Comparison of English Translations in Homeric and Virgilian Epics

Organized by 悦子yuezi
Issue Date: 2024/12/01

The death of Patroclus: Homer, Iliad 16.751–867

From ancient Greek into English

IL.16.751 He spoke so, and strode against the hero Kebriones
IL.16.752 with the spring of a lion, who as he ravages the pastures
IL.16.753 has been hit in the chest, and his own courage destroys him.
IL.16.754 So in your fury you pounced, Patroklos, above Kebriones.
IL.16.755 On the other side Hektor sprang to the ground from his chariot,
IL.16.756 and the two fought it out over Kebriones, like lions
IL.16.757 who in the high places of a mountain, both in huge courage
IL.16.758 and both hungry, fight together over a killed deer.
IL.16.759 So above Kebriones these two, urgent for battle,
IL.16.760 Patroklos, son of Menoitios, and glorious Hektor,
IL.16.761 were straining with the pitiless bronze to tear at each other;
IL.16.762 since Hektor had caught him by the head, and would not let go of him,
IL.16.763 and Patroklos had his foot on the other side, while the other
IL.16.764 Trojans and Danaans drove together the strength of their onset.
IL.16.765 As east wind and south wind fight it out with each other
IL.16.766 in the valleys of the mountains to shake the deep forest timber,
IL.16.767 oak tree and ash and the cornel with the delicate bark; these
IL.16.768 whip their wide-reaching branches against one another
IL.16.769 in inhuman noise, and the crash goes up from the splintering timber;
IL.16.770 so Trojans and Achaians springing against one another
IL.16.771 cut men down, nor did either side think of disastrous panic,
IL.16.772 and many sharp spears were driven home about Kebriones
IL.16.773 and many feathered arrows sprung from the bowstrings, many
IL.16.774 great throwing stones pounded against the shields, as they fought on
IL.16.775 hard over his body, as he in the turning dust lay
IL.16.776 mightily in his might, his horsemanship all forgotten.
IL.16.777 So long as the sun was climbing still to the middle heaven,
IL.16.778 so long the thrown weapons of both took hold, and men dropped under them;
IL.16.779 but when the sun had gone to the time for unyoking of cattle,
IL.16.780 then beyond their very destiny the Achaians were stronger
IL.16.781 and dragged the hero Kebriones from under the weapons
IL.16.782 and the clamour of the Trojans, and stripped the armour from his shoulders.
IL.16.783 And Patroklos charged with evil intention in on the Trojans.
IL.16.784 Three times he charged in with the force of the running war god,
IL.16.785 screaming a terrible cry, and three times he cut down nine men;
IL.16.786 but as for the fourth time he swept in, like something greater
IL.16.787 than human, there, Patroklos, the end of your life was shown forth,
IL.16.788 since Phoibos came against you there in the strong encounter
IL.16.789 dangerously, nor did Patroklos see him as he moved through
IL.16.790 the battle, and shrouded in a deep mist came in against him
IL.16.791 and stood behind him, and struck his back and his broad shoulders
IL.16.792 with a flat stroke of the hand so that his eyes spun. Phoibos
IL.16.793 Apollo now struck away from his head the helmet
IL.16.794 four-horned and hollow-eyed, and under the feet of the horses
IL.16.795 it rolled clattering, and the plumes above it were defiled
IL.16.796 by blood and dust. Before this time it had not been permitted
IL.16.797 to defile in the dust this great helmet crested in horse-hair;
IL.16.798 rather it guarded the head and the gracious brow of a godlike
IL.16.799 man, Achilleus; but now Zeus gave it over to Hektor
IL.16.800 to wear on his head, Hektor whose own death was close to him.
IL.16.801 And in his hands was splintered all the huge, great, heavy,
IL.16.802 iron-shod, far-shadowing spear, and away from his shoulders
IL.16.803 dropped to the ground the shield with its shield sling and its tassels.
IL.16.804 The lord Apollo, son of Zeus, broke the corselet upon him.
IL.16.805 Disaster caught his wits, and his shining body went nerveless.
IL.16.806 He stood stupidly, and from close behind his back a Dardanian
IL.16.807 man hit him between the shoulders with a sharp javelin:
IL.16.808 Euphorbos, son of Panthoös, who surpassed all men of his own age
IL.16.809 with the throwing spear, and in horsemanship and the speed of his feet. He
IL.16.810 had already brought down twenty men from their horses
IL.16.811 since first coming, with his chariot and his learning in warfare.
IL.16.812 He first hit you with a thrown spear, o rider Patroklos,
IL.16.813 nor broke you, but ran away again, snatching out the ash spear
IL.16.814 from your body, and lost himself in the crowd, not enduring
IL.16.815 to face Patroklos, naked as he was, in close combat.
IL.16.816 Now Patroklos, broken by the spear and the god's blow, tried
IL.16.817 to shun death and shrink back into the swarm of his own companions.
IL.16.818 But Hektor, when he saw high-hearted Patroklos trying
IL.16.819 to get away, saw how he was wounded with the sharp javelin,
IL.16.820 came close against him across the ranks, and with the spear stabbed him
IL.16.821 in the depth of the belly and drove the bronze clean through. He fell,
IL.16.822 thunderously, to the horror of all the Achaian people.
IL.16.823 As a lion overpowers a weariless boar in wild combat
IL.16.824 as the two fight in their pride on the high places of a mountain
IL.16.825 over a little spring of water, both wanting to drink there,
IL.16.826 and the lion beats him down by force as he fights for his breath, so
IL.16.827 Hektor, Priam's son, with a close spear-stroke stripped the life
IL.16.828 from the fighting son of Menoitios, who had killed so many,
IL.16.829 and stood above him, and spoke aloud the winged words of triumph:
IL.16.830 'Patroklos, you thought perhaps of devastating our city,
IL.16.831 of stripping from the Trojan women the day of their liberty
IL.16.832 and dragging them off in ships to the beloved land of your fathers.
IL.16.833 Fool! When in front of them the running horses of Hektor
IL.16.834 strained with their swift feet into the fighting, and I with my own spear
IL.16.835 am conspicuous among the fighting Trojans, I who beat from them
IL.16.836 the day of necessity. For you, here the vultures shall eat you.
IL.16.837 Wretch! Achilleus, great as he was, could do nothing to help you.
IL.16.838 When he stayed behind, and you went, he must have said much to you:
IL.16.839 "Patroklos, lord of horses, see that you do not come back to me
IL.16.840 and the hollow ships, until you have torn in blood the tunic
IL.16.841 of manslaughtering Hektor about his chest." In some such
IL.16.842 manner he spoke to you, and persuaded the fool's heart in you.'
IL.16.843 And now, dying, you answered him, o rider Patroklos:
IL.16.844 'Now is your time for big words, Hektor. Yours is the victory
IL.16.845 given by Kronos' son, Zeus, and Apollo, who have subdued me
IL.16.846 easily, since they themselves stripped the arms from my shoulders.
IL.16.847 Even though twenty such as you had come in against me,
IL.16.848 they would all have been broken beneath my spear, and have perished.
IL.16.849 No, deadly destiny, with the son of Leto, has killed me,
IL.16.850 and of men it was Euphorbos; you are only my third slayer.
IL.16.851 And put away in your heart this other thing that I tell you.
IL.16.852 You yourself are not one who shall live long, but now already
IL.16.853 death and powerful destiny are standing beside you,
IL.16.854 to go down under the hands of Aiakos' great son, Achilleus.'
IL.16.855 He spoke, and as he spoke the end of death closed in upon him,
IL.16.856 and the soul fluttering free of his limbs went down into Death's house
IL.16.857 mourning her destiny, leaving youth and manhood behind her.
IL.16.858 Now though he was a dead man glorious Hektor spoke to him:
IL.16.859 'Patroklos, what is this prophecy of my headlong destruction?
IL.16.860 Who knows if even Achilleus, son of lovely-haired Thetis,
IL.16.861 might before this be struck by my spear, and his own life perish?'
IL.16.862 He spoke, and setting his heel upon him wrenched out the bronze spear
IL.16.863 from the wound, then spurned him away on his back from the spear. Thereafter
IL.16.864 armed with the spear he went on, aiming a cast at Automedon,
IL.16.865 the godlike henchman for the swift-footed son of Aiakos,
IL.16.866 with the spear as he was carried away by those swift and immortal
IL.16.867 horses the gods had given as shining gifts to Peleus.

The death of Pallas: Virgil, Aeneid 10.439–509

From Latin into English

Meanwhile the kind nymph sent her brother Turnus
To Lausus’ aid. He sped his chariot
Through the line and told his comrades, “Now stand down.
Pallas belongs to me. I’ll go for him.
I only wish his father could look on.”
He spoke. His comrades quit the field as ordered.
With the Rutulians gone, the youth, transfixed
By the haughty orders, let his hard gaze rove
From a distance over Turnus’ massive form.
He gave this answer to the tyrant’s words:
“Either’s a glorious prize: a general’s armor
Or death. It makes no difference to my father.
So stop your threats.” He stepped into the open,
Freezing the blood in the Arcadians’ hearts.
Turnus jumped down and closed in on his prey
On foot. A lion on his lofty post
Sees a bull lunging on a distant plain
And hurtles toward him: Turnus looked like this.
Pallas first gauged his spear’s range, then stepped forward,
Calling on the huge sky in hope that chance
Would bless his bravery against the odds.
“Hercules, come—my father took you in,
A stranger—help in this great enterprise.
Let dying Turnus see his bloody weapons
Taken from him by my victorious hands.”
The god heard, but he stifled heavy groans
In his heart; the tears were futile that he shed.
To comfort him, his father, Jupiter,
Said this: “An end is set for everyone,
For life is brief and cannot be recovered.
But brave men, through their exploits, strive for fame
That lasts. Beneath Troy’s high walls many sons
Of gods died. My own child Sarpedon died there.
Fate calls: for Turnus too the race is ending.”
He turned his eyes away from Italy’s fields.
Pallas with all his great strength cast his spear
And snatched his bright sword from the hollow sheath.
The spear flew, pierced the layers of the shield,
And struck the breastplate at the shoulder’s rim,
Finally grazing Turnus’ massive form.
But he in turn deliberately aimed
His iron-pointed pike and launched it, saying,
“See if my weapon is the one to stick.
The spearhead, striking, shaking, pounded through
The shield—all of the bronze and iron sheets,
All of the bull-hide layers wrapping it—
Into the breastplate, into that strong chest.
Out of the wound he tore the heated shaft,
But with it came his lifeblood and his soul.
Collapsing forward with a crash of arms,
He touched the enemy earth with gory lips.
Turnus stood over him:
“Go tell Evander this, Arcadians:
I send him back the Pallas he deserves.
The soothing tribute of a burial I grant him.
But he had a costly guest— Aeneas.”
With his foot he held the corpse down
And stripped the giant swordbelt with its story
Of crime etched in—a wedding night that left
The bedrooms smeared with gore of slaughtered youths—
That Clonus, son of Eurytus, had embossed
In gold, and Turnus now was thrilled to loot.
People know nothing of their fated future.
Their exaltation cannot stay in bounds.
The time would come when he’d give anything
Not to have touched the boy. He’d hate his plunder,
And hate this day. Pallas’ friends pressed in, wailing.
They laid him on his shield to haul away.
What grief, what glory you will take your father!
A single day brought war and death to you.
But see the heaps of enemy dead you leave.

Bibliography

The most relevant piece for our session is Ch. 1 of Barchiesi 2015 (on JSTOR) ‘THE DEATH OF PALLAS. Intertextuality and Transformation of the Epic Model
(pp. 1-34)’. This will be particularly relevant to the primary text case study which we shall discuss. Conte 2007 (which is set as a separate reading group activity) is very informative and stimulating on the more general picture of Virgil’s relationship with Homer.

Barchiesi, A. 2015. Homeric Effects in Vergil’s Narrative, tr. I. Marchesi and M. Fox. Princeton and Oxford.
Cairns, F. 1989. ‘The Aeneid as Odyssey.’ In Virgil’s Augustan Epic. Cambridge.
Conte, G. B. 2007. ‘The Virgilian Paradox: An Epic of Drama and Pathos’, in The Poetry of Pathos, edited by Stephen J. Harrison, 23–57. [Previously published in Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society 45 (1999), 17–42.]
Conte, G. B. 2017. Stealing the Club from Hercules: On Imitation in Latin Poetry. Berlin and New York.
Dekel, E. 2012. Virgil’s Homeric Lens. New York and London.
Efstathiou, A. and Karamanou, I., eds. 2016. Homer Receptions across Generic and Cultural Contexts. Trends in Classics Suppl. vol. 37. Berlin and New York.
Farrell, J., and Putnam, M., eds. 2010. A Companion to Vergil’s Aeneid and its Tradition. Malden, MA and Oxford.
Hardie, P. 1998. Virgil. Greece and Rome New Surveys in the Classics. Oxford.
Harrison, S. J. 1991. Vergil Aeneid 10. Oxford.
Hexter, R. (2010) ‘On first looking into Vergil’s Homer’, in Farrell and Putnam (2010) 26–36
King, K. C. (1982) ‘Foil and fusion: Homer’s Achilles in Vergil’s Aeneid’, Materiali e discussioni 9: 31–57.
Knauer, G. N. 196a4. Die Aeneis und Homer. Göttingen.
Knauer, G. N. 1964b. ‘Virgil’s Aeneid and Homer.’ Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 5: 61–84.
Abstract: In this study I shall try to indicate how Vergil has in fact incorporated the whole Iliad and the whole Odyssey into the Aeneid, incomparably transforming the Homeric epics. I must start with a few methodological considerations. I shall then seek to explain the relation of some of the most important passages of the Aeneid to their Homeric counterparts. Finally I shall try to suggest how we ought to understand this grand poetical contest.
Lattimore, R. tr. 1951. The Iliad of Homer. Chicago.
Michalopoulos, C. N. 2016. ‘“tollite me, Teucri” (Verg. Aen. 3.601): saving Achaemenides, saving Homer’, in Efstathiou and Karamanou (2016) 263–75.
Papaioannou, S. 2016. ‘Embracing Homeric orality in the Aeneid: revisiting the composition politics of Virgil’s first descriptio’, in Efstathiou and Karamanou (2016) 249–261.
Quint, D. 1993. Epic and Empire: Politics and Generic Form from Virgil to Milton. Princeton, NJ.
Ruden, S. tr. 2008. The Aeneid. New Haven, CT.
Vogt-Spira, G. 2002. ‘Warum Vergil statt Homer? Der frühneuzeitliche Vorzugsstreit zwischen Homer und Vergil im Spannungsfeld von Autorität und Historisierung’, Poetica 34: 323–44.
Wlosok, A. 1990 ‘Zur Geltung und Beurteilung Vergils und Homers in Spätantike und früher Neuzeit’, in Res Humanae, Res Divinae (Heidelberg), 476–98.