Well, it ain't the Odyssey. ( )

Sierra College Bookstore tag on back cover; perhaps this was Peter's ? I would have bought mine at U of O or Sac State - oh well its all in the family ( )

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Here are the opening lines of many of the verse translations for those wishing to get a sense of their styles. My own clear favourite is Sarah Ruden.

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John Dryden (1697):
Arms, and the man I sing, who, forc’d by fate,
And haughty Juno’s unrelenting hate,
Expell’d and exil’d, left the Trojan shore.
Long labours, both by sea and land, he bore,
And in the doubtful war, before he won
The Latian realm, and built the destin’d town;
His banish’d gods restor’d to rites divine,
And settled sure succession in his line,
From whence the race of Alban fathers come,
And the long glories of majestic Rome.

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Cecil Day-Lewis (1963):
I tell about war and the hero who first from Troy's frontier,
Displaced by destiny, came to the Lavinian shores,
To Italy—a man much travailed on sea and land
By the powers above, because of the brooding anger of Juno,
Suffering much in war until he could found a city
And march his gods into Latium, whence rose the Latin race,
The royal line of Alba and the high walls of Rome.

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Frank O. Copley (1965):
My song is arms and a man, the first of Troy
to come to Italy and Lavinian shores,
a fated fugitive, harried on land and sea
by heaven's huge might and Juno's endless hate,
pommeled by wars, till he could found the City
and bring his gods to Latium, whence the race
of Latins, our Alban sires, and towering Rome.

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Allen Mandelbaum (1971):
I sing of arms and of a man: his fate
had made him fugitive; he was the first
to journey from the coasts of Troy as far
as Italy and the Lavinian shores.
Across the lands and waters he was bettered
beneath the violence of High Ones, for
the savage Juno's unforgetting anger;
and many sufferings were his in war—
until he brought a city into being
and carried in his gods to Latium;
from this have come the Latin race, the lords
of Alba, and the ramparts of high Rome.

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Robert Fitzgerald (1983):
I sing of warfare and a man at war.
From the sea-coast of Troy in early days
He came to Italy by destiny,
To our Lavinian western shore,
A fugitive, this captain, buffeted
Cruelly on land as on the sea
By blows from powers of the air—behind them
Baleful Juno in her sleepless rage.
And cruel losses were his lot in war,
Till he could found a city and bring home
His gods to Latium, land of the Latin race,
The Alban lords, and the high walls of Rome.

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Stanley Lombardo (2005):
Arms I sing—and a man,
The first to come from the shores
Of Troy, exiled by Fate, to Italy
And the Lavinian coast; a man battered
On land and sea by the powers above
In the face of Juno's relentless wrath;
A man who also suffered greatly in war
Until he could found his city and bring his gods
Into Latium, from which arose
The Latin people, our Alban forefathers,
And the high walls of everlasting Rome.

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Robert Fagles (2006):
Wars and a man I sing—an exile driven on by Fate,
he was the first to flee the coast of Troy,
destined to reach Lavinian shores and Italian soil,
yet many blows he took on land and sea from the gods above—
thanks to cruel Juno's relentless rage—and many losses
he bore in battle too, before he could found a city,
bring his gods to Latium, source of the Latin race,
the Alban lords and the high walls of Rome.

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Frederick Ahl (2007):
Arms and the man I sing of Troy, who first from its seashores,
Italy-bound, fate's refugee, arrived at Lavinia's
Coastlands. How he was battered about over land, over high deep
Seas by the powers above! Savage Juno's anger remembered
Him, and he suffered profoundly in war to establish a city,
Settle his gods into Latium, making this land of the Latins
Future home to the Elders of Alba and Rome's mighty ramparts.

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Sarah Ruden (2008; revised in 2021):
Arms and a man I sing, the first from Troy,
A fated exile to Lavinian shores
In Italy. On land and sea divine force
Shook him, through ruthless Juno's brooding rage.
War racked him too, until he set his city
And gods in Latium. There his Latin race rose,
With Alban patriarchs, and high Rome's walls.

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David Ferry (2017):
I sing of arms and the man whom fate had sent
To exile from the shores of Troy to be
The first to come to Lavinium and the coasts
Of Italy, and who, because of Juno's
Savage implacable rage, was battered by storms
At sea, and from the heavens above, and also
By tempests of war, until at last he might
Bring his household gods to Latium, and build his town,
From which would come the Alban Fathers and
The lofty walls of Rome.

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Len Krisak (2020):
My poem sings of one man forced from Troy by war.
Fate harried him to find a home on Latium's shore—
On some Lavinian littoral. By land and sea,
Driven by loss, by gods who would not let him be,
By unrelenting Juno's lack of any pity,
He made his gods a home at last, founding the city
Of ancient Alba, then the battlements of Rome.

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Shadi Bartsch (2021):
My song is of war and a man: a refugee by fate,
the first from Troy to Italy’s Lavinian shores,
battered much on land and sea by blows from gods
obliging brutal Juno’s unforgetting rage;
he suffered much in war as well, all to plant
his town and gods in Latium. From here would rise
the Latin race, the Alban lords, and Rome’s high walls.