In the spring of 1862 I was induced, at the request of some personal friends,to print, for private circulation only, a small volume of “Translationsof Poems Ancient and Modern,” in which was included the first Book of theIliad. The opinions expressed by some competent judges of the degree of successwhich had attended this “attempt to infuse into an almost literal Englishversion something of the spirit, as well as the simplicity, of the greatoriginal,” [Footnote: Introduction to unpublished volume.] weresufficiently favourable to encourage me to continue the work which I had begun.It has afforded me, in the intervals of more urgent business, an unfailing, andconstantly increasing source of interest; and it is not without a feeling ofregret at the completion of my task, and a sincere diffidence as to itssuccess, that I venture to submit the result of my labour to the ordeal ofpublic criticism.
Various causes, irrespective of any demerits of the work itself, forbid me toanticipate for this translation any extensive popularity. First, I fear thatthe taste for, and appreciation of, Classical Literature, are greatly on thedecline; next, those who have kept up their classical studies, and are able toread and enjoy the original, will hardly take an interest in a meretranslation; while the English reader, unacquainted with Greek, will naturallyprefer the harmonious versification and polished brilliancy of Pope’stranslation; with which, as a happy adaptation of the Homeric story to thespirit of English poetry, I have not the presumption to enter into competition.But, admirable as it is, Pope’s Iliad can hardly be said to beHomer’s Iliad; and there may be some who, having lost the familiaritywith th