In 1717, when he was only 29 years old, Pope published a book of his collected verse; an honour which is earned by most poets only towards the end of their life. By this time, therefore, Pope had reached the peak of his career, his authority well established and his reputation as the greatest poet of the age undisputed (except by a few personal enemies). From 1715, moreover, he was honoured with the highly prestigious but also very demanding task of translating the works of Homer. This undertaking marks a turning point in Pope’s life and career in a number of ways. For first of all, it proved to be a very lucrative enterprise, yielding him over ₤10,000. This was a huge sum at the time, which made it possible for him to set up a house in the countryside but still near London (at Twickenham) and provided him with material comfort throughout the rest of his life. On the other hand, however, the constant plodding work of translating these vast poems (he worked on the translation for over a decade) tired Pope and made him adopt a bitterer attitude to his environment, to the contemporary situation, and to life in general. Besides, his translation also occasioned some challenges to his reputation.