The early Greek epic—that is, poetry as a natural and popular, and not (as it became later) an Artificial and academic literary form—passed through the usual three phases, of development, of maturity, and of decline.

早期希腊史诗，即诗歌作为一种自然和流行的文学形式，而不是（后来变成的）人为和学术性的文学形式，经历了发展、成熟和衰退的三个阶段。

As the supreme perfection and universality of the Iliad and the Odyssey cast into oblivion whatever pre-Homeric poets had essayed, so these same qualities exercised a paralysing influence over the successors of Homer.

正如《伊利亚特》和《奥德赛》的至高无上的完美和普遍性使得所有尝试过的前荷马时期的诗人被遗忘一样，这些同样的品质对荷马的后继者产生了麻痹性的影响。