Richmond Lattimore

Richmond Alexander Lattimore (May 6, 1906 – February 26, 1984) was an American poet and classicist known for his translations of the Greek classics, especially his versions of the Iliad and Odyssey. Quotes I do not think nobility is a quality to directly strive for; you must write as well as you can, and then see, or let others see, whether or not the result is noble. Translator's Note to The Iliad of Homer (1951) I wish to thank...all those friends who have sustained me in the belief that this work was worth doing, and refrained from asking “Why do another translation of Homer?”—a question which has no answer for those who do not know the answer already. Translator's Note to The Iliad of Homer (1951) My forest night is padded soft with pawsand lit with yellow eyes. These monsters moveby stress of sightless leashes. So my bears,my gentle wolves and leopards, whom I loveas a queen loves her slaves, nuzzle my hand,move dark and silent up and down my stairs.The night is full of the soft noise of fur,and here before my doorstep every dawnthe lions open lazy eyes and yawn,flex heavy paws, and purr. "Notes from the Odyssey: Circe", in The Hudson Review, vol. 21, no. 1 (Spring 1968), pp. 88-89    I wash the ghosts out of my head,those moths, my moments; the girl-memories,the tides, the teeth, the dreams are all undone.Now I shall wash my hands and go to bed. "Notes from the Odyssey: Odysseus", in The Hudson Review, vol. 21, no. 1 (Spring 1968), p. 91 Translations The Iliad of Homer (1951) Chicago: University of Chicago Press thumb|Poor wretches,why then did we ever give you to the lord Peleus,a mortal man, and you yourselves are immortal and ageless?Only so that among unhappy men you also might be grieved?Since among all creatures that breathe on earth and crawl on itthere is not anywhere a thing more dismal than man is. Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus’ son Achilleusand its devastation, which put pains thousandfold upon the Achaians,hurled in their multitudes to the house of Hades strong soulsof heroes, but gave their bodies to be the delicate feastingof dogs, of all birds, and the will of Zeus was accomplishedsince that time when first there stood in division of conflictAtreus’ son the lord of men and brilliant Achilleus. Book 1, line 1 Fate is the same for the man who holds back, the same if he fights hard.We are all held in a single honor, the brave with the weaklings.A man dies still if he has done nothing, as one who has done much. Book 9, line 318 But the horses of Aiakides standing apart from the battlewept, as they had done since they heard how their charioteerhad fallen in the dust at the hands of murderous Hektor.In truth Automedon, the powerful son of Diores,hit them over and over again with the stroke of the flyinglash, or talked to them, sometimes entreating them, sometimes threatening.They were unwilling to go back to the wide passage of Helleand the ships, or back into the fighting after the Achaians,but still as stands a grave monument which is set overthe mounded tomb of a dead man or lady, they stood thereholding motionless in its place the fair-wrought chariot,leaning their heads along the ground, and warm tears were runningearthward from underneath the lids of the mourning horseswho longed for their charioteer, while their bright manes were made dirtyas they streamed down either side of the yoke from under the yoke pad.As he watched the mourning horses the son of Kronos pitied them,and stirred his head and spoke to his own spirit: “Poor wretches,why then did we ever give you to the lord Peleus,a mortal man, and you yourselves are immortal and ageless?Only so that among unhappy men you also might be grieved?Since among all creatures that breathe on earth and crawl on itthere is not anywhere a thing more dismal than man is.” Book 17, line 426 The Odyssey of Homer (1965) New York: Harper & Row Tell me, Muse, of the man of many ways, who was drivenfar journeys, after he had sacked Troy's sacred citadel.Many were they whose cities he saw, whose minds he learned of,many the pains he suffered in his spirit on the wide sea,struggling for his own life and the homecoming of his companions.Even so he could not save his companions, hard thoughhe strove to; they were destroyed by their own wild recklessness,fools, who devoured the oxen of Helios, the Sun God,and he took away the day of their homecoming. From some pointhere, goddess, daughter of Zeus, speak, and begin our story. Book 1, line 1 External links Category:1906 births Category:1984 deaths Category:Translators of Homer Category:Poets from the United States Category:Episcopalians from the United States Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society Category:University of Oxford alumni Category:Dartmouth College alumni Category:Biblical scholars Category:People from Pennsylvania