Book xv., the note 13.—The note10 Book xvi., of that volume, and
the note 14, Book xix., of the same.
ADVERTISEMENT TO SOUTHEY’S EDITION
It is incumbent upon the present Editor to state the reasons which have
induced him, between two editions of Cowper’s Homer, differing so
materially from each other that they might almost be deemed different
versions, to prefer the first.
Whoever has perused the Translator’s letters, must have perceived that
he had considered with no ordinary care the scheme of his
versification, and that when he resolved upon altering it in a second
edition, it was in deference to the opinion of others.
It seems to the Editor that Cowper’s own judgment is entitled to more
respect, than that of any, or all his critics; and that the version
which he composed when his faculties were most active and his spirits
least subject to depression,—indeed in the happiest part of his
life,—ought not to be superseded by a revisal, or rather
reconstruction, which was undertaken three years before his death,—not
like the first translation as “a pleasant work, an innocent luxury,”
the cheerful and delightful occupation of hope and ardor and
ambition,—but as a “hopeless employment,” a task to which he gave “all
his miserable days, and often many hours of the night,” seeking to
beguile the sense of utter wretchedness, by altering as if for the sake
of alteration.
The Editor has been confirmed in this opinion by the concurrence of
every person with whom he has communicated on the subject. Among others
he takes the liberty of mentioning Mr. Cary, whose authority upon such
a question is of especial weight, the Translator of Dante being the
only one of our countrymen who has ever executed a translation of equal
magnitude and not less difficulty, with the same perfect fidelity and
admirable skill.
In support of this determination, the case of Tasso may be cited as
curiously in point. The great Italian poet altered his Jerusalem like
Cowper, against his own judgment, in submission to his critics: he made
the alteration in the latter years of his life, and in a diseased state
of mind; and he proceeded upon the same prescribed rule of smoothing
down his versification, and removing all the elisions. The consequence
has been that the reconstructed poem is utterly neglected, and has
rarely, if ever, been reprinted, except in the two great editions of
his collected works; while the original poem has been and continues to
be in such demand, that the most diligent bibliographer might vainly
attempt to enumerate all the editions through which it has passed.
EDITOR’S NOTE.
It will be seen by the Advertisement to Southey’s edition of Cowper’s
Translation of the Iliad, that he has the highest opinion of its
merits, and that he also gives the preference to Cowper’s unrevised
edition. The Editor of the present edition is happy to offer it to the
public under the sanction of such high authority.
In the addition of notes I have availed myself of the learning of
various commentators (Pope, Coleridge, Müller, etc.) and covet no
higher praise than the approval of my judgment in the selection.
Those bearing the signature E.P.P., were furnished by my friend Miss
Peabody, of Boston. I would also acknowledge my obligations to C.C.
Felton, Eliot Professor of Greek in Harvard University. It should be
observed, that the remarks upon the language of the poem refer to it in
the original.
For a definite treatment of the character of each deity introduced in
the Iliad, and for the fable of the Judgment of Paris, which was the
primary cause of the Trojan war, the reader is referred to “Grecian and
Roman Mythology.”
It is intended that this edition of the Iliad shall be followed by a
similar one of the Odyssey, provided sufficient encouragement is given
by the demand for the present volume.