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
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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