ask'st, in these bad days, my mind?", Homer is the first of the three authors he named
("To a Friend"). Elsewhere, Arnold declared that Homer's strengths were fourfold:
rapidity of movement; plainness and directness of expression; plainness and directness of
thought; and sustained nobility of tone ("On Translating Homer"). You may decide for
yourself which of the following translations accomplishes these goals for you. The
following passages, chronologically arranged, render Circe's speech in Book 10 as she is
at first surprised that her magic does not work on Odysseus
“And (full of teares) said: ‘Who? Of what high line
Art thou the issue? Whence? What shores sustaine
Thy native Citie? I amaz’d remaine
That, drinking these my venomes, th’art not turnd.
Never drunke any this cup but he mournd
In other likenesse if it once had past
The ivorie bounders of his tongue and taste.
All but thy selfe are brutishly declind:
Thy breast holds firme yet and unchang’d thy mind.
Thou canst be, therefore, none else but the man
Of many virtues—Ithacensian,
Deepe-soul’d Ulysses: who, I oft was told
By that slie God that beares the rod of gold,
Was to arrive here in retreat from Troy.
[Chapman remarks in a marginal note that Mercury’s herb, moly, “with Ulysses’ whole
Narration, hath in chiefe an Allegoricall exposition” (`79).]
"What are thou? say! from whence , from whom you came?
O more than human! Tell thy race, thy name.
Amazing strength, these poisons to sustain!
Not mortal thou, nor mortal is thy brain.
Or art thou he, the man to come (foretold
By Hermes, powerful with the wand of gold),
The man from Troy, who wander'd ocean round;
The man for wisdom's various arts renown'd,
Ulysses? Oh! Thy threatening fury cease, . . ."
"Who art thou? Of what race and of what land,
And who thy parents? I am wonder-struck
To see that thou couldst drink that magic juice
And yield not to its power. No living man,
Whoever he might be, that tasted once
Withstood them. In thy breast a spirit dwells
Not to be thus subdued. Art thou not then
Ulysses, master of wise stratagems,
Whose coming hither, on his way from Troy,
In his black galley, oft has been foretold
By Hermes of the golden wand?"
"Who are you? Of what people? Where is your town and kindred? I marvel much that
drinking of these drugs you were not charmed. None, no man else, ever withstood these
drugs who tasted them, so soon as they had passed the barrier of his teeth; but in your
breast there is a mind which cannot be beguiled. Surely you are adventurous Odysseus,
who the god of the golden wand, the Speedy-comer, always declared would come upon
his way from Troy,—he and his swift black ship.
"Who and whence are you? From what place and people have you come? How can it be
that my drugs have no power to charm you? Never yet was any man able to stand so
much as a taste of the herb I gave you; you must be spell-proof. Surely you can be none
other than the bold hero Odysseus, who Hermes always said would come here some day
with his ship while on his way home from Troy."
"Who art thou among men, and from whence? Where is thy city, and where thy parents?
Amazement holds me that thou hast drunk this charm and wast in no wise bewitched. For
no man else soever hath withstood this charm, when once he has drunk it, and it has
passed the barrier of his teeth. Nay, but the mind in thy breast is one not to be beguiled.
Surely thou art Odysseus, the man of ready device, who Argeïphontes of the golden wand
ever said to me would come hither on his way home from Troy with his swift, black
ship."
"Who are you, where do you come from in the wide world? Where is your city, who are
your parents? I am amazed that you have swallowed my drugs and you are not bewitched.
Indeed, there never was another man who could stand these drugs once he had let them
pass his teeth! But you must have a mind that cannot be bewitched. Surely you are
Odysseus, the man who is never at a loss! Argeiphontês Goldenrod used to say that you
would come on your way from Troy in a ship."
"What champion, of what country, can you be?
Where are your kinsmen and your city?
Are you not sluggish with my wine? Ah, wonder!
Never a moral man that drank this cup
but when it passed his lips he had succumbed.
Odysseus then you are, O great contender,
of whom the glittering god with golden wand
spoke to me ever, and foretold
the black swift ship would carry you from Troy."
"What man are you and whence? Where are your city and parents?
The wonder is on me that you drank my drugs and have not been
Enchanted, for no other man beside could have stood up
under my drugs, once he drank and they passed the barrier
of his teeth. There is a mind in you no magic will work on.
You are then resourceful Odysseus. Argeïphontes
of the golden staff was forever telling me you would come
to me, on your way back from Troy with your fast black ship."
"Who are you? where are you from? your city? your parents?
I'm wonderstruck—you drank my drugs, you're not bewitched!
Never has any other man withstood my potion, never
once it's past his lips and he has drunk it down.
You have a mind in you
no magic can enchant!
You must be Odysseus, man of twists and turns—
Hermes the giant-killer, god of the golden wand,
he always said you'd come,
homeward bound from Troy in your swift black ship."
"Who are you, and where do you come from?
What is your city and who are your parents?
I am amazed that you drank this potion
And are not bewitched. No other man
Has ever resisted this drug once it's past his lips.
But you have a mind that cannot be beguiled.
You must be Odysseus, the man of many wiles,
Who Quicksilver Hermes always said would come here
In his swift black ship on his way home from Troy."
10. 325-32. In lines 326 and 327 Homer uses an identical
phrase, ' tade pharmak', literally "these herbs/drugs" (the second word is a
cognate of modern pharmacy). Does the translator use the same or different words to
render the twice-used phrase? Later, the poet calls Odysseus'polutropos',
an epithet made up of two morphemes that literally mean "many" and "turns." How does
each of the translators render this epithet used of Odysseus?