William Sinclair Marris

Sir William Sinclair Marris, KCSI, KCIE (9 October 1873 – 12 December 1945) was a British civil servant, colonial administrator, and classical scholar. He was a member of the Indian Civil Service during the British Raj, and later became Vice-Chancellor of the University of Durham.

Quotes

Translations

The Odyssey of Homer (1925)

Mysore: Oxford University Press

The gifts Athene gave her beyond women—
Skill in fair handiwork, and clever wit
And craft—whereof we never heard the like,
Not even in fair-haired Achaean women,
Lost ladies of old years, Alcmene, Tyro,
Or comely-crowned Mycene; none of these
Was like Penelope in shrewdness.

• Tell me, O Muse, of that Great Traveller
  Who wandered far and wide when he had sacked
  The sacred town of Troy. Of many men
  He saw the cities and he learned the mind;
  Ay, and at heart he suffered many woes
  Upon the sea, intent to save his life
  And bring his comrades home. Yet even so
  His men he could not save for all his efforts,
  For through their own blind wilfulness they perished;
  The fools! who at up Hyperion's kine;
  And he bereft them of their homing day.
  Touching these things, beginning where thou wilt,
  Tell even us, O goddess, child of Zeus.
  • Book 1, line 1

• The gifts Athene gave her beyond women—
  Skill in fair handiwork, and clever wit
  And craft—whereof we never heard the like,
  Not even in fair-haired Achaean women,
  Lost ladies of old years, Alcmene, Tyro,
  Or comely-crowned Mycene; none of these
  Was like Penelope in shrewdness.
  • Book 2, line 80

• ... I, as I lay dying
  Upon the sword, raised up my hands to smite her;
  And shamelessly she turned away, and scorned
  To draw my eye-lids down or close my mouth,
  Though I was on the road to Hades' house.
  • Book 11, line 423

External links

• Encyclopedic article on William Sinclair Marris on Wikipedia