“This Telamonius thus received: ‘So, to my thoughts, my hands
Burn with desire to toss my lance; _each foot beneath me stands
Bare on bright fire to use his speed_; my heart is raised so high,
That to encounter Hector’s self I long insatiately.’”
There is no question which version is the more energetic. Is Lord
Derby’s nearer the original in being tamer? He has taken the “instinct
with fiery life” from Chapman’s hint. The original has simply
“restless,” or more familiarly “in a fidget.” There is nothing about
“grappling to the death,” and “nor should I fear” is feeble where
Chapman with his “long insatiately” is literal. We will give an example
where Chapman has amplified his original (Book XVI. v. 426; Derby, 494;
Chapman, 405):--
“Down jumped he from his chariot; down leapt his foe as light;
And as, on some far-looking rock, a cast of vultures fight,
Fly on each other, strike and truss, part, meet, and then stick by,
Tug both with crooked beaks and seres, cry, fight, and fight and cry,
So fiercely fought these angry kings.”[29]