BOOKS.

MR. CORDERY'S ILIAD.* IN a note to the second volume of this translation, Mr. Cordery adopts the profession of faith laid down by Mr. Matthew Arnold in relation to the translation of Homer,—except, indeed, the ex- hortation to attempt it in an English hexameter verse, which he rejects as "too forced an exotic." He tells us also in his preface that the two principal aims of his blank-verse translation have- been " rapidity of movement and directness of speech," so that we- know pretty distinctly what is the general standard of excellence- by which he himself would have his effort tried. Trying it by such a standard, it is not easy to pass upon it any universal judg- ment. There is a great masculine vigour in it, and now and then, though rarely, a great felicity of expression ; on the other hand, Mr. Cordery is not often musical ; he is far too fond of archaisms; and he- frequently misses the delicate touches of both religious and human emotion. That Mr. Cordery's version is always direct, may be at. once admitted, and in some passages, especially the wrathful passages, this directness attains a very high order of Homeric force. That it is rapid in the same sense iu which Homer is rapid is, we think, much less true. Mr. Cordery attains rapidity ton.

often by a certain habit of abbreviation, or short-hand reporting,. —the leaving out of the English articles being one of his favourite- expedients, which gives the effect of speech tumbling on to its end, in a hurry too great to be natural and musical. Homer's style is. rapid as a breaking wave is rapid ; it begins and carries through. to the end its perfect rhythm ; but it is never rapid as a hurrying. man, or a gasping messenger, or even a violent torrent is rapid.

Homer never hurries, though he never lingers. Mr. Cordery hurries„

and often jars us by his hurry so as to turn the generous vivid movement of the Homeric thought into a close-packed thrifty.

terseness suggesting careful economy of language. Then, again,.

Mr. Cordery has sinned habitually against Mr. Arnold's canon that Homer is neither quaint nor grotesque,—not, indeed, as Mr.

Newman sinned against it, for great portions of Mr. Cordery's- verse are really lively and natural,—but still in a way to jar con- stantly on the reader's ear, and to produce a curious effect of amalgam between an ancient and modern phraseology.

If, however, we compare Mr. Cordery with two of his principal:.

blank-verse predecessors, Cowper and the late Lord Derby, we should say he has, on the whole, greatly the advantage of both,—of Cowper (whose Iliad was far inferior to his Odyssey), because he is- both closer to his original and far more vigorous and direct,—of Lord Derby, because Mr. Cordery has taken more uniform pains, and not

so often merged the rich Homeric detail in the wooden conven- tionalisms of general phrases. But still it is impossible not to feel. that Mr. Cordery's best efforts are so much above the average of his work, that had he given as much time in proportion to the- whole as he has given to his most successful passages, he might

have very far outstripped himself.

The great danger and difficulty of blank verse as a medium for- translating Homer, in the hands of any but a poet of the finest ear- for music, is the ease with which it relapses into pure prose, and.

deprives the ear of all that marvellous sweetness in which the Homeric hexameter is "so rich. Cowper, Lord Derby, and Mr.. Cordery all make us feel this for long and weary passages ; but blank verse is certainly capable of a rhythm which would not ba-

ilable to this reproach, as, for example, in Tennyson's grand little poem on Ulysses, where the rhythm is almost as delightful as that. of the Homeric hexameter itself. Such lines as these would..

fascinate the ear even of a man who did not understand our: language,—

"I cannot rest from travel : I will drink Life to the lees : all times I have enjoy'd Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those That loved me and alone; on shore and when Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades Vest the dim sea : I am become a name ; For always roaming with a hungry heart

Much have I seen and known; of men And manners, climates, councis, governments, Myself not least, but honour'd of them all ; And drunk delight of battle with my peers, Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy."

If the Iliad could be translated into such a blank verse as that,. it would, we think, be as near to Homer as the English language• is capable of attaining. But neither Cowper, nor Lord Derby, nor Mr. Cordery often approaches this standard ; and for long in-

* The Iliad of Homer. Translated by J. a Cordery, late of Ballot College,. Oxford, and now of Her Majesty's Bengal Civil Service. 2 vols. London: Ilivington..

'tervals their versions are apt to be scannable prose, which vexes the ear because it suggests blank verse, without being verse at all.

We take, for instance, the following, almost at haphazard, as a -specimen of Mr. Cordery's work on a level passage which does not specially interest him. It is the reply of Zeui to Thetis, near the -end of the first book (p. 23 of Mr. Cordery's translation), when Thetis has entreated Zeus to let the Greeks suffer for the insult to Achilles. We place side by side Mr. Cordery's and Lord Derby's versions :—

Loan DERBY.

"Then much disturb'd the Cloud- Compeller spoke :

Sad work thou mak'st in bidding MO oppose

My will to Juno's, when her bitter words Assail me ; for fall oft amid the gods She taunts me, that I aid the Tro- jan cause.

But thou return, that Juno see thee not, And leave to me the furtlfrance of thy suit.

Lo, to confirm thy faith, I nod my head, And well among the Immortal Gods is known The solemn import of that pledge from me : For ne'er my promise shall deceive or fail Or be recall'd, if with a not con- firm'd.'"

Wow, in both of these translations alike, the movement is wooden and limping, though less so in Mr. Cordery's translation than in Lord Derby's. In both translations you have something of the embar- -rassed, ignoble movement of a hen-pecked husband's complaint. But in the original, Zeus, though he confesses with delightful simplicity to his great fear of Here's tongue, speaks with a sweet flow of language which redeems the confession from all air of the ignoble ; and the closing lines, in which he descants on the irrevocable fidelity of promises sealed with his nod, are full of majesty. Mr. -Cordery does not fall into the depth of conventionality of Lord Derby's " solemn import of that pledge," but he does not approach 'the stately original :—

" Toiiro yelp E Ei4E0EY 7s /147) di0CZYCi7016/ /.6i710Y01: TE2CACtlp OLJ yap EA4011 1-CallidypETOY, 00' civars7X6v,

cirEXE674ros, 3,re xsy zscouXn zaruseiorcs."

For this, the mightiest sign I give in Heaven, Secures irrevocable, free from guile, Pledged to fulfilment, all my nod shall seal.

If you analyze the faults in these lines of Mr. Cordery's translation, -they consist, besides the general want of majesty and rhythm, of the -very colloquial "'twill,"—a kind of " rapidity " of which Homer -never gives us any example ;—of the rather quaint and somewhat awkward use of ' onset' in " onset and reproach," as a rendering of 100210P 1,516E415 icigovo ; —of chides,' a word which we apply to the fault-finding of a superior, and which certainly does not ex- press the 'MEI rails at me ') of Zeus ; —of the 'espy thee,' by way -of translation for ag void?) (' perceive thee '), which gives a gra- tuitous flavour of underhandedness to Here's jealousy, and a gra- tuitous and somewhat ignoble suspiciousness to the thought of Zeus, not borne out by the original ;—and of the failure of the last 'three lines to give any stateliness of effect to the irrevocable sign. This is minute criticism, but it is only by minute criticism of an .average passage that we can try any translation by a true standard.

Now, let us take Mr. Cordery at his best, and his best, we need ,tardly say, is very high. Again we compare him with Lord =Derby :— Ma. CORDERY.

" But sovran Agamemnon made reply : " Flee, if thy heart so prompt thee ! Not for me Delay thy going; t ask not thy stay. *Others are with me, who will ren- der still Dne honour, and of them is Zeus supreme.

:But thou—of heav'n-born kings I loathe thee most ; 'Death and destruction dog thee at the heels.: Thy strength, thine only virtue— 'tie from heav'n !

?Home then with all thy galleys and thy men, (crew, And lord it o'er the Myrmidonian

Ma. COEDERY.

-" Much moved, the Ruler of the Clouds returned:

'A tronblous task thou chargest ; 'twill enrage

Here to many an onset and re- proach. Already in full conclave of the gods She chides me that I grant the Trojans aid.

'Therefore lest she espy thee, haste thee back ; And it shall be my care that these things be ;

-Thy faith to strengthen, I vouch- safe my nod,

'Surest of testimony that proceeds From Powers above ; no word bath e'er returned

-Void, or bath gulled any, thus eon- firm'd." Loan DERBY.

" Whom answer'd Agamemnon, King of men : 'Fly then, if such thy mind! I ask thee not On mine account to stay ; others there are

Will guard my honour and avenge my MUM :

And chief of all, the Lord of coun- sel, Jove !

Of all the Heav'n-born Kings, thou art the man I hate the most ; for thou delight'st in nought But war and strife : thy prowess I allow ; Yet this, remember, is the gift of Heav'n. Return then, with thy vessels, if thou wilt.

And with thy followers, home ; and lord it there

Over thy Myrmidons! I heed thee not!

I care not for thy fury ! Hear my threat : Since Phoebus wrests Ohryseis from my arms, In mine own ship, and with mine own good crew, Her I send forth ; and, in her stead, I mean, Ev'n from thy tent, myself, to bear thy prize, The fair Briseis ; that henceforth thou know How far I am thy master ; and that, taught By thine example, others too may fear To rival me, and brave me to my face.'

"He ceased ; the other's wrath "Thus while he spake, Achilles

grew agony, chaf'd with rage ; And in his rough broad breast in And in his manly breast his heart twain the mind was torn Was aunder'd, or to draw his sharp With thoughts conflicting—whether bright brand, from his side Scatter the guards, and hew Atrides To draw his mighty sword, and put down, to rout Or to constrain the passion in his Th' assembled throng, and kill th' heart. insulting King ; But, while such doubt pass'd cours- Or school his soul, and keep his ing through his brain, anger down.

And he had half unsheath'd the But while in mind and spirit thus glittering blade, he mus'd, Athena came from heaton, by Here And half unsheath'd his sword, sent, from Heav'n came down The Goddess of the milk-white arm, Minerva, sent by Juno, white-armd who loved Queen, The two alike and with an equal Whose love and care both chiefs care." alike enjoy'd."

It is impossible not to see how far superior in every respect, in minute nuances of meaning, in general nobility and expressiveness of style, and in grandeur of manner, is Mr. Cordery's version here to Lord Derby's. Flee, if thy heart so prompt thee,' is far

nearer the original ¢:.:")7.: Ikea', F7 701 Oupoi go-gaunt:, than Lord Derby's "Fly, then, if such thy mind," though neither renders the Aciaa which gives the irony of heartiness to the consent. Lord Derby's interpolation of "avenge my cause," after " guard my honour," is in the rhetorical, mouthing, Popian style, and destroys the naturalness of the movement of Homer. Mr. Cordery's interpolation of thine only virtue,' after 'thy strength' may be justified perhaps by the grudging hypothetical form of the admission, 'if thou art very strong, a god gave thee this gift.' But we find the same fault with his "tis ' that we do with the "twill' of the first passage we have quoted,—it jars sadly on an ear attuned to Homer's generous fullness of style. There is something awkward, too, about the alliteration in " But thine from thee I then will seize," and the false emphasis on the "then" (which is interpolated by Mr. Cordery) gives an effect of anti-climax, of forcible-feeble, to the sentence, for which there is no excuse, as the present tense is continued in the original. But all the rest of the passage is truly noble : " the other's wrath grew agony," and the lines which follow, are magnificently Homeric. How finely "And in his rough broad breast in twain the mind was sundered" contrasts with Lord Derby's conven- tional "And in his manly breast his heart was torn with thoughts conflicting." It is impossible to speak too highly of this noble passage.

We wish we could have quoted as equally excellent the con- clusion, in which the effect of the appearance of Athens on Achilles is related ; but here Mr. Cordery Lies missed, we think, the tone of feeling which runs through the passage :—

" She stood behind, and by his yellow locks Held back the hero, manifest to him Only ; none else might see her; all aghast Achilles turned his face, and straightway knew Pallas Athena of the shining eyes."

We believe that, strictly speaking, cevni- di x.414n; II,Paianct is not "held him back by his yellow hair," but simply "took hold of him by his yellow hair," the act not being one of restraint, but simply a sign to him of her presence ; and the passage gains in effect by ascribing to Athens a purely spiritual influence over the wrath of Achilles. Then 0411,13401Y surely should be expressed rather by " marvelled" than by " all aghast," which would convey more the feeling of unpleasant physical surprise and dread, than of spiritual wonder. But the greatest fault is the failure to render the most striking words of the passage :—

I reek not of thine anger ! Hear MO more : Phoebus Apollo takes from me this maid ; So be it ; and I send her hence in state High on mine own fair galley with my men ; But thine from thee I then will seize, and tear Briais in like manner from thine arms So shalt thou know how far I stand, and great, Above thee ; so may others lay 't to heart, And shrink from standing rival to their king ! '

AElVfd Si 61 gees pcicohy."

"Awful was her glance," says Lord Derby, who is nearer the mark than Mr. Cordery, but misses the thrill of Achilles' spirit, —the shiver with which his spirit recognizes the supernatural presence. Homer says not that her glance was awful, but "and terrible to him her two eyes appeared," which is needed as the key to the sudden cooling down of Achilles' passion ; moreover, Homer uses the dual number to convey how vividly the glance of Achilles took in the intent gaze of the goddess. " He thrilled with terror as he caught those eyes," might express perhaps somewhat less faintly the effect of the Greek. These are the delicacies of expression on which so much of our delight in Homer depends. Mr. Cordery generally does justice to the grand vigour of his author, but more seldom to the finer shades of emotion he depicts. As a specimen, however, of his success in translating one of the famous passages at which so many poets have tried their hands, let us quote his very fine rendering of the conclusion to the 8th Book, in which he has adopted from Mr. Tennyson, the phrase in the seventh line, "To their highest the heavens break up :"—

" So, lifted high with hope, the whole night through

They camp'd outside upon the foughten field; And many a blazing campfire flamed upon it.

As, when in heav'n, about the fair clear moon,

The stars rise bright, deep in a windless air,

And every peak and promontory and grove Stands forth, whilst to their highest the heavens break up, A boundless empyidan; every star Shows, and the shepherd sees with gladsome heart : Such and so thick in front of Ilion's towers Midway betwixt the fleet and Xanthus' streams The watch-fires kindled by the host of Troy.

A thousand blazed upon the plain ; by each Within the ruddy glow sate fifty men; While by their chariots stood their steeds, and cbamp'd Corn and white barley, patient for the Dawn."

The only fault we have to find here is with the "boundless empyrem," a phrase grand enough, but far too Miltonic, and wanting the simplicity of Homer.

Taken as a whole, the greatest fault of the translation is certainly the excessive use of quaintnesses of style,—excessive, we mean, for a writer who accepts Mr. Arnold's canon that Homer should never be even quaint, should always be noble. To translate cixpjzopor, " scalp-locked," for instance,—meaning that the Thracians wore a lock on the scalp, and not, as we thought for a moment, that their heads had been knocked together and so remained,— to speak of " crook'd devices," of " felts of derring-do," to say " wert thou of another gotten Son,"—to talk of " the skulk," " haught " (for haughty), " blared," " crook-wiled," " letch," " smirched," indeed to use a host of such phrases, seems to us a fault destructive of the dignity and beauty of many a passage which might otherwise be fine. Still, we will say thus much of Mr. Cordery's version ;—it is by far the best blank-verse translation as yet known to us ; and if the general run of it came up to the height of his finest passages it would be as nearly perfect as we could hope to get. This, however, it certainly does not do. Now and then it falls below Lord Derby, especially in passages of scornful irony (such as, for instance, that in which Here beats Artemis with her own bow), but usually it is far more faithful ; and it always concentrates a far greater strength of wrath into the speeches of denunciation.