"μήκων δ' ὣς ἑτέρωσε κάρη βάλεν, ἣτ' ἐνὶ κήπῳ
καρπῷ βριθομένη, νοτιῇσι τε εἰάρινῇσιν
ὣς ἑτέρωσ' ἤμυσε κάρη πήληκι βαρυνθέν."
"And as a poppy lets its head fall aside, which in a garden is loaded with its fruit, and with the soft rains of spring, so the youth drooped his head on one side; burdened with the helmet."
And now you shall compare the translations of this passage, with its context, by Chapman and Pope—(or the school of Pope), the one being by a man of pure English temper, and able therefore to understand pure Greek temper; the other infected with all the faults of the falsely classical school of the Renaissance.
First I take Chapman:—
"His shaft smit fair Gorgythion of Priam's princely race
Who in Æpina was brought forth, a famous town in Thrace,
By Castianeira, that for form was like celestial breed.
And as a crimson poppy-flower, surcharged with his seed,