There are two sets of line numbers throughout this book. Those in the margins refer to the English text; those at the top of the page refer to the Greek text. A few lines thought spurious or out of place in antiquity, and later, have been omitted from the translation. These are:
Book I, lines 275 through 278 and 356 through 359.
Book IX, line 483.
Book XI, line 245.
Book XIII, lines 320 and 321.
Book XIV, line 154, lines 161 and 162, lines 504 through 506.
Book XVI, line 101.
Book XVII, line 402.
Book XXIII, line 320.
The translator wishes to record his gratitude for aid of various kinds. A Guggenheim Fellowship helped him to begin; a Ford grant helped him to finish. Dudley Fitts and Sally Fitzgerald read and commented invaluably on the entire work in the course of writing. About half of the poem benefited from close readings by Andrew Chiappe, Jason Epstein, and John F. Nims. Valuable corrections and suggestions were given on shorter sections by John Berryman, Colin G. Hardie, Michael Jameson, Randall Jarrell, Priscilla Jenkins, and John Crowe Ransom. One salutary blast came from Ezra Pound. For the patient publisher, Anne Freedgood gave the manuscript a discerning reading.