Achilles (Mythological character); Epic poetry, Greek -- Translations into English; Trojan War
Footnote 100: (return) See Grote, vol. i. p. 392, n. 2.
Footnote 101: (return) I have followed Wolf, taking σὺν υνὶ πολυζύγῳ
in connection with μενών. Others most awkwardly make σὺν=παρά.
Footnote 102: (return) Cf. Buttm. Lexil. s. v. εἰλεῖν.
Footnote 103: (return) 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 præstabilis ariolari, simul alites et arborem contemplatus est,
actutum sua divinitate et tempestates flexit, et classem deduxit, et
decennium prædixit.”
Footnote 104: (return) _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.
Thus he [Ulysses] spoke, and the Greeks loudly shouted, applauding the
speech of divine Ulysses; but all around the ships echoed fearfully, by
reason of the Greeks shouting. Then the Gerenian 105 knight Nestor
addressed them:
“O strange! assuredly now ye are talking like infant children, with
whom warlike achievements are of no account. Whither then will your
compacts and oaths depart? Into the fire now must the counsels and
thoughts of men have sunk, and the unmixed libations, and the right
hands in which we trusted; for in vain do we dispute with words, nor
can we discover any resource, although we have been here for a long
time. But do thou, O son of Atreus, maintaining, as before, thy purpose
firm, command the Greeks in the hard-fought conflicts; and abandon
those to perish, one and both, 106 who, separated from the Greeks, are
meditating [but success shall not attend them] to return back to Argos,
before they know whether the promise of ægis-bearing Jove be false or
not. For I say that the powerful son of Saturn assented on that day,
when the Argives embarked in their swift ships, bearing death and fate
to the Trojans, flashing 107 his lightning on the right, and showing
propitious signs. Let not any one, therefore, hasten to return home
before each has slept with a Trojan wife, and has avenged the cares 108
and griefs of Helen. But if any one is extravagantly eager to return
home, let him lay hands upon his well-benched black ship, that he may
draw on death and fate before others. But do thou thyself deliberate
well, O king, and attend to another; nor shall the advice which I am
about to utter be discarded. Separate the troops, Agamemnon, according
to their tribes and clans, that kindred may support kindred, and clan.
If thou wilt thus act, and the Greeks obey, thou wilt then ascertain
which of the generals and which of the soldiers is a dastard, and which
of them may be brave, for they will fight their best, 109 and thou wilt
likewise learn whether it is by the divine interposition that thou art
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