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sight of men of poetic genius such as Schiller, who called Wolf's theory "barbaric," and Goethe, who, though at first inclined to accept it, on second thought said in a letter to Schiller: "I am more than ever convinced of the unity and indivisibility of the poem (the Iliad)." The opinion of Matthew Arnold, a ripe scholar as well as a poet full of the Greek spirit, is weighty indeed:

The insurmountable obstacle to believing the Iliad a consolidated work of several poets is this-that the work of great masters is unique; and the Iliad has a great master's genuine stamp, and that stamp is the grand style.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The beginner studying Homer will do well to read such books as W. E. Gladstone's Homer, and Sir R. C. Jebb's Homer: an Introduction to the Iliad and Odyssey; and also the excellent volumes on the Odyssey and the Iliad by the Rev. W. Lucas Collins.

Other books are:

Dr. Walter Leaf's A Companion to the Iliad for English Readers; Homer and History; and Troy, a Study in Homeric Geography.

Andrew Lang's Homer and his Age; Homer and the Epic; and The World of Homer.

Matthew Arnold's essay On Translating Homer.

W. E. Gladstone's Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age; Landmarks of Homeric Study; and Homeric Synchronism; an Enquiry into the Time and Place of Homer.

Recent books on Homer are J. A. K. Thomson's Studies in the Odyssey; F. M. Stawell's Homer and the Iliad: an Essay to Determine the Scope and Character of the Original Poem.

Mention must also be made of the two books by Samuel Butler (the author of Erewhon), The Authoress of the Odyssey, in which Butler expresses the view that the Odyssey was written by a woman, and The Humour of Homer.

Important modern translations of Homer are:

The Iliad done into English Prose, by Andrew Lang, Walter Leaf, and Ernest Myers.

The Odyssey done into English Prose, by S. H. Butcher and Andrew Lang.

The Iliad in English Verse, by A. S. Way (2 vols.)

VOL. 1-5

The Odyssey in English Verse, by A. S. Way.

Other modern translations are: The Odyssey translated into English Verse, by J. W. Mackail; The Odyssey translated into English in the Original Metre, by Francis Caulfeild; The Odyssey, a line for line translation, in the Metre of the Original, by H. B. Cotterill. William Morris, the famous author of "The Earthly Paradise," translated the "Odyssey" into English verse (Longmans), while Samuel Butler, author of Erewhon and The Way of All Flesh, did a prose version of the "Odyssey."

There are, of course, many older translations, notably, Alexander Pope's versions of the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey," the renderings of the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" by George Chapman, the Elizabethan poet and dramatist, William Cowper's (the poet) English blank verse translation of the "Iliad," of which there is, apparently, no modern edition. The American poet, William Cullen Bryant, did a blank verse version of the "Iliad" and Sir John F. W. Herschel a version of the "Iliad" in English hexameters.

There is also the version of the "Iliad" in English blank verse by Edward, Earl of Derby and the translation of the "Odyssey" in 2 vols. in the Loeb Classical Library.

III

THE STORY OF THE BIBLE

BY E. W. BARNES, Sc.D., F.R.S., CANON OF WESTMINSTER

THE STORY OF THE BIBLE

BY E. W. BARNES, Sc.D., F.R.S., CANON OF WESTMINSTER

HE collection of ancient books which we call the Bible is

TH

of incomparable value and importance. It has done more for the moral and religious progress of mankind than any other literature. As a record of the most significant process in human civilisation, of clear thought and right feeling developing together for a thousand years, it is unique. Some books in it reach levels of artistic excellence which have never been surpassed. And, moreover, the translation into English which we know as the Authorised Version is the foremost classic in our language.

If we inquire why the Bible can be regarded as a single surpassingly great book, the answer must be that there is in it unity, no less than sincerity, beauty, and strength. It has really but one theme-man's search for God. Behind history and poetry, prophecy and drama, gospel and epistle, there lies an intense eagerness to understand God's ways, to realise His nature, to feel His presence. Yet, fortunately, the Bible is not a collection of theological treatises. It is as varied as the life of man, a mirror of human endurance and weakness, triumph and failure. Above all it is a living history of spiritual progress. For this reason, from end to end of the Bible, there are books and passages of supreme excellence. They were written by men passionately in earnest, inspired by a pure and lofty faith, and convinced that they bore a great message for mankind. Conse

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