TOLSTOY CALLED THE ILIAD A miracle; Goethe said that it always thrust him into a
state of astonishment. Homer's story is thrilling, and his Greek is perhaps the
most beautiful poetry ever sung or written. But until now, even the best English
translations haven't been able to re-create the energy and simplicity, the
speed, grace, and pulsing rhythm of the original. In Stephen Mitchell's "Iliad,
"the epic story resounds again across 2,700 years, as if the lifeblood of its
heroes Achilles and Patroclus, Hector and Priam flows in every word. And we are
there with them, amid the horror and ecstasy of war, carried along by