The Iliad of Homer - Get a Free Blog

296.
the earlier parts of the Iliad.
They are almost too fine and
pathetic. The whole passage
defies translation, for there is
that about the Greek which has
no name, but which is of so
fine and ethereal a subtlety that
it can only be felt in the original,
and is lost in an attempt
to transfuse it into another language."—Coleridge,
p. 195.
"Achilles' ferocious treatment
of the corpse of Hector cannot
but offend as referred to the
modern standard of humanity.
The heroic age, however, must
be judged by its own moral
laws. Retributive vengeance on
the dead, as well as the living,
was a duty inculcated by the
religion of those barbarous
times which not only taught