What is this curious portemanteau of AI with Iliad, I hear you asking. Did you feed the Iliad into an AI and have it translate it somehow? No, not really.
So, M.C. asked me to test his AI assistant for Latin and Greek school students. I eventually tested it by giving it the first line of my Latin version of the Iliad's opening with a minor deformation: «Īram percine mī Pēlīdis, dīva, Achillis», saying «Error declinationis est in hoc versu, ubi? Quem præclarum versum traducit?» (yes, the assistant speaks Latin; yes, Ancient Greek too).
It spotted the error (it's Pelidæ not Pelidis), and recognized that «Hoc est initium Iliadis Homeri» (this is the start of Homer's Iliad), pointed out nonexistent metrical problems, reminded me that Livius Andronicus did his thing with the start of the Odyssey (not sure what that had to do with this line), and proposed to fix the meter with me or discuss why L.A. used the saturnius instead of the hexameter, or «Alium versum Homericum mōre Aeolicō (Sapphicō) temptāre» (try another homeric line in Aeolic (Sapphic) fashion, i.e. make another Homer line into a line in an Aeolic meter I guess).
I pointed out that there were no problems except a nasty hiatus "diva Achillis", and it tried fixing it with «Īram Pēlīdae dīvīna incante Achillis», «Pēlīdae cecinisse īram, dea, dēbe Achillis», «Īram Pēlīdae nōbīs cane, Mūsa, Achillis», noted some Ennius thing, and proposed «Sī vīs, possumus hunc versum in dialectum Aeolicam (Sapphicam) mūtāre, ut videāmus quōmodo sonet sub lūce Lēsbī!» (If you want, we can change this line to Aeolic dialect, to see how it sounds under the light of Lesbos!). And that was the idea :).
I replied «Vero omnes hæ formæ hiatum habent: debe Achillis, Musa Achillis, incante Achillis. Quid est "incante"? Possumus tamen Īram | percine | tū Pē|līdǣ | dīva mi_A|chillis, cum elisione inter mī et Achillis» (Actually all those forms have a hiatus: [cue the hiatuses]. What is "incante"? We can make it [see original], though, with an elision between mī and Achillis). It recognized its mistake and stated incante was meant to be incantā (hiatus again, and inmetrical too), and noted «Tamen, nota bene: in hexametro dactylico, elisio vocalis longae (ut est mi) ante vocalem brevem (ut est A- in Achillis) rarior est et "durior" auribus habetur, sed apud poetas scaenicos et interdum epicos invenitur» (Though, nota bene: in the dactylic hexameter, an elision of a long vowel (as is mī) before a short vowel (as is the A- in Achillis) is rared and considered "harder" on the ears, but it is found in the scenic poets and sometimes in the epic poets), proposing then «Pēlīdae cane, dīva, mĭhī dīram Achĭlĕōs», where Achĭlĕōs has two of three vowel quantities wrong and is inmetrical. And then it proposed «Ἄμμι τὰν μᾶνιν Πηλήαδ' ἄειδε». Inmetrical, and unfortunately the saved chat has no timestamps, but it gave me an idea. The message it was in ended with «Nunc, quoniam de Homero et Sapphone tam docte disseruisti, vīsne ut ad Alcaeum transeamus? Eius metrum (strophe Alcaica) paulo robustius est et bellica argumenta magis decet. / / Visne tentare primum versum Alcaicum de Achille vel de proelio quodam?» (Now, since you discussed Homer and Sappho so learnèdly, do you want to move to Alcæus? His meter (the Alcaic stanza) is a little more robust and is more fitting for war-related toopics. / / Do you want to attempt a first Alcaic line on Achilles or on some battle?). And that was another idea.
«Si Ἀχιλλῆος est, nonne Achil(l)ēŏs erit? Perdidimus iram in hac versione. Possumus "Pēlīdǣ cane, dīva, mihī dīram_īram_Achilēos, sed inde totam ceteram proœmii traductionem reficiendam habemus cum versus II cum "funestam" (οὐλομένην) incipiat: [full translation of Iliad opening]. Tempus mihi ad hoc deest, cum mathematicus sim et multa de Sappho faciam. In Sapphicum hendecasyllabum vertere possumus Aeolicam versionem sic: Ἄμμι τὰν Πηλήαδ' ἄειδε μᾶνιν, ac in Alcaicum: Μᾶνιν δὲ τὰν Πηλήαδ' ἄειδέ μοι. Sappho quoque unam alcaicam strophen scripsisse dicitur: [fragment 1.H.i here with «αἴδως κέ σ‹’› οὐ κ‹ατ›ῆχεν ὄππατ’,*» for l. 3] *Hunc versum ita ipse correxit ut metrum sequeretur. / / De Alcæo paucissima feci, volo anthologiam construere sed tempus deest. Hoc quoque aliquando faciam :). / / Nunc tamen hora prandii est. Vale!», I replied, that is «If it's Ἀχιλλῆος, won't it be Achil(l)ēŏs? We lost the rage in this version. We can make it "Pēlīdǣ cane, dīva, mihī dīram͜ īram͜ Achilēos", but then we have to remake the whole rest of the translation of the opening, since l. 2 starts with "funestam" (οὐλομένην): [full translation of Iliad opening]. I don't have time for that, since I'm a mathematician and do a lot of things about Sappho. We can turn your Aeolic version into a Sapphic hendecasyllabic like this: Ἄμμι τὰν Πηλήαδ' ἄειδε μᾶνιν, and into an Alcaic one like this: Μᾶνιν δὲ τὰν Πηλήαδ' ἄειδέ μοι. Sappho is also said to have written a single Alcaic stanza: [fragment 1.H.i here with «αἴδως κέ σ‹’› οὐ κ‹ατ›ῆχεν ὄππατ’,*» for l. 3] *I corrected this line like this myself for it to follow the meter. / / I did very little on Alcæus, I want to construct an anthology but time is missing. I will do that too at some point :). / / Now though it's lunchtime. Bye!».
This reply took a lot of behind the scenes thought, with «Ἄμμι τὰν Πηλήαδ' ἄειδε μᾶνιν» being fixed at 12:50 and «Μᾶνιν δὲ τὰν Πηλήαδ' ἄειδέ μοι» at 12:53. That δὲ always felt out of place, and I guess I also wanted μᾶνιν to start the Sapphic version, not to mention end it with ἄεισον ἄμμι straight out of Sappho. So… «Μανιν αυ Πηλήαδ' ἄεισον αμμι» (22:26), and «Μᾶνίν νυ τὰν Πηλήαδ' ἄειδέ μοι» (22:27). And then I kept going. At 22:29 I had «Α τοισ' Αχαιοισ'», which I continued as «Α τοισ' Αχαιοισ' ουλομενα->ολλομενα» at 22:30, and then with «μάλα / Πολλ' αλγε'» at 22:32, to redo that ollomena bit at 22:36 as «Α τοισ' Αχαιοισ' ολλομενα γε δη, / Ω Μοισ', εθηκε μυρι' αλγεα».
Which I sent to M.C. at 23:04, commenting at 23:05 «Prima o poi la finisco, vedremo quante strofe alcaiche ci faccio :). Quel γε δη però è proprio un "E' 'un so ccosa metterci in 'sto bbuho"...» (Sooner or later I'll finish this, we'll see how many Alcaic stanzas I make out of it :). That γε δη though is a veritable "Ain't got no clue wot to put in dis gap"…»… which I solved with «Α τοισ' Αχαιοισ' ολλομεν' αλγεα, / Ω Μοισ', εθηκε μυρι': Αιδι / -uu- προΐαψε ψυχας» at 23:11, noting that would make the ψε long by position. At 23:13 I got «Ω Μοισ', εθηκε πλειστα: πολλαις / Αυτ' Αιδι προΐαψε ψυχαις», which at least completes the stanza, but doesn't solve the lengthened pse, and then I remarked that a synaphea «... εθηκε πλειστα: ιφθι- / μοις Αιδι προΐαψε πολλαις / / Ψυχαις μεν ηρωων», reverting from πλεῖστα to μύρι' with «Ω Μοισ', εθηκε μυρι': ιφθι- / μοις Αιδι προΐαψε πολλαις / / Ψυχαις μεν ηρώων» at 8:52 the next morning. And after drafting this post, on 7/2/26 at 16:12, I completed the extra line with «γε, κύνεσσι δὲ».
And that's all I have for now. So below I report the original Greek and the two Sapphic lines, which I do not intend to continue (at least as of now), and below the original I put the non-synaphea stanza, and below the Sapphic lines the synaphea stanza+. Let's see!
So, M.C. asked me to test his AI assistant for Latin and Greek school students. I eventually tested it by giving it the first line of my Latin version of the Iliad's opening with a minor deformation: «Īram percine mī Pēlīdis, dīva, Achillis», saying «Error declinationis est in hoc versu, ubi? Quem præclarum versum traducit?» (yes, the assistant speaks Latin; yes, Ancient Greek too).
It spotted the error (it's Pelidæ not Pelidis), and recognized that «Hoc est initium Iliadis Homeri» (this is the start of Homer's Iliad), pointed out nonexistent metrical problems, reminded me that Livius Andronicus did his thing with the start of the Odyssey (not sure what that had to do with this line), and proposed to fix the meter with me or discuss why L.A. used the saturnius instead of the hexameter, or «Alium versum Homericum mōre Aeolicō (Sapphicō) temptāre» (try another homeric line in Aeolic (Sapphic) fashion, i.e. make another Homer line into a line in an Aeolic meter I guess).
I pointed out that there were no problems except a nasty hiatus "diva Achillis", and it tried fixing it with «Īram Pēlīdae dīvīna incante Achillis», «Pēlīdae cecinisse īram, dea, dēbe Achillis», «Īram Pēlīdae nōbīs cane, Mūsa, Achillis», noted some Ennius thing, and proposed «Sī vīs, possumus hunc versum in dialectum Aeolicam (Sapphicam) mūtāre, ut videāmus quōmodo sonet sub lūce Lēsbī!» (If you want, we can change this line to Aeolic dialect, to see how it sounds under the light of Lesbos!). And that was the idea :).
I replied «Vero omnes hæ formæ hiatum habent: debe Achillis, Musa Achillis, incante Achillis. Quid est "incante"? Possumus tamen Īram | percine | tū Pē|līdǣ | dīva mi_A|chillis, cum elisione inter mī et Achillis» (Actually all those forms have a hiatus: [cue the hiatuses]. What is "incante"? We can make it [see original], though, with an elision between mī and Achillis). It recognized its mistake and stated incante was meant to be incantā (hiatus again, and inmetrical too), and noted «Tamen, nota bene: in hexametro dactylico, elisio vocalis longae (ut est mi) ante vocalem brevem (ut est A- in Achillis) rarior est et "durior" auribus habetur, sed apud poetas scaenicos et interdum epicos invenitur» (Though, nota bene: in the dactylic hexameter, an elision of a long vowel (as is mī) before a short vowel (as is the A- in Achillis) is rared and considered "harder" on the ears, but it is found in the scenic poets and sometimes in the epic poets), proposing then «Pēlīdae cane, dīva, mĭhī dīram Achĭlĕōs», where Achĭlĕōs has two of three vowel quantities wrong and is inmetrical. And then it proposed «Ἄμμι τὰν μᾶνιν Πηλήαδ' ἄειδε». Inmetrical, and unfortunately the saved chat has no timestamps, but it gave me an idea. The message it was in ended with «Nunc, quoniam de Homero et Sapphone tam docte disseruisti, vīsne ut ad Alcaeum transeamus? Eius metrum (strophe Alcaica) paulo robustius est et bellica argumenta magis decet. / / Visne tentare primum versum Alcaicum de Achille vel de proelio quodam?» (Now, since you discussed Homer and Sappho so learnèdly, do you want to move to Alcæus? His meter (the Alcaic stanza) is a little more robust and is more fitting for war-related toopics. / / Do you want to attempt a first Alcaic line on Achilles or on some battle?). And that was another idea.
«Si Ἀχιλλῆος est, nonne Achil(l)ēŏs erit? Perdidimus iram in hac versione. Possumus "Pēlīdǣ cane, dīva, mihī dīram_īram_Achilēos, sed inde totam ceteram proœmii traductionem reficiendam habemus cum versus II cum "funestam" (οὐλομένην) incipiat: [full translation of Iliad opening]. Tempus mihi ad hoc deest, cum mathematicus sim et multa de Sappho faciam. In Sapphicum hendecasyllabum vertere possumus Aeolicam versionem sic: Ἄμμι τὰν Πηλήαδ' ἄειδε μᾶνιν, ac in Alcaicum: Μᾶνιν δὲ τὰν Πηλήαδ' ἄειδέ μοι. Sappho quoque unam alcaicam strophen scripsisse dicitur: [fragment 1.H.i here with «αἴδως κέ σ‹’› οὐ κ‹ατ›ῆχεν ὄππατ’,*» for l. 3] *Hunc versum ita ipse correxit ut metrum sequeretur. / / De Alcæo paucissima feci, volo anthologiam construere sed tempus deest. Hoc quoque aliquando faciam :). / / Nunc tamen hora prandii est. Vale!», I replied, that is «If it's Ἀχιλλῆος, won't it be Achil(l)ēŏs? We lost the rage in this version. We can make it "Pēlīdǣ cane, dīva, mihī dīram͜ īram͜ Achilēos", but then we have to remake the whole rest of the translation of the opening, since l. 2 starts with "funestam" (οὐλομένην): [full translation of Iliad opening]. I don't have time for that, since I'm a mathematician and do a lot of things about Sappho. We can turn your Aeolic version into a Sapphic hendecasyllabic like this: Ἄμμι τὰν Πηλήαδ' ἄειδε μᾶνιν, and into an Alcaic one like this: Μᾶνιν δὲ τὰν Πηλήαδ' ἄειδέ μοι. Sappho is also said to have written a single Alcaic stanza: [fragment 1.H.i here with «αἴδως κέ σ‹’› οὐ κ‹ατ›ῆχεν ὄππατ’,*» for l. 3] *I corrected this line like this myself for it to follow the meter. / / I did very little on Alcæus, I want to construct an anthology but time is missing. I will do that too at some point :). / / Now though it's lunchtime. Bye!».
This reply took a lot of behind the scenes thought, with «Ἄμμι τὰν Πηλήαδ' ἄειδε μᾶνιν» being fixed at 12:50 and «Μᾶνιν δὲ τὰν Πηλήαδ' ἄειδέ μοι» at 12:53. That δὲ always felt out of place, and I guess I also wanted μᾶνιν to start the Sapphic version, not to mention end it with ἄεισον ἄμμι straight out of Sappho. So… «Μανιν αυ Πηλήαδ' ἄεισον αμμι» (22:26), and «Μᾶνίν νυ τὰν Πηλήαδ' ἄειδέ μοι» (22:27). And then I kept going. At 22:29 I had «Α τοισ' Αχαιοισ'», which I continued as «Α τοισ' Αχαιοισ' ουλομενα->ολλομενα» at 22:30, and then with «μάλα / Πολλ' αλγε'» at 22:32, to redo that ollomena bit at 22:36 as «Α τοισ' Αχαιοισ' ολλομενα γε δη, / Ω Μοισ', εθηκε μυρι' αλγεα».
Which I sent to M.C. at 23:04, commenting at 23:05 «Prima o poi la finisco, vedremo quante strofe alcaiche ci faccio :). Quel γε δη però è proprio un "E' 'un so ccosa metterci in 'sto bbuho"...» (Sooner or later I'll finish this, we'll see how many Alcaic stanzas I make out of it :). That γε δη though is a veritable "Ain't got no clue wot to put in dis gap"…»… which I solved with «Α τοισ' Αχαιοισ' ολλομεν' αλγεα, / Ω Μοισ', εθηκε μυρι': Αιδι / -uu- προΐαψε ψυχας» at 23:11, noting that would make the ψε long by position. At 23:13 I got «Ω Μοισ', εθηκε πλειστα: πολλαις / Αυτ' Αιδι προΐαψε ψυχαις», which at least completes the stanza, but doesn't solve the lengthened pse, and then I remarked that a synaphea «... εθηκε πλειστα: ιφθι- / μοις Αιδι προΐαψε πολλαις / / Ψυχαις μεν ηρωων», reverting from πλεῖστα to μύρι' with «Ω Μοισ', εθηκε μυρι': ιφθι- / μοις Αιδι προΐαψε πολλαις / / Ψυχαις μεν ηρώων» at 8:52 the next morning. And after drafting this post, on 7/2/26 at 16:12, I completed the extra line with «γε, κύνεσσι δὲ».
And that's all I have for now. So below I report the original Greek and the two Sapphic lines, which I do not intend to continue (at least as of now), and below the original I put the non-synaphea stanza, and below the Sapphic lines the synaphea stanza+. Let's see!
Original Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληιάδεω Ἀχιλῆος Οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί’ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε’ ἔθηκε, Πολλὰς δ’ ἰφθίμους ψυχὰς Ἄϊδι προΐαψεν Ἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν Οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι· Διὸς δ’ ἐτελείετο βουλή· Ἐξ οὗ δὴ τὰ πρῶτα διαστήτην ἐρίσαντε Ἀτρεΐδης τε ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν καὶ δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς. Alcaic stanza without synaphea Μᾶνίν νυ τὰν Πηλήαδ' ἄειδέ μοι Ἂ τοῖσ' Αχαίοισ' ὀλλομέν' ἄλγεα, Ὦ Μοισ', ἔθηκε πλεῖστα· πόλλαις Αὔτ' Ἄϊδι προΐαψε ψύχαις |
Sapphic hendecasyllabics Ἄμμι τὰν Πηλήαδ' ἄειδε μᾶνιν Μᾶνιν αὖ Πηλήαδ' ἄεισον ἄμμι Alcaic stanza with synaphea Μᾶνίν νυ τὰν Πηλήαδ' ἄειδέ μοι Ἂ τοῖσ' Αχαίοισ' ὀλλομέν' ἄλγεα, Ὦ Μοῖσ', ἔθηκε μύρι'· ἰφθί- μοις Ἄϊδι προΐαψε πόλλαις Ψύχαις μὲν ἠρώων γε, κύνεσσι δὲ |
