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The Iliad

Chapter 5: PREFACE.
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The epic follows the destructive wrath of a foremost warrior after a quarrel with his leader, and the cascading losses and diplomatic tensions that follow during a prolonged siege. Narrative episodes alternate between large-scale battles and intimate scenes of mourning, punctuated by formal speeches, catalogues of forces, and single combats. Gods and fate repeatedly intervene, shaping outcomes and exposing human vulnerability. Recurring themes include honor and glory, the ethics of leadership, the cost of pride, and rituals surrounding death, while vivid similes and set-piece encounters illuminate both individual heroism and the communal toll of war.

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Title: The Iliad

Author: Homer

Translator: Theodore Alois Buckley

Release date: August 23, 2007 [eBook #22382]
Most recently updated: August 18, 2023

Language: English

Credits: Juliet Sutherland, Rénald Lévesque and the Online Distributed Proofreaders Europe

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22382 (With 800 linked footnotes, No illustrations)
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THE ILIAD OF HOMER,

Literally Translated,

WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES.

BY

THEODORE ALOIS BUCKLEY, B.A.

OF CHRIST CHURCH.

LONDON:
BELL AND DALDY, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
1873.

LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET
AND CHARING CROSS.

PREFACE.

The present translation of the Iliad will, it is hoped, be found to convey, more accurately than any which has preceded it, the words and thoughts of the original. It is based upon a careful examination of whatever has been contributed by scholars of every age towards the elucidation of the text, including the ancient scholiasts and lexicographers, the exegetical labours of Barnes and Clarke, and the elaborate criticisms of Heyne, Wolf, and their successors.

The necessary brevity of the notes has prevented the full discussion of many passages where there is great room for difference of opinion, and hence several interpretations are adopted without question, which, had the editor’s object been to write a critical commentary, would have undergone a more lengthened examination. The same reason has compelled him, in many instances, to substitute references for extracts, indicating rather than quoting those storehouses of information, from whose abundant contents he would gladly have drawn more copious supplies. Among the numerous works to which he has had recourse, the following deserve particular mention-Alberti’s invaluable edition of Hesychius, the Commentary of Eustathius, and Buttmann’s Lexilogus.

In the succeeding volume, the Odyssey, Hymns, and minor poems will be produced in a similar manner.

THEODORE ALOIS BUCKLEY,
Ch. Ch., Oxford.