The following is the book The Trojan War (1884?) by Carl Witt (1815-1891) and translated by Frances Younghusband. More information.
- Paris and Helen
- The Greeks at Aulis
- Greeks and Trojans
- Agamemnon and Achilles
- Fight Between Paris and Menelaus
- Diomedes
- Hector and Ajax
- The Repulse of the Greeks
- The Spying by Night
- Patroclus
- Achilles and Hector
- Priam in the Camp of the Greeks
- Death of Achilles and of Ajax
- Neoptolemus and Philoctetes
- Death of Paris
- The Taking of Troy
Preface
Like the Myths of Hellas, the following chapters are a translation of a little book by a German schoolmaster, Professor C. Witt. They narrate the story of the Iliad in simple language, chiefly for the benefit of young readers. The Myths of Hellas has won itself a deservedly popular place among English children’s books, and I venture to anticipate, if possible, a still greater popularity for the present volume.
That the story of the Trojan War, in whatever form, has all the elements which engage the interest of even young children, there is no need to prove — experience has shown that it is so in fact. And the causes of this fact are equally patent in the movement and incident, the suspenses, the stratagem, and the mingling of the human, the heroic, and the divine which pervade the story.
From the point of view of education this little volume is to be welcomed. As a reading book it cannot fail to charm, and the task which opens pages like these to the eyes of childhood will soon cease to be regarded as a task. Moreover, it will be a pure gain that schoolboys in the later years of their school life should approach the Iliad with that familiarity with its matter which such a volume as the present, followed perhaps by Pope’s Homer, or Chapman’s, or such other as chance may offer, will without fail have given. It will not be so much that the schoolboy ‘shall be brought past the bitterness of his learning’, as that the bitterness will have ceased to exist for him.
From the point of view of culture, also something, however slight, may be hoped from works like this. Some hint of ‘the true nature of beauty and grace’ may in some cases be won; and without expecting a new Keats to be inspired by these pages, we may at least count on some kindred, if fainter, emotion. Books like this are certainly more likely than some over which the youthful imagination at present ranges to be that ‘land of health’ amid whose ‘fair sights and sounds’ Plato tells us that it is desirable for the Commonwealth that our youth should dwell.
Of the translation itself I forbear to speak. Its quality and its merits are already before the public, and the time for words of introduction is past.
W. G. R.
March 31, 1884
Source of the text, etc.
The scanned book is available on Archive.org. I at LatinFromScratch.com have proofread, edited, etc., the OCR version. Minor changes have been made, but, in general, every spelling, word, sentence, paragraph, etc., is as in the original (however, most changes are about having more paragraphs for a more effortless reading experience, and occasionally some old-fashioned spellings such as to-morrow → tomorrow).
The original author is German philologist Carl Witt (1815-1891); the translator appears as Frances Younghusband, who might be Sir Francis Edward Younghusband (1863-1942) according to this; on the other hand, here they refer to Miss Younghusband, her, etc., so it might be a different person (a woman, even!!) of whom nothing can be found (but could it be this one?). The preface is by William Gunion Rutherford (1853-1907).
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This book narrates the story of the Iliad in simple language, chiefly for the benefit of young readers.
That the story of the Trojan War, in whatever form, has all the elements which engage the interest of even young children, there is no need to prove. And the causes of this fact are equally patent in the movement and incident, the suspenses, the stratagem, and the mingling of the human, the heroic, and the divine which pervade the story.
The (e)book version includes an appendix of proper names not available here online. Each character and location is briefly summarized with the main events of their story in the book.