Page:The Golden verses of Pythagoras (IA cu31924026681076).pdf/108

 § VII

I am beginning with the creator of epopœia, with Homer. It is easy to see by the manner in which this divine man blends, from the opening lines of the Iliad, the exposition and invocation, that, full of a celestial inspiration that he was the first to receive, he seeks to pour forth the superabundant fire which consumes him, and to throw into the soul of his hearer the impassioned enthusiasm which masters and controls his own. The following lines will suffice to make known the subject of a work which fills twenty-four cantos.

Déesse! viens chanter la colère d'Achille, Fatale, et pour les Grecs si fertile en malheurs, Qui, d'avance, aux enfers, précipitant en foule Les âmes des héros, livra leurs corps sanglants Aux dogues affamés: ainsi Jupiter même Le voulut, quand la haine eut divisé les cœurs Du roi des rois Atride et du divin Achille. Lequel des Immortels provoqua ce courroux? Apollon irrité, qui, pour punir Atride, Ravagea son armée: et les peuples mourraient!

O Goddess! sing the wrath of Peleus' son, Achilles; sing the deadly wrath that brought Woes numberless upon the Greeks, and swept To Hades many a valiant soul, and gave Their limbs a prey to dogs and birds of air,— For so had Jove appointed,—from the time When the two chiefs, Atrides, King of men, And great Achilles, parted first as foes. Which of the gods put strife between the chiefs, That they should thus contend? Latona's son And Jove's. Incensed against the king, he bade A deadly pestilence appear among The army, and the men were perishing.