"Seest thou these things, glorious Achilles--the sufferings of the Danaans beneath victorious spears? Whom thou within thy tent--" Here the fragment breaks off; but enough has been said to strike the keynote of the tragedy. The next fragment, according to Dindorf's arrangement, formed, probably, part of Achilles' defence.[15] It is written in iambics, and contains the famous simile of the eagle stricken to death by an arrow fledged with his own feather. Like that eagle, argues the hero, have we Greeks been smitten by our own ill-counsel. After the drama has thus been opened, the first great incident seems to have been the arrival of the embassy of Phoenix at Achilles' tent. One corrupt, but precious fragment, put by Aristophanes as a quotation into the mouth of Euripides in the _Frogs_, indicates the line of argument taken by the ambassadors: #Phthiôt' Achileu, ti pot' androdaïkton akouôn iêkopon ou pelazeis ep' arôgan?# Though the Greek as it stands is untranslatable, the meaning is pretty clearly this: Achilles of Phthia, how can you bear to hear of these woes nor lend a helping hand? The next fragment must be received with caution. It occurs in the _Frogs_ as a quotation: #Beblêk' Achilleus dyo kybô kai tettara.# Achilles has cast two dice, and four. On which the scholiast makes the following remark: "This is from the _Myrmidones_; for the poet feigned them playing dice; and it is the custom of gamesters to cry thus: two, four, three, five. Dionysus says this to show that Æschylus has won." Another scholiast puts it in doubt whether the verse be taken from the _Telephus_ of Euripides or some other source. The foundation is, therefore, too slender to build upon securely; else we might imagine that, after the departure of the ambassadors, and perhaps after the equipment of Patroclus for the war, Achilles was represented by Æschylus as whiling away the time with his companions at a game of hazard. Then enters Antilochus, the messenger of bad news. He recites the death of Patroclus, and lifts up his voice in lamentation. Our next fragment brings the whole scene vividly before us: #Antiloch', apoimôxon me tou tethnêkotos ton zônta mallon.#