The prose translation, from which the passages of the "Odyssey" are taken, is better suited to present-day taste, trained by prose fiction rather than verse. It retains as far as has ever been done the Greek feeling and ideas, with all its richness of imagery and none of the affectation which we feel to-day in lengthy verse. THE MAN AND THE AGE 1. Who was Homer? 2. What is the history of Troy? 3. What was the value of its geographical situation in those days? (Consult an atlas, classical, if possible.) 4. What was the character of social conditions in those days? See V, 432. 5. Apart from scientific progress, what distinctions can you make between this era and that of Homer? 6. The fall and sack of Troy is told by whom, in what epic? Explain why Homer did not deal with this dramatic episode. STYLE AND WORKS 1. Why has Achilles' fame lasted two thousand years? III, 266. 2. What is one of Homer's leading merits? VIII, 356. 3. What was Alexander the Great's opinion of the "Iliad"? IX, 8. 4. Which do you prefer, the prose or the verse translation? Why? 5. In what respects are the verse translations molded by the spirit of the periods when they were made? 6. How is it that the Renaissance, when Chapman made his translation, was more like the Homeric period than the twentieth century? FROM THE "ODYSSEY" 1. What phrases suggest the Greek love of beauty? 2. Do you conclude that the poet was observant of life in times of peace as well as in times of war? 3. Had he ever lived on a farm? What makes you think so? 4. How did Odysseus treat the minstrel? Was the writer himself probably just such a bard? 5. Compare Circe's palace and the home of Odysseus; what was the probable status of the hero, king or chieftain? Why? 6. Note the use of sulphur for purifying the house. What does this show you regarding early Greek civilization? 7. Outline the social and political conditions of life in the Homeric period as shown in the "Odyssey." FOR REFERENCE The "Iliad," translated by LANG, LEAF, and MYERS. The "Odyssey," translated by BUTCHER and LANG. "Homer and his Age."--LANG. "The World of Homer."--LANG. "On Translating Homer."--ARNOLD. "Ethics of the Heroic Age."--GLADSTONE. "Life in the Homeric Age."--SEYMOUR. VERGIL (70 B.C.-19 B.C.) Unlike most distinguished Roman writers, Vergil was country born, coming from the district of Andes, near Mantua--hence 'the Mantuan,' as he was known to the scholastics.