HOMER'S ILIAD COMPLETE

Rhapsody 24

Literally Translated, with Explanatory Notes, by Theodore Alois Buckley

Homer Bilingual Anthology  Studies  Homer in Print

Page 16

But him again the messenger, the slayer of Argus, addressed:

"Thou triest me, old man. and inquirest concerning noble Hector; whom I, indeed, have very often beheld with mine eyes in the glorious fight, when, routing the Greeks, he slew them at their ships, destroying [them] with his sharp spear; but we, standing, marvelled; for Achilles, enraged with the son of Atreus, did not permit us to fight. But I am his attendant, and the same well-made vessel brought us. I am [one] of the Myrmidons; Polyetor is my father, who, indeed, is rich, but now old as thou. To him there are six sons, but I am his seventh; with whom casting lots, the lot occurred to me to follow [Achilles] hither. And I came to the plain from the ships, for at dawn the rolling-eyed Greeks will raise a fight around the city. For they are indignant sitting quiet, nor can the chiefs of the Greeks restrain them, longing for war."

But him then Priam, the godlike old man, answered:

"If indeed thou art one of the servants of Achilles, the son of Peleus, come now, tell all the truth to me, whether is my son still at the ships, or has Achilles, tearing him limb from limb, cast him to the dogs?"

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Homer's Complete ILIAD & ODYSSEY Contents

Homer Bilingual Anthology ||| Elpenor's Free Greek Lessons
A Commentary on the ODYSSEY ||| Interlinear ILIAD

Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-Greece/homer/iliad-24.asp?pg=16