Homer ILIAD : Rhapsody 2

Page 11

Thus spoke Thersites, reviling Agamemnon, the shepherd of the people. But godlike Ulysses immediately stood beside him, and eyeing him with scowling brow, reproached him with harsh language:

"Thersites, reckless babbler! noisy declaimer though thou be, refrain, nor be forward singly to strive with princes; for I affirm that there is not another mortal more base than thou, as many as came with the son of Atreus to Ilium. Wherefore do not harangue, having kings in thy mouth, nor cast reproaches against them, nor be on the watch for a return. Not as yet indeed do we certainly know how these matters will turn out, whether we sons of the Greeks shall return to our advantage or disadvantage. Wherefore, now thou sittest reviling Agamemnon, son of Atreus, the leader of the people, because the Grecian heroes give him very many gifts, whilst thou, insulting, dost harangue. But I declare to thee, which shall also be accomplished: if ever again I catch thee raving, as now thou art, no longer may the head of Ulysses rest upon his shoulders, and no longer may I be called the father of Telemachus, unless I seizing thee divest thee of thy very garments, thy coat, thy cloak, and those which cover thy loins; and send thyself weeping to the swift ships, having beaten thee out of the assembly with severe blows."

Thus he spoke, and smote him with the sceptre upon the back and the shoulders; but he writhed, and plenteous tears fell from him, and a bloody weal arose under the sceptre upon his back. But he sat down and trembled; and grieving, looking foolish, he wiped away the tears. They, although chagrined, laughed heartily at him, and thus one would say, looking towards the person next him:

"O strange! surely ten thousand good deeds has Ulysses already performed, both originating good counsels, and arousing the war. But now has he done this by far the best deed amongst the Greeks, in that he has restrained this foul-mouthed reviler from his harangues. Surely his petulant mind will not again urge him to chide the kings with scurrilous language."

Thus spake the multitude; but Ulysses, the sacker of cities, arose, holding the sceptre, and beside him azure-eyed Minerva, likened unto a herald, ordered the people to be silent, that at the same time the sons of the Greeks, both first and last, might hear his speech, and weigh his counsel. He wisely counselling, addressed them, and said:

"O son of Atreus, the Greeks wish to render thee now, O king, the meanest amongst articulately-speaking men; nor perform their promise to thee,[100] which they held forth, coming hither from steed-nourishing Argos, that thou shouldest return home, having destroyed well-fortified Ilium. For, like tender boys, or widowed women, they bewail unto one another to return home. And truly it is a hardship to return [so], having been grieved. For he is impatient who is absent even for a single month from his wife, remaining with his many-benched ship,[101] though wintry storms and the boisterous sea may be hemming in;[102] but to us it is [now] the ninth revolving year since we have been lingering here. Wherefore I am not indignant that the Greeks are growing impatient by their curved ships; but still it would be disgraceful both to remain here so long, and to return ineffectually. Endure, my friends, and remain yet awhile, that we may know whether Calchas prophesies truly or not. For this we well know, and ye are all witnesses, whom the Fates of death carried not off yesterday and the day before, when the ships of the Greeks were collected at Aulis, bearing evils to Priam and the Trojans, and we round about the fountain, at the sacred altars, offered perfect hecatombs to the immortals, beneath a beauteous plane-tree, whence flowed limpid water.[103] There a great prodigy appeared; a serpent, spotted on the back, horrible, which the Olympian himself had sent forth into the light, having glided out from beneath the altar, proceeded forthwith to the plane-tree. And there were the young of a sparrow, an infant offspring, on a topmost branch, cowering amongst the foliage, eight in number; but the mother, which had brought forth the young ones, was the ninth. Thereupon he devoured them, twittering piteously, while the mother kept fluttering about, lamenting her dear young; but then, having turned himself about, he seized her by the wing, screaming around. But after he had devoured the young of the sparrow, and herself, the god who had displayed him rendered him very portentous, for the son of wily Saturn changed him into a stone; but we, standing by, were astonished at what happened. Thus, therefore, the dreadful portents of the gods approached the hecatombs. Calchas, then, immediately addressed us, revealing from the gods: 'Why are ye become silent, ye waving-crested Greeks? For us, indeed, provident Jove has shown a great sign, late, of late accomplishment, the renown of which shall never perish. As this [serpent] has devoured the young of the sparrow, eight in number, and herself, the mother which brought out the brood, was the ninth, so must we for as many years[104] wage war here, but in the tenth we shall take the wide-wayed city.' He indeed thus harangued: and all these things are now in course of accomplishment. But come, ye well-greaved Greeks, remain all here, until we shall take the great city of Priam."

[Footnote 100: See Grote, vol. i. p. 392, n. 2.]

[Footnote 101: I have followed Wolf, taking [Greek: oun uni polyzygo] in connection with [Greek: menon]. Others most awkwardly make [Greek: sun=para].]

[Footnote 102: Cf. Buttm. Lexil. s. v. [Greek: eilein].]

[Footnote 103: Pausanias, ix. 20, says that both the spring and the remains of the tree were shown in his time. The whole of this fable has been translated into verse by Cicero, de Div. ii. 30. Compare the following passage of Apuleius de Deo Socr. p. 52, ed. Elm. "Calchas longe praestabilis ariolari, simul alites et arborem contemplatus est, actutum sua divinitate et tempestates flexit, et classem deduxit, et decennium praedixit."]

[Footnote 104: I. e. for nine. It is remarkable that so little notice has been taken of this story by the later poets. But the sacrifice of Iphigenia was a more attractive subject for tragedy or episode, and took the place of the Homeric legend.]

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