HOMER'S ILIAD COMPLETE

Rhapsody 3

Literally Translated, with Explanatory Notes, by Theodore Alois Buckley

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Page 6

Thus she spoke. But him the old man admired, and said "O blessed son of Atreus, happy-born, fortunate, truly indeed were many Achaean youths made subject to thee. Before now I entered vine-bearing Phrygia, where I beheld many Phrygians, heroes on fleet horses, the forces of Otreus and godlike Mygdon, who encamped there near the banks of the Sangarius. For I also, being an ally, was numbered with them on that day, when the man-opposing Amazons came. But not even these were so numerous as the black-eyed Greeks."

But next perceiving[157] Ulysses, the old man asked her: "Come, tell me of this one also, dear daughter, who he is? he is less indeed in height[158] than Agamemnon, the son of Atreus, but is broader to behold in shoulders and breast. His arms lie up on the fertile earth, but he himself, like a ram, goes round the ranks of the men. I for my part compare him to a thick-fleeced ram, which wanders through a great flock of snowy sheep."

[Footnote 157: This whole passage may be compared with the similar enumeration and description of the seven Argive chieftains in Eurip. Phoen. 119, sqq.]

[Footnote 158: Not "a head less" in height; for line 169 would then mean that Agamemnon was a head less than others, and consequently Ulysses would be two heads under the ordinary size. Anthon has adopted this common mistake, although Wolf had pointed it out.]

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Homer's Complete ILIAD & ODYSSEY Contents

Homer Bilingual Anthology ||| Elpenor's Free Greek Lessons
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