Chapter XX: Book THE TENTH: Fable I. X.1-85 (6)

[Footnote 50: _Rhodian fleet._--Ver. 575. Tlepolemus, when a
youth, slew his uncle, Lycimnius, the son of Mars. Flying from his
country with some followers, he retired to the Island of Rhodes,
where he gained the sovereignty. He went to the Trojan war with
nine ships, to aid the Greeks, where he fell by the hand of
Sarpedon.]

[Footnote 51: _After the son._--Ver. 578-9. ‘A sermone senis
repetito munere Bacchi Surrexere toris.’ These words are thus
quaintly rendered in Clarke’s translation: ‘From listening to the
old gentleman’s discourse, they return again to their bottle; and
taking the other glass, they departed.’]

[Footnote 52: _Smintheus._--Ver. 585. Apollo was so called, in
many of the cities of Asia, and was worshipped under this name,
in the Isle of Tenedos. He is said by Eustathius, to have been so
called from Smynthus, a town near Troy. But, according to other
accounts, he received the epithet from the Cretan word σμίνθος,
a mouse; being supposed to protect man against the depredations of
that kind of vermin.]

[Footnote 53: _Thermodontean._--Ver. 611. He alludes to
Penthesilea, the Queen of the Amazons, who, aiding the Trojans
against the Greeks, was slain by Achilles. The battle-axe was the
usual weapon of the Amazons]

[Footnote 54: _Had armed him._--Ver. 614. Vulcan, the God of Fire,
made his armour at the request of his mother, Thetis; and now his
body was burned by fire.]

[Footnote 55: _Son of Oïleus._--Ver. 622. This was Ajax, the King
of the Locrians.]

[Footnote 56: _Descendant of Tantalus._--Ver. 626. Agamemnon was
the son of Atreus, grandson of Pelops, and great-grandson of
Tantalus. He wisely refused to take upon himself alone the onus of
deciding the contention between Ajax and Ulysses.]

EXPLANATION.

Periclymenus was the son of Neleus and Chloris, as we are told by
Homer, Apollodorus, and other authors. According to these authors,
Neleus, king of Orchomenus, was the son of Neptune, who assumed the
form of the river Enipeus, the more easily to deceive Tyro, the
daughter of Salmoneus. Neleus married Chloris, the daughter of
Amphion, king of Thebes, who bore him eleven sons and one daughter,
of which number, Homer names but three. Periclymenus, the youngest
of the family, was a warlike prince, and, according to Apollodorus,
accompanied Jason in the expedition of the Argonauts. Hercules,
after having instituted the Olympic games, marched into Messenia,
and declared war with Neleus. The ancient writers differ as to the
cause of this expedition; but they agree in stating, that Hercules
made himself master of Pylos, a town which Neleus had built, as a
refuge from the capricious humours of his brother Pelias; and that
Neleus and all his children were killed, except Nestor, who had been
brought up among the Geranians, and who afterwards reigned in Pylos.
The story which here relates how Periclymenus transformed himself
into an eagle, and was then killed by Hercules, may possibly mean,
that having long resisted the attacks of his formidable enemy, he
was at length put to flight, and slain by an arrow. It is said that
Neptune had given him the power to metamorphose himself into
different figures, very probably because his grandfather, who was a
maritime prince, had taught him the art of war and various
stratagems, which he industriously made use of, to avert the ruin of
his family.

In relation to the story of the death of Achilles, Dictys the Cretan
tells us, that Achilles having seen Polyxena, the daughter of Priam,
along with Cassandra, as she was sacrificing to Apollo, fell in love
with her, and demanded her in marriage and that Hector would not
consent to it, except on condition of his betraying the Greeks. This
demand, so injurious to his honour, provoked Achilles so much, that
he forthwith slew Hector, and dragged his body round the walls of
the city. He further says that when Priam went to demand the body of
Hector, he took Polyxena with him, in order to soften Achilles. His
design succeeded, and Priam then agreed to give her to him in
marriage. On the day appointed for the solemnity in the temple of
Apollo, Paris, concealing himself behind the altar, while Deiphobus
pretended to embrace Achilles, wounded him in the heel, and killed
him on the spot, either because the arrow was poisoned, or because
he was wounded on the great tendon, which has since been called
‘tendon Achillis,’ a spot where a wound might very easily be mortal.

This story of the death of Achilles does not seem to have been known
to Homer; for he appears, in the twenty-fourth book of the Odyssey,
to insinuate that that hero died in battle, fighting for the Grecian
cause.

After his death Achilles was honoured as a Demigod, and Strabo says
that he had a temple near the promontory of Sigæum. Pausanias and
Pliny the Elder make mention of an island in the Euxine Sea, where
the memory of Achilles was expressly honoured, from which
circumstances it had the name of Achillea.

BOOK THE THIRTEENTH.

FABLE I. [XIII.1-438]

After the death of Achilles, Ajax and Ulysses contend for his
armour; the Greek chiefs having adjudged it to the last, Ajax kills
himself in despair, and his blood is changed into a flower. When
Ulysses has brought Philoctetes, who is possessed of the arrows of
Hercules, to the siege, and the destinies of Troy are thereby
accomplished, the city is taken and sacked, and Hecuba becomes the
slave of Ulysses.

The chiefs were seated; and a ring of the common people standing {around}, Ajax, the lord of the seven-fold shield, arose before them. And as he was impatient in his wrath, with stern features he looked back upon the Sigæan shores, and the fleet upon the shore, and, stretching out his hands, he said, “We are pleading,[1] O Jupiter, our cause before the ships, and Ulysses vies with me! But he did not hesitate to yield to the flames of Hector, which I withstood, {and} which I drove from this fleet. It is safer, therefore, for him to contend with artful words than with his {right} hand. But neither does my talent lie in speaking, nor his[2] in acting; and as great ability as I have in fierce warfare, so much has he in talking. Nor do I think, O Pelasgians, that my deeds need be related to you; for you have been eye-witnesses of them. Let Ulysses recount his, which he has performed without any witness, {and} of which night alone[3] is conscious. I own that the prize that is sought is great; but the rival of Ajax lessens its value. It is no proud thing, great though it may be, to possess any thing which Ulysses has hoped for. Already has he obtained the reward of this contest, in which, when he shall have been worsted, he will be said to have contended with me. And I, if my prowess were to be questioned, should prevail by the nobleness of my birth, being the son of Telamon, who took the city[4] of Troy under the valiant Hercules, and entered the Colchian shores in the Pagasæan ship. Æacus was his father, who there gives laws to the silent {shades}, where the heavy stone urges {downward} Sisyphus,[5] the son of Æolus.

“The supreme Jupiter owns Æacus, and confesses that he is his offspring. Thus Ajax is the third[6] from Jupiter. And yet, O Greeks, let not this line of descent avail me in this cause, if it be not common to me with the great Achilles. He was my cousin;[7] I ask for what belonged to my cousin? Why does one descended from the blood of Sisyphus, and very like him in thefts and fraud, intrude the name of a strange family among the descendants of Æacus? Are the arms to be denied me, because I took up arms before {him}, and through the means of no informer?[8] and shall one seem preferable who was the last to take them up, and who, by feigning madness, declined war, until the son of Nauplius,[9] more cunning than he, but more unhappy for himself, discovered the contrivance[10] of his cowardly mind, and dragged him forth to the arms which he had avoided. Now let him take the best arms who would have taken none. Let me be dishonoured, and stripped of the gifts that belonged to my cousin, who presented myself in the front of danger. And I could wish that that madness had been either real or believed {so to be}, and that he had never attended us as a companion to the Phrygian towers, this counsellor of evil! Then, son of Pœas,[11] Lemnos would not have had thee exposed {there} through our guilt; who now, as they say, concealed in sylvan caves, art moving the {very} rocks with thy groans, and art wishing for the son of Laërtes what he has deserved; which, may the Gods, the Gods, {I say}, grant thee not to pray in vain.

“And now, he that was sworn upon the same arms with ourselves, one of our leaders, alas! by whom, as his successor, the arrows of Hercules are used, broken by disease and famine, is being clothed[12] and fed by birds; and in shooting fowls, he is employing the shafts destined for the destruction of Troy. Still, he lives, because he did not accompany Ulysses. And the unhappy Palamedes would have preferred that he had been left behind; {then} he would have been living, or, at least, he would have had a death without any criminality. Him, {Ulysses} remembering too well the unlucky discovery of his madness, pretended to be betraying the Grecian interests, and proved his feigned charge, and shewed {the Greeks} the gold, which he had previously hidden in the ground. By exile then, or by death,[13] has he withdrawn from the Greeks their {best} strength. Thus Ulysses fights, thus is he to be dreaded. Though he were to excel even the faithful Nestor in eloquence, yet he would never cause me to believe that the forsaking of Nestor[14] was not a crime; who, when he implored {the aid of} Ulysses, retarded by the wound of his steed, and wearied with the years of old age, was deserted by his companion. The son of Tydeus knows full well that these charges are not invented by me, who calling on him often by name, rebuked him, and upbraided[15] his trembling friend with his flight. The Gods above behold the affairs of men with just eyes. Lo! he wants help, himself, who gave it not; and as he left {another}, so was he doomed to be left: {such} law had he made for himself.

“He called aloud to his companions. I came, and I saw him trembling, and pale with fear, and shuddering at the impending death. I opposed the mass of my shield {to the enemy}, and covered him[16] as he lay; and I preserved (and that is the least part of my praise) his dastardly life. If thou dost persist in vying, let us return to that place; restore the enemy, and thy wound, and thy wonted fear; and hide behind my shield, and under that contend with me. But, after I delivered him, he to whom his wounds {before} gave no strength for standing, fled, retarded by no wound {whatever}. Hector approaches, and brings the Gods along with him to battle, and where he rushes on, not only art thou alarmed, Ulysses, but even the valiant {are}; so great terror does he bring. Him, as he exulted in the successes of his bloodstained slaughter, in close conflict, I laid flat with a huge stone. Him demanding one with whom he might engage, did I alone withstand; and you, Greeks, prayed {it might fall} to my lot;[17] and your prayers prevailed. If you inquire into the issue of this fight, I was not beaten by him.

“Lo! the Trojans bring fire and sword, and Jove, {as well}, against the Grecian fleet. Where is now the eloquent Ulysses? I, forsooth, protected a thousand ships, the hopes of your return, with my breast. Grant me the arms, in return for so many ships. But, if I may be allowed to speak the truth, a greater honour is sought for them than is for me, and our glory is united; and Ajax is sought for the arms, and not the arms by Ajax. Let the Ithacan {Ulysses} compare with these things Rhesus,[18] and the unwarlike Dolon,[19] and Helenus,[20] the son of Priam, made captive with the ravished Pallas. By daylight nothing was done; nothing when Diomedes was afar. If once you give these arms for services so mean, divide them, and that of Diomedes would be the greater share of them. But, why these for the Ithacan? who, by stealth and unarmed, ever does his work, and deceives the unwary enemy by stratagem? The very brilliancy of his helmet, as it sparkles with bright gold, will betray his plans, and discover him as he lies hid. But neither will the Dulichian[21] head, beneath the helm of Achilles, sustain a weight so great; and the spear[22] from Pelion must be heavy and burdensome for unwarlike arms. Nor will the shield, embossed with the form of the great globe, beseem a dastard left hand, and one formed for theft. Why {then}, caitiff, dost thou ask for a gift that will {but} weaken thee? should the mistake of the Grecian people bestow it on thee, there would be a cause for thee to be stripped, not for thee to be dreaded by the enemy. Thy flight, too, (in which, alone, most dastardly {wretch}! thou dost excel all {others},) will be retarded, when dragging a load so great. Besides, that shield of thine, which has so rarely experienced the conflict, is unhurt; for mine, which is gaping in a thousand wounds from bearing the darts, a new successor must be obtained. In fine, what need is there for words? Let us be tried in action. Let the arms of that brave hero be thrown in the midst of the enemy: order them to be fetched thence, and adorn him that brings them back, with them so brought off.”

The son of Telamon had {now} ended, and a murmur among the multitude ensued upon his closing words, until the Laërtian hero stood up, and fixing his eyes, for a short time, on the ground, raised them towards the chiefs, and opened his mouth in the accents that were looked for; nor was gracefulness wanting to his eloquent words.

“If my prayers had been of any avail together with yours, Pelasgians, the successor to a prize so great would not {now} be in question, and thou wouldst now be enjoying thine arms, and we thee, O Achilles. But since the unjust Fates have denied him to me and to yourselves, (and here he wiped his eyes with his hands as though shedding tears,) who could better succeed the great Achilles than he through whom[23] the great Achilles joined the Greeks? Only let it not avail him that he seems to be as stupid as he {really} is; and let not my talents, which ever served you, O Greeks, be a prejudice to me: and let this eloquence of mine, if there is any, which now pleads for its possessor, and has often {done so} for yourselves, stand clear of envy, and let each man not disown his own advantages. For {as to} descent and ancestors, and the things which we have not made ourselves, I scarce call these our own. But, indeed, since Ajax boasts that he is the great grandson of Jove, Jupiter, too, is the founder of my family, and by just as many degrees am I distant from him. For Laërtes is my father, Arcesius his, Jupiter his; nor was any one of these {ever} condemned[24] and banished. Through the mother,[25] too, Cyllenian {Mercury}, another noble stock, is added to myself. On the side of either parent there was a God. But neither because I am more nobly born on my mother’s side, nor because my father is innocent of his brother’s blood, do I claim the arms {now} in question. By {personal} merit weigh the cause. So that it be no merit in Ajax that Telamon and Peleus were brothers; and {so that} not consanguinity, but the honour of merit, be regarded in {the disposal of} these spoils. Or if nearness of relationship and the next heir is sought, Peleus is his sire, and Pyrrhus is his son. What room, {then}, is there for Ajax? Let them be taken to Phthia[26] or to Scyros. Nor is Teucer[27] any less a cousin of Achilles than he; and yet does he sue for, does he expect to bear away the arms?

“Since then the contest is simply one of deeds; I, in truth, have done more than what it is easy for me to comprise in words. Yet I shall proceed in the order of events. {Thetis}, the Nereid mother, prescient of coming death, conceals her son by his dress. The disguise of the assumed dress deceived all, among whom was Ajax. Amid woman’s trinkets I mixed arms such as would affect the mind of a man. And not yet had the hero thrown aside the dress of a maiden, when, as he was brandishing a shield and a spear, I said, ‘O son of a Goddess, Pergamus reserves itself to fall through thee. Why, {then}, dost thou delay to overthrow the mighty Troy?’ And {then} I laid my hands on him, and to brave deeds I sent forth the brave. His deeds then are my own. ’Twas I that subdued Telephus, as he fought with his lance; ’twas I that recovered him, vanquished, and begging {for his life}. That Thebes has fallen, is my doing. Believe me, that I took Lesbos, that I {took} Tenedos, Chrysa[28] and Cylla, cities of Apollo, and Scyros {too}. Consider too, that the Lyrnessian[29] walls were levelled with the ground, shaken by my right hand. And, not to mention other things, ’twas I, in fact, that found one who might slay the fierce Hector; through me the renowned Hector lies prostrate. By those arms through which Achilles was found out, I demand these arms. To him when living I gave them; after his death I ask them back again.

“After the grief of one[30] had reached all the Greeks, and a thousand ships had filled the Eubœan Aulis, the breezes long expected were either not existing or adverse to the fleet; and the ruthless oracles commanded Agamemnon to slay his innocent daughter for the cruel Diana. This the father refuses, and is enraged against the Gods themselves, and, a king, he is still a father. By my words I swayed the gentle disposition of the parent to the public advantage. Now, indeed, I make this confession, and let the son of Atreus forgive me as I confess it; before a partial judge I upheld a difficult cause. Yet the good of the people and his brother, and the supreme power of the sceptre granted to him, influence him to balance praise against blood. I was sent, too, to the mother, who was not to be persuaded, but to be deceived with craft; to whom, if the son of Telamon had gone, until even now would our sails have been without wind. A bold envoy, too, I was sent to the towers of Ilium, and the senate-house of lofty Troy was seen and entered by me; and still was it filled with their heroes. Undaunted, I pleaded the cause which all Greece had entrusted to me; and I accused Paris, and I demanded back the plunder, and Helen {as well}; and I moved Priam and Antenor[31], related to Priam. But Paris and his brothers, and those who, under him, had been ravishers, scarce withheld their wicked hands; {and} this thou knowest, Menelaüs, and that was the first day of my danger in company with thee. It were a tedious matter to relate the things which, by my counsel and my valour, I have successfully executed in the duration of this tedious warfare.

“After the first encounter, the enemy for a long time kept themselves within the walls of the city, and there was no opportunity for open fight. At length, in the tenth year we fought. {And} what wast thou doing in the mean time, thou, who knowest of nothing but battles? what was the use of thee? But if thou inquirest into my actions: I lay ambuscades for the enemy; I surround the trenches[32] with redoubts; I cheer our allies that they may bear with patient minds the tediousness of a protracted war; I show, {too}, how we are to be supported, and how to be armed; I am sent[33] whither necessity requires. Lo! by the advice of Jove, the king, deceived by a form in his sleep, commands him to dismiss all care of the war {thus} begun. He is enabled, through the author of it, to defend his own cause. Ajax should not have allowed this, and should have demanded that Troy be razed. And he should have fought, the {only} thing he could do. Why, does he not stop them when about to depart? Why does he not take up arms, and {why not} suggest some course for the fickle multitude to pursue? This was not too much for him, who never says any thing but what is grand. Well, and didst thou take to flight? I was witness of it, and ashamed I was to see, when thou wast turning thy back, and wast preparing the sails of disgrace. Without delay, I exclaimed, ‘What are you doing? What madness made you, O my friends, quit Troy, {well nigh} taken? And what, in this tenth year, are you carrying home but disgrace?’

“With these and other {words}, for which grief itself had made me eloquent, I brought back the resisting {Greeks} from the flying fleet. The son of Atreus calls together his allies, struck with terror; nor, even yet, does the son of Telamon dare to utter a word; yet Thersites[34] dares to launch out against the kings with impudent remarks, although not unpunished by myself. I am aroused, and I incite the trembling citizens against the foe, and by my voice I reclaim their lost courage. From that time, whatever that man, whom I drew away as he was turning his back, may seem to have done bravely, is {all} my own. In fine, who of the Greeks is either praising thee, or resorts to thee; but with me the son of Tydeus shares his exploits; he praises me, and is ever confident while Ulysses is his companion. It is something, out of so many thousands of the Greeks, to be singled out alone by Diomedes. Nor was it lot that ordered me to go forth; and yet, despising the dangers of the night and of the enemy, I slew Dolon, {one} of the Phrygian race, who dared the same things that we {dared}; though not before I had compelled him[35] to disclose everything, and had learned what perfidious Troy designed. Everything had I {now} discovered, and I had nothing {further} to find out, and I might now have returned, with my praises going before me. Not content with that, I sought the tent of Rhesus, and in his own camp slew himself and his attendants. And thus, as a conqueror, and having gained my own desires, I returned in the captured chariot, resembling a joyous triumph. Deny me the arms of him whose horses the enemy had demanded as the price for {one} night’s service; and let Ajax be {esteemed} your greater benefactor.

“Why should I make reference to the troops of Lycian Sarpedon,[36] mowed down by my sword? With much bloodshed I slew Cœranos, the son of Iphitus, and Alastor, and Chromius, and Alcander, and Halius, and Noëmon, and Prytanis, and I put to death Thoön, with Chersidamas, and Charops, and Ennomos, impelled by his relentless fate; five of less renown fell by my hand beneath the city walls. I, too, fellow-citizens, have wounds, honourable in their place.[37] Believe not {his} crafty words; here! behold them.” And {then}, with his hand, he pulls aside his garment, and, “this is the breast,” says he, “that has been ever employed in your service.”

“But the son of Telamon has spent none of his blood on his friends for so many years, and he has a body without a {single} wound.[38] But what signifies that, if he says that he bore arms for the Pelasgian fleet against both the Trojans and Jupiter himself? I confess it, he did bear them; nor is it any part of mine with malice to detract from the good deeds {of others;} but let him not alone lay claim to what belongs to all, and let him give to yourselves, as well, some of the honour. The descendant of Actor, safe under the appearance of Achilles, repelled the Trojans, with their defender, from the ships on the point of being burnt. He, too, unmindful of the king, and of the chiefs, and of myself, fancies that he alone dared to engage[39] with Hector in combat, being the ninth in that duty, and preferred by favour of the lot. But yet, most brave {chief}, what was the issue of thy combat? Hector came off, injured by no wound. Ah, wretched me! with how much grief am I compelled to recollect that time at which Achilles, the bulwark of the Greeks, was slain: nor tears, nor grief, nor fear, hindered me from carrying his body aloft from the ground; on these shoulders, I say, on these shoulders I bore the body of Achilles, and his arms together {with him}, which now, too, I am endeavouring to bear off. I have strength to suffice for such a weight, {and}, assuredly, I have a soul that will be sensible of your honours.

“Was then, forsooth! his azure mother {so} anxious in her son’s behalf that the heavenly gifts, a work of so great ingenuity, a rough soldier, and one without any genius, should put on? For he will not understand the engravings on the shield; the ocean, and the earth, and the stars with the lofty heavens and the Pleïades, and the Hyades, and the Bear that avoids the sea, and the different cities, and the blazing sword of Orion; arms he insists on receiving, which he does not understand. What! and does he charge that I, avoiding the duties of this laborious war, came but late to the toil begun? and does he not perceive that {in this} he is defaming the brave Achilles? If he calls dissembling a crime, we have both of us dissembled. If delay {stands} for a fault, I was earlier than he. A fond wife detained me, a fond mother Achilles. The first part of our time was given to them, the rest to yourselves. I am not alarmed, if now I am unable to defend myself against this accusation, in common with so great a man. Yet he was found out by the dexterity of Ulysses, but not Ulysses {by that} of Ajax.

“And that we may not be surprised at his pouring out on me the reproaches of his silly tongue, against you, too, does he make objections worthy of shame. Is it base for me, with a false crime to have charged Palamedes, {and} honourable for you to have condemned him? But neither could {Palamedes}, the son of Nauplius, defend a crime so great, and so manifest; nor did you {only} hear the charges against him, {but} you witnessed them, and in the bribe {itself} the charge was established. Nor have I deserved to be accused, because Lemnos, {the isle} of Vulcan, {still} receives {Philoctetes}, the son of Pœas. {Greeks}, defend your own acts! for you consented to it. Nor yet shall I deny that I advised him to withdraw himself from the toils of the warfare and the voyage, and to try by rest to assuage his cruel pains. He consented, and {still} he lives. This advice was not only well-meant, but {it was} fortunate as well, when ’twas enough to be well-meant. Since our prophets demand him for the purpose of destroying Troy, entrust not that to me. The son of Telamon will be better to go, and by his eloquence will soften the hero, maddened by diseases and anger, or by some wile will skilfully bring him thence. Sooner will Simoïs flow backward, and Ida stand without foliage, and Achaia promise aid to Troy, than, my breast being inactive in your interest, the skill of stupid Ajax shall avail the Greeks.

“Though thou be, relentless Philoctetes, enraged against thy friends and the king, and myself, though thou curse and devote my head, everlastingly, and though thou wish to have me in thy anguish thrown in thy way perchance, and to shed my blood; and though if I meet thee, so thou wilt have the opportunity of meeting me, still will I attempt {thee, and} will endeavour to bring thee back with me. And, if Fortune favours me, I will as surely be the possessor of thy arrows, as I was the possessor of the Dardanian prophet[40] whom I took {prisoner; and so} I revealed the answers of the Deities and the fates of Troy; {and} as I carried off the hidden statue[41] of the Phrygian Minerva from the midst of the enemy. And does Ajax, {then}, compare himself with me? The Fates, in fact, would not allow Troy to be captured without that {statue}. Where is the valiant Ajax? where are the boastful words of that mighty man? Why art thou trembling here? Why dares Ulysses to go through the guards, and to entrust himself to the night, and, through fell swords, to enter not only the walls of Troy, but even its highest towers, and to tear the Goddess from her shrine, and, {thus} torn, to bear her off amid the enemy?

“Had I not done these things, in vain would the son of Telamon been bearing the seven hides of the bulls on his left arm. On that night was the victory over Troy gained by me; then did I conquer Pergamus, when I rendered it capable of being conquered. Forbear by thy looks,[42] and thy muttering, to show me the son of Tydeus; a part of the glory in these things is his own. Neither wast thou alone, when for the allied fleet thou didst grasp thy shield: a multitude was attending thee, {while} but one fell to me: who, did he not know that a fighting man is of less value than a wise one, and that the reward is not the due of the invincible right hand, would himself, too, have been suing for these {arms}; the more discreet Ajax would have been suing, and the fierce Eurypilus,[43] and the son of the famous Andremon;[44] no less, {too} would Idomeneus,[45] and Meriones[46] sprung from the same land, and the brother of the greater son of Atreus have sought them. But these, brave in action, (nor are they second to thee in war,) have {all} yielded to my wisdom. Thy right hand is of value in war, {but} thy temper is one that stands in need of my direction. Thou hast strength without intelligence; I have a care for the future. Thou art able to fight; with me, the son of Atreus chooses the {proper} time for fighting. Thou only art of service with thy body; I with my mind: and as much as he who guides the bark, is superior to the capacity of the rower, as much as the general is greater than the soldier, so much do I excel thee; and in my body there is an intellect that is superior to hands: in that {lies} all my vigour.

“But you, ye chieftains, give the reward to your watchful {servant;} and for the cares of so many years which I have passed in anxiety, grant this honour as a compensation for my services. Our toil is now at its close; I have removed the opposing Fates, and by rendering it capable of being taken, {in effect} I have taken the lofty Pergamus. Now, by our common hopes, and the walls of the Trojans doomed to fall, and by those Gods whom lately I took from the enemy, by anything that remains, through wisdom to be done; if, too, anything {remains} of bold enterprize, and to be recovered from a dangerous spot; if you think that anything is still wanting for the downfall of Troy; {then} remember me; or if you give not me the arms, concede them to this;” and {then} he discovers the fatal statue of Minerva.

The body of the chiefs is moved, and {then}, in fact appears what eloquence can do; and the fluent man receives the arms of a brave one. He, who so often has alone withstood both Hector, and the sword, and flames, and Jove {himself}, cannot {now} withstand his wrath alone, and grief conquers the man that is invincible. He seizes his sword, and he says:-- “This, at least, is my own; or will Ulysses claim this, too, for himself. This must I use against myself; and {the blade}, which has often been wet with the blood of the Phrygians, will now be wet with the slaughter of its owner: that no one but Ajax {himself}, may be enabled to conquer Ajax.”

{Thus} he said; and he plunged the fatal sword into his breast, then for the first time suffering a wound, where it lay exposed to the steel. Nor were his hands able to draw out the weapon there fixed: the blood itself forced it out. And the earth, made red by the blood, produced a purple flower from the green turf, {the same} which had formerly been produced from the Œbalian wound. Letters common to {that} youth and to the hero, were inscribed in the middle of the leaves; the latter {belonging to} the name,[47] the former to the lamentation.

The conqueror, Ulysses, set sail for the country of Hypsipyle,[48] and of the illustrious Thoas, and the regions infamous for the slaughter {there} of the husbands of old; that he might bring back the arrows, the weapons of the Tirynthian {hero}. After he had carried them back to the Greeks, their owner attending too, the concluding hand was put, at length, to this protracted war. Troy and Priam fell together; the wretched wife of Priam lost after every thing {else} her human form, and alarmed a foreign air[49] with her barkings. Where the long Hellespont is reduced into a narrow compass, Ilion was in flames; nor had the flames yet ceased; and the altar of Jove had drank up the scanty blood of the aged Priam. The priestess of Apollo[50] dragged by the hair, extends her unavailing hands towards the heavens. The victorious Greeks drag along the Dardanian matrons, embracing, while they may, the statues of their country’s Gods, and clinging to the burning temples, an envied spoil. Astyanax[51] is hurled from those towers from which he was often wont, when shown by his mother, to behold his father, fighting for himself, and defending the kingdom of his ancestors.

And now Boreas bids them depart, and with a favourable breeze, the sails, as they wave, resound, {and} the sailors bid them take advantage of the winds. “Troy, farewell!” the Trojan women cry;-- “We are torn away!” and they give kisses to the soil, and leave the smoking roofs of their country. The last that goes on board the fleet, a dreadful sight, is Hecuba, found amid the sepulchres of her children. Dulichian hands have dragged her away, while clinging to their tombs and giving kisses to their bones; yet the ashes of one has she taken out, and, {so} taken out, has carried with her in her bosom the ashes of Hector. On the tomb of Hector she leaves the grey hair of her head, an humble offering, her hair and her tears. There is opposite to Phrygia, where Troy stood, a land inhabited by the men of Bistonia. There, was the rich palace of Polymnestor, to whom thy father, Polydorus, entrusted thee, to be brought up privately, and removed thee {afar} from the Phrygian arms. A wise resolution; had he not added, {as well}, great riches, the reward of crime, the incentive of an avaricious disposition. When the fortunes of the Phrygians were ruined, the wicked king of the Phrygians took a sword, and plunged it in the throat of his fosterchild; and, as though the crime could be removed with the body, he hurled him lifeless from a rock into the waters below.

[Footnote 1: _We are pleading._--Ver. 5. The skill of the Poet is
perceptible in the abrupt commencement of the speech of the
impetuous Ajax.]

[Footnote 2: _Nor his._--Ver. 11. Ajax often uses the pronoun
‘iste’ as a term of reproach.]

[Footnote 3: _Night alone._--Ver. 15. By this he means that the
alleged exploits of Ulysses were altogether fictitious; or that
they were done in the dark to conceal his fear.]

[Footnote 4: _Took the city._--Ver. 23. Telamon, was the companion
of Hercules when he sacked Troy, as a punishment for the perfidy
of Laomedon.]

[Footnote 5: _Sisyphus._--Ver. 26. This is intended as a
reproachful hint against Ulysses, whose mother, Anticlea, was said
to have been seduced by Sisyphus before her marriage to Laërtes.]

[Footnote 6: _Ajax is the third._--Ver. 28. That is the third,
exclusive of Jupiter; for Ajax was the grandson of Æacus, and the
great grandson of Jupiter.]

[Footnote 7: _My cousin._--Ver. 31. ‘Frater’ here means, not
‘brother,’ but ‘cousin,’ as Peleus and Telamon, the fathers of
Achilles and Ajax, were brothers.]

[Footnote 8: _No informer._--Ver. 34. He alludes to the means
which Ulysses adopted to avoid going to the Trojan war. Pretending
to be seized with madness, he ploughed the sea-shore, and sowed it
with salt. To ascertain the truth, Palamedes placed his infant
son, Telemachus, before the plough; on which Ulysses turned on one
side, to avoid hurting the child, which was considered a proof
that his madness was not real.]

[Footnote 9: _Son of Nauplius._--Ver. 39. Palamedes was the son of
Nauplius, the king of Eubœa, and a son of Neptune.]

[Footnote 10: _The contrivance._--Ver. 38. Ulysses forged a letter
from Priam, in which the king thanked Palamedes for his intended
assistance to the Trojan cause, and begged to present him a sum of
money. By bribing the servants of Palamedes, he caused a large
quantity of gold to be buried in the ground, under his tent. He
then caused the letter to be intercepted, and to be carried to
Agamemnon. On the appearance of Palamedes to answer the charge,
Ulysses appeared seemingly as his friend, and suggested, that if
no gold should be found in his possession, he must be innocent.
The gold, however, being found, Palamedes was stoned to death.]

[Footnote 11: _Son of Pœas._--Ver. 45. Philoctetes was the
possessor of the arrows of Hercules, without the presence of which
Troy could not be taken. Accompanying the Greeks to the Trojan
war, he was wounded in the foot by one of the arrows; and the
smell arising from the wound was so offensive, that, by the advice
of Ulysses, he was left behind, in the island of Lemnos, one of
the Cyclades.]

[Footnote 12: _Is being clothed._--Ver. 53. The Poet Attius, as
quoted by Cicero, says that Philoctetes, while in Lemnos, made
himself clothing out of the feathers of birds.]

[Footnote 13: _Or by death._--Ver. 61. Exile in the case of
Philoctetes; death, in that of Palamedes.]

[Footnote 14: _Forsaking of Nestor._--Ver. 64. Nestor having been
wounded by Paris, and being overtaken by Hector, was on the point
of perishing, when Diomedes came to his rescue, Ulysses having
taken to flight. See the Iliad, Book iii.]

[Footnote 15: _And upbraided._--Ver. 69. He alludes to the words
in the Iliad, which Homer puts in the mouth of Diomedes.]

[Footnote 16: _And covered him._--Ver. 75. Ajax, at the request of
Menelaüs, protected Ulysses with his shield, when he was wounded.]

[Footnote 17: _Fall to my lot._--Ver. 85. He alludes to the
occasion when some of the bravest of the Greeks drew lots which
should accept the challenge of Hector: the Greeks wishing,
according to Homer, that the lot might fall to Ajax Telamon, Ajax
Oïleus, or Agamemnon.]

[Footnote 18: _Rhesus._--Ver. 98. He was slain by Ulysses and
Diomedes on the night on which he arrived, Iliad, Book x.]

[Footnote 19: _Dolon._--Ver. 98. Being sent out by Hector to spy,
he was intercepted by Ulysses and Diomedes, and slain at Troy.
Iliad, Book x.]

[Footnote 20: _Helenus._--Ver. 99. Being skilled in prophesy,
after he was taken prisoner by Diomedes and Ulysses, his life was
saved; and marrying Andromache, after the death of Pyrrhus, he
succeeded to the throne of part of the kingdom of Chaonia.]

[Footnote 21: _Dulichian._--Ver. 107. Dulichium was an island of
the Ionian Sea, near Ithaca, and part of the realms of Ulysses.]

[Footnote 22: _The spear._--Ver. 109. The spear of Achilles had
been cut from the wood on Mount Pelion, and given by the Centaur
Chiron to his father Peleus.]

[Footnote 23: _He through whom._--Ver. 134. Through whom Achilles
had been discovered, concealed among the daughters of Lycomedes,
king of Seyros.]

[Footnote 24: _Ever condemned._--Ver. 145. He alludes to the joint
crime of Peleus the uncle, and Telamon, the father of Ajax, who
were banished for the murder of their brother Phocus.]

[Footnote 25: _Through the mother._--Ver. 146. Anticlea, the
mother of Ulysses, was the daughter of Autolycus, of whom Mercury
was the father by Chione, the daughter of Dædalion.]

[Footnote 26: _Phthia._--Ver. 156. Phthia was the city of
Thessaly, where Peleus, the father of Achilles, was residing;
while Pyrrhus, his son, was living with his mother Deidamia,
in the isle of Scyros, one of the Cyclades.]

[Footnote 27: _Teucer._--Ver. 157. Teucer was the cousin of
Achilles, being the son of Telamon, and the half-brother of Ajax;
Hesione being the mother of Teucer, while Ajax was the son of
Eubœa.]

[Footnote 28: _Chrysa._--Ver. 174. Chrysa and Cylla were cities in
the vicinity of Troy. This Scyros was, probably, not the island of
that name, but some place near Troy.]

[Footnote 29: _Lyrnessian._--Ver. 176. This was a city of the
Troad, on the taking of which by Achilles, Hippodamia, or Briseïs,
the daughter of Bryses, was made captive by Achilles.]

[Footnote 30: _Grief of one._--Ver. 181. He alludes to the
misfortune of Menelaüs in losing his wife, if, indeed, it could be
deemed a misfortune.]

[Footnote 31: _Antenor._--Ver. 201. Antenor, who was related to
Priam, always advocated peace with the Greeks; for which reason,
according to Livy, the Greeks did not treat him as an enemy.]

[Footnote 32: _Surround the trenches._--Ver. 212. He probably
alludes to the trenches thrown up before the ships of the Greeks,
and defended by embankments, which were afterwards destroyed by
Neptune.]

[Footnote 33: _I am sent._--Ver. 215. As on the occasion when he
was sent to restore Chryseis to her father Chryses, the priest of
Apollo, that the pestilence might be stayed, which had been sent
by the offended God.]

[Footnote 34: _Thersites._--Ver. 233. He was the most deformed,
cowardly, and impudent of the Greeks, who, always abusing his
betters, was beaten by Ulysses, and was at last killed by Achilles
with a blow of his fist.]

[Footnote 35: _Compelled him._--Ver. 245. When he was taken
prisoner by them, Ulysses and Diomedes compelled Dolon to disclose
what was going on in the Trojan camp, and learned from him the
recent arrival of Rhesus, the son of either Mars or Strymon, and
the king of Thrace.]

[Footnote 36: _Sarpedon._--Ver. 255. He was the son of Jupiter and
Europa, and was king of Lycia. Aiding the Trojans, he was slain by
Patroclus.]

[Footnote 37: _In their place._--Ver. 263. That is, inflicted on
the breast, and not on the back.]

[Footnote 38: _A single wound._--Ver. 267. He alludes to his being
invulnerable, from having been wrapped in the lion’s skin of
Hercules.]

[Footnote 39: _Dared to engage._--Ver. 275. Hector and Ajax
Telamon meeting in single combat, neither was the conqueror; but
on parting they exchanged gifts, which were fatal to them both.
Hector was dragged round the walls of Troy by the belt which he
received from Ajax; while the latter committed suicide with the
sword which was given to him by Hector.]

[Footnote 40: _Dardanian prophet._--Ver. 335. Helenus, the son of
Priam.]

[Footnote 41: _The hidden statue._--Ver. 337. This was the
Palladium, or statue of Minerva, which was destined to be the
guardian of the safety of Troy, so long as it was in the
possession of the Trojans.]

[Footnote 42: _By thy looks._--Ver. 350. We are to suppose, that
here Ajax is nodding at, or pointing towards Diomedes, as having
helped Ulysses on all the occasions which he names, he having been
his constant companion in his exploits.]

[Footnote 43: _Eurypilus._--Ver. 357. He was the son of Evæmon,
and came with forty ships to aid the Greeks. He was from Ormenius,
a city of Thessaly.]

[Footnote 44: _Andremon._--Ver. 357. Thoas, the son of Andremon,
was the leader of the Ætolians; he came with forty ships to the
Trojan war.]

[Footnote 45: _Idomeneus._--Ver. 358. He was the son of Deucalion,
king of Crete. After the siege of Troy, he settled at Salentinum,
a promontory of Calabria, in Italy.]

[Footnote 46: _Meriones._--Ver. 359. He was the nephew and
charioteer of Idomeneus.]

[Footnote 47: _To the name._--Ver. 398. See note to Book x., line
207.]

[Footnote 48: _Country of Hypsipyle._--Ver. 399. The island of
Lemnos is here called the country of Hypsipyle, who saved the life
of her father Thoas, when the other women of the island slew the
males.]

[Footnote 49: _A foreign air._--Ver. 406. Namely, Thrace, which
was far away from her native country.]

[Footnote 50: _Priestess of Apollo._--Ver. 410. Cassandra was the
priestess of Apollo. Being ravished by Ajax Oïleus, she became the
captive of Agamemnon, and was slain by Clytemnestra.]

[Footnote 51: _Astyanax._--Ver. 415. He was the only child of
Hector and Andromache. Ulysses threw him from the top of a high
tower, that none of the royal blood might survive.]

EXPLANATION.

It may with justice be said, that in the speeches of Ajax Telamon,
and Ulysses, here given, the Poet has presented us with a
masterpiece of genius; both in the lively colours in which he has
described the two rivals, and the ingenious manner in which he has
throughout sustained the contrast between their respective
characters.

The ancient writers are not agreed upon the question, who was the
mother of Ajax Telamon; Dares says that it was Hesione; while
Apollodorus, Plutarch, Tzetzes and others, allege that it was
Peribœa, the daughter of Alcathoüs, the son of Pelops. Pindar and
Apollodorus say, that Hercules, on going to visit his friend
Telamon, prayed to Jupiter that Telamon might have a son, whose skin
should be as impenetrable as that of the Nemæan lion, which he then
wore. As he prayed, he espied an eagle; upon which, he informed his
friend that a favourable event awaited his prayer, and desired him
to call his son after the name of an eagle, which in the Greek is
αἰετὸς. The Scholiast on Sophocles, Suidas and Tzetzes, say further,
that when Hercules returned to see Telamon, after the birth of Ajax,
he covered him with the lion’s skin, and that by this means Ajax
became invulnerable except in that spot of his body, which was
beneath the hole which the arrow of Hercules had made in the skin of
the beast.

Dictys, Suidas, and Cedrenus affirm, that the dispute of Ulysses and
Ajax Telamon was about the Palladium, to which each of them laid
claim. They add, that the Grecian nobles, having adjudged it to
Ulysses, Ajax threatened to slay them, and was found dead in his
tent the next morning; but it is more generally stated to the effect
here related by Ovid, that he killed himself, because he could not
obtain the armour of Achilles. Filled with grief and anger combined,
he became distracted; and after falling on some flocks, which in his
madness he took for enemies, he at last stabbed himself with the
sword which he had received from Hector. This account has been
followed by Euripides, in his tragedy on the subject of the death of
Ajax; and Homer seems to allude to this story, when he makes Ulysses
say, that on his descent to the Infernal Regions, the shades of all
the Grecian heroes immediately met him, except that of Ajax, whose
resentment at their former dispute about the armour of Achilles was
still so warm, that he would not come near him. The Scholiast on
Homer, and Eustathius, say that Agamemnon being much embarrassed how
to behave in a dispute which might have proved fatal to the Grecian
cause, ordered the Trojan prisoners to come before the council to
give their opinion, as to which of them had done the most mischief;
and that they answered in favour of Ulysses. The Scholiast on
Aristophanes also adds, that Agamemnon, not satisfied with this
enquiry, sent out spies to know what was the opinion of the Trojans
on the relative merits of Ulysses and Ajax; and that upon their
report, he decided in favour of Ulysses.

According to Pliny and Pausanias, Ajax was buried near the
promontory of Sigæum, where a tomb was erected for him; though other
writers, on the authority of Dictys, place his tomb on the
promontory of Rhœtæum. Horace speaks of him as being denied the
honour of a funeral; but he evidently alludes to a passage in the
tragedy of Sophocles, where the poet introduces Agamemnon as
obstinately refusing to allow him burial, till he is softened by the
entreaties of Teucer.

It is probable that Homer knew nothing of the story here mentioned
relative to the concealment of Achilles, disguised in female
apparel, by Thetis, in the court of Lycomedes, her brother; for
speaking of the manner in which Achilles engaged in the war, he says
that Nestor and Ulysses went to visit Peleus and Menœtius, and
easily prevailed with them that Achilles and Patroclus should
accompany them to the war. It was, however, at the court of
Lycomedes that Achilles fell in love with and married Deidamia, by
whom he had Pyrrhus, or Neoptolemus, who was present at the taking
of Troy, at a very early age.

The story of Polydorus is related in the third Book of the Æneid,
and is also told by Hyginus, with some variations. He says that
Polydorus was sent by Priam to Polymnestor, king of Thrace, while he
was yet in his cradle; and that Ilione, the daughter of Priam,
distrusting the cruelty and avarice of Polymnestor, who was her
husband, educated the child as her own son, and made their own son
Deiphylus pass for Polydorus, the two infants being of the same age.
He also says that the Greeks, after the taking of Troy, offered
Electra to Polymnestor in marriage, on condition that he should
divorce Ilione, and slay Polydorus, and that Polymnestor, having
acceded to their proposal, unconsciously killed his own son
Deiphylus. Polydorus going to consult the oracle concerning his
future fortune, was told, that his father was dead, and his native
city reduced to ashes; on which he imagined that the oracle had
deceived him; but returning to Thrace, his sister informed him of
the secret, on which he deprived Polymnestor of his sight.

FABLES III. AND IV. [XIII.439-622]

In returning from Troy, the Greeks are stopped in Thrace by the
shade of Achilles, who requests that Polyxena shall be sacrificed to
his manes. While Hecuba is fetching water with which to bathe the
body of her daughter, she espies the corpse of her son Polydorus.
In her exasperations she repairs to the court of Polymnestor; and
having torn out his eyes, is transformed into a bitch. Memnon, who
has been slain by Achilles, is honoured with a magnificent funeral,
and, at the prayer of Aurora, his ashes are transformed by Jupiter
into birds, since called Memnonides.

On the Thracian shore the son of Atreus had moored his fleet, until the sea was calm, {and} until the wind was more propitious. Here, on a sudden, Achilles, as great as he was wont to be when alive, rises from the ground, bursting far and wide, and, like to one threatening, revives the countenance of that time when he fiercely attacked Agamemnon with his lawless sword. “And are you departing, unmindful of me, ye Greeks?” he says; “and is all grateful remembrance of my valour buried together with me? Do not so. And that my sepulchre may not be without honour, let Polyxena slain appease the ghost of Achilles.” {Thus} he said; and his companions obeying the implacable shade, the noble and unfortunate maid, and more than {an ordinary} woman, torn from the bosom of her mother, which she now cherished almost alone, was led to the tomb, and became a sacrifice at his ruthless pile.