BOOK II. XXIV. 22-26
Hector and drawing your sword against your own king? As for you, O best of men, are you turning your back on your duties as king,
Who has the charge of nations and sustains
Such mighty cares,[1]
and for the sake of a paltry damsel engage in a fist-fight with the greatest warrior among your allies, a man whom you ought to honour and protect in every way? And do you sink below the level of an elegant high priest who treats the noble gladiators with all respect?[2] Do you see the sort of thing that ignorance of what is expedient leads to?
"But I too am rich." You are not, then, richer than Agamemnon, are you? "But I am also handsome." You are not, then, handsomer than Achilles, are you? "But I have also a fine head of hair." And did not Achilles have a finer, and golden hair, too? And did he not comb it elegantly and dress it up? 25"But I am also strong." You are not, then, able to lift as large a stone as Hector or Aias lifted, are you? "But I am also noble born." Your mother is not a goddess, is she, or your father of the seed of Zeus? What good, then, does all this do him when he sits in tears about the damsel? "But I am an orator." And was not he? Do you not observe how he has dealt with Odysseus and Phoenix, the most skilful of the Greeks in eloquence, how he stopped their mouths?[3]
- ↑ Homer, Iliad, II. 25, translated by Bryant.
- ↑ The reference is obscure; possibly Chryses is meant (Wolf and others), but this seems most unlikely, or there may be a sneering allusion to some contemporary of the philosopher, who was excessively interested in gladiators (Schenkl). I am inclined to think rather of Calchas, the high priest of the Achaeans, who treats both Agamemnon and Achilles with more civility than they would seem to deserve, at least in the opinion of Epictetus, who had no undue reverence for the great figures of the Epic.
- ↑ The reference is to the spirited and convincing speeches of Achilles (Iliad, IX.) in answer to the appeals of Odysseus and Phoenix.
