drawn a trench broad [and] large beside it; and planted in it palisades; but not even thus can he restrain the might of man-slaughtering Hector. While I indeed fought among the Greeks, Hector chose not to arouse the battle at a distance from the wall, but he came [only] as far as the Scæan gates, and the beech-tree. There once he awaited me alone, and with difficulty escaped my attack. But since I choose not to war with noble Hector, to-morrow,[1] having performed sacrifices to Jove and all the gods, [and] having well laden my ships, when I shall have drawn them down to the sea, thou shalt behold, if thou wilt, and if such things be a care to thee, my ships early in the morn sailing upon the fishy Hellespont, and men within them, eager for rowing; and if glorious Neptune grant but a prosperous voyage, on the third day I shall surely reach fertile Phthia.[2] Now there I have very many possessions, which I left, coming hither, to my loss.[3] And I will carry hence other gold and ruddy brass, well-girdled women, and hoary iron, which I have obtained by lot. But the reward which he gave, king Agamemnon, the son of Atreus, hath himself insultingly taken from me: to whom do thou tell all things as I charge thee, openly, that the other Greeks also may be indignant, if he, ever clad in impudence, still hope to deceive any of the Greeks; nor let him dare, dog-like as he is, to look in my face. I will neither join in counsels nor in any action with him; for he hath already deceived and offended me, nor shall he again overreach me with words. It is enough for him [to do so once]: but in quiet[4] let him perish, for provident Jove hath deprived him of reason. Hateful to me are his gifts, and himself I value not a hair.[5] Not if he were to give me ten and twenty times as many gifts as he now has, and if others
- ↑ Observe the broken construction, well suited to the irritability of the speaker.
- ↑ Cf. Cicero de Div. i. 25.
- ↑ Ἔῤῥων, ἐπὶ φθορᾷ (ita etym. magn.) παραγενόμεῤος. Cf. Alberti on Hesych. t. i. p. 1445.
- ↑ "Ἕκηλος forcibly expresses the condition of one who is advancing imperceptibly, though surely, to final ruin."—Kennedy.
- ↑ See Kennedy, and Duport, Gnom. p. 52, who compare the phrases "pilo minus amare," "pili facere." There is, however, much uncertainty respecting the origin and meaning of the proverb. Cf. Alberti on Hesych. t. i. p. 1246.
