Thetis Promises to Beg Help from Zeus (1.413-31)

τὸν δ' ἠμείβετ' ἔπειτα Θέτις κατὰ δάκρυ χέουσα:
ὤ μοι τέκνον ἐμόν, τί νύ σ' ἔτρεφον αἰνὰ τεκοῦσα;
αἴθ' ὄφελες παρὰ νηυσὶν ἀδάκρυτος καὶ ἀπήμων [415]
ἧσθαι, ἐπεί νύ τοι αἶσα μίνυνθά περ οὔ τι μάλα δήν:
νῦν δ' ἅμα τ' ὠκύμορος καὶ ὀΐζυρὸς περὶ πάντων
ἔπλεο: τώ σε κακῇ αἴσῃ τέκον ἐν μεγάροισι.
τοῦτο δέ τοι ἐρέουσα ἔπος Διὶ τερπικεραύνῳ
εἶμ' αὐτὴ πρὸς Ὄλυμπον ἀγάννιφον αἴ κε πίθηται. [420]
ἀλλὰ σὺ μὲν νῦν νηυσὶ παρήμενος ὠκυπόροισι
μήνι' Ἀχαιοῖσιν, πολέμου δ' ἀποπαύεο πάμπαν:
Ζεὺς γὰρ ἐς Ὠκεανὸν μετ' ἀμύμονας Αἰθιοπῆας
χθιζὸς ἔβη κατὰ δαῖτα, θεοὶ δ' ἅμα πάντες ἕποντο:
δωδεκάτῃ δέ τοι αὖτις ἐλεύσεται Οὔλυμπον δέ, [425]
καὶ τότ' ἔπειτά τοι εἶμι Διὸς ποτὶ χαλκοβατὲς δῶ,
καί μιν γουνάσομαι καί μιν πείσεσθαι ὀΐω.
ὣς ἄρα φωνήσασ' ἀπεβήσετο, τὸν δὲ λίπ' αὐτοῦ
χωόμενον κατὰ θυμὸν ἐϋζώνοιο γυναικὸς
τήν ῥα βίῃ ἀέκοντος ἀπηύρων: αὐτὰρ Ὀδυσσεὺς [430]
ἐς Χρύσην ἵκανεν ἄγων ἱερὴν ἑκατόμβην.


Translation: [note that I added a bonus below the comments]

And Thetis, shedding tears, replied to him,

O, Child! Why did I bear and raise you for
such sorrow? Ah, if only you could sit
among the swift ships, tearless, free of pain—
so brief the circuit of your life, so short.
But you are doomed to this sad, fleeting life,
and thus did I bear you to a grim fate.
I’ll tell your tale to Thunderloving Zeus—
myself approach Olympus’ snowy heights—
to see if he might be persuaded to
your cause. But sit you by your speedy ships
and rage at the Achaeans—stay your hand
from war. For Zeus has gone to Ocean now
to feast among the Ethiops, and all
the gods have followed him. Twelve days from now,
he will return again, Olympus-bound,
and then will I visit his bronze-floored home
and kneel to him, and he will listen, yes.

And so she spoke and left him there, his heart
enraged, for they had robbed him of the girl
by force, against his will. Odysseus then
arrived at Chryse, leading hallowed gifts.


Comments:
Another passage in rough iambic pentameter. I’m not sure that I’m warming to this task. It is very challenging, as I said in the preceding comment, and I’m still not convinced that the results are good. I do like working within some kind of formal boundaries because it demands greater attention, discipline, and creativity. I’m just not sure that these particular boundaries are the right ones for translating Homeric Greek into English. It might be, however, that I stuck too close to the form in this passage because it has a somewhat plodding feel to me. Of course it wouldn’t be fair to draw conclusions about the potential of the form itself when the real problem is that I myself am not yet adept at handling the form—I have no real practical experience writing iambic pentameter verse. The question then is whether or not it would pay off to acquire that experience by continuing in this vein.
Had I world enough and time, I guess I would need to immerse myself in the world of iambic pentameter; in particular, I would have to delve back into Milton’s brilliant use of it in Paradise Lost (a work I lavished attention on in graduate school), and then move forward to some more recent masters of it—and here my own background is weak, so it would take some research.


*Bonus* William Cowper's 1791 Blank Verse Rendition of this Passage:

To him, with streaming eyes, Thetis replied.
Born as thou wast to sorrow, ah, my son!
Why have I rear'd thee! Would that without tears,
Or cause for tears (transient as is thy life,
A little span) thy days might pass at Troy!
But short and sorrowful the fates ordain
Thy life, peculiar trouble must be thine,
Whom, therefore, oh that I had never borne!
But seeking the Olympian hill snow-crown'd,
I will myself plead for thee in the ear
Of Jove, the Thunderer. Meantime at thy fleet
Abiding, let thy wrath against the Greeks
Still burn, and altogether cease from war.
For to the banks of the Oceanus,
Where Æthiopia holds a feast to Jove,
He journey'd yesterday, with whom the Gods
Went also, and the twelfth day brings them home.
Then will I to his brazen-floor'd abode,
That I may clasp his knees, and much misdeem
Of my endeavor, or my prayer shall speed.
So saying, she went; but him she left enraged
For fair Brisëis' sake, forced from his arms
By stress of power. Meantime Ulysses came
To Chrysa with the Hecatomb in charge.