thus were they driven within the city walls Like frighted fawns, and there dispersing cooled Their sweaty limbs, and quenched their eager thirst, And rested on the battlements. The Greeks, Bearing the...

So mourned they in the city; but the Greeks, When they had reached the fleet and Hellespont, Dispersed, repairing each one to his ship, Save that Achilles suffered not his band Of Myrmidons to part in...

The assembly was dissolved, the people all Dispersed to their swift galleys, and prepared With food and gentle slumber to refresh Their wearied frames. But still Achilles wept, Remembering his dear co...