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I know my learned professors have found greater riches in the Iliad than I shall ever find; but I am not avaricious. I am content that others should be wiser than I. But with all their wide and comprehensive knowledge, they cannot measure their enjoyment of that splendid epic, nor can I. When I read the finest passages of the Iliad, I am conscious of a soul-sense that lifts me above the narrow, cramping circumstances of my life. My physical limitations are forgotten—my world lies upward, the length and the breadth and the sweep of the heavens are mine!
我很清楚，博学的教授们从《伊利亚特》中发掘的财富要远胜于我。我并不是个贪婪的人，我甘愿接受别人比我更聪明的现实。但是即使拥有了渊博的知识，他们却无法揣摩出恢弘史诗所蕴涵的激情。当然，我也揣摩不出来。而当我读了《伊利亚特》中最精彩的篇章以后，我才有了灵魂升华的感觉——我狭隘逼仄的生命得以释放，而身体的局限也已被我淡忘。我的世界也在上升，它浩瀚无边，横扫过重重天际！
My admiration for the Aeneid is not so great, but it is none the less real. I read it as much as possible without the help of notes or dictionary, and I always like to translate the episodes that please me especially. The word-painting of Virgil is wonderful sometimes; but his gods and men move through the scenes of passion and strife and pity and love like the graceful figures in an Elizabethan mask, whereas in the Iliad they give three leaps and go on singing. Virgil is serene and lovely like a marble Apollo in the moonlight; Homer is a beautiful, animated youth in the full sunlight with the wind in his hair.
我并不十分赞赏《埃涅阿斯纪》这部史诗，但它的真实依然令人动容。在阅读这部作品的时候，我尽量不去借助字典或注释的帮忙，而且，我总是喜欢把我特别喜欢的章节翻译出来。维吉尔的文笔有时的确精彩，但是他笔下的诸神和人类无不游走在激情、冲突、怜悯和情爱之间，就如同伊丽莎白时代化装舞会中的才子佳人。然而，《伊利亚特》中的神祇和人类则欢呼雀跃，纵情歌唱。维吉尔具有沉静而迷人的气质，如同月光之下的一尊阿波罗雕像；而荷马恰如头顶烈日、迎风而立的英武青年。
How easy it is to fly on paper wings! From "Greek Heroes" to the Iliad was no day's journey, nor was it altogether pleasant.
在书卷之间展翅飞翔是多么地惬意！从《希腊英雄传》到《伊利亚特》的旅程并非一朝一夕之功，它也不会带给你双倍的快乐。
