Una parodia de los homeristas

Traduzco el texto, que vi en Laudator temporis acti y que creo que es de 1911, porque la cita es un ejercicio de erudición*. Señalo al lado los textos de la Ilíada que se están parodiando.

Canta, diosa, de Friedrich hijo de Wolf,
que causó incontables dolores a los homeristas,
y envió al Hades muchas valientes almas de profesores
cuando a un tiempo chocaron en la pelea
los analistas-de-ojo-de-lince y los muy-sufridores-unitarios. [cf. Il. 1.1-7]
Primero levantó un héroe una hipótesis enorme, dentada,
que ni dos estudiosos de los de ahora se podrían creer
(aunque él por sí solo se la creía con gran facilidad),
y la lanzó al escudo del adversario de seis indudables estratos;
Pero, comprobada por esa vía, la desvergonzada suposición resbaló a un lado. [5.302-4]
Luego el otro levantó una hipótesis mucho más grande
y la lanzó -y no erró- al libro del enemigo:
a través de seis ediciones el dardo penetró,
pero en la séptima se paró, hecha de piel de ternero.
Luego los dos ejércitos avanzaron con clamor indecible,
y un coro de Babel se levantó ante la cara del cielo. [7.244-248]
Como cuando el viento del sur deja niebla sobre las cumbres de los montes,
una niebla odiada por el pastor, pero para el ladrón mejor que la noche,
así ascendió una densa nube de polvo de incertidumbre
de debajo de los pies mientras avanzaban. [3.10-14]

Sing, Goddess, of Friedrich son of Wolf,
Who brought countless griefs upon the Homerists,
And sent to Hades many valiant souls of professors,
When on a time there clashed together in strife
The lynx-eyed Analysts and much-enduring Unitarians.
First did one hero take up a huge, jagged hypothesis,
Which no two scholars of this age could believe
(Though he alone believed it quite easily),
And hurled it at foeman's shield of six indubitable strata;
But, checked thereby, the shameless assumption glanced aside.
Next did the other lift up a much larger hypothesis,
And threw it, nor missed, at enemy's book:
Through six editions did the missile penetrate,
But the seventh stopped it, made of the hide of a calf.
Then the two armies advanced with clamour unspeakable,
And a chorus of Babel arose before the face of heaven.
As when the South Wind sheds a mist over mountain-peaks,
A mist hated of shepherd, but to robber better than night,
Even so ascended a thick dust-cloud of uncertainty
From beneath their feet as they went.

*en un artículo de G.P. Goold ("The Nature of Homeric Composition," Illinois Classical Studies 2, 1977: 1-34) cita el texto, remitiéndose a Classical Review 25, 1911, 63, donde lo que se encuentra es una nota en la que dice:

We make no apology for calling attention to the very entertaining and impressive Gigantomachia which Mr. Lang and Professor Murray have been kind enough to exhibit recently in the Oxford Magazine. It would require the pen of Homer (if Homer had been present on the occasion) to describe adequately this brief and lively duel between the Polychronist and the Monochronist theories of the Iliad. For first did the one champion take up an hypothesis, black, jagged, and huge, which not two Germans of this age could believe (but he alone believed it quite easily), and hurled it at his adversary's Mycenaean shield of six indubitable strata; but the shameless assumption was checked thereby and glanced aside. Next did the other hero lift up a much larger hypothesis, and threw it, nor missed, at the foeman's book: through six editions did the missile go, urged by vast strength; but the seventh stopped it, made of the hide of a calf. Then did they rush together like wild boars, and one or other must have perished; but Apollo carried both away, ἐκάλυψε δ' ἄρ' ἠέρι πολλῇ-the battle ended as usual in a thick mist of uncertainty. It was a very pleasant passage of arms, and a model for controversies between the learned.