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Article MR. TASKER'S LETTERS Page 1 of 2 →
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Mr. Tasker's Letters
MR . TASKER'S LETTERS
CONTINUED . LETTER THE THIRD .
SIR , I CONTINUE to write to you without any regular order , con * cerning the Homeric wounds ; and you are now referred to that of Agamemnon in the nth book-, which , in my liumble opinion , is a strong proof of my assertions in a former letter , in more points than one . Homer ,, as you may remember , found it absolutely necessary
in this book , to describe the Grecians flying from the Trojans ; and to save the honour of his countrymen , he contrived to wound some of his first-rale heroes in such a manner as might oblige them to retire from the fight , but not endanger their lives . Accordingly he narrates , that Coon , a Trojan warrior , darted ( aMrio-t ) unperceived at Agamemnon , and hit him , xxma , x ^ i p-iew , on the middle of the hand , under the elbowand that the of the
ancon , or ; point shining dart came out at the opposite side . The thrilling steel transpierc'd the brawny part , And thro' the arm stood forth the barbed dart . POPE , Read a few lines further , and you will perceive how the original is a picture of nature , and how the translation is otherwise . Homer says , that Agamemnon continued fighting while the warm blood flowed from the wound ; but when the wound was dry , and the blood
stopped , as Pope in that place beautifully translates , Then grinding tortures his strong bosom rend , Less teen the darts the fierce Ilythite send . The Uythiee , you well know , were the goddesses that presided over child-birth . In plain English , therefore , when from the lacerated tendons of the hand irritation took placehe felt pains equal to a
, . \ yoman in travail . Whereas , from Pope ' s' description , the generallissimo of the Grecian army ' would have been effectually maimed in his arm , but no violent or painful symptoms would have followed from the division of a muscular part . In proof of the irritation that must ensue from the wound described , you may recollect that that horrible symptom , the lock-jaw , does very often follow from wounds
in the hands and feet in hot climates , and sometimes even in ours . You , who are such a master of the Greek language , need not be told that x ?< , derived from the old Greek verb S , to hold , is very unequivocal , and the appropriated word for ' hand , ' in all Greek writers . I am therefore surprised to find , that in the Latin prose-translation affixed to Clarke ' s most judicious and accurate edition of Homer , it should be rendered ' brachium ; ' the Greek word for arm is P ^ x ™ * . from which the Latins formed their' brachium . '
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Mr. Tasker's Letters
MR . TASKER'S LETTERS
CONTINUED . LETTER THE THIRD .
SIR , I CONTINUE to write to you without any regular order , con * cerning the Homeric wounds ; and you are now referred to that of Agamemnon in the nth book-, which , in my liumble opinion , is a strong proof of my assertions in a former letter , in more points than one . Homer ,, as you may remember , found it absolutely necessary
in this book , to describe the Grecians flying from the Trojans ; and to save the honour of his countrymen , he contrived to wound some of his first-rale heroes in such a manner as might oblige them to retire from the fight , but not endanger their lives . Accordingly he narrates , that Coon , a Trojan warrior , darted ( aMrio-t ) unperceived at Agamemnon , and hit him , xxma , x ^ i p-iew , on the middle of the hand , under the elbowand that the of the
ancon , or ; point shining dart came out at the opposite side . The thrilling steel transpierc'd the brawny part , And thro' the arm stood forth the barbed dart . POPE , Read a few lines further , and you will perceive how the original is a picture of nature , and how the translation is otherwise . Homer says , that Agamemnon continued fighting while the warm blood flowed from the wound ; but when the wound was dry , and the blood
stopped , as Pope in that place beautifully translates , Then grinding tortures his strong bosom rend , Less teen the darts the fierce Ilythite send . The Uythiee , you well know , were the goddesses that presided over child-birth . In plain English , therefore , when from the lacerated tendons of the hand irritation took placehe felt pains equal to a
, . \ yoman in travail . Whereas , from Pope ' s' description , the generallissimo of the Grecian army ' would have been effectually maimed in his arm , but no violent or painful symptoms would have followed from the division of a muscular part . In proof of the irritation that must ensue from the wound described , you may recollect that that horrible symptom , the lock-jaw , does very often follow from wounds
in the hands and feet in hot climates , and sometimes even in ours . You , who are such a master of the Greek language , need not be told that x ?< , derived from the old Greek verb S , to hold , is very unequivocal , and the appropriated word for ' hand , ' in all Greek writers . I am therefore surprised to find , that in the Latin prose-translation affixed to Clarke ' s most judicious and accurate edition of Homer , it should be rendered ' brachium ; ' the Greek word for arm is P ^ x ™ * . from which the Latins formed their' brachium . '