Homer : The Underworld ( Odyssey - Rhapsody 11 )

And I said, 'Agamemnon, why do you ask me? I do not know whether your son is alive or dead, and it is not right to talk when one does not know.'

As we two sat weeping and talking thus sadly with one another the ghost of Achilles came up to us with Patroclus, Antilochus, and Ajax who was the finest and goodliest man of all the Danaans after the son of Peleus. The fleet descendant of Aeacus knew me and spoke piteously, saying, 'Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, what deed of daring will you undertake next, that you venture down to the house of Hades among us silly dead, who are but the ghosts of them that can labour no more?'

And I said, 'Achilles, son of Peleus, foremost champion of the Achaeans, I came to consult Teiresias, and see if he could advise me about my return home to Ithaca, for I have never yet been able to get near the Achaean land, nor to set foot in my own country, but have been in trouble all the time. As for you, Achilles, no one was ever yet so fortunate as you have been, nor ever will be, for you were adored by all us Argives as long as you were alive, and now that you are here you are a great prince among the dead. Do not, therefore, take it so much to heart even if you are dead.'

ὣς ἔφατ΄͵ αὐτὰρ ἐγώ μιν ἀμειβόμενος προσέειπον· Ἀτρεΐδη͵ τί με ταῦτα διείρεαι; οὐδέ τι οἶδα͵ ζώει ὅ γ΄ ἦ τέθνηκε· κακὸν δ΄ ἀνεμώλια βάζειν.

Νῶϊ μὲν ὣς ἐπέεσσιν ἀμειβομένω στυγεροῖσιν ἕσταμεν ἀχνύμενοι͵ θαλερὸν κατὰ δάκρυ χέοντες· ἦλθε δ΄ ἐπὶ ψυχὴ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος καὶ Πατροκλῆος καὶ ἀμύμονος Ἀντιλόχοιο Αἴαντός θ΄͵ ὃς ἄριστος ἔην εἶδός τε δέμας τε τῶν ἄλλων Δαναῶν μετ΄ ἀμύμονα Πηλεΐωνα. ἔγνω δὲ ψυχή με ποδώκεος Αἰακίδαο καί ῥ΄ ὀλοφυρομένη ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηύδα· διογενὲς Λαερτιάδη͵ πολυμήχαν΄ Ὀδυσσεῦ͵ σχέτλιε͵ τίπτ΄ ἔτι μεῖζον ἐνὶ φρεσὶ μήσεαι ἔργον; πῶς ἔτλης Ἄϊδόσδε κατελθέμεν͵ ἔνθα τε νεκροὶ ἀφραδέες ναίουσι͵ βροτῶν εἴδωλα καμόντων;

ὣς ἔφατ΄͵ αὐτὰρ ἐγώ μιν ἀμειβόμενος προσέειπον· ὦ Ἀχιλεῦ͵ Πηλῆος υἱέ͵ μέγα φέρτατ΄ Ἀχαιῶν͵ ἦλθον Τειρεσίαο κατὰ χρέος͵ εἴ τινα βουλὴν εἴποι͵ ὅπως Ἰθάκην ἐς παιπαλόεσσαν ἱκοίμην· οὐ γάρ πω σχεδὸν ἦλθον Ἀχαιΐδος οὐδέ πω ἁμῆς γῆς ἐπέβην͵ ἀλλ΄ αἰὲν ἔχω κακά. σεῖο δ΄͵ Ἀχιλλεῦ͵ οὔ τις ἀνὴρ προπάροιθε μακάρτερος οὔτ΄ ἄρ΄ ὀπίσσω· πρὶν μὲν γάρ σε ζωὸν ἐτίομεν ἶσα θεοῖσιν Ἀργεῖοι͵ νῦν αὖτε μέγα κρατέεις νεκύεσσιν ἐνθάδ΄ ἐών· τῶ μή τι θανὼν ἀκαχίζευ͵ Ἀχιλλεῦ.

Homer Bilingual Anthology : THE UNDERWORLD - 14

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