Homer ILIAD : Rhapsody 9

Page 11

There once he awaited me alone, and with difficulty escaped my attack. But since I choose not to war with noble Hector, to-morrow,[306] having performed sacrifices to Jove and all the gods, [and] having well laden my ships, when I shall have drawn them down to the sea, thou shalt behold, if thou wilt, and if such things be a care to thee, my ships early in the morn sailing upon the fishy Hellespont, and men within them, eager for rowing; and if glorious Neptune grant but a prosperous voyage, on the third day I shall surely reach fertile Phthia.[307] Now there I have very many possessions, which I left, coming hither, to my loss.[308] And I will carry hence other gold and ruddy brass, well-girdled women, and hoary iron, which I have obtained by lot. But the reward which he gave, king Agamemnon, the son of Atreus, hath himself insultingly taken from me: to whom do thou tell all things as I charge thee, openly, that the other Greeks also may be indignant, if he, ever clad in impudence, still hope to deceive any of the Greeks; nor let him dare, dog-like as he is, to look in my face. I will neither join in counsels nor in any action with him; for he hath already deceived and offended me, nor shall he again overreach me with words. It is enough for him [to do so once]: but in quiet[309] let him perish, for provident Jove hath deprived him of reason. Hateful to me are his gifts, and himself I value not a hair.[310] Not if he were to give me ten and twenty times as many gifts as he now has, and if others were to be added from any other quarter; nor as many as arrive at Orchomenos, or Egyptian Thebes,[311] where numerous possessions are laid up in the mansions, and where are one hundred gates,[312] from each of which rush out two hundred men with horses and chariots. Nor if he were to give me as many as are the sands and dust, not even thus shall Agamemnon ow persuade my mind, until he indemnify me for all his mind-grieving insult. But I will not wed the daughter of Agamemnon, the son of Atreus, not if she were fit to contend in beauty with golden Venus, or were equal in accomplishments to azure-eyed Minerva; not even thus will I wed her. Let him then select another of the Greeks who may suit him, and who is more the king; for if the gods preserve me, and I reach home, then will Peleus himself hereafter bestow upon me a lady in marriage. There are many Grecian women throughout Hellas and Phthia, daughters of chieftains who defend the cities. Whomsoever of these I may choose, I will make my beloved wife; and there my generous soul very much desires that I, wedding a betrothed spouse, a fit partner of my bed, should enjoy the possessions which aged Peleus hath acquired. For not worth my life are all the [treasures] which they say the well-inhabited city Ilium possessed, whilst formerly at peace, before the sons of the Greeks arrived; nor all which the stony threshold of the archer Phoebus Apollo contains within it, in rocky Pytho.[313] By plunder, oxen and fat sheep are to be pro-cured, tripods are to be procured, and the yellow heads of steeds; but the life of man cannot be obtained nor seized, so as to return again, when once it has passed the enclosure of the teeth. For my goddess mother, silver-footed Thetis, declares that double destinies lead me on to the end of death. If, on the one hand, remaining here, I wage war around the city of the Trojans, return is lost to me, but my glory will be immortal; but if, on the other hand, I return home to my dear fatherland, my excellent glory is lost, but my life will be lasting, nor will the end of death speedily seize upon me. And to others also would I give advice to sail home, for ye will not find an end of lofty Ilium; for far-sounding Jove hath stretched over it his hand, and the people have taken courage. But do ye, departing, bear back this message to the chiefs of the Greeks, for such is the office of ambassadors, that they devise within their minds some other better plan, which for them may preserve their ships, and the army of the Greeks in the hollow barks; since this, which they have now devised, is not expedient for them, while I cherish my wrath. But let Phoenix, remaining here, recline beside us, that to-morrow, if he will, he may follow me in the ships to my dear fatherland, although I will by no means lead him away by compulsion."

[Footnote 306: Observe the broken construction, well suited to the irritability of the speaker.]

[Footnote 307: Cf. Cicero de Div. i. 25.]

[Footnote 308: [Greek: "Erron, epi phthora."] (ita etym. magn.) [Greek: paragenomenos]. Cf. Alberti on Hesych. t. i. p. 1445.]

[Footnote 309: "[Greek: Ekelos] forcibly expresses the condition of one who is advancing imperceptibly, though surely, to final ruin."—Kennedy].

[Footnote 310: See Kennedy, and Duport, Gnom. p. 52, who compare the phrases "pilo minus amare", "pili facere." There is, however, much uncertainty respecting the origin and meaning of the proverb. Cf. Alberti on Hesych. t. i. p. 1246.]

[Footnote 311: "Thebes was the centre of Egyptian power and commerce, probably long before Memphis grew into importance, or before the Delta was made suitable to the purposes of husbandry by the cutting of canals and the raising of embankments."—Egyptian Antiquities, vol. i. p. 66.]

[Footnote 312: Although Denon (see Egypt. Antt. p. 62) regards this as an unmeaning expression, Heyne well observes: "numerus centenarius ponitur pro magno: et portis semel memoratis, multitudo hominum declaratur per numerum exeuntium."]

[Footnote 313: Cf. Mueller, Dorians, vol. i. pp. 26, 268.]

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