This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
90—120.
ILIAD. X.
175

mains in my breast, or my knees have the power of motion. I wander[1] thus, because sweet sleep sits not on mine eyes, but war and the calamities of the Greeks are my care. For I greatly fear for the Greeks, neither is my heart firm, but I am confounded.[2] My heart leaps without my breast, and my fair limbs tremble beneath. But if thou canst do aught (since neither doth sleep come upon thee), come, let us go down to the guards, that we may see whether, worn out by toil and [overpowered][3] by sleep, they slumber, and are altogether forgetful of the watch. And hostile men are encamped near, nor do we at all know but that they perhaps meditate in their minds to engage even during the night."[4]

But him Nestor, the Gerenian knight, then answered: "Agamemnon, most glorious son of Atreus, king of men, assuredly provident Jove will not accomplish to Hector all those devices, which now, perhaps, he expects; but I think that he will labor under even more cares if Achilles shall but turn away his heart from heavy wrath. Yet will I willingly follow thee; and let us moreover incite others, both spear-renowned Diomede, and Ulysses, swift Ajax, and the valiant son of Phyleus. But if any one going, would call godlike Ajax, and king Idomeneus; for their ships are the furthest off,[5] and by no means near at hand. But I will chide Menelaus, dear and respected though he be, nor will I conceal, even if thou shouldst be displeased with me, since thus he sleeps, and has permitted thee alone to labor. For now ought he to labor, supplicating among all the chiefs, for a necessity, no longer tolerable, invades us."

But him Agamemnon, king of men, in turn addressed: "Old man, at other times I would even bid thee blame him,

  1. Æsch. Ag. 12: Εὖτ' ἂν δὲ νυκτίπλαγκτον ἔνδροσόν τ' ἔχω Εὐνὴν ὀνείροις οὐκ ἐπισκοπομένην Ἑμὴν, φόβος γὰρ ἀνθ' ὕπνου παραστατεῖ.
  2. Cicero ad Attic. ix. 6: "Non angor, sed ardeo dolore; οὐδὲ μοι ἤτορ ἔμπεδον, ἀλλ' ἀλαλύπτημαι. Non sum, inquam, mihi crede, mentis compos."
  3. Observe the zeugma, wbich has been imitated by Hor. Od. iii. 4, 11: "Ludo fatigatumque somno." Compare the learned dissertation on this subject by d'Orville on Chariton, iv. 4, p. 440, sqq. ed. Lips.
  4. Æsch. Sept. c. Th. 28: Λέγει μεγίστην προβολὴν Ἀχαίδα Νυκτηγορεῖσθαι κἀπιβουλεύειν πόλει.
  5. Soph. Aj. 3: Καὶ νῦν ἐπὶ σκηναῖς σε ναυτικαῖς ὁρῶ Αἴαντος, ἔνθα τάξιν ἐσχάτην ἔχει.