Page:On translating Homer (1905).djvu/152

 Slew him amid the foremost rank   and glory gave to Hector. Now we, in coursing, pace would keep   even with breeze of Zephyr, Which speediest they say to be:   but for thyself 'tis fated By hand of hero and of God   in mighty strife to perish So much he spake: thereat his voice   the Furies stopp'd for ever.

Now if any fool ask, Why does not Mr Gladstone translate all Homer? any fool can reply with me, Because he is Chancellor of the Exchequer. A man who has talents and acquirements adequate to translate Homer well into rhyme, is almost certain to have other far more urgent calls for the exercise of such talents.

So much of metre. At length I come to the topic of Diction, where Mr Arnold and I are at variance not only as to taste, but as to the main facts of Greek literature. I had called Homer's style quaint and garrulous; and said that he rises and falls with his subject, being prosaic when it is tame, and low when it is mean. I added no proof; for I did not dream that it was needed. Mr Arnold not only absolutely denies all this, and denies it without proof; but adds, that these assertions prove my incompetence, and account for my total and conspicuous failure. His whole attack upon my diction is grounded on a passage which I must quote at length; for it is so