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WAY, ARTHUR SANDERS (1847-1930), classical scholar and
headmaster of Wesley College, Melbourne, |
son of the Rev. William Way, was born at Dorking, England, on 13 February
1847. He was educated at Kingswood School, Bath, and graduated M.A. at London
university. From 1870 to 1876 he was classical lecturer at Queen's College,
Taunton, vice-master of Kingswood School, 1876 to 1881, and in 1882 became
headmaster of Wesley College, Melbourne. He had already published his
translation of the Odyssey of Homer, and while at Wesley brought out his
translation of the Iliad. At Wesley he fostered the teaching of natural
science, and also brought in the teaching of commercial principles for boys
likely to pursue a business career, but the number of students went down during
his period, largely because of the financial depression which began in 1889. He
resigned in 1892 and spent most of the rest of his life in translating from the
classics. Probably no other translator could compare with Way in fertility and
versatility. His versions give accurate renderings of the meaning of the
originals expressed in vigorous verse. The list of his translations in Miller's
Australian Literature includes Homer, Euripides, Aeschylus, Sophocles,
Aristophanes, Hesiod, Virgil, Lucretius, Lay of Nibelung Men, Song of Roland and
others. He was also the author of Homer (1913), Greek through
English (1926), and Sons of the Violet-Crowned, a Tale of Ancient
Athens (1929). He died at Ventnor, Isle of Wight, on 25 September 1930.
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