In all the editions I have seen of this translation, the following
very palpable errors exist, which I do not remember to have seen
noticed. The first of these errors is contained in book ix. lines
325, 326, 463, and 533,
"Fools that ye are! (the savage thus replies,
His inward fury blazing at his _eyes_.)"
"Sing'd are his _brows_: the scorching _lids_ grow black."
"Seest thou these _lids_ that now unfold in vain?"
and consists in Mr. Pope having bestowed two organs of sight on the
giant Polypheme.
The second occurs in line 405 of the same book;
"Brain'd on the rock: his _second_ dire repast;"
and is owing to the inadvertency of the translator, who forgets what
he had previously written in lines 342 to 348.
"He answer'd with his deed: his bloody hand
Snatch'd two, unhappy of my martial band;
And dash'd like dogs against the stony floor;
The pavement swims with brains and mingled gore.
Torn limb from limb, he spreads his horrid feast,
And fierce devours it like a mountain beast."
And in lines 368 and 369;
"The task thus finish'd of his morning hours,
Two more he snatches, murders, and devours!"
{332}
by which it distinctly appears that line 405 has a reference to the
_third_ "dire repast" of the Cyclops, instead of the _second_.
Perhaps you will not deem me presumptuous in offering an amendment of
these passages by the following substitutions:--
For lines 325 and 326,
Fools that ye are! (the savage made reply,
His inward fury blazing at his eye.)
for line 463,
Sing'd is his brow; the scorching lid grows black.
for line 405,
Brain'd on a rock: his third most dire repast.
and for line 533,
Seest thou this lid that now unfolds in vain?