The Iliad (tr. Pope)

Iliad (tr. Pope), The

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Title: The Iliad
Author: Homer Alexander Pope, Translator
Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6130] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on November 17, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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{Illustration: Title page, with drawing of a bust of Homer, and a curving sash bearing the inscription 'Illustrated by Flaxman's Designs'.}
THE ILIAD OF HOMER
TRANSLATED BY ALEXANDER POPE,
WITH NOTES BY THE REV. THEODORE ALOIS BUCKLEY, M.A., F.S.A.
AND
FLAXMAN'S DESIGNS.
1899

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Iris Hector and Ajax separated by the Heralds Greek Amphora--Wine vessels Juno and Minerva going to assist the Greeks The Hours taking the Horses from Juno's Car The Shield of Achilles Pluto The Embassy to Achilles Greek Galley Proserpine Achilles Diomed and Ulysses returning with the spoils of Rhesus The Descent of Discord Hercules Polydamas advising Hector Greek Altar Neptune rising from the Sea Greek Earrings Sleep escaping from the wrath of Jupiter Greek Shield Bacchus Ajax defending the Greek Ships Castor and Pollux Buckles Diana Sleep and Death conveying the body of Sarpedon to Lycia AEsculapius Fight for the body of Patroclus Vulcan from an antique gem Thetis ordering the Nereids to descend into the Sea Juno commanding the Sun to set Tripod Thetis and Eurynome receiving the Infant Vulcan Vulcan and Charis receiving Thetis Thetis bringing the Armour to Achilles Hercules The Gods descending to Battle Centaur Achilles contending with the Rivers The Bath Andromache fainting on the Wall The Funeral Pile of Patroclus Ceres Hector's Body at the Car of Achilles The Judgment of Paris Iris advises Priam to obtain the body of Hector Funeral of Hector

INTRODUCTION.
Scepticism is as much the result of knowledge, as knowledge is of scepticism. To be content with what we at present know, is, for the most part, to shut our ears against conviction; since, from the very gradual character of our education, we must continually forget, and emancipate ourselves from, knowledge previously acquired; we must set aside old notions and embrace fresh ones; and, as we learn, we must be daily unlearning something which it has cost us no small labour and anxiety to acquire.
And this difficulty attaches itself more closely to an age in which progress has gained a strong ascendency over prejudice, and in which persons and things are, day by day, finding their real level, in lieu of their conventional value. The same principles which have swept away traditional abuses, and which are making rapid havoc among the revenues of sinecurists, and stripping the thin, tawdry veil from attractive superstitions, are working as actively in literature as in society. The credulity of one writer, or the partiality of another, finds as powerful a touchstone and as wholesome a chastisement in the healthy scepticism of a temperate class of antagonists, as the dreams of conservatism, or the impostures of pluralist sinecures in the Church. History and tradition, whether of ancient or comparatively recent times, are subjected to very different handling from that which the indulgence or credulity of former ages could allow. Mere statements are jealously watched, and the motives of the writer form as important an ingredient in the analysis of his history, as the facts he records. Probability is a powerful and troublesome test; and it is by this troublesome standard that a large portion of historical evidence is sifted. Consistency is no less pertinacious and exacting in its demands. In brief, to write a history, we must know more than mere facts. Human nature, viewed under an induction of extended experience, is the best help to the criticism of human history. Historical characters can only be estimated by the standard which human experience, whether actual or traditionary, has furnished. To form correct views of individuals we must regard them as forming parts of a great whole--we must